The Freezer Page 33

  But not before I spoke to her.

  “I’ll be back soon,” I whispered.

  “Don’t go.”

  “I have to file the report. Wrap up the case.” Her eyes flicked to my chest, and I said, “What is it?”

  “We have matching scars.”

  I smiled grimly. They were merely white lines now, having nearly fully healed, but she was correct. They were the same.

  I squeezed her hand, gave her a kiss and marched from the clinic.

  Marius watched, curious.

  * * *

  “Hello, Tanner!” Sato cried when I stepped into his cabin. He had been working at a desk in the corner; programming language filled the holoscreen over his workspace, and his datachip reader was out with a small image projected over it.

  It was a tiny cabin with very little in the way of comfort. Narrow bunk along one bulkhead. Lavatory through a hatch along the other. Dim lighting. Metal surfaces everywhere.

  “Hello,” I muttered.

  “Feeling okay?”

  “I guess.”

  He frowned. “What’s bothering you?”

  “This case.”

  He hesitated for a heartbeat. “What do you mean? It’s over. Dinova is at CCF HQ and Lefave is dead.”

  I stared at him. My gaze was icy, and it made him uncomfortable. He shifted on his feet as he studied my eyes.

  “Sato. Why haven’t you told me everything?”

  He remained silent and lowered himself to the bunk. “Pardon?”

  “The case. I haven’t filed it yet with Captain Lawrence. He’s been asking, and I’m going over there after I speak with you.”

  His face twitched as he absorbed that. “I don’t understand.”

  I sighed. “Ed. You were so useful on Europa. I really appreciated it. But I have to ask you: Was the EMP device really functioning when you tried to kill the bomb in my aorta?”

  His eyes registered shock, and he opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

  I continued, “I thought at first that you were a great help. You investigated for me. Found the first set of coordinates. Fought at my side. Helped kill the director. You did everything I could hope a civilian would do for the CCF.”

  He had gone slightly pale now, and I pressed on. “But I still had so many questions about you.”

  “Such as?” he finally managed, but his voice was weak.

  “Your expertise for one. You design micro-bombs! The very thing that infected me and killed Shaheen! At first I thought your involvement had happened completely by chance, but there are few coincidences in an investigation of this sort.”

  “But my division received a call for help, and they sent me.”

  I exhaled. “Yes. But still.” I paced before him as the thoughts resolved themselves in my mind. My weapon was at my side, and Sato had noticed.

  “You showed up when Homicide Section called for help. Your specialty is micro-bombs. But then things kept happening that made me question it all.”

  He opened his mouth to speak but I cut him off.

  “First, you were against the idea of using the EMP on Dinova. It might have actually worked to clear the nanos from her body and prevent the procedure from working. Kept her from becoming enhanced. Why did you argue against it?” Marius had fought to make the attempt, as I recalled. Sato didn’t think it even worth trying.

  “I just assumed—”

  “But why not try? We were facing another superhuman there. One who had killed Shaheen and infected me!” I didn’t give him a chance to respond. “And then the comm repair, out on the ice. You fixed it so we could request help.”

  He looked confused and defensive now. “Of course. So we could survive!”

  “But as soon as I sent the call, you sabotaged the device!” I thought back to the events as I spoke. “You were kneeling next to it, fiddling with it as the static grew. You caused the static!”

  “That’s absurd.”

  It didn’t matter. I knew why he had stopped my transmission. “You let the call go through until a point when you wanted it to end. You had been watching my lips through the faceplate.”

  He stared at me now, silent, just shaking his head.

  “And when we killed the...the experiment. What you said was very telling. You were angry at what the CCF had done to him. It was clear in your tone.”

  “Of course I was! They tortured him!”

  “But you seemed to take it personally. And then, later, something Dinova herself said shed more light on it.” I paused and studied him. “In the clinic, while Marius was operating on me, you argued with Dinova. She said, ‘He’ll turn us in.’ Us, Sato. Meaning you and her.”

  “I don’t know—”

  “You’re a dissident, Sato. You were working with Dinova the whole time. You created the micro-bomb for her. And when you tried the EMP on me, to eliminate the device from my aorta, you faked it, right? It probably would have worked. Dinova operated the equipment and you watched the displays. If both of you were in on the whole thing, and she wanted me dead at the end of it...”

  I studied him now; he had grown silent again.

  “But you fought the director,” I said in a soft tone. “You helped me investigate. Did you really want me to die?”

  “Of course not,” he said finally. But then he became tightlipped once more.

  I sighed. He was a dissident and was part of Dinova’s group on Ceres. He had worked for her, arranged the micro-bomb, helped infect Bojdl. He wanted to halt the work going on at The Freezer, destroy the facility and help Dinova lead some sort of fight against the Council. It had even pleased him when I told him that he was going to Europa to help me.

  But despite his political views, I knew that he was a good man.

  I didn’t think he would have let me die.

  “You were following Dinova,” I whispered. “But you’re lucky that I like you.” I marched to the hatch and turned to face him. His eyes were on my pistol.

  He thought I was going to kill him.

