Chapter 13 #2
Darwin sighed. “Unfortunately, I think we just uncovered it.” He gestured to Zadie, and a bunch of files appeared on the main monitor a moment later.
“These are clinical notes dating back a few months. From just after that UAV crash, when Hackett left. It seems Pryce, via Cobalt Logistics, has participated in three events in various sectors of the province. Two in the Kootenays and that one in Squamish. All with the same sponsor — Axiom Cellular Endurance. As suspected, those patches she’s handing out are low dose versions of her enhancement drug, while the watches are knockoffs of Gideon’s HELIOS, designed to monitor their biometrics.
It looks like, even in small doses, most participants experience some form of cellular degradation, but there seems to be a small number of people who don’t react negatively to the microdosing at all.
Those are the people she’s looking for.”
“Wait.” Quinn stood again, resting his hip against the desk. “So, Brea can metabolize this drug without it killing her?”
“That’s what Pryce wants to know. Microdosing doesn’t tell the full story, though.
At reduced levels, some people might be able to handle the slight buildup of chemicals without having any physical symptoms. Which is why I think our friend Hackett had his men forcing the athletes to perform that trial.
Only those patches were likely full strength. ”
Quinn’s face paled. “She wanted to weed out the false positives. Find only the outliers.”
“Which explains why some of the runners had such extreme reactions.” Darwin paused for a moment before loading a file then nodded at Zadie, sighing when the stats appeared on the monitor.
“These are your sister’s preliminary results.
Probably why Pryce wanted the place torched.
Even at tactical levels, Brea’s body is completely synthesizing TITAN without any evidence of cellular damage.
In fact, she’s thriving. Now, I can’t be sure we have the stats for everyone Pryce has run through these trials, but there’s only one other test subject who’s even remotely okay, though, it looks as if prolonged exposure is finally taking a toll. ”
“But, Brea has time. If we get to her soon, there’s a chance she’ll be okay, right?”
Darwin pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “I can’t promise anything until after I run some tests on her, but in theory, yes.”
“All I need is a chance.” Quinn looked down at Scout, a hint of hope in his eyes. “How the hell did Pryce even think to test for this? I mean, I get she’s into human experimentation but thinking there might be people who are immune to this drug seems like a stretch when it kills everyone else.”
“According to her transcripts, she started out trying to find both a variant that would have better stability as well as an alternate way to dose her version of TITAN for Ramsey’s men.
Those patches and watch we found. But then everything changed when Hackett was sent as her head of security.
” Darwin loaded more files and had Zadie put them on the monitor.
“It seems Pryce tested Hackett to see how much cellular damage he’d already sustained, possibly to use him as a test subject for the patches, until she discovered he had no degradation.
His blood, vitals, and cellular structure are all normal. ”
“Hackett’s an outlier?”
“If these results are accurate, yes. He’s probably the first one. Which might explain why he switched sides and is backing Pryce. If she convinced him she was the one who fixed him, got him onto this new variant, removed his death sentence…”
Neve scraped her chair back, twisting to face Darwin. “He’d treat her as some kind of second coming. But is immunity even possible?”
“With any kind of stressor, there’s always a chance there’s a genetic code that’s adaptable.
People who don’t get sick from a virus that kills thousands of others.
Athletes whose genetics allow them to use more of the oxygen in their blood.
It’s just unfortunate that patient zero is also a raging psychopath who was raised by mercenaries. ”
Quinn pointed at the screen. “Based on Brea’s stats, can you predict how much time she might have before she could start degrading?”
Darwin fiddled with his glasses, glancing over at Quinn. “It could be never. It could be an hour. Without knowing if Pryce is increasing the dose or just pushing Brea to her limits, it’s impossible to say.”
“But based on what Pryce said yesterday, she’s going to use Brea until she breaks.”
“That might not happen. Either way, it does raise another concern. If Brea really is a full outlier like Hackett...”
“What?” Quinn furrowed his brow as he looked around at Scout’s teammates. “You think I might be one, too?”
“Again, I can’t be sure of anything without studying why Brea’s able to process this variant, but it might be best if we don’t let Pryce or Hackett gets their hands on you.”
