Brett held it up to the kitchen light. He had heard about it all week, but this was the first time he had actually laid eyes on what all the world was howling about.
"Looks just like water," he said and handed it back to his father without further comment.
They left just before midnight.
Using secondary roads, Roger calculated the trip would take about seventeen hours. Jenny had insisted on their arrival tomorrow afternoon-as if she held them to some deadline.
As the lights of the condo disappeared in the mirror, the thought circled Roger's mind that there were hordes of people under that black sky who would do anything to lay hands on them. Anything.
To help Laura and Brett doze off, he put on a tape of "Swan Lake" and turned the volume low.
Laura was too anxious to sleep, although Brett spread out on the rear seat with his pillow and a blanket. In the mirror Roger had flashes of that night thirteen years ago when in another car and under different names they drove northward to Black Eagle Lake. Another night, another flight of fear.
By the time they reached Faribault, Laura was asleep against headrest. And Brett was a long lump under the blanket.
At this hour traffic was sparse. Even though U.S. 35 was indirect, it avoided Madison and any police checkpoints.
It was odd, but being on the run made Roger feel closer to Laura than he had in a while. They were doing something together, as a family, bizarre as it was. At one point, she woke up and took his hand. Nothing was actually said in words, though the gesture warmed him. He needed to believe in them still, and in her love. Yet, when he tried to imagine their future, it came up blank.
Someplace in the middle of Odette's transformation into a cygnet, Brett sat up.
"Dad, what would happen if I took Elixir?"
The question came out of the dark like an icepick. He was about to answer, when Laura cut him off. "Don't even think about it," she said, suddenly awake. She spun around to face him. "Everything we've ever warned you about the dangers of drugs-this is far worse. One shot and your body is instantly dependent. And if you go off it, you die a horrible death."
So startled by her reaction, Brett chuckled. "You're just saying that."
"Only because it's true. We told you about the animals."
"Can that happen to you, Dad?"
"Monkeys and humans have the same reaction."
"Has it ever happened to anyone?"
"Yes, but no one you know."
"Then why did you take it?"
"I told you it was a mistake."
"But you'll live forever, right?"
"Not forever. Just longer. But it was still a mistake."
"If you could go back, would you do it again?"
It was like Brett to hammer away. "No, I wouldn't."
"You're just saying that."
There was no reason for Roger to play up his regret or Brett would pursue that. "I'm not. It was wrong."
"How about when I'm older?"
"Brett, you've got a long life ahead of you. You don't need the stuff."
"But someday…"
They were caught between minimizing and maximizing the dangers. "We can't think that far ahead."
"But you're going to live a long time, why not both of us? You too, Mom."
"We've already been through this, Brett," Laura said. "I'm not going to take it. And you're not going to take it. It's unnatural and dangerous, simple as that. End of discussion."
But Roger could hear the turn of Brett's mind. Laura had protested too much. "Brett, listen to me," he said, summoning his best voice of fatherly reason. "If you took it now, you would never get older. You would never fully grow up. You would never age but stay fourteen for good. Is that something you'd really want?"
There was long silence.
"Well?"
"Maybe."
"I don't believe this."
President John Markarian turned up the sound on the TV console in the Oval Office. Tim Reed and two other aides had come in to inform him of the latest. With them was Kenneth Parrish, director of the FBI.
As feared, Elixir rumors had snowballed and were barreling down on the White House like an avalanche. On the screen were videos of laboratory mice and rhesus monkeys.
"What you're seeing are the same animals, just a few weeks apart," the commentator said. "According to former Darby employees, the animals had been treated with Elixir, a secret compound that allegedly had the capacity to prevent aging." The screen split with a BEFORE and AFTER caption under each.
"Sources who had once worked at the Darby labs claim that treated animals on the right had actually rejuvenated over the period."
The split screen gave way to another pair of still photos, that of Christopher Bacon and Roger Glover.
"Speculation holds that Dr. Bacon may have used the serum on himself…"
On the president's desk sat faxes and e-mails from scientists, religious leaders, and government officials from around the world demanding to know if the rumors were true, and, if so, to share the secret with the rest of the human race. There were also entreaties from the heads of AARP frantic for the government to find this Christopher Bacon and his secret of prolonged life.
Everywhere White House disclaimers were rebuffed. One commentator declared the Oval Office might be either the stupidest place in the world or the most deceitful.
The television scene shifted to anti-American rallies in Cairo.
How the hell do people mobilize so rapidly? Markarian wondered.
People were toting signs proclaiming "Death to America" and "Markarian is Saten." And "Elixir is Devel's Potion." "Elixir-American/Israeli Plot." And "ELIXIR: Genetic Imperialism."
"Middle East spokesmen view Elixir as a threat to international peace," the reporter continued. "One diplomat warned of possible military conflict unless the U.S. admits to hording the compound and makes it available to all people…"
The scene shifted to a fiery preacher addressing a congregation from a church pulpit in Baltimore.
"Meanwhile, here at home, religious leaders are calling for calm while others see Elixir as a Pandora's box. In the words of Reverend Colonel Lamar Fisk, the anti-aging drug is a 'hellish violation of the dominion of God.'"
"'Ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Lord doth come!'" Fisk shouted. "'And in that hour when the seventh seal is broken the armies of the lord will lay waste the evil that is Babylon…'"
The camera panned devoted followers as they howled and hit the air with fists and sticks.
"Goddamn field day for the nutcakes," Markarian said.
"Except this one's dangerous," said Parrish. "They're Heaven's Gate with fangs."
"Meaning what?" Markarian asked.
"Meaning they're not going to pop suicide pills and wait for the flying saucers to whip them away. This Fisk guy has warlord mentality. He preaches that they'll take an active part in Armageddon. A lot of wham-bam, and while they get beamed up to heaven, the rest of us fry."
"Nice religion."
"What's scary is that he knows guns and preaches violence. He's also charismatic and uses mind control and physical abuse to keep followers in line. He's like Charles Manson and David Koresh rolled in one, except he hasn't broken the law yet. I'm just worried when he does."
"What's the latest on Glover?" the president asked Parrish.
"Every airport, bus terminal, and train station in a four-hundred-mile radius around Eau Claire is covered. Highway patrols have been beefed up. We don't know what they're driving because he seems to have a fleet of vehicles. Or he's stealing one after another. But the local police are checking all leads."