Treasure of Babylon, page 13
part #2 of Avalon Adventure Series
Atticus Moore gave a heavy sigh and shrugged. “From one scientist to another, I think now might be the time to have a little faith.”
“In God?”
He gave her an odd look. “In your friends, my dear.”
She smiled and was glad her father was with her. She knew between the two of them they could delay Hagen and work out some way to escape, with or without Decker and the others.
They reached Hagen’s office. He opened the door and gestured for Atticus and Selena to go inside, but ordered Bloch to stand outside the door. When he closed the door he took off his suit jacket and hung it over the back of his chair. “I do so wish you would change your mind about helping me. It would be such a waste to have you both killed.” He started to pour three brandies. “Will you join me in a drink at least?”
“Can we just get on with it?” Atticus said tersely. “You’ll forgive me if I don’t share a toast with a man who has threatened the life of my daughter.”
Hagen gave another shrug and sipped his brandy. Setting the glass on the desk he opened a large walk-in safe and stepped out a moment later with the key from inside the Angel of God.
“My God,” Atticus said. “It’s beautiful.”
“Isn’t it just?” said Selena.
“This is the key Moser’s people found inside the Angel of God back in Israel. I want you to translate it. Is that something you can do?”
“I think so,” Selena said. “Dad?”
Her father pulled his glasses out of his pocket and held them up between his eyes and the key. He gave a vague nod. “I should think so.”
“Veldig bra!” Hagen said. “We are already making progress.”
Atticus turned to his old friend. “Tell me, Tor. Why did that man in the lab simply stand and allow you to cut him down with the laser?”
Hagen narrowed his eyes, weighing up how much to tell his old friend. “Because he was created to be like that. Or re-created, you might say.”
Selena was confused. “I don’t understand.”
“Has this got something to do with Dr Korhonen?” Atticus asked.
Hagen nodded. “Mikko and I have been working on genetic therapy for many years now, Atticus. I’ve come a long way since we were at university together.”
Atticus turned a confused face to Hagen. “Genetic therapy? What do you mean, exactly?”
Hagen looked out at the snow over the fjord and sighed. Bloch and Lechner were standing a few meters away with their guns in their holsters. It was all very cordial. “Scientists have been able to create super-strong mice by using gene manipulation to suppress a muscle-growth inhibitor which resides naturally in the body’s DNA,” he said smugly. “The discovery that this one miniscule inhibitor was responsible for how much muscle strength we have was an enormous step forward for mankind, but it has taken my genius and determination to move things to the next level.”
“What do you mean ‘the next level’?” Atticus asked cautiously.
“By manipulating a genome regulator called NCoR1, scientists were able to create genetically modified mice with double the strength of normal mice, but that is the current limit of their research.” He turned and faced them with the window behind him, his gaunt face now cast into shadow. “But I have gone much further. I have created a genetically modified type of human with five times the strength, speed and agility of a normal man, and more than that, I have created them to be utterly obedient to me, their creator.”
“My God.” Atticus took a step back toward Selena. “I thought I knew you, Tor. All those years ago when we were at college together, but now I can see I don’t know you at all. You’re quite mad.”
“And where is the line between madness and genius? Is God a genius, or is he mad?”
Atticus’s words were weaker, now, and quieter. “You’re insane… totally insane.”
“No! I successfully combined the genetic modification of both the muscle accelerator and muscle inhibitor, enhancing the first and removing the second altogether. Specifically modifying corepressors, of which I certainly know more about than any person alive, I was able to alter the expression of genes critical to muscle-growth, but also critical neurological functions that regulate things like speed of motor skills. Modifying obedience was even more complex, but the results will strike awe into your hearts.”
“My father’s right,” Selena said, and moved a strand of hair out of her face. “You’re totally out of your mind. Can you even hear yourself?”
“And where do these human lab rats come from?” Atticus said.
Hagen’s reply came without hesitation. “The homeless, mostly.”
Selena gasped, and Atticus shook his head in horror. “Tell me this is a nightmare.”
Hagen started to laugh. It was a sinister, gravelly chuckle without the slightest hint of humor. “I can understand the average low-level thinker not understanding the implications of such progress, but I had you and your father pegged several rungs above that. You disappoint me.”
“And you disgust me, Tor,” Atticus said. “You’ve reduced human beings to the status of lab rats without the vaguest sign of remorse or guilt.”
Hagen turned his back on them and gazed out over the fjord far below the research facility. “Remorse, you say. Why would I feel remorse for moving the field of genetic science forward so far? I have done more to progress research in this area than any man or woman alive! In a few short years I have achieved more than anyone else has across the course of their entire careers, and you talk about guilt.”
“You’re kidnapping people off the street and modifying their DNA without their permission, Tor,” said Atticus. “You’re trying to create an army of mindless super-strength thugs for your own warped agenda! What happened to the ethics you used to talk about so much?”
Another cold laugh. “Perhaps a demonstration of my work?”
“Don’t make us party to this abomination, Tor!” Atticus said.
“Where’s your sense of scientific curiosity, Atticus?”
