“Oh, I just remembered something. White never received the infusions. He was referred to as the anomaly because he arrived later, when the others were about nine months old. We heard through the grapevine that he’d been added as a control for the experiment, someone not impacted by the phenomenon being studied.”
“A phenomenon you remain completely in the dark about,” Aiden said, his tone reflecting disbelief.
Marsdale paused as the waitress arrived with their food. Aiden chomped into his sandwich with a vengeance. He sensed the professor watching him closely.
“I guess I’d be angry too if someone did experiments on me as a child,” Marsdale said.
“Who says I’m angry?” Aiden snapped.
The words came out garbled. His mouth was so stuffed that he sprayed bits of food onto the table. He forced himself to calm down.
“Yeah, OK, I’m pissed. It’s not just the experiment itself. Until yesterday, I didn’t even know I was adopted.”
Aiden provided a quick version of recent events, leaving out any mention of the manifestations. When he finished, Marsdale offered a sympathetic nod.
“I’m sorry. That’s a lot to deal with.”
“Yeah. What about the other kids? Was there anything about them that could help me track them down?”
“Not really. You were just a bunch of little babies.”
Marsdale read Aiden’s skepticism and reconsidered.
“Six of you were Caucasian. Blue was either a light-skinned African-American or Latino. Magenta, she was the liveliest, the most curious of the seven. Gold was the opposite, she didn’t seem to learn as quickly as the rest of you. Red was a bit bigger and bolder than the others. Cyan always seemed a bit shy, kept to herself. White seemed to keep apart from the others too, but in his case it didn’t seem due to shyness. Maybe it had something to do with not being part of the original group. Blue and Green – Blue and you – tended to scrap. It was as if the two of you had conflicting personalities.”
None of that seemed helpful in finding them. Aiden pressed on.
“What else can you tell me about Tau Nine-One?”
“Not much.”
“Can you at least tell me who was in charge back then?”
“Colonel Royce Jenkins was the ranking military officer. A real martinet and, frankly, a rather unpleasant man. He took ill. Pancreatic cancer, I believe they said it was. He died right around the time the experiment was ending.
“There were more than a hundred civilian and government scientists and technicians working under him, as well as the Marine guards and support personnel. Although many of us socialized, it was drummed into everyone to keep their mouths shut and not discuss our work.”
“Can you give me the names of the other top people?”
“As far as I’m aware, the others are still alive. So I’m afraid my answer must be no.”
“How about some titles at least?”
Marsdale hesitated then gave a slight nod. “There was a Director of Research, the man with overall responsibility for the scientific contingent. And there was the Project Director, the woman directly in charge of the quiver kids experiment. Along with Colonel Jenkins, the three of them pretty much ran things.”
Two men and a woman. Aiden wondered if they were the three blurred faces staring down at him in his green dream.
“Byron Manchester was my father. He was with IEC, an engineering firm. Did you know him?”
“We could have run into one another. But the name doesn’t ring a bell.”
“Why were we called quiver kids?”
“I’m not sure.”
Aiden knew from the way Marsdale averted his eyes he was lying.
“Surely something like that can’t matter after so many years.”
“One would think. However, even after all this time, I still get occasional visits from federal agents who want to know if anyone has approached me seeking information about my work at Tau. I’m acquainted with other scientists involved with classified government research. None of them receives such a level of follow-up.”
Aiden suspected part of the reason for the ongoing interest was to keep a lid on the experiment’s illicit nature. Even after all this time, the fact that babies had been used in a secret military experiment would still spark public outrage toward those responsible.
“Sounds like someone’s trying to cover their asses.”
Marsdale nodded. “I imagine that WikiLeaks and other groups that publish classified information are a constant source of worry to those with oversight of Tau.”
“Next time these spooks show up for a chat, tell them I tortured you for information. Tell them I made you reveal everything. That should let you off the hook.”
Marsdale gave a half-hearted laugh and pushed his unfinished salad to the side.
“I really should be going.”
Aiden couldn’t resist some final probing.
“Why a geologist specializing in stratigraphy? What could that possibly have to do with experimenting on babies?”
“I never said there was a connection.”
“But there was, wasn’t there?”
Marsdale glanced around before answering, as if making sure there were no eavesdroppers.
“Yes, there’s a connection. Aiden, I’m sorry, but I just can’t tell you anything else. And I trust you’ll keep our little meeting confidential.”
“What meeting?”
Aiden scribbled his phone number and e-mail address on a scrap of napkin and extended it to Marsdale.
“Just in case you think of anything else that might help.”
Marsdale pocketed the note and stood up. He reached for his wallet but Aiden waved him off.
“I got this. I appreciate you taking the time.”
They shook hands.
“Good luck, Aiden. I truly hope you find what you seek.”
ELEVEN
Aiden spotted the craggy-faced man as he pulled into a Holiday Inn on the outskirts of Baltimore. The man was getting out of a 1990s-vintage SUV, a dark blue Ford Bronco parked a few spaces away.
He was short but powerfully built, and dressed in black pants and a zipped jacket. His cratered face suggested a bad case of childhood acne. Close-cropped brown hair was graying at the edges; he looked to be in his early fifties. He reminded Aiden of some movie version of a stone-cold mob enforcer.
The man caught him staring and leaned back into the Bronco to withdraw a laptop. Opening it on the hood, he hunched over the computer as if studying something. Aiden had a sense he was only pretending, that he realized he’d been spotted and was trying to deflect suspicion.
Keeping the man in his peripheral vision, Aiden retrieved a travel bag from the Chevy. Maybe he was being paranoid. It could be just a coincidence he’d noticed the man earlier, near the café where he’d met Marsdale. At the time, Aiden hadn’t given it a second thought. Just another face in the crowd, albeit one with distinctive features. But now, crossing paths half an hour later and miles away…
Is he following me?
Both Dad’s letter and Dr Jarek had hinted of the dangers of looking into Tau Nine-One’s activities. And Marsdale claimed he was still being visited by the feds decades after he’d left the facility. It seemed a distinct possibility that the craggy-face man had gotten wind of Aiden’s investigations. But how?