'Darrell shot at you? Why?'
'It wasn't Darrell. And I didn't stop to ask.'
Frankie grabbed the sleeping bag and started rolling it up, but Andy shouted, 'Leave it!'
A black car barreled down the dirt road. Frankie wrapped her purse around her shoulders and jumped on the bike. Jessie squeezed on between them.
'How'd they find us?'
'Russell must've told them.'
'But he needs her to save his son.'
Andy gunned the Slammer and drove around the cabin then sped away from the black car. They blew through the park exit and the town square, still vacant that early in the morning, then hit Highway 281 heading south to San Antonio. He opened the throttle; the speed limit was seventy, but he soon had the bike running ninety.
He checked the rearview. Nothing was in sight. He slowed, geared down, and turned east then doubled back north on the county roads and headed to Henly. When they arrived in the tiny town, Andy pulled over at a gas station/convenience store. The Slammer needed gas, and he needed to call Russell Reeves. Andy hit the speed dial and waited for the call to ring through.
'Andy.'
The voice sounded small.
'Russell, why are your guys shooting at us? Call them off! She'll give you her stem cells! She'll save Zach!'
Russell said nothing, but Andy heard breathing on the line.
'Andy… Zach died last night.'
'Aw, Jesus.'
Little Zach. Gone.
'Russell, I'm sorry. Are you okay?'
'No, Andy, I'm not okay. My only son is dead and my wife had a nervous breakdown. She's in the psych ward.'
His son. His wife. His life. Andy couldn't save Zach or Kathryn or even Russell Reeves. But he had to save Jessie.
'Russell, this girl didn't kill Zach. Don't kill her. Call your people off.'
'I can't.'
'Why not?'
'They're not my people.'
'What do you mean?'
'I mean, I didn't send Darrell out there. I didn't send anyone out there. Those people shooting at you, they don't work for me.'
'Then who do they work for?'
'Drug companies, probably.'
'Why?'
'They don't want Baby X to ruin their business.'
'How would she ruin their business?'
'Andy, Baby X could be the greatest medical breakthrough in history. If her immune system could be cloned through her stem cells, suddenly there's no disease-no cancer, no AIDS, no common cold. And no drugs. No pharmaceuticals grossing hundreds of billions selling drugs for all those diseases. They're not going to allow a little girl to take that away.'
'How'd they find her?'
'Darrell.'
'Darrell?'
'They bribed him.'
'Darrell sold your secrets?'
'He's not a lawyer. Andy, no one knew if Baby X was real or just a myth. But just the idea scared the pharmaceuticals. They've been searching for her ever since word got out.'
'They wouldn't kill her just to keep their profits.'
'You said they shot at you. And Andy…'
'What?'
'I think they killed Larry Smith. And Mickey Doyle.'
'But she's just a kid!'
'Andy, the tobacco companies kill a thousand people a day and have for forty years. They knew their products were killing people, but they kept the real dangers secret all that time, to keep their profits. They killed millions of people for profit. What's one kid to the drug companies? These are people who will do anything to preserve their business model.'
'What business model?'
'Death and disease. Drug companies thrive on death and disease, Andy, not health and happiness.'
'Darrell's information was good,' Cecil said.
Harmon nodded. 'Prescott's pretty good on that bike, but he can't lose us now. And he can't save the girl. Turn north.'
Harmon Payne had hired out to the pharmaceuticals after the Fed's Organized Crime Task Force put all the mob bosses in prison. He had gone corporate. Drug companies, now that's a racket. And it's all legal. Well, most of it. His work was definitely in the gray area, but it had put him in the green. With most of the contract assassins working for the U.S. government in Iraq, he commanded a high price in the marketplace. He was good, he was professional, and he never stopped until the job was done.
'What are we going to do now?' Frankie asked.
Andy had pulled the Slammer around behind the convenience store next to a picnic table. He was sitting on the bike, and Jessie was sitting on the table. Frankie was smoking.
'Are we going to save the little boy?' Jessie said.
'No, honey, the boy died last night.'
'Oh. What about Paul? Will he still get a liver?'
'I don't know.'
Andy pulled out his cell phone.
'I've got a friend who works for the federal government. Maybe he can help us.'
'People are shooting at you? With guns?'
'Yes, Tres, with guns. And bullets.'
'Jesus, Andy, what have you gotten into?'
'Trouble.'
'Dump 'em.'
'I can't, Tres. They're trying to kill her, the girl. I can't let that happen.'
'What do you want me to do?'
'Call the FDA or the FBI or the CIA-hell, call someone. Tell them I've got Baby X… or Patient X. Someone with the Feds knows about her. And tell them she's for real.'
'Okay, buddy, I'll see what I can find out.'
Andy hung up just as Frankie and Jessie came through the back door to the store.
'Andy, they're here.'
'Those guys?'
'Yeah, in the black car.'
'How'd they find us?'
'I don't know, but they're inside the store.'
'Both men?'
'Yeah. The car is parked out by the gas pumps.'
'If they're inside, they know we're around here, but they don't know we're right here.'
It was just like Russell's people knew he was in the loft building, but didn't know which loft.
