Jessa Ch. 14

"Wait. You're saying that someone made this thing that can destroy the human population?" Erich asked, incredulous. "Why on Earth would someone do that?"

Jessa shrugged helplessly. "I can only guess. Maybe they have the cure or a prevention, too, and they want only a certain section of the population to survive. A new "highborn" if you will, but they need to disseminate the preventative before they can release it. Maybe someone wants to destroy the human population. Maybe someone wants to blackmail the whole world with the threat to release it. I don't know. It's as if they realized that they'd been discovered, at least, on the network, and stopped posting anything about the research, tried to get rid of what was out there already. All I've been able to find are bits and pieces of what had to be more complete works."

"So if all this is true, your mucking around on the internet has scared them into hiding so deep we'll never be able to find them," Jacq grumbled.

Jessa felt herself flush. "No," she stated flatly. "It happened before I started looking into it." She glared at Jacq daring him to argue.

"What does all this have to do with you and Torah and the great plan?" Erich asked.

Jessa looked quickly down at her hands again. "I only have a wild guess, a gut instinct," she whispered.

"Tell us," Torah commanded.

"I'm a scientist," she protested. "I have no facts, no support. Let me do more research first."

His grip tightened on her hand, and this time, he didn't let up. "People are dying, Jessa. Tell us what your gut says and let us judge."

She tugged until he relented and released her hand. She dropped both hands to her lap and clutched them between her thighs as she glanced askance at Torah. "Did you ever provide bone marrow for transplanting?"

His brow furrowed. He was both annoyed at her further evasion of the question, and intrigued. "Four times," he replied.

"To family?"

"To Circles. It was some of the most valuable indebtedness my father collected from high ranking individuals."

She sighed. "And you're O negative blood type, aren't you?"

"Yes," he answered slowly.

Her gaze dropped to her lap as her fingers twined tightly together. "I think we're the cure for the pandemic to come. To be specific, I think we have a one in nineteen chance of producing a fetus that..." She faltered, stopping to take a deep breath. "That would produce stem cells that could be differentiated, into marrow cells, thymus cells, or directly into antibodies, T cells, whatever they intend to fight the new virus."

"That doesn't make sense," Jacq argued. "That would only help the handful of people that would be compatible with that tissue type, stem cell or no."

"That's what makes Torah and me so unique. We're virtually true universal donors, not just O negative blood, but to all intents and purposes, almost no antigens that would invoke blood or tissue rejection. I gave several bone marrow transplants, too, probably also to high-ranking Circles. Normally, even excellent matches result in the need for immune suppressants to prevent rejection. That would defeat the purpose of a stem cell therapy to prevent infection. But that nineteenth child we would potentially conceive would be the perfect universal donor and already be producing the antibody to conquer the pandemic virus. It's possible this great plan has been in place for the last ten years or so, when they stopped coming to us for marrow transplants and when they began destroying evidence of what we were. In my youth, it didn't occur to me that matching a number of complete strangers for transplants was so unusual. It should have been out there in flashing neon lights when I tried to look myself up on the internet. The same for Torah. Someone went to great lengths to bury that information."

"So they would have tested every fetus we produced and harvested the 'special' one," Torah said grimly.

Jessa looked at him for a long moment. "And aborted all the rest."

Torah closed his eyes and sighed, perhaps the most genuine, unconditioned sign of emotion she'd seen from him. Jessa glanced at Erich and Jacq. They seemed to be having trouble processing all the information and speculation they'd been given.

"How much of this are you sure of?" Erich finally asked.

"None of it," she stated flatly. "How can I be? I'm in Paris and the virus is in Italy and the people who know what is going on are in East Germany."

"What?" all three men asked at once.

"I mean, I think..." she stammered.

"Back up. Italy?" Torah asked. "I know the rumors I heard suggested a mutation coming up from Italy or Greece, but why do you say Italy?"

"There's a city, or something, in Umbria, central Italy, near Perugia, but higher in the mountains. I've seen the lights in satellite photos." She shrugged. "You told me there were research centers, like the Council Seats, in old cities. Why not in the mountains of Italy, above the range of the initial plague?"

