Black's Magic Part 10

"Someone quite so attractive," Fiona countered. Addison was pleased with this reply and opened her mouth to respond to Fiona's flirtations, but caught sight of Skyler out of the corner of her eye and stopped herself.

"About the transportation?" the agent asked, getting back to business.

"Of course," Fiona said. "I've arranged for you to go along with my man Darren. He's waiting for you at the docks and will be ready to go anytime you get there.

"The sooner the better," Skyler interjected. They received directions to the boat docks and moved to exit the shop.

"Come back when you have the time to stay longer," the Scotswoman said to Addison, placing a familiar hand on the agent's arm. "Oh, and you too, miss," she added as almost an afterthought to Skyler.

"I bet," an annoyed scholar said under her breath as an inexplicable pang of jealousy stung her. "I'd like to come back all right. Come back and slap her."

"Slapper?" Addison asked. "I'm sure she is." The agent held out her hand for the keys and receiving them, slipped behind the wheel of the car. Skyler moved into the pa.s.senger seat.

"She is what?" the scholar questioned.

"A slapper" Addison replied.

"G.o.d, I forgot that practically bionic hearing of yours," Skyler groaned. "Hey, what's a slapper?"

Addison quirked her c.o.c.ky grin as she started the vehicle. "I believe you scholarly types would call her a woman of easy virtue."

"Easy virtue is an understatement," Skyler scoffed. "If I hadn't been there she would have been on you like white on rice."

"Probably," the agent confirmed as she guided the car.

"I can see why," Skyler said without thinking. To cover her slip she changed the subject. "By the way, your advanced a.r.s.enal must not include psychic powers. I thought Fairworth was going to be a grizzled old fisherman."

"Well," Addison observed dryly, "She was fishing for something alright, just not fish."

"Oh, brother," the American laughed. "We're going to need a d.a.m.n big boat if we're going to haul that huge ego of yours across to the Isle of Skye."

Addison laughed as well, but further conversation was prevented as they arrived at the boat docks. Several long docks were divided into individual slips and the vessels there ran the gamut of small ships. There were sleek powerboats moored alongside small trawlers and stately sailboats. The Englishwoman guided the Forester into a s.p.a.ce adjacent to the waterfront.

"Let's get the gear and find the boat," Addison instructed. They left the vehicle with the backpack given to them by Quinton and while Skyler scanned the boats for the "Maid of the Atlantic", Addison went to the trunk and opened it. Rummaging inside she made several thoughtful selections that were deposited into a tubular shaped duffel bag and slung over her shoulder. At that moment Skyler rejoined her.

"You're not going to like this," the doctor said.

Addison narrowed her eyes. "Why not?"

"Because that," Skyler said, "is the Maid of the Atlantic." She pointed at a decrepit vessel that resembled a miniature tugboat. It was loaded with crates and rode low in the water.

"b.o.l.l.o.c.king h.e.l.l!" Addison spat. "That bucket of barnacles will take forever to make the crossing. I'll wager I could swim there faster!" She walked toward the boat, then stopped to survey it with hands on her hips. "I'd say that thing couldn't go much faster than..."

"f.u.c.king b.i.t.c.h!" At Skyler's tone, Addison spun around to find the source of the American's irritation. She didn't have far to look as she followed Skyler's line of sight. On the opposite side of the marina, a sleek powerboat started and revved its considerable engines. A nondescript man sat at the wheel but there was no mistaking his redheaded pa.s.senger.

"Brodie," Skyler muttered as she reached back to the pistol attached to her waist. Pulling it out she moved toward the boat that was backing slowly from its berth. "I'll kill her."

"No you don't," Addison said as she grabbed Skyler from behind and pulled her down, effectively shielding them from the boat Brodie was in. Addison rolled on top of Skyler and used her body weight to hold the American in place.

"Let me go, d.a.m.n it!" Skyler hissed up at the agent. "I'm going to kill her!"

"And kill your mother in the process!" Addison said as she looked down into green eyes that glittered with hatred. Her words, however, seemed to take hold as Skyler's struggling ceased. "If we take out Agnes now, we lose the greatest chance we have of finding your mother quickly. Let me handle this." Skyler breathed hard and her jaw worked as she clenched her teeth. Addison kept looking the scholar directly in the eye as she said earnestly, "Trust me."

There was nothing in her extensive academic experience to prepare her for this decision. Skyler knew she had to decide quickly so she went with her gut instinct. "Do it," she said.

