The Winter Over(71)

“And I suppose Jun’s suicide was just another facet of the experiment?”

“Everyone on base has known for weeks he’s been having personal issues at home,” Cass said bitterly.

“So someone wrote that e-mail to push him over the edge. Just to see if he’d kill himself?”

“Yes .”

He blanched. “That’s insane.”

“Any more than faking someone’s death?” Hanratty opened his mouth, but she cut him off. “Look me in the eye and tell me that Sheryl Larkin actually died out on the ice back in February. Look me in the eye and tell me you didn’t turn the power off just to see how they’d react. Look me in the eye and tell me this isn’t all some kind of experiment.”

Hanratty raised his head and quirked an eyebrow at Keene.

“No.” The psychologist shook his head slowly. “It’s not her. She’s saying the right things, but I can’t see any reason for her to storm into the party like she did and hope to get any useful data.”

“Does it make any more sense to arrange for her to find Jun? It amounts to the same result.”

Keene shook his head again. “Not even close, Jack. It’s the difference between being the messenger and observing the messenger. The first would make no sense—being frog-marched to your office for an interrogation is an easily predictable outcome. If she’s the Observer, where does that get her? She’s neutralized and sitting in your office.”

“But the second scenario is logical if he manipulated Cass into starting the panic,” Hanratty said reluctantly. “Then he gets to sit back and record the crew’s reaction.”

Keene nodded. “Exactly. Cass is not our man. Put simply, if she were, she wouldn’t have allowed herself to be brought here to your office.”

“God damn,” Hanratty said softly, looking back at Cass almost fondly. “I really thought it might be her.”

“What are you talking about?” Cass demanded, turning in her chair to try and take in both of them. It was unnerving that Keene continued to stand behind her.

Hanratty ignored her. “Either way, we’ve got a hell of a mess on our hands and we need to contain it. Suggestions?”

Before Keene could answer, there was a knock on the door and Deb stuck her head into the room. Hanratty frowned. “What?”

“Taylor radioed.” Deb tried speaking, couldn’t, cleared her throat. “Jun is dead.”

“Damn it.” Hanratty’s eyes flicked from Cass to Keene and back to Deb. “What’s happening with the crew?”

“People are losing their shit, is what’s happening.” Her voice started high and climbed the scale. “Jack, you need to make an appearance or we’re going to have some major issues.”

“Get Taylor on the horn and tell him to get back ASAP, then head for the galley and help Ayres stabilize things. I’ll join you in two minutes.” The door closed with a soft bump. Hanratty looked at Keene again, his eyes slightly wild. “I need some ideas, Gerald.”

“We need to calm people down and start looking for the Observer. No more tiptoeing. No more pretending we don’t know what’s going on. No more playing within his sphere of influence. I’m not sure we’re dealing with a rational or even sane person. At the rate the situation is escalating, the next test may not only be lethal, it will be widespread.”

“What are the two of you talking about?” Cass demanded.

“What about her?” Hanratty gestured as if she were a piece of furniture.

“She’s volatile and a liability. The Observer obviously used her to spark full-scale unrest among the crew. She’s smart and generally well liked. If you let her run amok among the personnel, she’ll have them burn this place to the ground. We’ll never flush out the Observer then, because we’ll be too busy keeping our heads above water.”

“So . . . ?”

“I think we need to reduce our liabilities.”

Cass turned in her chair in time to see Keene reach into a breast pocket and pull out a flat, black case the size of a cell phone. From it, he withdrew a prefilled syringe, removed the cap, and flicked the barrel to force an air bubble out. Eyes wide, she opened her mouth to scream when Hanratty suddenly pinned her in the chair with his shoulder and knee. Ignoring her yell of protest, he grabbed her right forearm in both of his hands and forced her palm upward, exposing the soft, white underside of her forearm and the blue veins beneath. Cass began screaming as she understood what they were trying to do. She clawed at Hanratty’s neck with her free arm.

“Hurry,” Hanratty said through gritted teeth. “She’s strong.”

Keene stroked his thumb along the vein that stood out from the skin of Cass’s arm, then tried unsuccessfully to push the needle in. “Hold her.”

“I’m trying, goddammit.”

On the fourth attempt, Keene hit the vein and pushed the plunger to its limit. “Don’t let up. This could take a minute.”

Cass screamed insults at them as long as she could but, driven by her slamming pulse, the drug slipped like quicksilver up her arm. Even as she started in on a new round of curses, she felt herself falling away, tumbling through layers of gossamer and spider lace until her head slumped forward on her chest and she was out.