"Well, nobody'd be stupid enough to travel to Italy and stumble across it by accident," Erich conceded. "But what's this about East Germany?"

"There was genetics information from a lab in Berlin. The genome maps for Torah and me, maybe the probability study, too, were done in Berlin."

"Drau," Torah growled.

Erich waved a hand. "Still speculation." He pierced Jessa with sharp eyes. "So. Someone wants you alive to produce this stem cell factory. And someone wants you dead. Why?"

"I don't know," she complained. "Because they want no one to survive? Because they hope the virus won't be released if there's no 'cure?' You're the superspies. You tell me," she challenged.

Erich looked at Torah. "We need to discuss this."

Torah shook his head to what Erich had left unsaid. "She stays."

Jacq sighed in exasperation. "This is all speculation. She's given us her theories. That's all we need."

Torah shook his head again, stubbornly. "All that we can discuss at this point is our own theories. We listened to her and questioned her. Why shouldn't she listen to us and question us?" Jessa was watching him, hoping her disbelief wasn't apparent on her face. Was this yet another side of his multifaceted personality, or was he just trying to disarm her, allay her mistrust?

"I need more time, more research," she said softly. "There's just too much we don't know."

"Then that needs to be part of the discussion. We need to get you that time and access." Torah looked at Jacq, who scowled but nodded reluctantly.

"I might have a safe place. I'll have my men make sure it hasn't been compromised."

"By who?" Torah asked.

"The Council isn't too happy about Arnau's fate - during an Agent op, no less. They've extended additional latitude to City Forces to investigate."

"Not to their own Agents?" Torah asked.

"What was I supposed to tell them?" Jacq demanded. "That the bullet was actually meant for the wife of an Agent from Dusseldorf? We think, except we have no idea why. Or by whom. Oh, and just try to explain why she was dancing around on the edge of a rooftop. Why we had to bring in a helicopter to search for her. Hell, why we had to search for her in the first place."

"Don't forget explaining how she slipped out of Agent custody," Erich added, earning an even deeper scowl from Jacq.

"Is this the part of the discussion that you wanted her to be here for?" Jacq snarled at Torah. "Still think that was a good idea?"

Jessa heard Torah's phone ping softly, but he ignored it, regarding Jacq calmly. "Maybe if she'd been in on the intrigue from the beginning, she would have been more amenable to cooperation." He raised his hands before Jacq could protest. "That's my fault, I know. You were following my guidance. I mistook Jessa's naivete for innocence. But what's done is done. What needs doing now is what we should be discussing. You've always been on my side, Jacq. I need you there now. If Jessa's right, if someone is sitting on the tertiary pandemic, just waiting to unleash it on the world, we need to figure out how to stop them and I'll be damned if it will be by chopping up one of my children."

As he was speaking, Erich's phone began to vibrate against the table. He picked it up and flipped it over. "Drau," he muttered. "One of us better answer."

Torah sighed audibly. "Tell him we're on the way back." He glanced at Jacq. "If we return in twenty-four hours, can you accommodate us?"

"You're not going to lead that Teutonic asshole back here, are you?"

"Nope. I was thinking of making it look like we had a military escort home."

Jacq rolled his eyes and shook his head as Erich put the phone to his ear, then held it away and out toward Torah. "He wants to talk to you. I can tell by the volume."

Torah scowled and took the phone. "No, we're bringing her home," he argued with the Councilor on the other end. "We'll need a secure flat... No, that's not good enough. I'm taking no more risks... What did you expect me to do? Even I need to sleep occasionally. No one else knows Paris or the French countryside like Erich. I needed him with me..." He glanced at Jessa as he listened. "It's possible someone is trying to kill her, that's why..." He listened again, his brow furrowed in concentration. Jessa could almost see him trying to hear in between Drau's words. "No, no other doctors, I want Gemma on this. Tell her to clear her schedule. I want her to see Jessa as soon as we get there."

Jessa cocked an eyebrow at Torah, hopelessly confused. She was sure he hated Gemma, for one thing, and he had implied he had no intention of returning to Dusseldorf, anyway, so why insist on Gemma. Then he winked at Jessa and she was beyond confounded. Torah, winking? "Okay," he finally concluded. "We should be there in about thirty-six hours." He flipped the phone back to Erich. He looked back at Jessa. "Next time we get you on a computer, you work your magic on Drau and on a doctor named Johnat. Drau seemed overly interested in setting us up with him."