  “I’m letting you go, Sato,” I said. I hadn’t done anything of the sort since Russia...since the affair with the woman. If he continued his activities, the CCF would eventually catch and kill him.

  But it wouldn’t be on my hands.

  “You should stop what you’re doing. They’ll get you eventually. Warn your friends here. Dinova’s friends. Tell them to stop and just...leave.”

  He blinked. “Leave?”

  My voice was a rasp. “Do you understand what’s happening right now? They’re interrogating Dinova! Drilling directly into her brain, getting her to name people! She’ll give you up, Ed! Get away while you can!”

  Realization spilled across his face. “I thought the procedure would give her the strength—”

  “She can’t resist. And they’ll find out anyway, even if not from her.”

  He paused. “From you?”

  “Maybe.”

  Sato sighed and stared at the deck. Then he looked at me. “Tanner. I didn’t want you to die. I would have saved you...had planned on it...but things got out of hand on Europa when Lefave turned into such a madman. It quickly spiraled...” He trailed off again and I suddenly felt sorry for the man.

  “I’m not mad at you, Sato. I even understand. I work for the Council. I know where the pain comes from. You created the weapons but didn’t use them yourself. But duty dictates my life. I’m in the CCF.” I lowered my voice. “This is the only warning. Leave while you can.” But I knew that I had to cover my own ass too. “Tomorrow I’ll be coming to capture you. And if you try to incriminate me, I’ll make them think that you were just trying to drag a loyal officer down with you.”

  He looked a little shocked at this, but it couldn’t be helped. There was a chance that
at some point in the future I’d need visual evidence that I had actually tried to bring the man in.

  Then he rose to his feet and approached me. Despite the gravity of the situation, I saw a sliver of a smile appear on his face. That ever-present smile that I had immediately taken a liking to days ago.

  The thought startled me, because it actually seemed like it had been months ago.

  He reached out and I met his grasp. We shook hands, and I even smiled slightly back at him.

  “Good luck, Sato,” I said.

  And then I turned my back on him and left his cabin.

  Like so many others, he would most likely not survive his own philosophy.

  But at least he had a fighting chance.

  I marched to a nearby viewport and stared at the starry vista before me. I had dealt with a lot of death and crime and gore and hatred in my life. Had continued on after my parents’ death and made a life for myself. Had found Shaheen and made a life with her. A life that would continue on past Fort Iridium and Europa, and out to Pluto and perhaps a colony out in some other part of the galaxy.

  And at long last, after everything that had happened, after everything I’d witnessed and after all my experiences, I was happy again.

  Shaheen was alive, and I was happy again.

  Epilogue

  I marched to Captain Lawrence’s office in CCF HQ. It was time to file my report. Within those bulkheads, somewhere in the cells there at that exact moment, a team of security officers was interrogating Dr. Marina Dinova. Pulling as much from her as possible. She might not have nerve fibers to transmit pain, but they could still stimulate the centers of her brain that processed it. They would insert electrodes right through her skull.

  I’d seen them do it before.

  I hoped that Ed Sato could get away before she gave him up. That was up to him now.

  Maybe one day we’d cross paths again. Help each other on another case. Only time would tell.

  Lawrence met me with a grin and a gesture at a chair in his office. I lowered myself to it with a sigh.

  My report.

  I was not looking forward to it.

  “Time to close the file, Tanner?” he asked.

  I bristled at the way he addressed me. He was my contact here at Fort Iridium, and I wished he would follow military protocols.

  Oh well, it was almost over anyway.

  “Yes,” I said in a soft tone.

  “Go ahead.” He leaned back and watched me. There was a mug of coffee in his right hand. His feet were on his desk. He’d been reviewing files, no doubt getting ready to send me out on another case somewhere. He didn’t yet realize that I would be going to Pluto with Shaheen, that it didn’t matter where he wanted to send me.

  “I made a few calls earlier.” And then I stopped.

  “Go ahead,” he said, prompting me.

  “One was to the CCF division here that deals with micro-bombs.”

  He frowned. “Yes, they sent Ed Sato to help you on the case. I made the call myself.”

  “Yes. But you told me that they sent him randomly.”

  “They did.”

  I shook my head. “I spoke with the duty officer, Lawrence.” I said the name with disdain. He didn’t deserve his rank. “You specifically requested Sato, which you lied to me about later. Why?”

  He stared at me in utter silence. He was frozen in place now, the mug halfway to his lips. His expression was also locked.

  “You wanted him assigned to the case. Needed him, actually.” I stopped again and watched the other’s expression. “And when I spoke to you from The Freezer. The last day there. You said that no one had been near my cabin. You studied the surveillance video. But I know it was a lie. Dinova herself told me she planted the micro-bombs the day Shaheen and I arrived. You couldn’t have failed to notice that.”

  Horror laced his face now. He knew that I had discovered his secret.

  I continued, “And not only did you request Sato for the case, you requested me. The second call I made was to the former homicide investigator stationed here. You told me that you’d had to send her to Titan on a case.” I snorted. “She says you sent her there but they already had an investigator! They didn’t need her. You were just getting rid of her as an excuse to bring me in. You wanted me here because Dinova wanted me. And you even planted the seed in my mind about Europa!” In fact, he had mentioned it as being odd that three medical personnel had come from the same base on Europa to fill needed spots on Ceres.

