“What do you mean?”
Muli pointed towards a pale foreigner dressed in shorts walking up the sandy path towards the hut. “This is why we waited.”
The man wore sunglasses and a floppy hat, with a yellow waterproof dry bag slung over his shoulder. He waved at first, and then made the Namaste greeting once he got closer. “Hello, my name’s Franklin Alexander, and I’m a reporter with the Daily Sky. I hope I’m not too late in joining your protest so I could cover it for the Western media.”
“Namaste,” Vaikom said before shaking the man’s hand. His English wasn’t the best, but it was enough. “How did you know about this?”
Muli smirked. “I told him. I met this man in Kochi, and he gave me money to rent the boat with.”
“My newspaper has already published a series of articles about the many bribes the Morgenstern Group made in order to get the government permits to build Lemuria,” Franklin said. “But there’s an even bigger story behind all this.”
Vaikom nodded politely, though deep in his heart he remained skeptical of the other man’s intentions. “What other story do you mean?”
Franklin had barely had any sleep, and he counted himself lucky to have caught a plane ride to Agatti Island before hitching again, this time to a boat that brought him to Kavaratti in record time. “There is a private area on the island, at the opposite end of the resort.”
“We know that. It is a big house belonging to the head of Morgenstern Group.”
Franklin took his sunglasses off and wiped the sweat from his brow. “Ah, but what you may not know is this mansion of his has a hidden laboratory built underneath.”
“For what purpose?”
“That I don’t know yet,” Franklin said. “But I do have some facts that lead me to believe they may be doing something illegal in it.”
“Must be drugs,” Muli guessed.
“Perhaps, but they smuggled in a disgraced member of the scientific community to run it,” Franklin said. “A Dr. Lauren Reeves. Does her name ring a bell?”
“I do not know who she is,” Vaikom said.
Placing his bag on the floor, Franklin opened it up and took out a folded back issue of the Daily Sky before spreading it out and handing it to Vaikom. The headline read: Lady Frankenstein.
Vaikom only had a rudimentary knowledge when it came to reading English, and he passed it to his friend after pretending to skim over the periodical. “Perhaps it is better you explain it to me.”
“Dr. Reeves is a noted scientist on genetic engineering,” Franklin said. “She was tops in her field, and a Nobel Prize finalist when she first published a paper on successfully modifying the human genome. Everything was going her way until a tragedy happened.” He paused, hoping they’d understand.
“Please continue.”
“She and her team were doing state of the art genetic modifications on animals in a private research facility in Maryland a few years ago,” Franklin said. “We don’t have all the facts, but it seemed she succeeded in creating a chimera.”
The two other men looked at him in confusion.
Franklin nodded, gesturing that he would explain. “A chimera is a genetically modified animal that uses DNA from other species. From what we got in the police reports, her team was able to create some sort of super monkey from a baboon and other animals.”
Muli’s thick black eyebrows shot up. “That… is crazy.”
“Yeah, but it’s all true,” Franklin said. “Something happened, and the chimera got out of control. One of her fellow scientists was killed, and they were forced to put it down.”
“Put it down?” Vaikom asked.
“They had to kill it,” Franklin explained. “Also, they were doing all this without permission from the various American government agencies, and they also had violated an awful lot of ethics laws. There was a lot of negative publicity and lawsuits. Dr. Reeves was sort of ostracized from the scientific community not long afterwards.”
Muli began rubbing his goatee. “Are you saying this devil doctor is on the island? In a secret laboratory?”
Franklin nodded. “Exactly.”
Vaikom sighed with disappointment. “It seems all you are interested in is a story on her, yes? Why should we allow you to journey to Lemuria with us? You do not seem to care for the people here.”
“Look, mate, this story will be even more sensational if we prove she’s on Lemuria,” Franklin said. “The rest of the world right now doesn’t care about the plight of your people here, but they will if we can also prove this rich bastard Kazimir Morgenstern is harboring a mad scientist doing God knows what where no authority can touch her.”
Muli spoke to his friend in Malayalam. “He is right. None of our national newspapers even printed anything on our protest when we burned those huts during construction of the resort. It earned us nothing but a year and a half in jail. With this, we will be noticed for sure.”
Vaikom studied their European guest intently. “Do you have a plan?”
Franklin nodded, even though he didn’t have one. “One of my colleagues is already on Lemuria under a false name. I’ll help cover your protest, and he’ll be the one to get into the private part of the island while the security guards are focused on us.”
“We’ll need to get to the island first. Our boat will not be the fastest.”
“I brought an inflatable dinghy with me,” Franklin said. “If we go in at night they might intercept the boat, but the ones on the dinghy might get through.”
Vaikom couldn’t say no to that offer. “Alright.”
25
DAVID BLAISE WAS GOOD at reading people’s faces, and he could tell one of the young receptionists at the front desk was having a hard time keeping her emotions in check. He had mostly hung out at the bar near the front entrance since mid-afternoon, sipping quietly on a cold bottle of beer while discreetly observing the staff around him.
She looks positively flustered, he thought. The way she keeps staring blankly into space and her forced smile means she’s bothered. But by what?
He ordered another beer, and waited for another half an hour before the second receptionist left her post and the one he wanted was alone. Most of the guests were making their way towards the various restaurants for dinner, and now there was hardly anyone in the reception area. He saw Nick Dirkse and his family, all tanned and smiling, making their way towards the buffet section. They gave each other a friendly wave.
Now’s my chance. Getting up from the bar stool, he casually made his way towards the front desk. The door behind the young receptionist was closed, meaning the hotel manager wasn’t in his office either. My luck’s holding.
She looked up at him, and the name tag above her left breast marked her as Lakshmi. “Good evening, sir. How may I help you?”
Blaise put on his best smile while leaning on the counter with his elbows. “I was actually hoping to help you, ma’am. It seems you’re in a tad bit of distress. I happen to know Mr. Kazimir Morgenstern personally, since he was the one who invited me here for the grand opening.”
Her eyes brightened. “You do?”
He gave her a confident, lying nod. “Oh yes. We were close friends together at Eton when we were still teenagers. Is there any way I could help?”
“Well, it’s just that—”
“Yes?”
She was about to blurt it all out, but then she looked back down at the computer monitor in front of her. “It’s really nothing, sir. But thank you anyway.”
Come on, I nearly got her to say something, he thought. Best to keep at it. “Are you feeling unwell, perhaps? I know Kazimir’s private secretary, and she told me to call her for whatever reason. I can get the staff here to put you on sick leave, with pay of course.”