Part 36 (1/2)
She hugged him. There was a tremble inside her, different from before.
”What is it?”
”I'll tell you in the bedroom.”
Not a lover's promise.
”All right.”
Richard was sitting in the lounge, watching a straightplay movie, interactive decisions set to default paths. He looked up.
”Hi,” said Josh. ”You feeling better?”
”I think so.”
”OK... Er, I need to put my bag away.”
”Come on.” Suzanne tugged him.
In her bedroom, he put down the bag.
”The kid looks calmer.”
”He doesn't consciously remember what he talked about in trance. I'm inclined to leave it that way. But if it surfaces by itself, then that's all right too. So long as the emotion isn't overwhelming.”
”Emotion?”
”He was younger, so there are missing details, things he didn't understand. As near as I can make out, he accompanied his father on a trip to Africa. I'm not sure whether his mother was still alive at that time. I am certain she wasn't with them.”
”Africa.”
”He was in a lab. There were local and Chinese doctors. What he saw them do to children... it's been buried deep by fright, fear for himself and for his father, because of what he saw. All his anxieties... it was never really a fear of weapons.”
”It wasn't?”
”Call it a generalised fear of scalpels.”
”But scalpels aren't.... Oh.”
”He saw them slice open living kids.”
”Virapharm labs?” His fists trembled, forearms becoming bands of tension. ”Broomhall's running virapharm labs?”
”There was a bulldog symbol on the wall. It comes from Tyndall Industries Medicales. Hence Timmy, forthe children's wards and drugs.””Tyndall? But virapharm... Outright criminality isn't their style. The kid's confused.”
”Not about what he saw,” said Suzanne, ”however little he understood. One country's illegality is another's modus operandi. modus operandi. Did I mention there were Chinese doctors among the Africans?” Did I mention there were Chinese doctors among the Africans?”
”Chinese influence... That does sound like Africa. You're not sure which country?”
”No. Poor Richard was flying all over the place with his father. It was a confusing time, even before he... saw what he saw.”
”s.h.i.+t.”
He was shaking, unable to help it. Soft flesh splitting Soft flesh splitting open and the boy's head exploding into mist because he was open and the boy's head exploding into mist because he was swinging the rifle up and Josh had to shoot swinging the rifle up and Josh had to shoot and he hated himself for the way he and he hated himself for the way he ”Tell me, Josh.”
”It was the kid,” he said. ”Same age as Richard is now, and the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds had armed him with a rifle. I was first into the house and he turned towards me and I fired.”
”That's right.”
”But” Tears were in his eyes as he turned away. ”I enjoyed it. That was... that was the thing. The boy's head blew apart and inside I was laughing. Triumph, because I was alive and he was dead and he was fourteen years old, Suzanne, fourteen and they put him where I had to, had to”
”Yes, you had to, and euphoria is part of the reaction when you save yourself from death. It's the way we're programmed, nothing more.”
Josh remembered soldiers laughing hysterically after tragedy, surrounded by the bodies of their comrades as well as the enemy.
”Maybe, but he was only a””Stop.” Suzanne touched his face. ”Tell me. What do we do next about Richard?”
”I... Sorry. Give me a moment.”
He turned away, rubbing his face, knowing she must hate him now.
”All right,” he went on, forcing himself. ”I'll go talk to Broomhall senior. This Tyndall thing... They're the ones trying to take his corporation down.”
”If you're taking Richard, I need to come with you. Whether I go inside the house is a different question.”
”It's better for me to go alone.”
”Josh, I care about Richard, but I'm thinking about you. Holding Richard here without telling anyone”
”You want to back out?”
”No. But I don't want to cause you trouble that we can avoid. Richard might do better if he stays here, but he might not.”
”That's not the way to play it.”
”He needs to”
”I'm thinking tactically, not like a therapist, Dr d.u.c.h.esne.”
”Oh.”
”The first thing I want to talk to Broomhall about is virapharm. How he answers that will determine what I do. You're OK looking after Richard?”
Virapharm. Nanoviral engineering. There were rumours that Chinese state orphanages were oddly cl.u.s.tered around car manufacturing plants, that there were uses for organic substrates in engine control production that Western countries had not explored. Those rumours were not substantiated; but the use of poor Africans for virapharm research, children's bodies used to evolve and incubate new drugs? That was almost a tradition.
”Yes. Let me go through the Africa trip, as I put it together. And his current situation at school, because there's a boy called Zajac...”