Immune (The Rho Agenda #2)(129)

“So what’s the plan?” Mark asked, also relaxing his stance. “We can’t stay here.”

Heather shrugged, a movement that almost caused the towel to slip from her shoulders.

“Actually, I think we are going to be staying here. We need to hear Jennifer’s story. But first, we need a shower and some fresh clothes.”

“I have a great shower and lots of clothes that will fit you,” Jennifer said. “I even have a robe Mark can use.”

“And then?” Mark continued.

“And then,” said Heather, glancing toward Jennifer’s laptop. “I think we need to re-establish contact with Jack and Janet.”





135


Music thundered in Raul’s head, not that * stuff he’d been forced to endure in his former life either. This was pure Nickelback, Chad Kroeger screaming out his rage at the world. Why he hadn’t thought of piping music into this prison, home, royal chamber that was his section of the Rho ship, Raul couldn’t fathom. After all, he’d had Internet access for ages. He could scan all the satellite frequencies of television and radio, even decrypting the most classified communications.

Maybe that was it. He’d been so down in the weeds scanning data, he’d overlooked the simplest of things to make his life better. Understandable considering how hard he’d been driving himself.

He felt the door open before he saw it, just another of the mechanisms tied into his neural net, and he certainly didn’t need to see Dr. Stephenson to know who had entered his inner sanctum.

“Good morning, Raul.”

Letting the music fade from his mind, Raul waited, floating in the air just above the machine that had been the focus of his energies these last few weeks. Why Stephenson bothered to walk through the room was one of the mysteries that cloaked the scientist. After all, he’d shown he could override Raul’s manipulation of the stasis field whenever he desired. But instead of floating effortlessly, the man wove his way through the alien conduits and machinery until he reached the open central area where Raul waited.

“Going to a party?” Raul asked. He’d never seen Stephenson wear a business suit in the lab, although he’d seen him in one on television. This was a navy blue three-piece, tangerine shirt, gold cufflinks, a paisley tie, and chocolate Italian shoes.

Stephenson came to a stop before the machine. “The president’s arriving for a briefing in an hour.”

“Impressive.”

“That’s not what I came to talk about.”

“Fine. Spit it out.”

Dr. Stephenson’s eyes flashed briefly, giving Raul the pleasure of knowing he had managed to annoy the man.

Stephenson returned his attention to the device, running his hand lovingly along the surface of the thick coils that snaked in and out of the thing, coils within which whirls of glowing energy flashed, growing in intensity and then fading out with no apparent rhythm to the pulses. In the dim grayness that filled the room, the strange luminance failed to seep beyond the coils that contained it, providing no spot of light on Dr. Stephenson’s hands, even when they touched a glow spot.

“You’ve done well.”

The unexpected compliment caught Raul by surprise, sending a warm glow of pride through his entire body. Why the hell did he even care what Stephenson thought? After all, he hated the man.

“It’s not finished, yet.”

“I know, but we’re very, very close now. What about the power?”

Raul rubbed his hands together. As challenging as the repairs to the device had been, providing the huge increase in power that would be required to bring it online had proved the most daunting of his tasks.

“Eighty-three percent.”

“We need at least ninety-five.”

“You’re not telling me anything I don’t know.”

“You need to pick up the pace.”

“Why don’t you get your ass in here and help me then?”

“I’m sure you can handle it. Besides, I have other pressing matters to attend to.”

“Like the Bandelier Ship?”

Stephenson raised an eyebrow. “Among other things.”

Raul had been monitoring the news about the Enemy ship, the one they had all believed stone dead until it had unexpectedly come to life a few days ago.

“So that’s why the president is visiting.”

“Even I have to play tour guide sometimes.” The annoyance in the deputy director’s voice left little doubt what he thought about this interruption.

“You said I was doing well,” Raul returned to the original subject. “You know I’m working around the clock. Why are you pushing me to up the pace?”

“There’ve been some complications with the nanite distribution.”

“You mean the remotely programmable version you’ve been peddling around the world?”

Stephenson paused, as if considering what he would say. “You’ve been watching the news networks and spy satellite feeds. You know about our program at Henderson House.”

Although the confirmation that Stephenson had been monitoring his activities annoyed him, he got the sense that something big was about to be revealed.

“Not going according to plan, is it?”

“Just a technical problem. But with the world so new to the challenges of complete health, it would be a bad time for anything about Henderson House to leak out.”