Bruno Abrams stared at the security alert on the screen, eyes burning. He mechanically reached for the long-cold coffee, noting the time, sipping. He rubbed his face and looked back at the monitor. 

The young woman was back, detained once more.

Is she the sister Isaac warned of?

The reporter may have seen one of the grendels, which would enrage Cole. Her questions about the murder of the farmer who found the fragment, and now her presence not once, but twice at the lab, confirmed his suspicions about Cole’s evasions. Cole was involved in the farmer’s death, and now the young woman might expose his lies. This would put her in danger if Cole really was involved in a murder, nevermind the implications for the project.

He was sure now that it was Isaac and others inside the system, changing files, installing code, backdoors, watchers, sniffers, loggers. The lab was completely compromised, but he couldn’t see for what purpose. He suspected his invisible partner was moving, making decisions, and so far they appeared to align with his goals. 

Did these others know of Operation Geulah, the timing, details, his role, his intentions? It seemed so, as each step he took was complemented by some other action in the system, advancing in concert.

In a few hours, the auditors would return, and Cole would have his show. The timing would be delicate, but he had to put the last pieces in place.

Now, he needed to also worry about the girl, the twin of his lost Rachel. Though not superstitious, it was difficult for him not to interpret her arrival in his life as a sign of approval of his plans for atonement. Isaac’s interest in her confirmed it.

Chapter 53

Michelle sat up at the sound of the door opening, rubbing her face. How long had she slept?  It was only 6:15 in the morning, it couldn’t have been long, but it was a brief deep sleep, with more strange dreams.

The security guard had taken her inside the facility, this time accompanied by three other heavily armed people in tactical gear. Confiscating Sparky from her purse prompted concerned looks between the men. Something else was going on. Was it connected with the creature on the other side of the fence? 

They took her picture, examined her credentials, and this time she deployed her full arsenal of journalist protections by invoking the Media Act and sending a message to Jonah, which would trigger a cascade of further inquiry and legal protections. The two men who brought her in seemed stymied, and they put her in a break room with a couch, assured her the purse would be kept secure, and told her to wait. On one side of the room, she could see through a window to a uniformed guard watching monitors. He glanced her way periodically, then turn back to his screens. The exit door was next to the guard window, so no chance of getting past him. Then she took her nap.

Steven Cole entered the room carrying two cups of coffee.

“Good morning, Ms. Shank. We meet again.”

Cole handed her the coffee, gestured for her to follow him out into the hall. He stopped to badge through two sets of heavy doors, the words ‘Containment Facility’ stenciled black on the inner set. He gestured down the hall.

“It’s time to let you see what’s really going on here. Animal research with military applications in mind is as old as warfare. Dolphins during the Vietnam War, dogs during World War II. We’ve been using animals to help do the dirty work in combat for centuries. When the military became so enamored with the machine warfare model, followed by the bans on humanoid autonomous systems, some of us in the R&D community wondered if we weren’t missing another opportunity.”

“That’s interesting, but are you going to explain why I’ve been detained?” Michelle asked with a forced smile. Cole reciprocated with an equally insincere grin.

“Of course. Once you understand the nature of our work, you’ll see why.”

He wants to show off. He’s trying to impress me.

He rounded the corner and stood in front of a row of high windows looking down on a courtyard. Michelle stood at his side and saw about a dozen small hairless slate colored children, or what looked like children, running around in colored singlets, receiving instruction in small groups, or just sitting. Cole smiled at her.

“Once the tools of genetic engineering became effective, we started in a new direction. We used an existing platform, and began a series of enhancements, with the goal being the development of a soldier that could be modified for any number of tasks, and could especially be adapted to warfare in a machine environment.”

Michelle gaped at the frolicking young creatures.

“At first, the work was slow. We made modifications at first by trial and error, and almost everything was a disaster. The time to maturity was too long, some defects were showing up late, and of course, we had to work around funding issues and restrictions on our research.”

Michelle regarded him with a puzzled frown and he elaborated.

“We’re a federal research lab at heart, and so we have to abide by whatever restrictions are in vogue at the time. For a while, anything human, especially with genetic engineering, was strictly off limits. Our own Dr. Abrams has an even stricter view on this. He’s a very devout Catholic, you know.”

Michelle shook her head, still not understanding.

“He wouldn’t do anything with human genetic material, period. Any manipulation of human embryos, or even human DNA was strictly off limits. Instead, we used chimpanzee and gorilla templates, embryos from both actually, and worked from there. As our understanding of the human genome continued improving, along with other simian data, we were able to begin the necessary splicing to amplify the animal capabilities. The real jump forward was being able to synthesize the segments of human genes we needed. We completely sidestepped the ethical barriers, and were still able to achieve the desired results.”  His eyes sparkled. “That was my idea.”

“Last night you encountered one of the adult versions, the first generation that started bearing fruit. These you see here below are even better. By reducing the gestational time and accelerating their maturation, we’ve shortened the development cycle dramatically. What we initially planned to be a forty-year project, we’ve accomplished in just over twenty, and the acceleration continues.”

Michelle shook her head. “But the dogs, I thought…”

“The dogs?”  Cole chuckled. “A legitimate project, but really it’s a distraction. If the public stays focused on saving their pets, less scrutiny can be directed toward our project. They have been useful because it keeps the military focused on the benefits of an organic approach to combat systems as opposed to their worsening obsession with toys.”

“How can you keep this hidden?”  Michelle asked. Cole smiled at her.

And why do you think I won’t reveal it all?

“The advantages of military funding. We requested, and received, the same kind of security shielding from satellite and remote imaging that all other sensitive military installations receive. If you look on the public imaging databases, all you see at these coordinates are rolling grasslands.”

Michelle already knew this, but now her suspicions were confirmed. 

“You know you can’t stop me from reporting on this,” Michelle said. Cole nodded.

“Indeed. You’ll be our guest for a while longer while we finish our business with our visitors, and then you and I will have further discussions about what, where, and when your reporting will occur. With our lawyers, of course.”

His unsmiling eyes and discordant smile blared the lie and imminent threat jangling Michelle’s intuition. She now understood why he so confidently shared his secrets.

“Until then, you’ll just wait here.”

Reading his arrogant confidence, Michelle saw her opportunity and slipped her verbal dagger. “Are you aware of the murder of a local farmer who lives next to your property?”

Cole’s mouth briefly opened and he struggled for a moment to control his response, flickers of conflicting emotions subtly shifting his features, all of which Michelle saw clearly, confirming her hunch even before his reply.

“No, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I’ve got you. Now, I have to get out of here.

Chapter 54