Phoenix Legacy Read online

  “I’m just making certain of the date.”

  “Okay.”

  Del tried to stay quiet as the gloop was wiped from her stomach, but her bladder was screaming at her. The tech smiled and told her to get dressed as they were finished.

  The tech handed over a still photo of the fetus before she left. Del ignored it. “I have to use the bathroom. Meet you back in the waiting room,” she said to Tammy.

  When she got back to the waiting room, Tammy held the ultrasound photo up to Del.

  “I don’t want that.”

  “You might someday,” Tammy said.

  Del put it in her coat pocket without looking at it.

  Later, in the middle of the night when she couldn’t sleep, she slipped the photo out and held it under the bright lights in her bathroom.

  It looked like a baby. Oh, sure, the legs looked like one big blob but the head, chest and one arm were there. She couldn’t see the penis. The ultrasound tech must have seen something she did not.

  A boy. Her son.

  What the hell am I supposed to do with you, kid? Tell you what, I’ll make sure someone takes good care of you. Promise you that, at least.

  Chapter Four

  Philip showered quickly before leaving with Alec. He had been up all night, and he didn’t want to smell like it. As he dressed, he strapped on his ankle holster and slipped a knife into his jacket to go along with the Sig Sauer nestling in his waist holster. The lightweight jacket would conceal that well enough. He gathered up a small pocketful of tech toys, including several micro-bugs. Alec was right to want the place bugged.

  He took a look at where he’d jammed the shard into his palm. The shower had washed off the blood, and the wound had fully healed already.

  Pain and the rush of healing after it were all that had made him feel alive in the last few months. He’d always had a high tolerance for pain and had known that tolerance sometimes slid into pleasure.

  But now it was as if he needed that rush. Even his careless one-night stands had been unsatisfying unless the sex had been rough.

  Beth would have much to say about that, if she knew. He had no plans to tell her.

  Philip drove the Charger with Alec providing directions, but he didn’t need them. He knew that area. The lab was located next to a rundown area in Passaic, just over the town line in an industrial zone of warehouses, offices and laboratories. It was accessible via the highway but Philip planned a less obvious route. Just in case, again. He didn’t know who could be watching, but that was the point. One never knew.

  When he explained this to Alec, the boy shook his head. “Appreciate the security lesson, Drake, but that seems extreme.”

  “You need lessons in extreme.” The firestarter was powerful, smart and he wanted to do the right thing. He’d changed the name of the Resource—which he’d inherited from his adoptive father Richard Lansing—to the Phoenix Institute to signal a new start for the place that had effectively held him captive all his life.

  Alec intended to find and help children like him use their power responsibly. It was an excellent, noble goal. But Alec had been raised in a vacuum, essentially isolated from the rest of the world. It made him more than naive on a few subjects.

  “Someone is using your DNA to create a race of superbabies, and you think taking an undocumented driving route is extreme? Not to mention the CIA might be monitoring me or you. Whoever kept this genetics lab running after Lansing’s death could be doing the same. And there’s still the matter of those watchers out there from an unknown source that you sensed on the container ship job. Aside from the one mention in Lansing’s notes, there’s no other information. Which tells me Lansing knew something but thought it was too volatile to write down. That’s never good.”

  He paused to let the words sink in. Alec shifted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable.

  “If you want to survive to do all this good you talk about, then you have to assume enemies are watching. All the time.”

  Alec stared at the car’s dashboard for a while instead of replying. Perhaps the young man was considering what he’d just been told. Or, given his sheltered upbringing, he was checking out the car. Alec loved cars.

  “I hate having to think that way.”

  “If you want to live long enough to accomplish your aims, you’re going to have to learn.” And you damn well better learn enough to keep my daughter safe.

  Alec nodded. “What if my kid is out there, Drake? Not a situation I’ve been trained to handle.”

