‘What of Herr Cole?’ a man asked nervously in a heavy German accent. ‘He is dead?’
‘I’m afraid not,’ Payne answered. ‘He made it out.’
‘Tomas?’ a woman’s voice shouted.
‘He made it out as well,’ Payne assured them.
A murmur of relief ran through the crowd.
‘Does anyone know where the tunnel under the building ends?’ Jones asked.
A slight man in his fifties stepped forward. His accent gave away his Swiss ancestry. ‘I’m afraid none of us were permitted into the basement. Only Mr Cole and his men were allowed on that level. We know nothing of a tunnel, or anything else that took place down there.’
From the tone of his voice, Payne and Jones could tell that the scientists understood the implications of what happened in the basement. No doubt they had sent countless test subjects to the lower level for disposal. How that was accomplished and who was in charge of the actual disposal was a mystery that none of them were eager to uncover.
A third man, younger than most and of Asian descent, approached the group and spoke to them in a language that neither Payne nor Jones could understand. The Swiss scientist nodded his agreement with whatever the man was talking about.
‘Doctor …’ Jones said, looking for the Swiss scientist’s name.
‘Yuler,’ the scientist offered. ‘Roger Yuler.’
‘Dr Yuler, what’s he saying?’
Yuler explained. ‘He says that a tunnel makes sense. It explains the sudden arrival of our patient, even at the oddest of hours.’
Payne frowned. ‘Your patient? What are you talking about? I thought this was an experimental facility.’
Yuler shook his head. ‘We are studying experimental sciences, but this is a medical facility. Though we are limited to specific areas of treatment, I assure you that our sole intent is to offer aid.’ His tone was now defensive, as if he were trying to justify the secretive nature of the compound, even though they weren’t working there by choice.
‘I’m confused. What were you treating?’ Payne asked.
‘Cancer,’ Yuler replied.
‘That doesn’t explain this,’ Jones chimed in. ‘A lot of people are treating cancer. And they aren’t doing it at gunpoint inside a secret laboratory in the middle of nowhere.’
‘A lot of people are treating it,’ Yuler agreed. ‘But I assure you that no one is treating it quite like we are.’
‘Keep talking,’ Jones pressed.
‘Cancer is, at its basest level, a mutation. A cellular anomaly that turns the body against itself. Its causes are broad and varied, but the treatment is almost always the same: remove or reduce the affected areas, counter the secondary infections and other ailments with pharmaceuticals, and hope that the cancer retreats into a state of remission.’
‘You’ve come up with something more effective?’ Payne guessed.
‘Not me personally,’ Yuler replied. ‘I was merely a consultant. Tomas Berglund is the true mastermind behind our therapy.’
‘Which is what?’ Jones asked.
‘Rather than treat the effects of the cancer after the cells have mutated, Tomas envisioned a method of preventing the abnormalities altogether.’
‘How?’ Payne asked.
‘Nanotechnology,’ Yuler answered. ‘He developed a microscopic vessel — essentially an artificial cell — that could not only eradicate cancer cells, but could also seek out other, precancerous cells before they could transform into something life-threatening. These synthetic entities could actually be programmed to detect the precursors of the cancerous formation: chemical flags that signal the forthcoming malignancy.’
‘You could wipe out cancer before it even existed,’ Jones stated in fascination.
‘Theoretically, yes, with a high enough dosage. But delivering enough of the agent to search every part of the body proved impossible. The immune system interprets the introduction of that many foreign bodies as an all-out invasion. The resulting defense is more than the body can handle.’
‘The therapy ends up killing the patient,’ Payne summarized.
‘Yes, but only when we attempted to immunize the whole body. By concentrating the therapy to one organ or another — in other words, localized treatment — our methods proved almost one hundred percent effective. In clinical trials, the primary concern was not the conflict between the treatment and the immune system; it was establishing guidelines for a proper dosage. Fortunately, there are a number of factors to guide us. In real-world applications, a patient’s family medical history would be considered.’
‘So, localized treatments were working on your patient?’ Jones asked.
Yuler shook his head. ‘Unfortunately, they were not an option. When our patient came to us, his cancer had already metastasized throughout his body. Our only option was to alter the primary course of therapy.’
‘In what way?’ Payne wondered.
‘We first allowed the nano-cells to locate and eradicate the known cancers. Then, to stop his body from destroying itself, we reprogrammed a second batch of nano-cells to destroy his white blood cells, lymphocytes, T-cells, and all his other defenses.’
‘You replaced his immune system?’
‘We did.’
‘And now your technology is the only thing keeping him alive.’
‘It is,’ Yuler admitted. ‘And the effects are finite. The nano-cells cannot replicate, nor can they function in perpetuity. If the inoperative nano-cells are not continuously flushed out of the system and replaced by new nano-cells, something as innocuous as the common cold would have devastating effects.’
‘Jesus,’ Jones mumbled under his breath.
Payne remained focused. ‘That explains the what, but what about the who? Someone went to great lengths to establish this facility and keep you all here. We need to know who it was.’
Yuler agreed. ‘Our patient was Harrison Zidane.’
61
As a young man, Zidane had worked for an industrial radiography company owned by his father. His job was to transport canisters of material used in X-ray technology — the derivation known as iridium 192 — to and from the various facilities that produced and utilized the radioactive isotope.
During one of his deliveries in northern Africa, a canister of iridium somehow fell from his truck. It was discovered by two children, who played with it for five days before presenting it to their grandmother. Unfortunately, the radiation damage caused by the iridium led to severe chemical burns in the case of the children, as well as thyroid and breast cancer in several relatives and neighbors. At the time, it was assumed the kids must have pried the canister open or it had been damaged when it had fallen from the truck. After further study, it was determined that the company had improperly contained its product.
The family had been exposed to the iridium for less than a week.
Zidane had been transporting the element for more than a year.
His contact with the radiation had been intermittent, but the sum total of its effect would make itself known. By the age of forty, Zidane had undergone a multitude of biopsies to remove tumors throughout his body. By fifty, he had been diagnosed with a wide variety of cancers. Though he had managed to evade an immediate death sentence — the cancers were fought with aggressive surgery and intensive chemotherapy — the doctors did not give him much time.
Determined to live, Zidane used the modest inheritance from his father’s estate to finance anything that might discover a cure for his ailments. Along the way, his efforts made him a vast fortune and eventually led him to Tomas Berglund, who gave him something much more important than money.