Chapter 4 Dimitri
DIMITRI
The Russian folk music blared from Petrov's portable speaker, filling the lab with accordion melodies and voices that wailed about lost loves and lonely winters.
Dimitri had grown up hearing those kinds of songs in his grandmother's kitchen, but he'd never been fond of them.
Now, after weeks of listening to Petrov's playlist on repeat, he actively despised them.
But the music served a purpose.
He glanced at Mattie, who sat on a stool near his workstation, watching him work. She'd been quiet all morning, the shadows under her eyes telling the story of their disturbed sleep and perhaps more nightmares that she hadn't shared with him.
He hated that she was scared. Hated even more that he couldn't do anything to fix it. Well, maybe he could if the concoction he was working on did the trick and repelled immortals.
The smell was making him nauseous, but neither Mattie nor Petrov had said anything, so he assumed that they couldn't smell it yet. His new, sharper senses picked up on things their human noses and eyes couldn't.
He glanced at her just as she scrunched her nose.
"Are you working on the formula for the enhanced soldiers?" she asked.
He looked up at the camera, then back at her, and tapped his nose. "Can you smell it?"
Her eyes widened with understanding. "Is that the thing you told me about?"
He leaned closer to her. "The stinky potion." He held up a vial containing a murky brownish liquid. "It's making me nauseous, but you and Petrov can barely smell it. Let's hope that you-know-who will find it repulsive."
Mattie smiled and batted her eyelashes. "I'm so touched. It's such a romantic gift."
"It is definitely a gift from the heart."
"Will I have to smell it too?"
"Can you smell it now?"
She nodded. "A little."
"That's because I made a large batch. In small quantities, it shouldn't bother you."
"Will it work on them, though?"
"We need to test it." He tapped his nose again.
She chewed on her lower lip. "What if it makes me repulsive to you?" she asked in a near whisper.
"Never."
"Oh, come on." She rolled her eyes. "If you smelled really bad, I would have a hard time getting past that. I don't expect you to be any different."
He rose from his stool and walked over to her. "Then I'll close my nose." He leaned and kissed the tip of hers.
They were taking a risk since Mattie was supposed to be Petrov's possession, but his boss had declared loudly that he was perfectly fine sharing Mattie with Dimitri. Hopefully, that would be enough of an explanation for those watching the surveillance feed.
"Dimitri, stop playing and work on the formulas for the enhanced," Petrov said in Russian. "They will be here this afternoon for their shots, and you haven't prepared them yet."
"I have enough from yesterday," Dimitri replied in Russian as well, even though it was ridiculous.
To run the recording through artificial intelligence translation was child's play.
Petrov swiveled his chair around and pinned Dimitri with a hard look. "I did the calculations. All you had to do was prepare the mix. That was what you should have been working on this morning."
They were making nearly daily adjustments to the drugs that kept Dave going and remaining sane, or as much as that could be said about eight persons becoming one entity, and they checked the effect of each incremental increase or decrease in every individual component of the cocktail.
The improvements were marginal at best, but as long as they could show that they were doing something beneficial, all was well.
"Yesterday's formula is just fine," Dimitri said. "Expecting improvements every day is unrealistic. We're scientists, not magicians."
"Tell that to Losham when he decides we're no longer useful." Petrov adjusted the volume on his speaker, making the music even louder. "We didn't get the new volunteers for testing, so all we are left with is improving Dave's performance."
It seemed like the enhancement program was an afterthought to Losham, and he wasn't getting around to providing them with new test subjects. Ever since Navuh had supposedly moved into the harem and stopped showing his face, they had been treading water.
Dimitri set the vial down. "Perhaps you should remind Losham? Lord Navuh won't be happy with our progress or rather lack thereof."
"What we need is to keep our heads down and look busy until whatever is happening on this island sorts itself out.
" Petrov switched to English, probably for Mattie's benefit, because he was keeping his voice down.
"Something is going on, and the explosions this morning have something to do with it.
I don't want us to be caught in the crossfire. "
Dimitri nodded, his eyes drifting back to Mattie. She was watching them with that guarded expression she wore whenever she was afraid or overwhelmed. He wished he could tell her everything would be fine, but he wasn't in the habit of making promises he couldn't keep.
