Soon more security arrived and hauled the man off. Satisfied Danielle wasn’t involved, Zane turned and walked down the side of the room until he reached the far end. Once there, he leaned against one of the large columns and turned his attention to the stage. The entire room was dark now, save for a spotlight that shone on Brehmer.
“And now, ladies and gentlemen, this is the moment you’ve all been waiting for. What you’re about to see is the product of two decades of research. But before I show you, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that none of this would be possible without your help. As you can imagine, our work costs a lot of money, and it wouldn’t have been possible without all of you. So, let me be clear. I appreciate each and every one of you.”
There was a light round of applause. Zane saw movement in the darkness at the back of the stage, but he couldn’t see what was going on.
After allowing the clapping to continue for a few seconds, Brehmer held up a hand. “And now, without further ado, let me introduce a soldier of the future, an indestructible warrior who will revolutionize battlefields of the future. Ladies and gentlemen, please meet DH10!”
As Zane watched, the spotlight moved off of Brehmer and toward the back of the stage. A wave of excited anticipation ran through the crowd as the light neared its destination. Brehmer was a talented showman. The presentation was so good it felt like a Broadway production.
A series of gasps swept across the room as the spotlight illuminated a large glass container being wheeled across the stage. Zane’s eyes widened in surprise. Behind the glass was a large man dressed in long cotton pants and a tight T-shirt. His head was covered by a futuristic helmet with a face plate made of tinted glass. Zane had originally thought the man was standing, but as the container neared the front of the stage, he saw the man was reclined against a metal board.
Zane frowned. Why wasn’t he moving? Then he noticed the thin bands affixed to the man’s wrists and ankles. Restraints. The man wasn’t here by choice. He was a captive.
When the glass cage came to a stop behind the podium, Brehmer swept his arm toward the man inside. “Isn’t he beautiful?”
Not sure how to react, some in the crowd responded with nervous applause.
Now with a better view, Zane focused on the man once again. He was grotesquely large. Brehmer was slightly over six feet tall, and the man inside the glass was at least four or five inches taller than him. But it wasn’t just the man’s height that made him stand out. His body was so muscled that it almost looked fake. It reminded Zane of the suits worn by superheroes in movies, only this was actual flesh. Those muscles weren’t developed in a gym. They were developed in a lab.
A blond-haired man carrying two microphones joined Brehmer on the stage. He gave one to Brehmer and kept the other for himself.
Turning to the crowd, the blond man said, “Now that you’ve had a chance to see DH10, we’d like to go conduct a little Q and A in order to provide you with some valuable information. I’m going to ask Dr. Brehmer a few questions, and if we have time, we may even take a few questions from some of you.” He looked at Brehmer. “You ready to get started?”
Brehmer smiled. “I am. Please, ask away.”
“I know some people out there may be concerned about what they see up here on the stage. After all, this man is behind an inch-thick plate of glass. He’s also wearing what looks like the kind of helmet you’d see on Star Wars.” There was a smattering of laughter in the crowd. “Should they be worried?”
“Not at all,” Brehmer began. “First, let me make something very clear.” He pointed at the glass cage. “DH10 is a human being, just like you and me. He’s here voluntarily, and the things you see around him are there for his own protection.”
“I see,” the blond-haired man said, feigning interest. “Can you expound on that a little bit?”
Zane caught movement inside the glass. The captive had clenched his fist. It had happened so fast that most probably hadn’t noticed it, but Zane had. A chill ran down his spine as he realized the movement had come in response to something one of the men had said.
“Of course, I’d be happy to explain. First of all, let’s understand that editing the genes of human beings is in its very early stages. We understand quite a bit, but there is so much that we don’t know. Having said that, sometimes when we produce something good, there are unintended consequences.”
“I believe you told me it was like side effects to medication.”
Brehmer nodded. “Precisely. And despite our best efforts, some of our subjects have experienced a number of these side effects. For example, DH10 has a greater sensitivity to light and loud noises. The thick glass helps cut down on sound, and the tinted helmet protects his eyes from bright light.”
“Is this a temporary condition?”
“We believe so, yes. In fact, we have some of the most brilliant minds on planet earth looking into solutions right now.”
Dr. Noah Lind. That was why he had been taken by force. He was probably the only one who could sort out some of the editing flaws.
“Thank you, Dr. Brehmer. Now, I think some people might want to know why we haven’t used this man’s name. Can you tell us why he’s called DH10? Isn’t that a little impersonal?”
“It’s a good question. First of all, every human volunteer has a legal right to privacy. We have to protect the names of—”
Suddenly, the spotlight went out, plunging the room into darkness. It was clearly not a part of Brehmer’s presentation. His voice had cut off so abruptly that it could only mean one thing — the power had been cut.
Alarmed by the sudden turn of events, some began to cry out. Others began to move around in the darkness, bumping into each other and creating more panic.
Zane wondered what might have caused the outage. It might have been the storm, although he could no longer hear rain pelting the roof. It was also possible there was a malfunction of the electrical system. He doubted the island’s utility infrastructure was reliable. Who knew, it might even be foul play. And if that was the case, who had done it?
Whatever the reason, he needed to get moving. The darkness would give him the perfect cover to begin his search of the building. Zane turned and pushed his way through the panicked crowd. Some were trying to use their phones, and the light from their screens was enough to help him move in the right direction.
Zane had just reached the back of the room when he heard a strange noise coming from the stage: loud thumps that were so powerful they seemed to reverberate through the building’s structure. That could mean only one thing — DH10 was trying to break free. Whatever had killed the power must have also unlocked his restraints.
As Zane started to walk off, he heard a new sound that raised the hair on the back of his neck.
It was the sound of cracking glass.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
IMPATIENT AT THE system’s slow progress, Jia checked the screen again. Fortunately, the download was almost complete. In another forty-seven seconds, all of Brehmer’s critical research would be downloaded to the flash drive. Once that happened, she would be able to focus all of her attention on getting off the island alive. Based on what she had seen of the guards, that shouldn’t be hard.
As she waited for the malware to finish its work, Jia thought back on what she had done five minutes earlier. Before starting the download, she had initiated what her tech team called the nuclear option. First, she had used her malicious software to open all security barriers throughout the compound. That meant any electronically controlled doors or restraints would be disengaged. That in turn meant that any subjects — human or otherwise — would be released.