The Ghost Pattern

…46

“We can’t do this anymore, we just can’t,” Dr. Adenauer said, unable to hide the pain in his voice. “Not anymore. I won’t stand for it.”

“Please don’t say that, think about my family,” Wu Shen Teng pleaded, tears flooding his eyes.

“I am thinking about your family,” Dr. Adenauer replied. “How would you like them to die, like that?” he thundered, pointing at the monitors that had been switched off the day before, right after the test had ended with the loss of an innocent man’s life.

“Theo,” Marie-Elise said, “don’t say that. Maybe there’s hope.”

“You’re a fool, Adenauer,” Gary Davis said. “What do you think will happen?”

Dr. Teng stood there, paralyzed, tears streaking his cheeks as he stared at the dark monitors.

Bogdanov entered the lab and slammed the huge door behind him.

“Are you ready to run the aerosolized test? The same formulation should be good.”

They fidgeted uncomfortably, and a deathly silence engulfed the lab.

“No, we are not,” Adenauer spoke calmly. “We will not be proceeding with the tests anymore.” He cleared his voice, drew a deep breath, and then continued, “I stand behind my decision with my life.”

Bogdanov stared at Adenauer, who didn’t flinch. Then he turned and said something in Russian to King Cobra. Cobra left.

Now that he’d said it, Adenauer felt better, calmer. Man can only die once, he thought. He remembered something he’d once heard someone say. “Life is wondrous, death is peaceful, it’s the transition that’s troublesome.” He wasn’t sure those were the exact words, and he couldn’t remember for sure who’d said it; maybe it was Isaac Asimov? In any case, for some reason, his mind found solace in those words at that moment. He was ready to die. He couldn’t bear to be responsible for another human being’s demise.

Cobra came back, dragging with him a middle-aged woman, her upper arm held tightly in his grasp, yanking her at every step as he walked. She sobbed loudly, pleading with him in what sounded like Swedish, but Cobra didn’t care. He threw the woman on her knees in front of Bogdanov. She curled up in a ball, hugging her knees, and sobbing hard.

“So, you are willing to stand by your decision with your life, yes?” Bogdanov asked calmly.

Adenauer felt his gut churn with fear. Oh, no! Please, God, no!

“Are you willing to stand by your decision with her life too?” Bogdanov asked.

Before he could answer, Bogdanov drew his sidearm and shot the woman in the head. Her sobs instantly quieted, as she fell to the floor with a thump. Blood began draining from her wound, pooling at Adenauer’s feet. He took a step back, staring in disbelief, his jaw dropped, feeling his ice-cold blood draining from his head.

“That was your last warning,” Bogdanov said. “You have 24 hours.”