"My tablet," Jessa said suddenly, looking at Jacq. "Did you find it?"

He shook his head. "There was no tablet in the apartment."

Jessa groaned. "What was on it?" Torah demanded.

She shook her head. "Only a screen grab of the probability analysis regarding our genetics. But it might be enough to tell someone I was on the track of them. I'm sorry," she told Torah.

"Surely you put a password lock on it," he exclaimed.

"Yes, of course, but..."

"But what?"

"I set a scrambler program to make a garbled mess of the hard drive's index if the password is entered wrong twice within twenty minutes, but I did it in a hurry. I... It's not my best work. It could be reconstructed, maybe, by someone who knew what they were doing."

"Let's assume that won't happen, at least not in the near future. But I think we need to leave as soon as possible. I don't trust Drau not to call in favors from the local Council. Jacq, we'll need a safe phone to contact you once we're on the way back."

He rolled his eyes and reached into a pocket, pulling out a cheap phone and tossing it to Torah. "How did I know you'd be asking?" he said rhetorically.

"And maybe some more appropriate clothes that would fit Jessa?"

He stood up stiffly, betraying the bruising he must have taken during the fall through the roof last night. "Yeah, I must have half a dozen agents in her size," he drawled sarcastically. He strode from the room and Jessa turned back toward Torah, studying him like a puzzle she couldn't find even a beginning piece to fit in place.

"Just go with the flow," Torah retorted, though she'd said nothing. "Please, for once, no questions. I need to think." He strode from the room, leaving her with Erich. She glanced at the younger agent, then quickly away. His look of impatience had been replaced with one of irritation that made her cringe almost as much as his anger. It crossed her mind to apologize, but she wasn't sure what for, nor if he would care. He obviously wasn't ready to believe what she had hypothesized, but he didn't seem interested in questioning her further as he continued to play with his phone.

She stood and paced, though it made her head throb slightly. It was a silent while later before Torah came back in the room and tossed her a bundle of clothes. She glanced shyly at Erich, who had suddenly taken interest again, but a warning look from Torah told her not to even bother asking for privacy. She turned her back on the men and stripped out of her torn and dirtied running outfit. She snidely hoped they enjoyed the view of her bruised and scraped body as she struggled into the clothes Torah had brought. They were at least warmer and somewhat more comfortable. She had barely managed to pull her shoes back on before Torah was pulling her by the arm, hastening their departure. Jessa silently chided herself for ever entertaining the thought that anything had changed between them. His earlier civility must have been an act for Erich or Jacq's benefit.

****

Their rather sedate, midday departure from Paris in a nondescript electric car was a stark contrast to how they had entered the city in the dark of night, speeding along in a gas guzzling heavy car. Torah wove eastward through the streets of the dead city until they reached an area that had been reclaimed into a town of sorts. There was a marketplace that had been built up in an old plaza and a scattering of newer houses among a handful of reclaimed old buildings. They stopped and plugged the car into a charging station for show while Erich searched out food for the road in the market. Jessa sat quietly in the back seat, well aware of Torah's intense eyes watching both her and the immediate area.

She watched the people in the market, mostly lowborn, shopping and gossiping, or working to load delivery trucks that would head out to highborn enclaves like where she had grown up. She caught glimpses of Erich, slipping from stall to stall, easily blending in with the people around him, no doubt sliding just the right amount of French words into the English conversations. She wondered if any of the people in the somewhat rustic market realized that the vibrant, occupied sector of Paris existed just a few miles away. Undoubtedly, they at least suspected there was some life left in the old city. Even in the Southeast of old France, they had heard rumors to that effect. It was, after all, the City of Light. How could it ever go completely dark? She glanced at the rear-view mirror and saw Torah's narrowed eyes watching her. She quickly bit back the questions that wanted to pour forth and leaned wearily back into the seat until Erich returned with fruit and croissants. He unplugged the car and they headed south.