Addison immediately rolled off the blonde and came to her feet in one fluid motion. She moved in a crouch down the dock, paralleling the movement of the powerboat as it eased through the marina. As she went she pulled her own pistol from her waistband and fished in a pocket with the other hand. Skyler rolled to her stomach in time to see her fit a cylindrical extension on the barrel of the gun and shove something inside. The ebony haired woman then moved to the very end of the dock, a spot that would be the closest the boat would come to their position.

Addison dropped to one knee and brought the gun up. She held the pistol in her right hand and she cupped that hand in her left to steady her aim. As the now loudly throbbing boat pa.s.sed, Skyler saw Addison's hand jerk a fraction of an inch then the agent dropped back to a concealed position as the boat pa.s.sed and picked up speed as it headed out to sea.

When it was sufficiently out of sight, Addison rose up and walked back to Skyler. She gave her hand to the American and a.s.sisted her to her feet. The puzzled expression she sported made Addison know what was coming.

"Ask," the agent said.

Skyler stepped up close to Addison. She stared into calm brown eyes. "You said to trust you. I did trust you and you just let her go. How could you do that? You just let her go," Skyler said in a disappointed tone.

Addison leaned forward until her forehead almost touched the American's and smiled. "There's letting someone go and then there's letting them go with a farewell gift." She stepped back and walked over to the duffel bag. She removed a square black box the size of a Walkman. She pulled an antenna from the object and flipped a switch on the face. A slow, steady beep issued from the object.

"Gotcha!" Addison said in triumph. She looked at Skyler. "Tracking system. Works with some of those lovely satellites our countries have spinning overhead. Agnes may get to the Isle of Skye ahead of us, but we are going to know exactly where she lands thanks to this little beauty."

"You shot a transmitter at the boat, didn't you?" Skyler asked, clearly impressed. Addison nodded her head. "Then I'm sorry I doubted you, Agent Black and I'm glad I trusted you. I won't question you again."

Addison laughed at that statement. "Yes, you will, Doctor. It's in your nature to question everything. Now, lets follow that boat." She glanced from Skyler to the Maid of the Atlantic. "Slowly."

At that moment a disembodied electronic voice came over the speakers into the lab where Marlene Tidwell sat. The tone was distorted and it was impossible to determine the true voice it concealed.

"Professor Tidwell, welcome to our facility. I'm truly sorry we had to resort to heavy handed tactics to bring you here." Marlene unconsciously brought her hand up to her cheek where a deep cut had been closed with b.u.t.terfly sutures. It had stopped bleeding but it now throbbed with pain. She shifted on the high stool she was perched on.

The voice continued. "You know what we want, Doctor. We want details, all of them. Project Gemini is important to plans that are already underway and we have waited long enough to get this information. There will be no further delay. You may use the paper and pens on the laboratory table in front of you. Begin now."

Marlene was a little in shock at her violent abduction, but not enough to blindly follow the instructions of her captors. "You must be joking. I'm not going to give you the information about my research."

"On the contrary, Professor, you will. Please direct your attention to the closed circuit monitor on the desk next to you." Marlene glanced over as the screen flickered to life. An image of a young blonde woman being hustled into a building was shown. Even bound, gagged and with hands secured behind her back, the woman was unmistakeable.

"Skyler!" Marlene cried and moved from her stool to get closer to the monitor. The image faded as she neared.

"What have you done with her?" the American yelled into the room.

"She is quite unharmed and is our guest. Did you think that Agent Black would free her? I regret to inform you that Addison Black is dead and that your daughter remains our guest. She will be freed, along with yourself, the moment we have verified the information you are going to provide us with."

Marlene did not have the resourcefulness of her daughter. She did not know that the footage of Skyler was over twenty-four hours old and that her daughter was no longer being held. All she had was the heart of a mother and that heart told her to do whatever had to be done to secure the safety of her child.

With a feeling of desperation and no hope left, Marlene returned to the lab table. She picked up a pen and began revealing Project Gemini.

As the Maid of the Atlantic chugged her way across the water toward the Isle of Skye, Skyler settled up against a secured stack of crates and closed her eyes. Crossing her arms over her chest to ward off the cold sea breeze, she tried to rest but found her mind drifting time and time again to her mother. She knew Brodie was speeding ahead of them and she worried what a meeting between Agnes and her mother would mean to her mom's well being. She shifted restlessly against the crates.

A warm form moved next to her and she opened her eyes to see Addison who had left her spot at the front of the craft where she had been scanning the sea with binoculars. They sat shoulder to shoulder on the gently pitching deck.

