S. Bodeen - The Fallout

Philip A. Whitaker…

Philip A. What did the A stand for?

There was a knock on my door and Lexie opened it and walked in, wearing jeans and a white blouse with black ballet shoes. Her hair was back in a precise ponytail and she wore makeup. “So we’re really going?”

“You look nice,” I said.

She started to scowl, thinking I was messing with her, but then she smiled a little as she realized I was serious. “You think?”

I nodded. “And, yep, we’re going.” I put the paper back in the drawer and shut it.

“Why did you ask me to go?”

I shrugged. “It seemed like it would be fun.”

She rolled her eyes. “Since when do you and Eddy think I’m fun?”

“Since… you’re turning over a new leaf and you’re going to start being fun?”

She laughed. “When did you become an optimist?”

I smiled.

She said, “I thought it had something to do with what I found out. About my birth mother. I thought you were doing it because you felt sorry for me.”

I shook my head. “I think we can all use a getaway.”

“A getaway .” Lexie seemed amused with the word. “Yeah, maybe a getaway is exactly what I can use.”

“Having some fun might get your mind off it.”

Lexie slumped against the door. “It doesn’t change the fact that I’m the product of a monster.”

“Lex, come on.” I stood up and went over to her. “You’ve got to stop saying that. That woman only gave you life. Nothing else.”

“I keep telling myself that, but it doesn’t sound any better when you say it.” She let out a deep breath, just as Eddy showed up. He put a hand on her shoulder. “You packed?”

“Almost,” she said. “I’ll go finish.”

As soon as she left, Eddy closed the door. “Here’s the plan. Tony is meeting us outside the airfield. We’ll pick him up as we get there. But Lee is out there with the SUV and I don’t think he’d keep that a secret from Mom. So you need to stay here and come a little later, with Lexie. I’ll go now. I already called another driver from YK.”

My phone beeped again, signaling the low battery. “Oh crap.” I’d gotten so involved in the flash drive that I still hadn’t charged my phone. And I didn’t want to miss Dr. Barkley’s call. “I have to charge this up anyway.”

“Cool. So we’ll see you there?” Eddy glanced at his watch.

“Yep.” He left. I was glad, because when Barkley called back, I wanted to take that call in private. I didn’t feel like answering a bunch of questions, which I knew would be inevitable when Eddy heard me asking Dr. Barkley about his research.

I was glad Eddy and Lexie were getting along. Despite Eddy blaming it on his own feelings, I knew the rift between them was mainly my fault. Lex and I were a lot closer than we’d ever been before we went in the Compound. Back then, she had been more of an enemy than a sister to the both of us. I could totally see how it was probably hard for Eddy to see such a change and not be part of it. So it was a relief to see him be completely different overnight, making an effort to get along.

I plugged my phone in. While I waited for it to charge all the way, I remembered the hot tub at the Colorado house and added swim shorts to my bag. At eleven thirty, I knew I couldn’t wait any longer to leave. I had just unplugged the phone from the charger when it rang.

I answered.

Dr. Barkley sounded very happy to hear from me. “YK has renewed the funding! I don’t know how much you had to do with that, but I wanted to thank you.” He rattled on a bit more.

Finally, I managed to get a word in.

“Dr. Barkley, I wanted to ask you a few questions.”

“Of course, anything.”

“I have a question about the fire? The one that destroyed your research?”

He sounded a bit deflated. “Yes?”

I said, “You said you’d figured out what turned on aging.”

“We’d isolated the compounds that caused aging, yes.”

I wasn’t sure what I needed to ask, so I just kept going. “And you said that could lead to a potential cure for progeria?”

“Yes,” he said. “Which is why it was so magnificent that Mr. Yanakakis came through so quickly to provide the funds to start over. He was such a great man. It’s a shame you’ll never have the chance to meet him.”

I stifled a groan. I really wanted him to stop talking about my dad and the stupid funding. “Dr. Barkley. Could that discovery, the isolation of those compounds, have had any other… ramifications? Besides a cure?” I needed to know what else that discovery could have meant. What interest my dad might have had in it.

Dr. Barkley chuckled a bit. “Well, I suppose that…” He trailed off.

“Dr. Barkley? Were there other ramifications?”

“In the right hands.”

“What?” I asked. “ In the right hands… what?”

He breathed loudly into the phone. “In the right hands… that discovery could have led to the fountain of youth.”

My hand tightened on the phone. Holy crap. So that discovery was not just a potential cure for a rare childhood disease. That discovery could have led to…

“Dr. Barkley, one more question. What was the date of the fire? Do you remember?”

He sighed. “Of course I remember. One of the worst days of my life.” And he uttered the date with more than a trace of contempt. I thanked him and hung up. I worked at the date in my head. That date was…

That date was mere weeks before my ninth birthday. Mere weeks before that night when we entered the Compound. I quickly printed out all the pages from the PDL file. Again, it was just a bunch of research, but I checked the date. The date was before we went into the Compound.

My heart started pounding.

Was I looking at Barkley’s research?

The research that had been destroyed by fire so many years before?

And if so, how did that research end up on a flash drive belonging to Phil?

Lexie came in. “You ready?”

I stuffed my tablet computer into my bag, along with my phone, the flash drive, and the PDL printout. I was still reeling from the phone call and walked downstairs in a daze. I hugged everyone good-bye and was glad to get out in the fresh air. Lexie climbed in the front of the SUV and I got in the back.

I pulled out my tablet. But I didn’t even know what to search for. No search engine was going to answer the questions I had.

Had Dad known about the research? When Barkley applied for funding, he could have mentioned his recent discovery. Did Dad have something to do with the fire? Did he steal Barkley’s research and then start the fire as a cover-up?

No. Dad never got his hands dirty. I knew that. He would have had someone else do it. Steal the research. Start the fire.

But why? To find a cure to progeria?

There had to be more to it. Dad could have just funded the research and had Barkley continue.

The discovery must have had more meaning than the cure alone.

I slipped the printed pages of the PDL file out of my bag and scanned them. Barkley had talked about the ramifications of the discovery I held in my hands. A cure for progeria, yes. But also the fountain of youth. What would Dad want with that?

I glanced at the top again.

PDL.

Fountain of youth .

PDL.

I gasped.

Ponce de León?

The fountain of youth. PDL had to stand for Ponce de León. It had to be.

The Ponce de León Project.

What had Dad been up to? Had he considered a vaccine to stop aging? If it was even possible, whoever did that would be the wealthiest person on the planet.

I leaned back against the seat and looked out the window.