The music blared on, a new song starting up with a mournful violin and lyrics about a soldier leaving his sweetheart behind.
Dimitri wanted to tell Petrov that his strategy of using loud music to mask their conversations was flawed, and that, with today's technology, it would be trivial for anyone monitoring the surveillance feeds to isolate their voices from the background noise.
Audio filtering software had been available for decades, and any competent intelligence analyst would know how to use it.
But pointing this out to his boss would only make him paranoid, and a paranoid Petrov was an unproductive Petrov. Better to let him have his illusions of privacy.
As the lab door opened and two guards entered, Petrov lowered the volume on his speaker.
It was a routine check that the guards performed at least twice a day, even though the lab no longer housed prisoners.
"Everything okay here?" the one on the right asked.
"Everything is fine," Petrov said. "But we are worried about what happened this morning. The explosions were quite loud. We thought that the island was under attack."
The guard's expression didn't change. "It was a gas leak in the basement. A human crew was working near the emergency gas tanks and didn't follow proper safety protocols. The tanks exploded and killed the entire crew."
That was convenient. With the crew gone, there was no one left to tell what had really happened down there.
"The explosions must have damaged the mansion," Dimitri said. "Anything serious?"
"Part of the backyard collapsed, but the building itself suffered only minor damage." The guard's tone made it clear that the questioning was over. "We'll check the rest of the facility now. Continue your work."
The three of them remained silent until the guards completed their tour of the facility and departed, but the moment the door clicked shut behind them, Petrov cranked the music back up.
"Gas tanks in the basement," he muttered in Russian.
"What would they need gas for? Heating in the harsh tropical winter?
I bet everything in that mansion runs on electricity.
And the story about the crew working down there right next to those tanks and ignoring safety protocols is just ridiculous.
They are covering up something, and I wonder if it has to do with Lord Navuh's absence. "
Dimitri glanced at Mattie, who was looking left out.
"When the Eight come for their shots today, I'm going to ask Dave about getting Mattie assigned to the lab," he said in English so she could follow.
Petrov raised an eyebrow. "Do you think he has the authority to transfer her?"
"It seems to me that Dave does whatever the hell Dave wants, and the new lord plays along."
Losham was probably under Dave's compulsion and was just a puppet. Perhaps Dave had imprisoned Lord Navuh in the basement of his own mansion, and those explosions had been the lord's escape attempt?
It would be ironic if Navuh had become a prisoner on his slave island.
Petrov cast him a glare. "That's a very dangerous thing to say here," he said in Russian. "You should be more careful."
"I think it's worth asking," Dimitri said in English. "I'll tell him that we need someone to help with equipment cleaning, sample preparation, and other basic tasks that will free us up for more complex work."
Petrov nodded. "Let me do the talking. I'm the authority in this lab. Dave will be more inclined to grant the request if it comes from me."
His boss was right, and Dimitri was grateful for Petrov's help. Somehow, the guy always came through for him despite being drunk seemingly all of the time.
Petrov sighed heavily, his expression turning wistful. "I should have thought of my lady friend at the brothel for the job, but those ladies are too valuable on this island. No one would have approved transferring one of them to lab assistant duties."
"I'm grateful that Mattie isn't valuable that way," Dimitri murmured.
"I'm grateful to be worthless," she said.
"You're worth everything to me."
The words slipped out before he could stop them, and for a moment, the lab fell silent except for the wailing Russian vocals. Mattie stared at him, her eyes wide, and Dimitri felt heat creep up the back of his neck.
Petrov cleared his throat. "Well. That was lovely. Now, can we please get back to work before Dave arrives and we have no injections ready for them?"
"We should." Mattie got up from her stool.
"Give me instructions on what to do. I can start cleaning vials or making coffee or wiping floors.
There is still plenty of time before I have to leave for the bar.
Today, my shift starts at four. Thursdays are usually slow in the hotel, and Anil said I could come in late. "
That was good. Dave usually arrived at two in the afternoon, so she would be there when Petrov asked to hire her. The presentation of the request would flow better with her in attendance.