When the Wind Blows - James Patterson [101]
“The winged children were just the beginning…. It was at that time we made the most important breakthrough. This is what changed everything. One of our worker bees discovered a promoter for a gene that soaks up free radicals. As you know, free radicals damage cells. Without cell damage, organisms do not, cannot, die of natural causes.”
Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe. My body went cold. I could only listen to Gillian.
She smiled thinly. “Michael looks like any other little boy, doesn’t he?” she said. “So does Eve. Actually, those darling children are worth any cost, any sacrifice. Michael’s life expectancy is two hundred years. Maybe even more than that.”
I couldn’t believe what I’d heard. Was that what all the costly research here and at the School was about? I think I may have gasped. My mouth certainly dropped open.
Michael’s life expectancy is two hundred years.
Gillian nodded her head slowly. She had me. I understood what had been done. I finally got it.
“My son is the next step in the evolution of the human race.”
Chapter 108
KIT HAD PROBABLY BEEN INVOLVED in a hundred interrogations before, but he’d never been on the wrong end of one.
“My name is Thomas,” the man sitting across from him said. He was very much at ease, very sure of himself.
“I’ve heard a lot about you,” Kit said.
“I’ll bet you have. I’ll tell you my side, as long as we’re just talking here.”
“Sure, why not.”
“I was in the Air Force. I wanted more than anything to be a pilot.”
“Nice to have dreams,” Kit said and nodded agreeably. He was biding his time, trying to figure how to gain some advantage.
“Sure it is. Unfortunately, my eyesight wasn’t quite up to Air Force specs. I don’t even have to wear glasses, but I couldn’t be a pilot. I wound up teaching. Those who can’t, you know.”
“What level? Did you teach kids?” Kit asked.
“Oh, for a short time. But then I got an assistant professorship at the Air Force Academy. Taught biology there… to future pilots.”
“Very nice.”
“It was. Ironic, though. You know, you’re good to talk to. A man’s man.”
“Oh hell, I don’t know about that. You’re a good talker yourself. Seem like a nice guy.”
“Oh yeah. That helps now and then. Dr. Peyser came to the Academy and recruited me.”
“Because of the background in biology?”
“Oh, hell no. His people are way out of my league as scientists. However, my science background did help me to understand his vision. That’s how he works, you know. Looks for people with the capacity to understand, and to believe, then he offers them the opportunity of a lifetime.”
“Financially?”
“You bet, financially. But also in terms of satisfaction, knowing you’re doing something important. So anyway, from what I understand you had the talent and other qualities to be an outstanding FBI agent yourself.”
“But I didn’t believe in the vision, at least not the version of the vision that I heard.”
Thomas nodded. “That’s what I hear. So tell me, Kit, who have you told so far about the School. Simple question, requires a simple answer. Then we can both get out of here.”
“Nobody,” Kit said. “I told nobody.”
Which was when Uncle Thomas went nuclear, and when Kit finally understood how fear really worked at the School. And he also understood why the kids hated Thomas, because he sure did. He hated Thomas more with every vicious punch he took.
But Kit didn’t talk, didn’t confess, didn’t tell.
Not a word.
Chapter 109
MAX INSTANTLY recognized some of the hideous creeps from the School. They had been the keepers, the guards, the bullies. They were tramping all over the woods now, looking for her, trying to kill her if they could. Well, screw them.
She was hiding at the tippy-top of one of the thickest pine trees, but there was still danger up there. If she needed to fly in a hurry, it would be hard to take off from a wobbly branch in a tree. She knew she needed to get up some decent speed first. It was better if she could run first. She might have trapped herself here in the tree.