“They can try. It won’t turn out the way they want.” Quinn crossed his arms on his chest, looking as if he needed a way to keep from marching across the room and punching his fist through Price’s image on the monitor. “So, where’s this luxury spa?”
“Whistler.”
“Sounds like another road trip?—”
“Brea won’t be there.” Scout sighed when Quinn’s left eye twitched. “It’s the legal side of the business. How many times has Hyperion been searched? Yet, no one’s ever found anything suspicious.”
“So, she’s got another location.”
“One that’s got insane levels of security I’m sure are equal to Finch’s level of paranoia.” Scout raked her fingers through her hair. “That video last night… I noticed the lighting was harsh, like here during the day.”
Zadie coughed. “You think they’re underground?”
“I don’t know, but the acoustics sounded a bit hollow. Might be worth looking into.”
“I’ll add some keywords to my algorithms. See if that helps narrow the search, while you guys continue scrubbing the files.”
Quinn reclaimed his seat, poring over the files as the hours ticked away, nothing new cropping up.
Scout dragged him outside for a fifteen-minute break.
A chance to breathe in the scent of pine and damp earth — gaze at the cloudy sky reflected off the mirror-like lake below them before heading back into the bunker, scrolling through more data.
They’d been at it for several hours, the combined frustration weighing down the air, all the words starting to blur into one, when Quinn froze.
He leaned in closer, then snapped his fingers.
“I think Scout was on to something.” He tapped the screen.
“I’ve got invoices for three industrial, deep-earth air purifiers, a number of high-capacity subterranean generators, and massive quantities of food, water and reinforced panels.
None of that was installed or sitting in Squamish. ”
Coulter scraped back his chair, moving in behind them. “If they need that much heavy equipment, there’re definitely utilizing some kind of cave.” He nudged Quinn. “You seem to know the area from Squamish clear over to Hope and beyond extremely well. Any abandoned mines spring to mind?”
Quinn keyed up a map of the area. “Two major ones. One here…” He circled the area on the map. “It’s an old Eighties zinc mine in the Ashlu Valley. Limited access. They’d have to chopper in all the heavy stuff.”
Coulter nodded. “And the second?”
Quinn pointed to another spot south of Squamish in a remote section of the mountains.
“The locals call it the Devil’s Throat. It was once the largest copper mine in the British Empire.
There are over two hundred kilometers of tunnels honeycombed throughout the mountain, many of which have been sealed, flooded, or condemned since the Seventies.
It’s claustrophobic, wet, and structurally terrifying. ”
“Wonderful.” Coulter shifted on his feet. “I know I’m going to regret asking, but why Devil’s Throat?”
“Because the main shaft goes straight down into the bedrock for over a thousand feet. It’s a subterranean labyrinth with no cell service, no workable comms, and only one way in and out.
” Quinn looked at Coulter. “Definitely the worst option, and what I believe you Spec Op types call a strategic nightmare.”
“What we call it is a death trap.” Coulter glanced over at Zadie and Gideon. “Zadie? Can you search for any purchase orders or deed transfers for these locations?—”
“No need.”
Kane’s voice sounded from the other side of the room, the low tone sending a shiver down Scout’s spine. She’d only heard the guy use it a handful of times, their ambush at Bralorne being one of them.
Coulter lifted his chin. “You find something?”
Kane sighed. “I kinda wish I didn’t, but…
” He focused on Scout, mouth pinched tight, eyes narrowed.
“I’ve got a partial record of The Eos Institute purchasing mineral rights to a condemned, off-limits section of an old mining complex cited as The Foundry for what’s described as deep-earth mineral exploration.
But something tells me they’re not looking for diamonds. ”
Quinn’s jaw clenched as he fisted his hands at his side. “Location?”
“You didn’t think it was gonna be the better option, did you?”
“The Devil’s Throat.”
“Afraid so.”
Quinn nodded, glancing at Scout, eyes a bit wild before he pushed out a breath and rolled his shoulders. “Brea’s inside that mountain.”
Scout eased her chair back, then stood, brushing her hand across his as she glanced at Neve, then at the rest of her teammates. “Then, it’s time to break out the rappelling gear because come midnight, we’re going underground.”