  Philip realized that the boy was truly looking for advice this time. Like it or not, Alec was a permanent part of Beth’s life. Which meant the question should be answered rather than ignored. No one had told him giving advice to a man sleeping with his daughter was part of fatherhood when he’d volunteered.

  But here he was.

  “We find the child and the mother and we help them. I can’t imagine you’d walk away from the child.”

  “Never.” Alec stared at him. “Glad you know that.”

  Philip nodded. “A child who’s alive and needs caretaking is a problem that can be solved. It could be much worse. For instance, if you’re too late to help someone and they wind up dead. Can’t fix that.”

  Alec nodded.

  “Are you worried about Beth’s reaction? She’d take care of any lost child, whether it was yours or even Lansing’s.”

  Alec smiled. “We already talked about that. Actually, I think she’s more worried about your reaction than mine.”

  “My reaction?”

  “It brings back the whole mess with Lansing for you.”

  “He’s dead, it’s over.”

  “He was your father. And you just smashed a coffee mug because you were so pissed at him.”

  “I have plenty of mugs.” Philip shifted into low gear as he slowed down for a stoplight. “Lansing wasn’t my father. He screwed my mother, then walked out. When I refused to join his unholy crusade as an adult, he hated me. My only reaction to his death is to be glad he’s gone.”

  “Something changed when he died. You quit the CIA, you don’t seem to be doing anything, and you might as well live in a cave the way your home is closed up. Not to mention all those empty beer cans all over the place.”

  “That speech must have come directly from Beth.”

  Alec shrugged. “She’s worried about you.”

  “If she’s worried about my apartment, tell her I like caves.” The best year of his childhood had been spent living in a makeshift home in a cave. He and Lily had been able to wander away for hours. On their own, in the quiet of the woods, the two of them had had the best times. Once, they’d even laughed after they’d had to run up a tree to escape a bear. Lily had been the only good part of his childhood. Until he’d destroyed their friendship with two shotgun blasts. “And the beer was work.”

  “C’mon.”

  Philip shook his head as he turned left and headed the back way to the warehouse through Passaic, quite possibly the most misbegotten urban area in New Jersey. And that was saying a lot.

  “Beer is a drug. I needed to know how my healing ability would work when I was drugged.”

  “Wouldn’t it be better to avoid being drunk altogether?”

  There it was. Alec’s innocence again.

  “I’m not worried about controlling myself with alcohol. I’m worried about others using drugs to control me. Beer seemed the least intrusive drug.”

  Alec clenched his jaw. “You mean like how Lansing drugged Beth when he took her prisoner?”

  “Exactly.” Perhaps Alec wasn’t so innocent. Lansing had raised him, after all.

  Alec wasn’t interested in power as Lansing had been. Philip gave him points for that. But Alec had kept some of the Resource holdings intact for his new Phoenix Institute in case they might be useful. Philip would have dissolved the company altogether. Keeping control made Alec a target. Hence, it made Beth a target.

  They didn’t agree on that. They never would.

/>   “So does getting drunk affect your healing abilities?” Alec asked.

  “Once I was fully drunk, yes.” He shrugged. “But it did help sober me up quickly. If you’ve never been drunk, you might want to do it under controlled conditions. See if it affects your firestarting or TK. Better that than finding out the hard way.”

  They turned onto the main drag of Passaic. Alec looked around for a few minutes and whistled. “This city looks like the war zones that some of the F-Team soldiers talk about.”

  “Sounds about right.” Many of the storefronts in Passaic were either permanently closed or locked up tight with steel doors. The only place left open was a bar. The pub door was half open but the window was covered with a metal screen. The streets were absolutely deserted. “No one comes here unless they have to. And most people don’t have to.”

  He drove past the empty lot and industrial-style building that had once been the city’s newspaper.

  “I thought Newark was bad,” Alec said.

  “Newark is a living city. This is a dead one.” There were rarely police here or anyone in authority. No one to bother anyone save for the neighborhood gangs. Philip liked Passaic. It was an easy place to hide.