"I estimate an hour for the crossing at this speed," Addison informed her. "The tracking device is working well. We're not going to have a problem finding where they put ash.o.r.e." Seeing the concerned look on Skyler's face she added, "Don't worry, we'll find her. We'll get her back, find out who's behind this scheme and put a closing note to Agnes Brodie's biography."

"She's got a big head start on us, Addison. You know that a woman like Brodie doesn't need much time when she's determined and my mom doesn't have you around to help her out." Skyler dropped her gaze to the deck.

"Hey," the agent said as she gently lifted the American's chin. Your mum and you are made of the same genetic material, right?" Skyler nodded. "Well you had to get your pluck from somewhere. Remember I met her before I came after you. She didn't strike me as someone who would give in to the likes of Agnes."

"I just hope she's safe," Skyler said and tears misted her vision. She rubbed them from her eyes with the back of her hand. "d.a.m.n it! I don't want to start this. Talk to me about something else. Anything as long as I don't have to think about what might be happening to her."

"Okay," Addison agreed. "Why don't you tell me what you know about your mother's work? Maybe if I understand the nature of Project Gemini a little better it may give me a clue why all this is happening."

"To tell you the truth, I don't know everything she had been working on," Skyler began. " I've been out of the country for a while, but I do know she was working with the tuberculosis bacteria. She had been looking at other, more beneficial, applications for it."

"Tell me about that then. Start at the beginning. There has to be something here I don't see yet."

Skyler's superb mind went to work then and she pulled out what she recalled from a cla.s.s she had taken in Epidemiology. "Tuberculosis has been around for a long time. There are scientists now who have found evidence of tuberculosis in the skull and spinal bones of Egyptian mummies dating back four thousand years, but it wasn't until Hippocrates wrote about a disease he called 'phthisis' about 2,400 years ago in Greece that we have a written record of the problem." Addison listened and marvelled at Skyler's recall.

"During the Middle Ages, it was postulated that most Europeans were infected and the disease probably accounted for one in every four deaths. Today the World Health Organization estimates that fully one third of the world's population is infected and three million die from it every year. Even Great Britain and the United States saw a resurgence of the disease in the eighties and nineties, probably because of AIDS, which makes people more susceptible to the disease, and the emergence of multi-drug resistant strains. Basically, wherever there is overpopulation, crowding and poverty, you're going to find tuberculosis."

Skyler paused here and shivered as a gust of wind blew off the ocean and chilled her again.

"Cold?" Addison asked.

"A little," Skyler replied. Addison moved closer and wrapped an arm around Skyler.

The American hummed in happiness. "Man, you're warm. You're like a portable electric blanket."

Addison just chuckled. "I've always been that way. The doctors doing my physical for the Marines thought I was coming down with some sort of illness but it seems my core temperature runs a little higher than almost everyone else. I don't know why that is, but feeling cold has never been a problem for me. Don't let me interrupt you though. Go ahead with what you were saying."

Skyler returned to her lesson. "Okay, tuberculosis is caused by a micro-organism called mycobacterium. There are several types of mycobacterium and each one causes a different disease. One can cause tuberculosis; one causes leprosy and so on. They look like strings of link sausages under the microscope and are known as bacilli. Droplets spread the bacilli, usually the kind you find when a person coughs or sneezes. It can affect many body parts but eighty percent of the time it infects the lungs."

"I know mom had figured out a way to inactivate the disease portion of the mycobacterium. I'm not sure how, but I do know the bacilli is sensitive to heat and UV light. Anyway, she apparently developed a strain that could carry drugs instead of disease. The drugs were going to be used to fight cancer. Can you imagine how much easier it would be to inhale chemotherapy rather than have it injected into your bloodstream? This was only the tip of the iceberg; the medical implications are enormous!"

"I can understand that but what is Project Gemini?" Addison asked.

Skyler shrugged. "I know mom said the Gemini part was her idea. Gemini indicated the twin nature of the bacteria. First it was a deadly disease carrier and now she hoped it would cure disease. What else there is to know about the project is common knowledge. Your government and mine gave her grant money to set up a lab in England and take the technology as far as it could go. Whatever she had been working on recently, I don't have any idea."

Addison was silent a moment. "Okay, lets see what we have. A germ of some kind, highly contagious. Works best in a crowd. Carries disease or possibly drugs now." She stopped suddenly as Skyler drew in a breath sharply. "You're thinking what I'm thinking, aren't you?"

Skyler looked up into the deep brown eyes of the agent. "I think I am. Biological warfare?"

"Uh-huh," confirmed Addison. "f.u.c.k."

Chapter 11.