That evening, they stopped at another town, this time to really charge the car as well as search out hot food. There was a restaurant of sorts in the town and after Erich had inspected all of its nooks and crannies, Torah led Jessa inside and they sat at a dark corner table, despite the waiter's protestations. The food was simple but satisfying; still it seemed all too soon when they were on their way again. Erich took over driving and Jessa heard them discussing 'going dark' which apparently meant turning off their phones so they couldn't be tracked. Still, once they'd done that, Torah was still using the car's system for purposes she couldn't figure out from the backseat, save they seemed to involve military network channels. All she knew was that she'd never driven a car with such capabilities.

Jessa dosed through the night, occasionally aware of the low murmur of voices from the front seat, and one occasion when Torah swore loudly enough to wake her. She noted he was wrestling with the car's fuse box and swearing, though the car seemed to be running fine. When she awoke at first light, she realized with a start that she was alone in the car. She sat up in surprise, hugging her borrowed jacket around her. With the car stopped, the cold early winter air had seeped in. She climbed out of the vehicle and looked around. The car was sitting at an ancient gas station, though plugged into a charger rather than connected by a gas hose. The gas station was just off a decrepit highway with little else in sight save rolling fields, possibly once producing hay.

Jessa climbed up the slope to the highway. The road appeared to twist and wind its way through the rolling hills, so not a main thoroughfare. She also realized that the car couldn't be seen from the road, though there was no traffic apparent for as far as she could see. She wandered back to the vehicle and tried the starter, but they had obviously taken the electronic key with them. The gas station had two repair bays, closed off by clouded glass roll-up doors. A truly ancient car sat in one; what would have been a proud antique in another age, now a rusted hulk. The other bay was empty, though it appeared unusually neat and tidy, as if in regular use. Jessa tried the office door to the gas station and it creaked reluctantly open. There was no power anywhere, save to the charging station, apparently, and the shop had long since been emptied of anything worth taking.

Jessa stepped back out of the shop and looked forlornly about. She had no idea where she was, save south and east of Paris. Heavy clouds were hanging low in the sky, obscuring distant landmarks. Exactly how far south was significant, impacting the chance of finding a town or inhabitants for food and shelter should she strike out on her own, even if she could somehow evade Torah and Erich. Still, how long could she wait for them to return? She didn't even know how long they had been gone, and if they had left on foot or materialized a car just as they had the charging station in the middle of nowhere. She also didn't know where the men had gone, though they seemed inordinately interested in the military, and Torah had - jokingly, she thought - mentioned something about a military escort. The last thing she wanted to risk was stumbling into a battalion of Renik-type Security Forces.

She sighed and scuffed her feet across the crumbling asphalt as she headed back to the car. In front of the passenger seat, she found a bag with a bottle of water, a stale croissant and some fruit, left from yesterday, she supposed. She ate, sipped a tiny bit of water, then curled up on the seat in a tight ball to try to sleep more. The throbbing in her head had receded to a dull ache, but it still wore at her. As she waited for sleep, she tried to think of a way around the electronic verification signal the car wanted to hear before starting. Perhaps if all else failed, she could become a car thief to make a living.

Jessa awoke to the sound of tires crunching quietly in the gravel of the station. She wondered briefly what she could possibly do other than run if it turned out to be someone other than Torah and Erich. She had spotted a place where the fencing was down, giving access to the field beyond. Still, it also gave access for the car to follow, so not exactly heartening. She was just starting to sit up to see who had arrived when Torah's face appeared outside the car door then disappeared just as rapidly. She opened her door and climbed out of the car in amazement. The other vehicle, a heavy gas-engined thing like the Security Forces used, hadn't even come to a full stop. It was backing toward the garage as Torah opened the roll-up door, then they were just a suddenly back at the electric car, firmly pushing Jessa back inside. Torah took the driver's seat and pulled from the gas station back onto the windy highway, heading north again.

"I could drive, if you want," Jessa offered. "At least I'm rested."

Torah looked at her via the rear-view mirror with a noncommittal expression, but she could clearly see Erich rolling his eyes at the thought. Jessa threw him a scowl, even though he wasn't looking her way. "What did you do?" she asked, not really expecting an answer. Torah's eyes flicked to meet hers in the mirror again.