Memoria (37 page)

"All this
t
ailing and
wiretapping
,
Jessup and his men being funny
...
"
Dickens
looked at Frank and frowned.

"And? What's the matter with you,
Dickens
? Can't you answer a simple question? Yesterday you didn't seem so
—
so insecure."

The blond man
raised his head.
"I have a funny feeling the police know Shelby's whereabouts
. If so, they may also know what we need him for."

"What
a lot of bullshit,"
Claney
crin
ged. "
How sure are you?"

Dickens
shrugged.

"Let Jessup make as many mistakes as he can,"
Claney
continued
. "Very soon we'll hand him over a new and reformed Frank Shelby.
Shelby the
exposer, Shelby the
champion
of justice
.
He will hand the reporters the new tape and tell the world how he used the information he
'd
received from Kathleen Baker in order to change the world by
messing up
the original Vaccination model.
How he tweaked
the program installed in the mnemocapsules."

Claney
's eyes glistened. "So when the gullible Kathleen found out, she wanted to stop him, and then Shelby strangled her
in his
own house.
It w
as
a
strangulation
you did,
wasn't it,
Dickens
?"

"Indeed it was, sir," the man answered, his face unmoved. "But first, I stunned
her and removed her clothing in order to create
the
impression of her expecting a man."

"Good,"
Claney
grinned. "I do appreciate
details. Our friend is now busy remembering them
...
"

Frank clenched
his fists and shut his eyes. He couldn't get to
Claney
. He couldn't wring
Dickens'
neck.
He racked his
brains
for a way to
escape his bo
nds once the two left the room. He wouldn't have
long to wait
:
Claney
had a plane to catch leaving
Dickens
with too many things
on his plate
—
the Vaccination,
the police
and some reporter they kept talking about.

"The man is
easily excited
,"
Claney
pointed at Frank.
"So excited he even tried to attempt his father's failed plan to murder the President. For that purpose, he infiltrated Memoria's HQ with several accomplices
. When his plan failed, he sought refuge in the Bronx camp. B
ut Anna
Gautier
, even though
a migrant
herself, didn't even want to hear them
out
. Then Shelby
massacred the whole Council, one by one, and lost one of his a
ccomplices
in
their desperate self-defense.
By the way
—
Bow, what did
you say happen
ed
to his other associates?

Frank tensed
at the sight of the pale researcher. Bow averted his eyes.

"Maggie
Douggan
," he started in a soft and
reluctant voice, "is now being prepared for the second stage of the personality correction program.
The brain of
Barney
Douggan
has collapsed during the mnemocapsule decompression
rendering him
in a trance-like state, a bit like a coma
.
Trying to
resuscitate him
is not recommended. His system has been weakene
d by the procedure and such resuscitation
may
be dangerous to
...
"

Flexing his muscles one by one, Frank searched Bow's table for
some kind
of sharp object. He had to get out of
t
here. He had to save Maggie, find
Barney
and prevent the
disaster from happening. He had no idea how the mnemocapsules worked, let alone what they contained. But now he was certain that the vaccinated would somehow obey
Claney
's orders.
The chemical mind lock could have something to do with it, too. Possibly, the two devices were programmed to work together
to advance the mad Congressman's plans
.
He had to find out when and how
they
would be activated.
He needed to know
Claney
'
s main target.

"Does that
mean that you can't apply correction to
Douggan
?"
Claney
glanced at
Dickens
.

"Not enough time," he answered.

"Currently,
Douggan
responds to basic voice commands," Bow said. "We gave him a false memories matrix, reinserted the capsule and
submerged him into
a
trance. If we bring him to now, memory
fusion may occur rendering the subject's behavior unpredictable."

"Rendering what?"
Claney
frowned.

"
A new matrix needs time to root. At least twenty-four hours."

"Shame,"
Claney
sighed. "I'm sorry about it. He would complete our motley crew,
"
Claney
nodded at Frank and turned back to
Dickens
, "Can't think of
another name for them."

"How about traitors," the blond man suggested.