Shadowed by an armed guard, dressed in navy overalls and a scientist sporting a pristine white lab coat, Agnes Brodie swiped her identification card through an electronic locking system. Immediately a door, by which they were all standing, clicked in several places and its numerous bolts were deactivated. With a confident air, Brodie pushed the door open and stepped inside a wide, illuminated room. Freshly painted, white walls increased its brightness. It was a simple s.p.a.ce, decorated only with one metallic table in the centre, a camp bed to the right and sink to the left. What appeared to be a closed circuit monitor was built into the room's table. The building, in which they inhabited, stood five miles from the sea. It was four stories high and over two hundred years old. Marlene Tidwell was held in a secure room at the top of the structure. Her window had been previously bricked up without plastering; white paint merely covered the masonry. It marked a clear indication to where the room's window used to be.

Seated at the table, Marlene Tidwell watched nervously as the fearsome looking threesome entered. They were the first real contact with people she had received since arriving at this unknown destination. First to enter was a tall redhead. She wore her hair down around her shoulders, was dressed in similar attire to the man who entered second, but she held a definite manner of authority. Last to enter the room was a stunted, stocky man with a smooth baldhead. His white lab coat was fully b.u.t.toned to his neck with nothing more than a light blue bowtie showing under his chin.

Nervously, Marlene waited for one of them to speak.

"Professor Tidwell," Agnes greeted. "So nice to finally meet you... at last. I must say your daughter did try and lead us to believe she was in fact you. Unfortunately for her, we are a little wiser than that."

"What have you done to her? Where is Skyler?" Marlene rose from her chair in panic. "If you've hurt her I'll..."

"Yes?" Brodie asked bluntly. Her eyes glowed with a predatory gleam. "I happen to think you are in the least of positions to be making threats, Professor." Brodie walked over to the table and sat down opposite Marlene. She waited with apparent expectation for the Professor to do the same. She didn't wait long as Marlene sat down rigidly in compliance.

"Good... now lets set out the facts shall we? You have something I want. I have something you want." Brodie grinned humourlessly. "Surly it doesn't take a PHD to realise how this can work to both advantages." Brodie's eyes scanned the papers beside Marlene. "You give me what I want and I'll give you what you want." She folded her hands together upon the table and waited.

Though Marlene would do anything for her daughter's safe return, she felt physically ill at the mere thought of handing over the secrets of Project Gemini. Not only was it a highly dangerous experiment, it was also her life's work and something she had worked so hard to accomplish. She knew its devastating potential in the wrong hands. Unfortunately, her maternal instincts overrode every warning that besieged her good sense. She was a mother. Images of her daughter, bound and gagged, the nightmarish possibilities ran rampant through her mind.

Marlene picked up and held the papers in front of her. "If I give you Project Gemini, you give me my daughter."

"Yes."

"What proof do I have that she is still alive?"

Brodie ground her teeth in frustration. "You saw the VT, didn't you? That was her coming into the building."

Reluctantly and with a heavy sensation in her stomach, Marlene handed over the breakthrough, that was, Project Gemini.

Agnes smiled in smug satisfaction. It was a warped motive, but she got so much more pleasure from seeing a captive squirm as they, not so willingly, handed over the information she required. It had a higher element of malevolent contentment than merely taking what she wanted.

"Atkins!"

The hairless scientist to her right took the papers from Agnes and flicked through them eagerly.

Brodie's eyes remained upon Marlene. "That contains Gemini's duel nature? Both Jekyll and Hyde?"

"That is the key elements of Project Gemini," Marlene replied hollowly. "With out all the research my team and myself carried out on its applications, that is my creation of the vessels structure, how it is refined and manipulated to accommodate the Jekyll and Hyde."

With little belief of Marlene's words, Brodie looked to Atkins for proof this was what she wanted. She received an excited nod in response.

"Excellent." Brodie rose to her feet. "You have complied well, Professor." Jerking her head, Brodie indicated it was time to leave. The door opened as Marlene leapt from her chair.

"Wait!"

Brodie stopped and turned to Marlene.

"My daughter?"

"Ah yes." Brodie pursed her lips as her eyes scanned the papers in Atkins hands. "Once I have everything I need from you, Skyler will be returned to you."

Marlene strode around the table. "I gave you Project Gemini."

"Yes you did." Agnes smiled. "And once we have carried out initial tests, which I may consult you on, I will be sure you have given me all I require. That is when you will get what is coming to you. For now... you will wait." Finishing her statement, Brodie left the room. Its door bolted shut behind her.

Marlene stared at the closed barrier. Realisation of what she had done crashed down upon her. She fell to the floor in tears; her sobs echoed around the empty room.