Hagen called through to his personal assistant. “Please send him in, Berit.”
“Yes, sir.”
A tense few seconds passed until the door opened. A large, muscle-bound man with cold, impassive eyes padded into the room and stood silently on the rug. “Ah, Arvid. Thank you for joining us.”
Arvid said nothing.
“Arvid here is one of my earlier works, but I’m sure you’ll be impressed nonetheless.”
“For God’s sake, Tor!” Atticus snapped. “Put an end to this madness, please!”
Hagen smiled and waved his finger in front of his face. “No, really – I think you’re going to be very impressed by what you see.”
“I doubt that,” Selena said.
“Arvid, raise your right arm.”
Arvid obeyed instantly.
“And your left.”
He obeyed again.
“Lower them.”
Aside from the crackling fire, the only sound in the room was Arvid’s shirt rustling as he obeyed the order, once again silently and without question.
“Arvid, please pick up the filing cabinet at the end of the room.”
Arvid walked to the cabinet, squatted slightly and embraced the large, steel cabinet with his arms. He lifted it into the air and straightened his back, remaining in that position without moving while Hagen turned to Selena and Atticus. “You see, he is utterly loyal and obeys without question. Now, Arvid, put your hand in the fire.”
Selena gasped. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
“And what does Mrs Moser and her church make of this, I wonder?” Atticus said.
“Moser knows what I allow her to know.”
Arvid walked to the fire and pushed his hand into the embers. There was no scream, no howl, no attempt to withdraw the hand. The man never flinched as the smell of burning flesh drifted over from the flames.
“Enough, Tor!” Atticus cried out. “You’ve made your point.”
“I think not, but as you wish… Arvid, enough!”
The man pulled the badly burned hand from the fire. His red, sweating face was contorted from the effort it had taken to absorb the pain without flinching.
Hagen stepped to his door and opened it. The cold wind howled into the plush office and blew a little snow onto the rug where it quickly melted in the heat of the fire. “Arvid, step outside onto the balcony.”
The young Norwegian again did as he was ordered and stepped outside into the freezing wind. The snow whipped around him and started to accumulate on his head and shoulders.
“You’ve made your point,” Atticus said.
Selena was still nauseous and holding her sleeve up to her nose to block the smell of burning flesh. “Yes, enough of these stupid games.”
“Arvid, climb over the balcony.”
Selena sensed a flicker of hesitation in the young man, but then it was gone again and he was climbing up over the frozen metal bars of the balcony. She watched him fight to stay level in the power of the wind.
A devilish smirk crossed Hagen’s face.
“Bring him in at once! End this madness.”
“If searching for the Ark is madness, then what does that make you?”
“I want the Ark for archaeology, Tor. It’s for the world, for our history. Tell me, why do you want the Ark?”
“What makes you think I am not motivated by the same altruism?”
Atticus laughed bitterly. “Don’t insult my intelligence, friend. Why would anyone who had dedicated their lives to creating this… house of horrors, search for the Ark for the benefit of humanity?”
Hagen caved in faster than Selena thought. It was as if he wanted to tell them the truth.
“You are right, of course. My quest is not altogether altruistic, but whether or not it would benefit humanity – that is up for debate.”
“I don’t understand.”
Hagen sighed. “I believe the Ark is made, at least in part, from what today we would call a Type III superconductor – much more robust and with a significantly higher critical magnetic field.”
“My God,” Atticus said. “You want to turn the Ark into a weapon.”
22
The answer to Riley’s question turned out to be a little over sixty kilometers, and the mountainous terrain toward the end of the journey meant nearly two hours had passed by the time Sergeant Larsen indicated to pull into Valhalla’s private approach road.
Golan saw it first, craning his neck up to look through the top part of his window. “My God,” he said. “It looks like a small city.”
Riley whistled. “Who knew there was so much dough-ray-me in science? If I’d have known that in school I’d have joined the nerds instead of beating them up.”
They emerged from their car and got used to the cold wind as the police officers checked their weapons. Larsen handed Riley a police rifle and told him it was for emergency use only. He gave her a two-fingered salute and a wink. “Got it.”
After promising not to get involved in the enquiry, they watched the police drive to the main entrance, while they climbed a snow bank to the south. After finding a good place to view the compound, they wedged themselves up against the trunk of one of the enormous spruce trees surrounding the property. The former US Marines pilot slipped his trusty monocular from his pocket and scanned the front façade of the sprawling complex.
“Can you see Larsen?” Diana asked.
“Sure can. She’s walking to what I’m guessing is the main entrance. Damned place is like a luxury hotel.”
As the Norwegian police officers made their way from their car to the front entrance, Decker continued to survey the surrounding landscape. Seeing nothing of interest, he turned the monocular back on Hagen’s complex. Larsen and her constables were standing outside the door in the cold, still waiting for someone to answer. Their breath clouded in front of them and drifted up into the air. Decker followed its path until he was looking at the upper levels of Valhalla.
“Must be the private quarters up top,” he muttered. “Judging by what’s in the rooms.” Lowering the eyepiece he swept it along the far north of the building. “And by the looks of things, that’s part of his laboratory over there.”
