Threnody (Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

copying a complete data set onto each of the two USB microdrives.  He would keep one in his possession as he fled the facility, but accepting his chances of escape were slim, he planned to try to get a second copy out.  He took the fire axe out of the case near the exit door and carried it over to the intranet mainframe.  With the force of a major league slugger and the fury of a pit fighter, he swung the axe again and again, smashing the large computer into a hundred pieces.  Satisfied it was damaged beyond salvage, he methodically moved through the lab obliterating all traces of their research.  As he finished, he hoped that in little more than five minutes he had been able to erase all they had accomplished over the last eighteen months.  Deep in his soul, however, he could not ignore the ominous feeling rising in his chest – the feeling that in some way it may not be possible to undo what had been done, to uncross the lines they had so recklessly crossed.
    The last thing he intended to do before escaping himself was to free the research subjects.  He could not bring himself to smash and destroy the monkeys in the same manner in which he destroyed all the other evidence.  Instead, he hastily moved from cage to cage unlatching and opening each door as he passed.  The animals, in turn, tore from their cages like a shot and began howling wildly.  To Marcus, the uproarious sound was disconcerting, as he had never heard them all bellow so ferociously and in unison.  He ran to the fire exit leading to the small outdoor sitting area and flung the door open with a resounding thud.  Neither the door nor the sitting area was particularly secure, as there were other means by which to keep the residents of the facility in place.  The monkeys immediately scrambled toward the warm sunlight filtering in through the open door. Their howls threatened to bring the walls down with their feral intensity.
    Almost as an afterthought, Marcus remembered the second USB Microdrive nestled securely in a waterproof, impact-resistant case in his right pocket.  He lunged toward the monkeys as they haphazardly burst through the door into the world outside.  With a single finger on his right hand he managed to snare one of the collars.  The monkey stopped its frantic charge instantly.  The sudden change in demeanor was equally as shocking as the primal rage he witnessed seconds before.  Hands trembling, he attached the case securely to the animal’s collar.  Staring blankly at the #4 on the monkey’s tag, Marcus said in a flat tone, “Go and save the world, Lazarus.”
    He released the animal’s collar, but the monkey did not immediately rush through the door as the others had.  Instead, the monkey glanced briefly toward the door before turning back to Marcus and tearing a considerable chunk of tissue from his throat.  As he lay gurgling and unable to speak, in a pool of his own blood, Dr. Marcus Johnson watched Lazarus, a monster of his own creation, shamble through the door and into the jungle beyond.  His reeling brain was momentarily transfixed by the beauty of the sunlight reflecting off the droplets of crimson fluid raining down from the monkey’s gnashing teeth. For an instant, Marcus recalled the words Sanji spoke about #4 just before he killed him.  This was the last confused thought that crossed his fading mind before the blood loss ushered him into oblivion, along with all fleeting thoughts of what he had done.

 
     
    Chapter 2
    September 8, 2015
     
    Javari River Valley
    Amazonas, Brazil
     
    The four-man security force trudged slowly through the dense, overgrown foliage of the Brazilian jungle as they escorted the medical team in search of the remote village described by the boy.  The medical team consisted of a physician, two nurses, and a clinical scientist whose job was predominately data collection for the NHS.  Two days earlier, a boy approximately eleven or twelve years old, was found wandering