Chapter Fifteen
It wasn't that he was in a hurry to be captured by whichever sadistic bastards had experimented on Jacob, apparently affecting both his size and his ability to reason; but he needed to find the Admiral before calling in backup since it was Lee's signal Kowalski was tracking. It had been a definite change in plans to issue the last signal he'd sent, but he trusted that Ski would understand and respond appropriately. The next code he transmitted would depend solely upon what he found once he located Harry.
To this end, he was following Jacob back to the building when the giant suddenly stopped and pointed to an effectively hidden camera; its presence answering the question of how their whereabouts had been so handily made known.
"Is there another way in?" Lee whispered.
"Only this way," Jacob answered.
"Then let's make this look good," Lee suggested. "You give me a good push in front of the camera, and then lead me back into the building like your prisoner."
Jacob lowered his eyes, visibly concerned.
"It will be okay," he promised.
A moment later, the deed done, Lee was manhandled to his feet and marched into the building, all under the watchful eye of the camera.
Once inside, he played the part of a prisoner and avoided conversation with his 'captor'. Jacob also understood the stakes and had reverted to his role, giving no indication that the two were working together.
Lee kept track of the twists and turns of the hallways, which ran deeper into side of the mountain, until he was brought into what appeared to be a control room with computer stations and multiple monitors, one of which was a satellite view of Seaview. He was brought to stand in front of an apparent officer and two subordinates.
"Welcome, Captain Crane," the officer greeted in a fashion that Lee knew was the exact opposite of the cordial welcome. "I am Colonel Zagmaan, and you are my prisoner. Search him," he ordered.
Jacob backed away while the two underlings searched and unloaded everything from his pockets.
The officer looked over the contents and frowned. "No radio, Captain Crane?"
"I travel light," he deadpanned to the colonel's deep frown.
Zagmaan studied his face, not believing Crane and Nelson had come to the island on an obvious fact-finding mission without a radio. "Hmm," he said thoughtfully, turning and walking a few steps away. "But did you lose it… or did you hide it?"
Lee made no attempt to answer the question one way or the other.
The colonel apparently didn't like being stonewalled and signaled his men with just a nod. Immediately, Lee felt the grip on his arms tighten.
"Garrud," Zagmaan called, issuing a one-word order which was clearly understood by all in the room.
Jacob obeyed, as much a result of the behavior controller's past lessons as from knowing that he must not give away that he was in league with the prisoner, and stepped closer; his size effectively providing the intimidating motivation the colonel intended.
"Now, Crane, tell me about your radio."
Lee returned an icy glare that annoyed the colonel, his cheek twitching at the defiance.
"Very well… Garrud," he said simply.
Jacob stepped in front of Lee, his face stoic but his eyes full of confusion at the predicament he found himself.
Lee looked up at the giant and twitched a small half-smile then tightened his stomach. He hoped he had conveyed to Jacob to do what needed to be done and his answer was a deep punch in his gut that doubled him over gasping for air.
The colonel waited as his prisoner regained both his breath and his ability to speak. "The radio, Captain," he inquired once more.
Lee briefly considered holding out once more to make it look convincing, but he needed all his ribs in place to find Harry and affect an escape. His delay however was apparently considered defiance by the colonel.
"Garrud, again," Zagmaan ordered.
Lee looked into Jacob's eyes, the giant more confused than ever, and frankly, he didn't relish another blow to his gut, so he spoke up.
"Wait!" he interrupted, dramatically stopping Jacob's next blow. "I did have a radio; I lost it when your giant attacked me," he said through shallow breaths.
"I see," the colonel said contemplating the answer, while studying Lee's eyes and deciding if he did, indeed, look like a man desperate to avoid another round with his giant. He decided it really didn't matter since he was their prisoner anyway, and issued his next order with arrogant resolve. "No matter; take him to the cell."
The two subordinates each took an arm and guided him, not-so-gently, out the door, while Lee held his sore gut with one hand, hoping his incarceration would put him once step closer to finding Admiral Nelson.
Jacob waited for his order and then followed dutifully; while his brute strength was utilized more by Dr. Barnes, his services were often dismissed in favor of the Colonel's own security force. He left holding back the deep regret that his life was out of his control and that he had struck the only true friend he'd had since arriving on this hell-island.
# # # # #
Just when he thought he'd seen the worst of her atrocities, Belinda Barnes surprised him yet again. He rose slowly to his feet, careful not to invoke Bremer's ire, though at present he looked more like a scared rabbit than a raging bull.
