BRAINSTORM

Chapter Forty-two - Parallel forces.

Fresh blood covered the floor. Nick cocked his gun, checking the area for suspicious activity. Silence. Whatever had happened it was over now. He put the Glock away and took the small video camera from his jacket pocket.

He walked through the bowels of CIRAS, recording everything as he passed through the twisted labyrinth. The humans who'd been trapped underground for years were grotesque and distorted. Their appearance made Nick feel sick to his stomach. He hated himself for thinking that they were disgusting, but they were.

Sidney was one of these things. Nick was relieved he didn't know which one of them was Melissa's child because he was already feeling guilty about the way he felt them. Thank god Melissa wasn't with him.

Though their bodies were clearly unhealthy, when Nick began to think about the emotional damage Sidney and these others must have suffered, he wanted to punch someone—or something. Even the walls were tempting him to strike. "How the fuck could they do this?" he screamed. His voice echoed back, sounding feeble and inept. Maxwell's center was worse than the prisoner experiment Warner had sanctioned.

Nick felt dirty recording this human misery on film, but it was required. He held back his thoughts and continued on to another cell. There was something different in this one. Holy Christ!  Maxwell was in there. There was no way he could forget that face. Somebody must have dragged him into the cell. Nick tried the door, and it opened. He stepped closer, pulling his gun out.

"Get away from him," a voice yelled from behind.

What the hell? Nick turned to see a tall man pointing a gun at him. Although the man had an athletic build, Nick could tell he wasn't skilled with a gun because he didn't hold it right.

The man said, "Put your gun on the floor, or I'll shoot."

Nick paused. The man stepped closer, his eyes ablaze with fear and something else Nick couldn't place. "Tell me who you are."

"Not until you put that gun down."

Nick cocked his gun and pointed at the man. "You put yours down first, and I'll consider it."

The man hesitated.

"Unless you're sure you're a more accurate shot than I am."

His gun wobbled as the guy clenched it so hard his knuckles turned white.

Now Nick was sure he wasn't a threat. "Look, I'm guessing we're on the same side. Just tell me who you are. I won't shoot."

"Jack Kerwin. I'm—um, I was—a resident here."

"What are you doing down here?"

Jack's eyes flicked downward. He yelled, "Watch out behind you!"

Nick spun around. Maxwell was up, and he had a Ruger LC9 in his hands. He must have had it somewhere on him. He aimed it at Nick's head. "Where's Ellen?" 

"Who?"

Jack screamed at Maxwell, "You bastard! She's dead!"

Maxwell looked bewildered. "Dead?"

Nick interjected, "I don't know who or what you two are talking about, but Dr. Maxwell, I want you to put that gun down now, or I'll shoot."

Maxwell grinned wickedly. "Oh, really?" He fired at Nick.

Nick heard the bullet pass by his ear as he fired back. Maxwell fell back onto the floor.

Jack ran toward Nick. "Are you okay?"

Nick rubbed his ear. "Yeah, he just missed me. Close call. I'm Nick Sperry." He shifted his gun to his left hand and stuck out his right. "Guess we are on the same side."

Jack shook his hand. His palm felt sweaty. "Guess so."

Together, they moved over to Maxwell, who was bleeding profusely from the base of his neck. Nick knelt beside him and put a forefinger on his wrist. "No pulse. Can't say I care."

"No, me neither. He deserved it."

Melissa skidded into the room behind Jack.

"Melissa, what the hell—" Nick started to say.

"Nick, you have to come quick, now!" She tugged at his arm.

Nick wasn't sure she even registered Maxwell's dead body on the floor behind him. "Hey, hold on. Tell me what happened."

She took a few rapid breaths. "Okay, well, I went upstairs like you said, and I didn't want to wait for you out in the open, so I went into one of the rooms in that hallway that had a lot of apartments in it. And, Nick, there was a dead woman on the bed."

"Ellen?" Nick said softly, glancing at Jack.

"Ellen."

"You know her?" Melissa asked Jack.

"I knew her." He looked at the floor.

Melissa asked, "What happened?"

"Dr. Maxwell murdered her."

Melissa stared down at Maxwell's body. "If anyone ever deserved to die that man did."

"As much as anyone ever has." He turned to Jack. "I've recorded everything down here on video."

"That's what I came back down here to do."

"Good. You make another recording then we'll upload both of them and you can take yours straight to the nearest network. We can't let anyone get away with this."

"No, we can't." Jack agreed. Jack pulled out his phone and started filming.

Nick heard Melissa sobbing. She'd walked away while he talked to Jack. He followed the sounds. When he found her, her face was pressed against the glass of one of the chambers. Inside was a child who was probably Sidney's age. He could have been her missing son.

She asked, "How do we know which one is him?"

Nick wrapped an arm around her and felt how cold she was. "We don't, not yet. But we'll be able to find out. I'm sure there are records."

She strained her eyes toward him. "Can't we just let them all out now?"

Nick enfolded both arms around her. "Mel, we can't."

"Why not?" Sobbing, she burrowed her face into his chest.

He stroked her hair. "It might not be safe for them. This is all they've ever known, Mel. We have to do what's best for them. For Sidney."

Melissa sighed. "I know. It's just tearing me to pieces inside that I'm this close, and I can't have him back."

"He'll get him back, Mel." That just made her sob harder.

~~~

Nick saw the flashing lights first. There were about ten cop cars congregated around the front entrance.

Melissa asked, "How can we get out?"

"There's got to be another exit."

"How about by a cafeteria or something like that? They would need to have a way to bring in food, and people would have to be able to get out if there was a kitchen fire or something."

"I saw one on the map. This way."

They rounded a turn and a large, glass-enclosed courtyard filled their view. "This is it." He walked close to one of the glass walls, and it opened automatically. 

Mel stepped through. "Which way now?" 

Nick thought he saw a way out in the opposite direction and pointed.

Without responding, his girlfriend sprinted toward the place he'd pointed at. When Nick finally caught up with her, he said, "Didn't know you could run like that."

"Adrenaline." She nodded toward the café's entrance. "Let's see what we have."

They ran through the seating area and into the kitchen. "Over there," Melissa called. "The exit sign."