The Atlantis Gene (The Origin Mystery 1)

“For now Doctor, but if you don’t figure out how Kate Warner survived the Bell, you won’t be.”

Chang shrugged his shoulders. “I… can’t even begin to—”

“You will begin to. How could she have survived?”

Chang brought a closed hand to his face and cleared his throat. “Well, um, let’s see, she could have treated herself with whatever she gave the children. Maybe she tested it for safety.”

Dorian nodded. “Interesting. Other possibilities?”

“No. Well, there is the obvious — she could have already had immunity — the Atlantis Gene.”

Dorian chewed his nail some more. That was very interesting. Very interesting. “Ok, that one sounds easy to test—”

Chang shook his head. “My lab was destroyed, and we don’t even know where to start—”

“Get a new lab.” Dorian turned to one of his staffers. “Find Dr. Chang a new lab.” He focused again on Chang. “And I’m not a scientist, but I would start by sequencing her genome and checking for any irregularities.”

Chang nodded. “Yes of course, that’s easy, but with the state of the site, we’re not likely to find any DNA—”

Dorian threw his head back. “For God’s sake, think outside the box. She has a condo in Jakarta; surely you’re clever enough to find a hair brush or a used tampon, Doctor.”

Chang flushed. “Yes, that, could work.”

A female Clocktower analyst spoke up, “Most women flush their tampons—”

Dorian closed his eyes and held his hands up. “Forget the f**king tampon. There must be tons of Kate Warner’s DNA in Jakarta. Go find some. Or better yet, let’s find her — if she did escape, she’s got to be on one of the trains.” Dorian turned to Dmitry Kozlov, the Immari Security Field Commander who had left China with him.

The soldier shook his head. “I just got the inventory. We checked it against the staff roster. She’s not on any of the trains. And neither is Reed. We’ve got a lot of injured and dead, several people with trauma wounds, but nobody with gunshot wounds.”

“You’re shitting me. Search the trains again—”

“It will delay Toba—” Dmitry said.

“Do it.”

The analyst with the Prendergast Report piped up. “She could have jumped.”

Dorian rubbed his temples. “She didn’t jump.”

The analyst shook his head. “How do you know—”

“Because she had Reed with her.”

“She could have pushed him off.”

“Could have, but didn’t.”

The analyst looked confused. “How do you know?”

“Because she’s not as stupid as you apparently are. She’s 5’8”, 120 lbs. Reed is over 6’ and at least 180 lbs. Warner couldn’t hike out of Tibet on her own, much less hauling 180 lbs of dead weight, and trust me, if Reed is alive, he can’t walk.”

“She could have left him.”

“She wouldn’t leave him.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I know her. Look, let’s wrap this up, come on, move out, people.” Dorian stood and waved his arms to usher people out of the crowded room.

“What about The Barnaby Prendergast Report?” the analyst said.

“What about it?”

“Should we contradict—”

“Hell no. Confirm it. The media will run with it anyway, it has the word terrorist in it. And it’s the truth — a terrorist attacked our facility in China. It’s the best break we’ve had. Release the footage of Reed planting the bombs to corroborate it. Tell the press that the attack follows an earlier attack by the same people in Jakarta. Include video of Warner as well.” Dorian thought for a moment. This could work out well, maybe buy them some time and provide a cover story. “Let’s say we’re currently investigating whether Dr. Warner deployed a biological weapon at the facility, and we’re asking for a strict quarantine of the site.” Dorian waited, staring at the staff. “Ok, tick-tock, people, let’s go.”

He pointed at Dmitry. “You, stay.”

The tall soldier lumbered over to Dorian as the room cleared. “Someone took them off the train.”

“Agree.” Dorian paced back to the table. “It has to be them.”

“Impossible. We’ve searched those mountains non-stop since 9/11, they’re not there. They were all killed in ‘38. Or they could be a myth. Maybe the Immaru never existed at all.”

“You have a better idea?” Dorian said. When Dmitry didn’t respond, Dorian continued, “I want teams searching those mountains.”

“I’m sorry sir, we don’t have the manpower. The Clocktower purge, plus the end of major hostilities in Afghanistan, our forces in the region were already minimal. Everyone we have local is focused on Toba. If you want teams, they have to be diverted.”

“No. Toba is the priority. What about satellite surveillance? Can we track them, figure out where they are?”

Dmitry shook his head. “We’ve got no eyes in the sky over Western China, nobody does. That’s one of the reasons Immari Research selected that site — there’s nothing there and no reason to look. No cities, hell not even many villages or roads. We can reposition satellites, but it will take time.”

“Do that. And launch the rest of the drones in Afghanistan—”

“How ma—”

“All of them. Have them scour every inch of the plateau — focus on monasteries first. And re-assign two men — we can spare them. Toba is important, but so is capturing Warner. She survived the Bell. We have to know why. Have those two men trace the route of every train that left, question villagers, anyone that may have seen anything. Apply pressure. I want her found.”

CHAPTER 71

David was still asleep when Kate returned to his room. She sat down at his feet on the twin bed in the alcove and looked out the window for a while. The serenity of this place was like nothing she’d ever experienced. She glanced back at David. He was almost as peaceful as the green valley and white-top mountains. Kate leaned against the alcove wall and stretched out her legs next to David’s.

She opened the journal and a letter fell out. The paper felt old, fragile, like Qian. The letters flowed in thick dark ink, and she could feel the indentations on the back of the page like Braille. Kate began reading aloud, hoping David would hear and that the voice would comfort him.