The Ghost Pattern

…38

Dr. Adenauer sat on a lab stool, hunched over the tile-covered table, rubbing his forehead obsessively. He couldn’t do what they asked; yet he had to. There was no way out. All these people were there, enduring captivity because of him, so if his soul was going to burn in the hell of his conscience, then so be it.

He stood and walked toward the cot where Declan Mallory lay, breathing shallowly and sweating profusely. The heat was unbearable; it was getting hotter from one day to the next, and that made it even worse for Mallory. Every breath he took must have been excruciatingly painful, regardless of the improvised pain medication they’d been able to offer. Luckily, so far there didn’t seem to be any evidence of internal bleeding, a common side effect of the type of trauma he’d been subjected to.

Dr. Adenauer summoned everyone to join him around Dr. Mallory’s cot.

“There’s no other option,” he spoke, his voice heavy with the burden of conscience. “We have to increase the strength of the compound.”

“No, you can’t do that!” Gary Davis said. “They’re people, for God’s sake; you can’t test that on people! You could kill them!”

Dr. Adenauer rubbed his creased forehead again.

“Don’t you think I know that?” he snapped. “I haven’t been able to think of anything else. But what you fail to understand is that if they decide we’re worthless to their… their quest for this drug, they will kill us all. All of us, including the hundreds of others who were on that plane. Everybody.”

His words fell heavy, bringing deafening silence with them. He knew he was right, and he knew he was the one who needed to make the difficult decisions the rest couldn’t stomach.

“Can’t we at least find a way to test safely?” Gary Davis insisted. “Can we ask for lab rats?”

That made sense; Adenauer had to admit, although the precise dosing of the compound in their makeshift lab would probably pose some issues. It did make sense, nevertheless.

He approached King Cobra, who was watching them from a distance, with his eyes half closed, succumbed to the heat.

“Tell your boss we need lab rats,” Adenauer said firmly, “and by that I mean rodents, not people.”