Charlie nudged Decker in the ribs. “Wait – someone’s opening the door.”
Decker moved the monocular to the front entrance. “They’re talking to someone now. He’s inviting them inside.”
“Great,” Diana said. “Maybe they’ll have some coffee while we’re freezing our asses off out here and Lena and her father are still trapped.”
“You heard Olsen,” Decker said. “There’s a correct way to do things in Norway.”
Far down beyond the road, a freight train trundled past on it journey south.
The first gunshot took them all by surprise. Decker dropped the monocular into the snow and fumbled to snatch it back up again. Brushing the snow off it he raised it to his eye just in time to see one of the constables staggering backwards out of the main entrance and collapsing on the hood of the police VW.
“Holy crap!” Riley said. “That escalated quickly!”
Larsen and the other constable burst from the entrance and darted for the cover of the VW, each drawing their police-issue pistols as they went.
“Looks like they asked some awkward questions that old Hagen didn’t like too much,” Charlie said.
“This Hagen is a psychopath,” Golan said dolefully.
“We have to help them!” Diana said.
Decker looked at the Australian. “I think this is the kind of emergency Karin Larsen was talking about, Riley.”
“On it,” he said, pulling the rifle from his back and sliding a round into the chamber.
“I see Kurz,” Decker said. “He just came out of the compound.”
Decker watched the Austrian take cover behind a parked Jeep and start to fire on Larsen and the surviving constable. The Norwegian police fought back bravely, and the two groups exchanged heavy fire for a few seconds but then a man appeared in an upstairs window with a submachine gun and started pounding the police VW with rounds. Tearing holes in it like it was made of cardboard, Larsen and the younger officer were pinned down.
Riley raised the rifle into the aim and squinted down the sights. “Time to say goodnight, you little bastard!”
One shot.
It struck the gunman in the forehead. He dropped the submachine gun and fell back into the upstairs room.
Aware he was drawing more fire from the Norwegians, and startled at the sound of Riley’s shot, Kurz crouched lower behind a Jeep and desperately scanned the area behind the house for any sign of the sniper.
“Bastard’s panicked,” Decker said. “He’s getting on the radio.”
“Trying to get some back-up,” Charlie said. “Can you take him out, too?”
“Nah, mate. Gave myself away when I plugged that son of a bitch in the window. He’s tucked down behind the Jeep tighter than a turtle’s pecker now.”
Diana looked horrified at his choice of words, but her disgust was quickly redirected at the sight of two more men rushing out to join Kurz. The Austrian barked orders at them in German and they started to head toward their position up at the side of the compound.
Larsen fired on them, taking one of them out, but then they returned fire and cut down the younger constable in a savage hail of fire. Raking him with bullets that tore into his throat and chest, the junior policeman stumbled back away from the cover of his police car and fell down dead in pile of snow at the side of the drive.
“Larsen’s next, Mitch,” Golan said.
Riley loaded another round into the chamber and effortlessly killed the other man Kurz had sent up into the hills. “Over my dead body,” he said.
“We have to get inside,” Decker said flatly. “Now they know we’re here there’s no telling what they might do to Lena and her Dad.”
“Presuming they’re still alive,” Golan said.
“That’s been the presumption all along, Moshe,” Riley said. “We don’t leave anyone behind if there’s a chance they’re still alive.”
“They’re still alive, all right,” Decker said. “No way is an asshole like Hagen going to kill them if he thinks they might know something he doesn’t know, and Lena and Atticus are going to know that and exploit it. My worry is he’ll try and use them as human shields or something.”
“So what are we going to do now?” Diana said. “You just saw what happened to those police officers when they tried to get inside, and all they wanted to do was ask a few questions. I don’t think Hagen or Kurz will take too kindly to us wanting to come inside to rescue Lena and her father and smash up his little playground.”
Decker was already making plans. “We’ll get in, all right.”
Riley loaded a third round into the chamber of the hunting rifle. “And right now, you have no idea how much I want to bust up that dickhead’s little world… wait – Karin’s trying to get up to us!”
They watched as the Norwegian sergeant struggled through a hail of fire as she made her way closer to their position on the perimeter.
“She’ll never make it!” Diana said.
Golan said, “That bastard Kurz has seen her!”
Riley lifted the rifle once again. “I’ll pin him down and give her some cover fire!”
*
Selena looked at her father anxiously. “I don’t get it, Dad.”
Atticus closed his eyes for a second and shook his head, He just wanted it to all to go away. “The laser we saw in the other room, that killed the man… it’s a prototype for a much more powerful weapon, a glorified death-ray – am I right, Tor?”
“Don’t be so crude, Atti. A DEW with the degree of power I foresee the Ark enabling it with would be so much more than a common weapon! With such a power we could destroy satellites, inbound nuclear missiles, anything!”
Atticus struggled to comprehend what he was hearing. “And if you get the damned thing airborne you could raze entire cities to the ground.”
“Your words, not mine.”
“And I thought the DNA genome sequencing was insane,” Selena said.