  He pulled into a more residential area, with rundown two- and three-family houses almost on top of each other. “Tell me what this lab looks like inside. How large? How many employees does it have?”

  “About fifty employees. It seems to have several different lab areas and a refrigerated storage area.”

  “Name and cover story.”

  “Orion Systems is working on creating a genetic magic bullet to combat cancer at the cellular level.”

  Good cover. An altruistic goal and yet one that would not yield results quickly. That meant money could be poured into this Orion Systems and no one would question why there were no immediate results.

  He crossed out of Passaic into the neighboring town. The lawns instantly grew more green, the street less bumpy and the atmosphere lighter. He could see the highway overpass on the next street over. Hate highways. Especially now that they took photos at every exit and toll station.

  “Drake, if you hate people watching you, why drive this car?” Alec asked.

  Philip shrugged. “Because I’m retired, and I finally decided I wanted a car like this.” He knew it was foolish to have a 1967 Charger. People noticed it, especially since it was a nice shade of midnight blue. On the other hand, having a very recognizable car as his primary mode of transportation gave him a lot of options for misdirection if he ever wanted to disappear. People would look for this car, not the two or three nondescript vehicles he kept stashed around New Jersey.

  He supposed Alec would call that paranoid again. Likely because it was.

  Office buildings dotted the landscape as they drove the last mile. Philip pulled into the parking lot of a slate-gray building with narrow windows. At five stories, it looked squat and ungainly among the larger and glassier office buildings. There were no signs identifying it as Orion Systems.

  “Do they have any warning at all that you’re coming?”

  “I thought it best to simply show up. I have I.D. showing I’m an executive with the holding company that owns Orion Systems. Which I am. I inherited Lansing’s role as CEO.”

  Philip spotted the cameras on the parking lot light as he pulled into a space. “They’re watching the parking lot. They’ll have warning before you step inside the building. Be ready.”

  Alec nodded. “I will.”

  The weight of the concealed handguns at his waist and ankle comforted Philip, along with the knife in the pocket of his overcoat. Alec probably wasn’t armed. He didn’t need to be. He was a weapon.

  Alec started to get out of the Charger. Philip grabbed his elbow. He pointed to a well-dressed man leaving the building. “Wait. Watch him.”

  The man carried a briefcase and talked on his cell phone. Philip judged him to be well over six feet, perhaps six-foot-four. His blond hair was short but curly in the front. He was handsome with a classic face of well-defined cheekbones and a sharp chin. That face belonged on a movie screen.

  Expensive suit, expensive tie, expensive cell phone. Likely someone important at Orion Systems. Someone who should be watched.

  The blond man hit a button on his keys. The lights flashed on the BMW parked next to them.

  Glad he had brought his little toys, Philip exited the car and used his body to block the view of the approaching driver. He pushed a little device in the edge of the passenger window of the BMW.

  He and Alec walked away before the suit reached the car.

  Alec drew close to him. “You did something.”

  Philip frowned and shrugged. “Yes, the modifications to the baffles did lower the engine noise.”

  Alec might have no idea what he was talking about but he had the presence of mind to nod as if he did. Message received. They might be overheard.

  When they entered the office building, they were confronted by a security guard at the central desk. That in itself said a great deal. Why have a guard when one could easily hire a welcoming receptionist? Cameras were everywhere in the lobby.

  Alec presented his credentials and those of his assistant. Philip almost snorted about being called Norman Parker. He didn’t think he’d ever used the first name “Norman” before. Probably because it was too memorable.

  Their credentials checked out. The guard opened a solid, metal door labeled “Orion Systems” with the push of a button. Philip cut in front of Alec and went first, alert. He hated going through doors blind, but he hated going second through doors blind even more.