"Behavior control?" he questioned distastefully, but showing no signs of aggression that the giant could misinterpret.
Belinda rolled her eyes and shrugged. "The device is obviously not my innovation. My employer provided them and they are quite effective. The wristband is the receiver; once activated, it carries an electrical signal through the nerves. Once it travels up the arm, the shock is disseminated throughout the entire body via the nervous system. It's a simple, but effective pain/reward system. I control the pain and the reward is when the discomfort stops," she said as cold and heartless as the worst of mankind's depravity. She smirked and walked up to the giant, reaching up and placing her hand on his cheek in false affection. "Bremer knows I only want what's best for him. Don't you, my giant friend?" she asked, blatantly mocking the man's perception of her false concern.
The giant's eyes softened for the physical touch and she pulled away, demonstrating her control over his fragile emotions. It was mental manipulation at its worst.
"Just like Pavlov's dogs," she stated victoriously.
Harry stared in disbelief. A lot could happen in five years, but in the time they had worked together, he hadn't seen one indication that her political or world views could possibly allow for the malevolence which she was now a willing participate. And since she was presently willing to talk without reservation, he posed the next question bluntly.
"Do you really care about this new world order you're helping to bring about?" he asked pointedly. "Or are you just drunk on power?"
Her eyes narrowed at the question, but before she could answer, an officer dressed in a black uniform entered the lab and whispered something in her ear. She smiled at the news, issued orders that Harry couldn't hear, and then turned back toward Nelson.
"To answer your question, Harry; my work is valued here and that's more than I can say about how I was treated by you and everyone else that blacklisted me. Let's just say that I've been won over by my employer's vision; but it really doesn't matter what world order is in power… as long as I get to hurt you. It's a win-win situation for both me and my employer."
Harry was unfazed by her words. At this point, nothing she said shocked him anymore, and bluntly asked his next question. "Let's just talk about the elephant in the room. Shall we?" he said with piercing eyes. "Just who is your employer?"
Her smile grew wider and more devious. "I'd rather thought you'd had figured it out by now," she taunted.
"Humor me," Harry replied, quite sure he knew the answer for the clues she had given thus far.
She locked eyes with him, wanting desperately to tell him just to prove how much the tables had turned and just who was in control, but then thought better of it. Her employer had insisted on secrecy, and even though the need for revenge burned in her like a hot iron, she knew the revelation wasn't hers to give.
"You'll find out soon enough," she said dismissively and then turned toward Bremer. "Take him back to his cell," she ordered and then left without another word.
# # # # #
Harry offered no resistance as Bremer led him back to the room he had awakened in several hours ago. As they approached, he noticed a second giant standing guard out front. He thought it was curious to guard an empty room and hoped it didn't mean what he thought it meant.
The two giants offered no greeting or any indication that they had a connection of either friendship or even station in life. But when Bremer reached for the door, Harry spotted something in the second giant's eyes. It was different from the vacant, lost eyes of the giant who had escorted him here; they seemed to hold more life, vitality, and purpose.
Bremer opened the door and Harry walked in, his earlier concern confirmed when he saw Lee, somewhat battered and bruised, but apparently well. He was pacing the floor, but turned as soon as the door opened.
"Admiral," he greeted relieved.
"Lee, I'd say I was glad to see you, but I rather hoped you wouldn't be captured," Harry replied bluntly, followed by a thin grin of relief.
"Well, you know me. Walked right into a giant, and didn't know what hit me," he explained, his eyes trailing upwards to clue Harry to the camera watching them.
Harry did, indeed, know Lee Crane, and he knew full-well that he wasn't easily subdued or captured. He casually rubbed the side of his neck and looked up clandestinely, a nearly imperceptible nod conveying his understanding.
Now, that they knew they were under surveillance, their next words were chosen carefully.
"We're in quite a pickle," Harry noted, his simple observation effectively allowing Lee to take the lead in the conversation.
"I'm afraid so, Sir. I lost the radio in the jungle and even if we had it, Seaview's in no condition to help," he said throwing up a frustrated hand in the air with the necessary dramatics to make his point.
