I took a deep breath and, realizing there was nothing else to do, reached in and pulled out a huge stack of files, about a quarter of what was in the top drawer. Carrying them to the desk, I laid them carefully to one side. I took off my jacket and draped it over the back of the chair, rolled up my sleeves, grabbed the top file, and sat down.
At first, nothing made any sense. There was a lot of scientific jargon concerning blood types, equations, formulas, and testimony concerning individuals who'd been studied. The best I could do was scan as much as I could and keep a lookout for something that rang a bell or that made things clearer.
Somewhere well into the second half hour, I started skipping files, simply glancing down whole sheets without actually reading, jumping around from file to file until the stack beside me on the desk became two stacks and then three and then just a mess of folders. Just when I thought that perhaps my trip to the ERO, calling Hal in from Brooklyn, the whole elaborate con was going to go to waste, I finally picked up on the thread of something that seemed familiar. I recalled Stintson mentioning Agarias's experiment with twins, and from the look of the text I was then scanning, I had blundered my way into the middle of that research.
I did some backtracking, found the origin of the research in question, and then moved forward. Even though my eyes were weary by then, and my back hurt from leaning over the desk, I was infused with a new energy and clarity of vision. And then I caught sight of the name Shaw. I read on at a rapid rate as it became clear to me that I had before me certain pieces of the puzzle.
It was precisely when I uncovered an interesting fact concerning Morgan that I heard the sound of footsteps outside the door. A key slid into the lock from outside. There was no time for me to even get out of my chair. The door opened a sliver, tentatively at first, and then swung all the way in. Standing in the entrance, smiling, was Agarias. I stood up, thinking there was going to be trouble.
He tilted his head downward to look at me over the rims of his round glasses, and said, "If it isn't the spiritual savant of the subcontinent. Ondoo, is it?"
"What have you done with Schell?" I asked.
"He's in my keeping. Safe, for now."
Seeing he was alone, I started to move around the desk. All I wanted to do was punch him.
"Please sit down," he said.
When I kept advancing, he added, "If you'd like to see Mr. Schell again, I'd sit down."
I stopped in my tracks, unclenched my fist, and backed off.
"Sit down and I'll tell you anything you'd like to know, really. I've nothing to hide. Let me warn you, though, if you can't control yourself, I've got a gun, and I wouldn't mind shooting you." He patted the side pocket of his jacket as he took a seat on the couch.
"How did you know I was here?" I asked.
"After you and Schell went to see Stintson, I figured he would lead you here."
"Stintson?" I said in a weak attempt to cover the truth.
"Yes, poor Stintson. It seems he'll be all over the front page tomorrow. A robbery, I'm afraid."
I closed my eyes momentarily at the knowledge that we had been responsible for the man's death. "Okay," I finally said. "All I want is Schell. Tell me what I need to do to get him back, and we'll forget all about you."
"Simple," said Agarias, "I want Morgan Shaw. An even exchange."
"Why?"
"She's critical to my work," he said.
"She's legally your daughter, isn't she?" I said.
Agaias nodded. "Adopted. She and her brother. The twins of twins born of twins."
"What is it about twins?"
"Good question," he said, shaking his finger at me. "We know that incest begets birth anomalies, correct?"
I nodded.
"This is why it's illegal to marry, say, your sister, or even your first cousin. But I discovered this family out in the woods, where the laws of civilization were largely ignored. I waited until the children came of age and then, shall we say, persuaded them to couple. Imagine now, if incest between first cousins, brothers and sisters, causes mutations, just think about what the union of twins might produce. You see? When I first stumbled upon these degenerates, I noticed something in the early bloodwork, some anomaly. Over the two successive generations it has become more pronounced."
"Speaking of mutations," I said, "what exactly is that creature you sent to murder Parks and visit us at Schell's?"
"That's my boy, Merlin," said Agarias, smiling. "He's quite a physical specimen, isn't he?"
"He's deformed," I said.
"Now, now," he said. "Merlin is a very special individual. Granted, he's not the most handsome fellow. But take, for instance, his skin. He's not albino. Albino is the lack of pigmentation. His pigment is white. The other thing about him, and this is most important, he's got a blood type like none other."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"I mean his blood type is unique. If you were to test it, it would register nothing, not A, A negative, B, B negative, AB, or O. Only he and one other person possess it."
"His sister," I said. "Morgan."
"You're shrewd for a wetback," he said.
"Not shrewd enough," I said. "Why exactly do you want her?"
"Morgan, Merlin, I'm sure you didn't catch the Arthurian reference," he said.
I shook my head, even though I had.
"I adopted them both but decided early on that I would work only with the male child. I've trained him from birth, physically of course, like a circus animal. Mentally he's of subpar intelligence. But it was his blood that interested me most.
"We need manpower in this country to save us from economic decline, but unfortunately, we're lacking in the right type of men. Those with Anglo blood, our rightful forefathers, will build a great civilization here. We need to deport and eradicate all those of weaker bloodlines. But those of mixed bloodlines, it may be possible to salvage some of them in order to create workers. My theory is that Merlin's special blood might negate, might cleanse, the tainted blood of half breeds, like the Barnes girl. In other words, wash the Jew out of her."
"And so she was part of an experiment. You transfused her, and she died. How many others have you killed with these experiments?"
"Believe me," he said, moving to the edge of his seat, "we're making progress. I think the answer lies within Morgan. I should not have ignored her and concentrated on her brother. I now believe she's got the blood ingredient necessary to accomplish my goal."
"How can anyone who treats children the way you do create a great civilization?" I said.
"Oh, do I sense you disapprove?" he said, feigning concern. "My work is far more important than individual lives."
"What if I go to the police?"
"Think through it, my boy. You're an illegal. They're more likely to deport you than to listen to you. And I have powerful benefactors."
"There's just one problem, Mr. Agarias."
"Yes?"
"I don't know where Morgan is. She took off the other day after Schell and I ran into your friends out by her cabin. She didn't want us to get hurt."
"Very sad," he said. "Poor Mr. Schell. It seems he's conned his last old lady."
"What if we can find her?" I asked.
"I can give you three days. After that, I'll rerun the experiment and transfuse Schell. He is half Jewish you know, on his mother's side."
"No," I said, "he never mentioned it."
A PATRIOT
Three days," he repeated. "I'll contact you at the end of that time. If you have her, we'll set up a meeting. If you don't, Schell gets the needle, and my boy Merlin will be out to pay you another visit. Next time I'll instruct him to bring me the head of that big oaf of Schell's."