  He set the coffee down and glared at me. “Now just a second! I needed an investigator for Bojdl and didn’t have one! You were the next—”

  “You arranged it, Lawrence. It wasn’t coincidental. You knew about the plan from the beginning. You knew that Dinova was going to kill Shaheen. Knew that they were going to implant a micro-bomb in me.”

  I rose to my feet and said to him, “You’re the leader of the dissident group here, not Dinova!”

  Fury filled his eyes for long, excruciating seconds. I remained utterly silent, simply fixing him with my icy stare. Eventually, however, he glanced down with a sigh. In a quiet voice: “You’re good, Tanner. I knew it... I just didn’t realize that you were this good.” A pause, and then, “Dinova insisted on you. Your reputation. Thought only you could handle The Freezer and Lefave. And she was right. It worked.” A shrug. “It worked.”

  “What’s going to happen to Dinova?”

  “Escape maybe.”

  “And the Council?”

  “We’ll try our best. Have to get her out of here first though.”

  So he would take Dinova and together they would lead some sort of fight against our rulers. And with Lefave’s enhancements...if they could decipher them and use them on others in their group...

  He looked up and his mouth fell open.

  My pistol was out and I had aimed it directly at his face. “I’ve recorded everything,” I whispered.

  His eyes flicked to my reader, in my left hand at my side.

  I had compassion for dissidents, didn’t consider thoughts and speech a crime, but I drew the line at what he had done. At what he still had planned. For him, things were only just beginning. He had orchestrated it all. He was the mastermind behind everything that had happened. Shaheen’s murder. Our very presence on Ceres. The mission to Europa.

  I clenched my teeth as I stared at him. A drop of sweat trickled down my temple...

  And the crack of my pistol rang out in that office as it unleashed its fatal energy.

  * * * * *

  Coming Soon from Timothy S. Johnston and

  Carina Press: THE VOID, March 2015

  Also read THE FURNACE by Timothy S. Johnston (Carina Press, 2013)

  A Note to the Reader

  Any errors in regards to biology, space travel, physics, medicine, anatomy, astronomy or the human body are mine alone.

  I first wrote the synopsis for The Freezer in 2004. Eight years later, when I finally sat down to write the book, I have to admit that I was nervous. Frankly, I didn’t know if I could capture the same claustrophobic mood and mystery that I had with The Furnace. I hope I succeeded. However, while the first novel in Tanner’s story was a scientific adventure using the Imposter theme, The Freezer is largely a thriller combined with a futuristic take on the Frankenstein theme.

  I have to mention HSAN Types IV and V. At the time that I wrote the synopsis, I was looking for a genetic disorder or disease that eliminated pain in a human being. Hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy seemed like something I could make use of in a tale about the modification of human beings for use as soldiers. Eight years later, as I put the finishing touches on the novel, I did a simple Wikipedia search on HSAN. I discovered that a number of
other stories had used it as well, and I wanted to mention them here: author Stieg Larsson used it for a character in The Girl Who Played with Fire; there is an anime and manga series, Loveless, which used it for some characters; and the disease has also appeared in a number of television shows, such as Grey’s Anatomy, Criminal Minds, and House. A novel by Steven James, The Rook, also utilized it. There are others as well. As I write this, I have not seen or read any of these, with the exception of Larsson’s novel.

  I wanted to set The Freezer in a cold, wintry, icy environment—the opposite extreme for Lieutenant Kyle Tanner after the events in The Furnace. The setting would therefore once again mirror his emotional state; in this case, following Shaheen’s murder, Tanner has twisted into a cold and bitter shell, and what better location to take him than the ice moon Europa? People who suffer from HSAN Type IV do not sweat—a natural process to regulate body temperature—and therefore the illness fit nicely with my setting. However, I do not want to minimize the disease itself, or show an insensitivity to those who are dealing with it. This is a work of fiction. Families afflicted with HSAN face enormous obstacles in life, and my heart goes out to them.

  In this novel, the idea of placing the structures on ice, and the difficulties associated with this, came from my knowledge of communities in the far north. Houses and buildings cannot be built directly on permafrost because the heat generated from within will cause the structures to melt downward. A scientific base on Europa would have to deal with these issues as well, and due to the near lack of atmosphere, the location would be an extremely deadly place in which to live and conduct a murder investigation. For me, taking Tanner on a painful emotional journey, it was an ideal choice.

  Cold, icy environments have also always appealed to me. Perhaps this is because of my love for movies such as The Thing (1982) by John Carpenter. Maybe it’s because of the winters I experienced growing up in Canada. I do not really know. I loved writing this book and continuing Tanner’s journey. The claustrophobic settings that freezing temperatures can create are fascinating and foreboding. I have also enjoyed movies like The Grey and The X-Files: I Want to Believe, and books such as Whiteout, by Ken Follet, and Icebound, by Dean Koontz, because of this. I hope to one day write another book set in a similar environment.