Bobby saved Eva and accidentally killed one of the hunters by pushing her into the radioactive cooling pond. Eva suffered a severe injury to her leg, and died of a staph infection at the hospital. Bobby was so heartbroken he had trouble getting out of bed for the next six months.
As he wedged a roll of toilet paper into his duffel bag, Bobby wondered who else knew the phrase Genesis II. Dr. Arkady had died two years ago. There were two possibilities. First, Dr. Arkady’s personal assistant might have heard it. Her name was Ksenia Melnik. She was a sweet woman. Bobby had liked her. And she had a son, Denys, a few years older than Bobby. He was a jerk. Bobby had liked him less.
Could Dr. Arkady have given Ksenia Melnik the second half of the formula? Could the e-mail have come from Denys? Why would Dr. Arkady divide the formula in two? Because he was an eccentric old man, Bobby thought. Or, for some more logical reason that wasn’t clear yet. There was a method to the madness of brilliant old men. There was still another possibility.
There could have been another patient. Another boy.
The problem with both those possibilities was they didn’t explain why the e-mail came from Fukushima. He couldn’t shake the explanation he and Nadia had imagined. That there was a second scientist in Japan, conducting the same experiments as Dr. Arkady, the two of them in constant correspondence until Dr. Arkady’s death. The timeline of events suggested the two scientists would have begun their collaboration before the Fukushima accident took place, but that didn’t make it less likely. Japanese fears of nuclear disaster ran deep. Bobby knew this from school. They were rooted in Japan’s World War II experiences in two cities — Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
“What are you doing?” Nadia appeared in his doorway holding the handle to an older suitcase on wheels.
“I’m done.” Bobby zipped the duffel bag, slung it on his back, and let the strap fall across his chest.
“That’s not what I mean. Why are you taking that ratty bag when I bought you a beautiful piece of luggage?”
Bobby didn’t want to tell her the truth. He didn’t want to scare her. “Because it’s so beautiful. I don’t want to scuff it up. I’d rather look at it for a while and then use it once the novelty wears off.”
Nadia flashed a smile. “Oh sure. That makes sense.” She sealed her lips tight. “Unpack. I bought it so you could use it, not look at it. Let’s go.”
“I’m not taking the suitcase. Please. Let’s not argue over this.”
“Why? You can’t seriously be concerned you’re going to nick it.”
Bobby had already lied to her about Genesis II. He didn’t want to lie to her again. He took a deep breath and exhaled. “It’ll be hard to run with a suitcase.”
“What?”
“It’s easier to run with the bag.”
“Run? What are you talking about? Who’s going to be running?”
“We are.”
Nadia frowned. Suspicion spread across her face. “Why do you say that?”
“If the formula is real, someone else probably wants it. And if someone else wants it, we’re going to have to run. Just like we had to run from Ukraine.”
“We’re going to Japan. Not Ukraine.”
“Doesn’t matter where we’re going. The formula’s the thing. Right?”
“If it’s real.”
“Yeah. Right. If it’s real.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Do you know something I don’t know?”
Bobby shook his head. “No.”
Bobby kept a straight face but he could feel her eyes penetrate him. They’d only known each other for a year but they’d endured the trip to New York from Chornobyl and his murder charge. Nadia could read Bobby better than his teammates’ parents could read their kids.
“You were excited when you first got home from jail,” Nadia said, “talking to me like normal. But ever since the e-mail came you’ve clammed up. And now you’re packing as though you’re going to need to run.”
Bobby tried to hold her eyes but couldn’t. His father had been a master con artist. Bobby was discovering he was his father’s son, capable of concocting plots and lying to anyone necessary to extricate himself from a dangerous situation. But he couldn’t stand lying to Nadia. He owed her his life.
“You do know something,” Nadia said. “Don’t you?”
Bobby saw the knowing look in her eyes. On the one hand he didn’t want to discuss the treatments with her, relive the horrors he’d shared with Eva. On the other hand, he longed for her to push him a little more so he’d tell her the truth.
Nadia walked up to him and put her hands on his shoulders. He’d told her never to touch him when she’d done the same thing at the Kyiv train station. But now he didn’t mind it so much. In fact, although he wouldn’t have admitted it to anyone, he found it comforting.
“All we have is each other,” she said. “If you know something it has to be related to the e-mail.” Bobby could see her mind working furiously. She was so smart. “The name. Genesis II. You recognized it. It means something to you. Doesn’t it?”
Bobby nodded before he could decide whether he wanted to or not. He held his breath, waiting for her to yell at him, but she didn’t.
Instead, she patted his shoulder. “That’s okay. I’m sure you had your reasons. The important thing now is we’re getting on a plane in two and a half hours to go to Tokyo. I need to know if we’re in danger. If Johnny’s in danger. Who or what is Genesis II?”
Bobby told Nadia about Dr. Arkady, Eva, and the treatments.
“Genesis II was what Dr. Arkady called us,” Bobby said. “Eva and me. He said we would be a fresh start for mankind. The person with the second locket, who signed the e-mail, the one Nakamura is calling Genesis II, has to be someone who knows about us. Who knows about our treatments.”
Bobby told Nadia about Ksenia Melnik, Dr. Arkady’s assistant, and her son, Denys.
“Why didn’t you tell me this right away?”
Bobby felt himself blushing. “The treatments. We promised Dr. Arkady to keep them confidential. I didn’t want anyone to know. I had some kind of injections. I don’t even know what they were.” He didn’t mention the side effects. They weren’t relevant to their trip and the mere thought of them made him nervous. And he didn’t need to be nervous before a fourteen-hour flight.
“And that’s it?” Nadia said. “There’s nothing else. No other reason why you think…” She eyed his duffel bag. “We’re going to have to run.”
Bobby shook his head. “That’s it. Someone knows about the formula. There’s going to be competition for the formula. We’re going to have to run.”
Nadia smiled. “Japan is one of the safest countries in the world. Tokyo is one of the most crowded cities in the world. We’ll be okay. But you can take your duffel bag if it makes you most comfortable.”
Bobby nodded at her suitcase. “You should switch to a bag like mine. There’s still time.”
Nadia laughed. “Thanks but I’ll be okay.”
Her cell phone rang. She answered it, thanked the person on the other end, and hung up.
“Our car’s here,” she said. She turned and grabbed her suitcase. “Let’s go to Tokyo.”
They took the elevator to the ground floor. The doors opened. Two men stood in front of the front desk speaking to the doorman. One was lean with gray hair. He wore an expensive blue suit and tie. The other was bald with cinderblock shoulders. He also wore a fancy suit. It was black with narrow white stripes, and stretched taut against the giant’s frame, looked like designer prison wear.