His back to the camera, half of a grin appeared then disappeared as Harry interpreted Lee's statement in lieu of what he knew to be true. First, it was highly unlikely that Lee had "lost" the transmitter; second, though Seaview was undergoing repairs, she was completely sea worthy; thirdly, Lee had quite purposely left out the fact that Kowalski was manning the flying sub; and fourthly, Lee Crane never approached a covert mission without a backup plan of some kind.
Lee paced the floor and then seemed to deflate, leaning against the large stainless steel gurney along the wall. "Do you know what's going on here, Sir?"
Now, it was Harry's turn to fill Lee in, only in his case, he was free to tell what he had learned since Belinda had shared so freely.
"It's exactly what we thought it was; a research facility," Harry said, leaning against the table beside him. "As you've probably already guessed, they're using the fissure elements to produce the giants we've seen."
"…As a super-human soldier force?" Lee interjected.
"That's one of their goals, but they're also trying to engineer a bizarre feudal system to usher in a new world order."
Lee blew out a breath of disbelief. He hadn't expected that new piece of information.
"They're controlling the men with behavior conditioning," the admiral continued. "The wristband is the receiver; it transmits a signal that induces severe pain."
Lee had witnessed the wristband in action, but he couldn't tell Harry about Jacob at this point.
"I just met a Colonel Zagmaan; he looks like he's in charge here."
"Perhaps of security," Harry informed. "The one in charge is the head researcher, Belinda. Dr. Belinda Barnes," he added.
Lee raised an eyebrow. "You sound like you know her?" he noticed perceptively.
"We have a history together, though I do believe we're remembering things quite differently." Harry paused but then elaborated with the information Lee needed. "It was in the early days of the Institute," he elaborated. "Seaview was nearly completed, and NIMR was formed to ensure our investors that, though Seaview would retain a reserve status under COMSUBPAC, her main mission was oceanic exploration and discovery. To this end, we took on a variety of projects that would serve as our first voyage missions. I worked closely with the various projects, but as Seaview's sea trials approached, I needed to trim away some of the research. I was extremely interested in Dr. Reisner's food-from-plankton project and chose it over Dr. Barnes' project."***
"I take it she wasn't happy with it?" Lee surmised.
"She seemed to understand at the time," Harry replied, lowering his head slightly and pursing his lips. "But apparently, she feels rejected by me professionally and believes that she was blacklisted from funding because of our disassociation. She flat-out stated that the so-called blacklist is what led her to this work," he said, laying it out with the least amount of emotion he could, though Lee could see his personal conflict.
"I don't know what she's tried to lay at your feet, Admiral, but her 'work' here was directly responsible for the sinking of four ships with dozens of lives lost; not to mention, what she's done to make those giants," he said, carefully choosing his words to not give away his alliance with Jacob. "Disappointment alone can't account for the amount of disregard for human life we've seen here," he argued passionately.
Harry nodded, accepting his friend's observation and knowing it to be true, but the thought that he was even partially responsible for her actions weighed heavily on him.
"At any rate, the question begs how she amassed the amount of resources to do all this?" Lee inquired, moving the conversation along.
"She's made it clear that she's not the mastermind. She was employed to this end."
"But who has the resources to pull something like this off? The money, this facility, a submarine…" Lee listed off. "Zagmaan isn't PR and neither is his uniform," he noted.
"I can only think of one person with the resources and the world vision for such monstrosities," Harry answered, looking straight at Lee.
"We haven't heard from him in quite a while," Lee commented.
"Yes, but it's just the kind of game Gamma plays," the admiral noted. "A very serious game… a very deadly game," he finished gravely.
# # # # #
Belinda watched the monitor as Nelson and Crane talked in the cell. Their conversation hadn't offered any new information, but it did confirm that Seaview wasn't a threat at the moment and knew that information would be well-received by Dr. Gamma. She frowned when Harry described their past association and her mood darkened all the more when Crane dismissed her pain as mere "disappointment."
She remembered vividly how some of her colleagues warned her against having her name connected with "Nelson's Folly", but she had lent her good name to the fledgling Institute as a credible scientist anyway. That in and of itself, should have been enough to keep Nelson's loyalty. As far as Harriman Nelson was concerned, he knew only of her desire to understand the large, docile creatures more fully, and in that regard, she had never shown her hand otherwise. His rejection of her project had cost her a very lucrative payoff from a "source" who sought to develop a serum from the squalene of newborn basking sharks. The under-the-table payoff would have ensured her research project's funding for years, where she would have been free to help develop other commercial products more socially palatable than what her source had in mind. After all, she wasn't the one developing the interrogation serum; she would have simply been the middle person for an ingredient they claimed was necessary.