  What was on the other side was surprisingly ordinary. The laboratory looked exactly like he’d envisioned. There were rows of tables with small electronic microscopes and what he thought might be refrigerated centrifuges. Stored above the tables were labeled glass bottles of various sizes holding chemicals. Beyond the laboratory area he could see a large gray metal door that looked like an entrance to a freezer.

  About twenty people were clustered around the tables. Some sat at nearby desks, typing at their computers and others looked busy with the various beakers and Petri dishes.

  A man wearing a white lab coat came out from the offices located to the left.

  “Mr. Farley?” The man extended his hand. “I’m Doctor Cheshire. Welcome to Orion Systems. This is an unexpected surprise.”

  An unpleasant surprise, judging by Cheshire’s discomfort. The man said he was pleased to see them. Yet he was nervous. Sweat rolled down his neck and soaked the collar of his shirt.

  “Norman” shook hands with Dr. Cheshire. The doctor paid little attention. He was focused on Alec.

  He knew who Alec really was, Philip guessed.

  “What brings you here, gentlemen?” Cheshire asked.

  “I’ve come to check on our investment. I understand you’re the assistant director here.”

  Cheshire nodded. “Yes. Mr. Genet is our director but he’s just left. In his absence, I can give you the full tour.”

  Cheshire’s eyes darted around the lab. Philip suddenly wished he could grab the doctor and interrogate him privately. This was a man hiding secrets. Badly.

  “I would have preferred Mr. Genet. He’s the author of the reports I’ve been reading. Is there any way you could call him back? This is important.”

  “No, he’s absolutely unavailable.” Cheshire fiddled with the pencil in his hand. “Besides, Mr. Genet may write the reports, but I’m fully qualified to discuss our progress with you, Mr. Farley. Likely, more so. Mr. Genet is a fine manager but he’s not a scientist, as you know.”

  That finally sounded sincere.

  “Of course. Mr. Parker and I would be honored to have you show us around.”

  “Good.” Cheshire finally noticed he was fiddling with his pencil and put it in the pocket of his lab coat.

  As Cheshire moved to lead them on a tour, Philip decided that if Genet was the suit who had just left, Cheshire definitely had
cause to dislike working for him. That might be a good lever to use if they needed information on Genet later.

  Alec listened intently and asked a number of intelligent questions on DNA, enzymes and their interaction. As they walked around the lab, the firestarter drew his share of stares and covert glances, mostly from the women but several men definitely checked out his backside.

  Philip let his shoulders sag, trying to draw as little attention as possible. He suspected this was the “public” area of the laboratory. It would show them little. They needed the private area, where the real work was done.

  “What are they working on?” Alec asked.

  “They’re conducting research on how the environment in the womb affects DNA and genetics. It’s not just enough to map DNA. In layman’s terms, we have to find out how its surroundings affect it.”

  Alec leaned closer to Cheshire. “Forgive my bluntness,” he said in a near whisper, “but how many of these people know what they’re really creating?”

  Subtlety was definitely not Alec’s strong suit. Philip would have just let Cheshire ramble. People said more that way. But this was the boy’s show.

  Cheshire stopped dead in his tracks. He started fiddling with the pencil again. “Well, you do come to the point.”

  “Mr. Farley runs a multinational corporation,” Philip said. “He needs an update on your progress, and he needs it now.”

  “Of course,” Cheshire snapped, now annoyed with them as much as he was annoyed with Genet. Philip perversely thought about baring his teeth at the scientist to see what kind of reaction it would provoke. Hostility, however, was not what was needed. At least not right now.

  Instead, he merely nodded and dropped in behind Alec and Dr. Cheshire, playing his part once more.

  “Mr. Genet’s reports showed considerable progress in manipulating some of the unique sperm samples provided,” Alec said.

  Philip caught the edge to the firestarter’s voice. He wondered if Cheshire did as well.

  “Yes, one of our projects has moved beyond the laboratory stage.” Cheshire cleared his voice. “But not here. We can speak more freely in the second lab. It’s more secure.”