Passionate Obsession by D.M. Mortier

Chapter Eleven

The Scientists

A remote location in Alaska

“Why did you go to an SAC of the FBI for help?” Dr. William Everette glared at his former colleague Dr. Dean Reiner. “I mean, of all the people in government, in the FBI, CIA, or Homeland Security, you went to SAC McAllister. Why?”

“His grandfather knew my grandfather.” Being hooked up to a lie detector, Dean had no choice but to tell the truth, at least an abbreviated version of it.

“Does SAC McAllister know of the experiments we ran on his wife?” Dr. Everette continued his questioning. Dean had at first been uncooperative, but after a week of his wife and children placed in solitary confinement, he had been answering their questions ever since, at least a version that wouldn’t undo the good that he had tried to achieve.

“Yes.” Dean knew to keep his answers short and never elaborate or volunteer information.

“Why did you help Katia to escape?”

“She was scheduled to be put to death.” Dean had to be careful here. Dr. Everette would not like their dirty laundry aired, and even worst, taped. He was certain that this session was being recorded, same as all the others and probably being observed by some senior people in the government.

“That’s your opinion, Dean. No one at the lab would have wanted our first successful female candidate to die. Isn’t that right?”

“It is what I believed at the time, Dr. Everette.”

“Well, you were wrong. And now we have a problem. Katia and those babies represent billions of dollars of investment from the U.S. government, and we need to get them back. SAC McAllister gave his notice and seemed to be on the run with his wife and her two sons. His only friends are Colton and Justin Ragnarson. We’ve had surveillance at the homes and office of both men. Do you know these men?”

“No,” Dean answered honestly.

“How do you hand over assets as valuable as Katia and those babies and know nothing about who you’re handing them to?”

Dean thought it best to remain silent. There was no way for him to answer anyway.

“Are you in constant contact with SAC McAllister?”

“No.” Dean bit down on the inside of his mouth. He had heard that pain distracted people in a lie detector exam enough to fool the examiner. The Asian guy at the monitor looked quite bored and Dean wanted to keep him that way. It wasn’t as though Dr. Everette hadn’t asked these questions before. He had, and Dean had given the same answers.

“Are you certain of this, Dr. Reiner?” Dr. Everette asked again.

Dean frowned. This question was new, so although his answer was still negative, the extra query made him nervous. “Yes, I’m certain.”

“So, the fact that those boys look so much like SAC McAllister is a happy coincidence? They wouldn’t happen to be his biological sons, would they?”

Dean bit down on the inside of his cheek until he tasted blood.

“And before you answer, Dr. Reiner, it may be helpful if you knew that we have been in contact with Ms. Elizabeth Graham. She seems to know a lot about the subject matter.”

Dean blinked and bit down on the flesh of his cheek. His mouth was filled with blood and his eyes bright with moisture, but he managed to maintain his pulse, his breathing, and heart rate. “Yes, Elizabeth has been a source of mine in the past.”

“So, you lied to us about the sperm coming from the only surviving male test subject?!?!” Dr. Everette was beyond livid. He was almost frothing at the mouth.

Dean stared into his eyes. If eyes were a window into someone’s soul, Dr. Everette’s eyes were a window into absolute evil. As though he was a psychopath, he had no conscience, no remorse to the hundreds, thousands of lives they had taken in the pursuit of science. And he would have no remorse when he had Dean and his family killed either. Dean might not have been able to keep all of the secrets from the other scientists, but he would never give up Mac’s direct lineage to Ronin. His grandfather and father died protecting the men in the family because of the good that Ronin had done, and he would die doing the same.

“I thought that, given SAC McAllister’s ancestors were from the same Irish background as the only successful male test subject all those years ago, it was worth the chance. However, I was wrong because we had used his sperm before without success. I had been using his sperm without his knowledge for a few years. I had made similar arrangements with his previous lovers as I did with Ms. Graham.”

It took a few minutes, but some of the rage seemed to leave Dr. Everette and he started looking more calculating.

“I also didn’t think the SAC would be a good test subject because he’s already in his late thirties with no wife, no children, and no other close male relatives.”

Dr. Everette breathed out loudly. “We should still take him in with his wife and children. Never say that I broke up a happy home,” Dr. Everette intoned sardonically.

“The success of the serum could be based on the mother and not the father,” Dean deliberately said to muddy the water. “After all, none of the other test subjects or inseminations worked.” Another wave of sadness overtook him as he thought of the hundreds of embryos that had died because they had injected that serum, a serum he didn’t have a consistent formula for. Fortunately, Dr. Everette and Dr. Forbes had yet to discover this secret. For years he had been trying to find the right formula, but nothing had worked. Now one of the fifteen different versions of the formula had worked on Katia, and he had no clue which of them did because he had given her all of them.

Dean couldn’t believe what a monster he had become. He was no better than the others, because he was the originator of the serums and the sperm samples. He deserved the death that was coming to him. “McAllister doesn’t know that the boys are his sons. I told him that they are relatives of his,” he lied again.

“Doesn’t matter now. I want them found and brought here.” Dr. Everette twisted his lips into a smile that wasn’t a smile at all. “And, Dean, we expect you to get started on a new batch of serum. This program has suddenly been given the best chance of succeeding in five years. We expect to have the McAllister family in our custody any day now.”