Initially, the cordial disassociation hadn't been more than a minor setback, but the medical and research world was changing quickly, and as synthetic options became more popular, the need for her specific research became less important. She struggled to stay relevant with the current advancements and refused to take on other projects offered her; consequently, refusing also to take responsibility for the downward spiral of her career. Eventually, Harriman Nelson became the focal point of her disgruntlement, as jealousy, mixed with her own lack of success, rewrote the facts of her failed career.
Every time Harry was praised; every newspaper or magazine article published; every passing mention of his name, brought her toxic contempt closer to the surface. And it wasn't just Harriman Nelson that she hated; it was everything associated with his success, including his creation, Seaview.
Leaning forward, she watched the interaction between the two men on the monitor. Their professional respect was apparent, but their mutual concern and camaraderie was noticeable and sincere. A smile formed and grew wider as she leaned back and chuckled, knowing exactly her next move.
# # # # #
The door opened, drawing both men's attention to the door as one of Zagmaan's guards opened the door.
"You," he said, pointing toward Lee, "Come with me."
"What's the meaning of this?" Harry demanded, stepping forward, but forced to stop abruptly when Bremer responded with a protective step forward.
"It's all right, Admiral," Lee said attempting to diffuse the volatile situation and stepped into the hall, leaving a fuming Admiral Nelson pacing the cell behind him.
# # # # #
Lee was led into a room only a little bigger than the cell he had just left. A large stainless steel gurney was the center focal point in the room. Small cabinets held medical supplies behind glass cabinets, not unlike the ones aboard Seaview. A small table sat to the side and held surgical implements lined up and ready for use.
A push from behind moved him further in the room and internal alarms were ringing as loudly as if he were the bell ringer of a medieval bell tower; he threw an elbow into the security guard and headed for the door, but the giant, Bremer, growled and stepped in to block the doorway. Lee had no choice but to back off with his hands raised in surrender; there was no way he'd be able to bowl down Bremer in an escape. It wasn't just the fact that the giant's large body nearly filled the doorway; but it was the murderous look in his eyes that really convinced him to stand down. There was no indecision, or hint of the same humanity that Jacob had shown. Whoever Bremer was in the past, had been lost to the ghastly experiments of the island's host.
Heeled steps from outside the room announced the arrival of woman in a white lab coat, Dr. Belinda Barnes, he presumed.
"Bremer!" she barked, and the giant stepped to one side, nearly cowering in demeanor, evident by the blatant body language of his now sagging shoulders and the lowering of his eyes as she passed. "Welcome, Captain Crane," she greeted as she entered, echoing the same false cordiality that Colonel Zagmaan had issued earlier; only hers was issued with a smile that, coupled with the medical room they now occupied, instantly told him that things had gone from bad to worse.
# # # # #
Garrud rounded a corner, having been assigned to patrol the interior of the complex and spotted Crane being led into the infirmary. His heart pounded hard in his chest because he knew that particular room wasn't used for the care and benefit of any unfortunate soul who found themselves in Dr. Barnes' care.
His transformation to giant had afforded him a new aggressive nature that triggered easily and held under control by the wrist band on his hand and so, it was with great self-control that he walked by without reacting. He'd been struggling to keep the part of him alive he knew as Jacob, but with each passing day he had found more and more of himself slipping away… until today, when Crane treated him like a fellow human being. He harbored no false hope of being cured of the grotesque changes that had been forced upon his physical body, but he at least, wanted to remain who he was inside.
He rounded another corner and found the room he was looking for, a small storage room, and stepped inside. He felt under the wide belt around his tunic for the small, rectangular device Crane had entrusted into his care. His peasant's pants had no pockets, but he'd been successful in hiding the device under the belt. His large hands fumbled over the device as he struggled to remember the codes Crane taught him. He'd been given two codes, and Crane had left him with the decision of which to send in the event that he couldn't send the message himself. His forehead crinkled and his head hurt as the endeavor to remember such a simple task frustrated him; suddenly, his eyes lit in recollection. Depressing the button with the exact code taught him, he sent the message.
A wave of relief flooded over his being. Now, all he had to do was keep Crane and Nelson alive long enough for help to arrive, but his relief fled and his mood darkened when he realized that death wasn't the worst thing that could happen to his new friends.