"Sounds good. Let it be traitors, then,"
Claney
glanced at his watch. "Bow? When can I expect the new tape for our traitors?"

"About forty minutes. Are you going to
take
a look?"

"No. Let
Dickens
watch it. I've got to go."

He headed for the door.
Now or never.

"Wait," Frank croaked. "Can I have a glass of water?"

Claney
stopped. "You asking me?"

"I need to ask you something.
But I can't speak. Throat's too dry."

"Bow,"
Claney
jerked his chin
pointing
at Frank.

Obediently, the researcher filled a plastic cup from the water
cooler
and put it to Frank's lips.

"Thank you," Frank said.

It was a strange feeling, moving his head when the re
st of his body was strapped to the bed. Drinking allowe
d him to
glance around the room.
Frank noticed a scalpel in t
he heap of surgical tools on the table
.
He still had to get hold of it somehow, then cut the straps
...

"Well?"
Claney
lost patience. "Didn't you want to ask me about something?"

"Yes, of course," Frank swallowed. "When will it all start?"

Claney
looked at
Dickens
, then at Bow, then back at Frank.

"It already has. This morning."

Frank pursed his lips to conceal his feelings. He still couldn't work
out how it was possible that thousands of people had already been "vaccinated". And how was
Claney
going to make them obey his orders all at once? As he'd just said it should take at least twenty-four hours. But by then
they couldn't hide their game any more.

Back at
Barney
's place,
Max
had explained to them why you couldn't make a
large crowd obey all at once. It had to happen in stages
, at
perfectly choreographed and
mutually exclusive
moments
.

"Well," said
Claney
, "I'll be off,
then."

"Shall I get the chopper ready?"
Dickens
asked.

"You don't need to. I'll take a car to the Town
H
all and then to the airport.
Bow, you finish with Shelby here. Tell the other techs to
get the girl ready as soon as they can. Make sure you supervise their every step."

"They
won't start
on her
without me," the researcher said.

"Good. Oh, and try to bring
Douggan
to. I want all three
to
make a full confession in front of the media tomorrow morning."
Claney
looked back ay
Dickens
.
"Start feeding the camp leaders' massacre into the Net. After that, start the
main phase. The roof equipment works fine, I hope?
No more
monkey wrenche
s in our works?"

"No, sir. I'
ve double-checked everything I could. Even if
they cut the power to the building, we'll still have enough energy for the transmission."

"You sure you have enough men?"

"Yes, sir."

"Wait for my plane to take off and then commence.
Do make sure there're no more setbacks,
will you?
And k
eep an eye on what the police are
up to."

Claney
glanced at Frank
and walked out.
Dickens
lingered, staring at Frank with those pale cold eyes of his as if trying to read his thoughts. Then he nodded to Bow and closed the door behind him.

W
i
lliam Bow stood by Frank's bed smoothing out
the cables
he'd
connected back on
the headband.

"Are you going to put it
on?" Frank said.

The researcher didn't answer. His fingers twitched. He fiddled over every connection
and stepped back to the
equipment stand
.
He bent over the console and
tapped the keyboard, looking up at the monitor
.

"What was
Claney
going on about?" Frank raised his head studying the objects on the table. "What's going to happen in the morning?"

The research
er
didn't answer.
In sterilization boxes to his left
was
the scalpel
Frank had
already seen
plus
a pair of surgical
scissors and
three syringes
marked with
fluorescent yellow stickers and
filled with
a
cloudy greenish liquid
. There were other tools whose purpose was hard to define.

"
Dickens
will kill you," Frank dropped as nonchalantly as
he
could manage.
He lowered his head onto
the headrest. "Memoria bosses couldn
't care less whether you live or die. All they
're interested in
is the
result
they want
, and they'll do whatever
necessary
to get
it
. Then they
'll get rid of those who
worked on it
for them
.
Bow, can you hear me? I'm sorry to say, but
your type is
dispensable
.
"

Bow looked at him, fear and hate in his reddened eyes.
That's better
, Frank thought
. He had to mix threats and insult to
push
the researcher
's buttons
.

He thra
shed in his bo
nds
, and again
...