Cathy was doing her best to hold back her own emotions. “You asked her to save your child, didn’t you? I would do the same for my kids.”
Emeric calmly nodded. He seemed to feel more at ease when she did the questioning. “Yes. I contacted her. I asked her to help me, and she agreed. Kazimir already had plans for this place.” His eyes darted around. “I begged him to do something for me, for just once in his life, and he finally relented.
“Of course, all my brother could see were the commercial applications because he was such an astute businessman,” Emeric continued. “But I wanted my son back. I wanted to give him the chance to become the man he was meant to be.”
“And how did you do that?” Scott asked.
Emeric smiled at the boy. “Lauren Reeves was a magician. She knew how to recombine DNA from other animals to make us all stronger, better. She used my son’s genetic material to create a new body for him, and transplanted his brain into it.”
“She really is Lady Frankenstein,” Quentin said.
Emeric looked away from them. “She was making new host bodies from scratch. No one had ever done it before, so a few mistakes were made. My son doesn’t have the perfect body, but he is strong, and he can do things you people wouldn’t believe.”
Cathy knelt down beside him. “I’m glad you were able to save your son’s life, but please, we’re not here to take him away from you or hurt him. I just want my daughter back.”
Emeric hesitated for a brief moment before answering her. “If I tell you how to get into the lab, will you just take your daughter and leave us alone?”
Cathy nodded. “Yes, I just need to get her out of here, and we’ll never come back. I promise.”
A brief flash of hope seemed to come over Emeric’s face, before his features darkened once more. “No, no, no! You’ll tell the others, squeal on everybody, and they’ll hunt down my son! I won’t let you do it. I won’t, I won’t, I won’t!”
Cathy began sobbing. “Please, just tell me how to get to my daughter!”
Nick helped her up and placed his arms around her. Cathy rested her weary head on his shoulders and the tears flowed.
Quentin just shook his head while shining his searchlight towards the living area past the kitchen. “Leave him be, he’s gone totally mental. I can bet we ought to find the hidden entrance to the lab somewhere on this level.”
Emeric swayed his head back and forth. “When my son comes back here, he’ll kill you all! Kill you, kill you, kill you!”
Scott placed his hands over his ears and cringed. “Somebody please make him stop.”
Turning his flashlight towards the tabletops, Nick saw a pair of kitchen towels folded neatly along the sides of a nearby counter. Grabbing them both, he bound Emeric’s legs together with one and stuffed the raving man’s mouth with the other.
Emeric kept trying to scream, but all he could do was wiggle around the floor like an oversized worm and make muffled cries. They turned their beams away, leaving him there.
47
SCOTT DIRKSE BACKED away and walked beside Quentin Everett. Nick and Cathy moved closely together as the group made their way into the main hall. They could still hear Emeric Morgenstern’s muffled whining and cussing for another minute before he finally stopped.
The double front doors leading out into a sandy clearing lay partially open as they continued to look around, the incoming ocean breezes alleviating the stench from the kitchen. Quentin breathed in the fresh sea air deeply, clearing out the fetid odors still clinging inside his lungs.
Nick shone his light along the steps of the grand staircase. “Do you think we might find anything upstairs?”
“I doubt it,” Quentin said. “Best we look for some signs along the corridors and rooms down here. The entrance ought to be accessible to everyone, so I’m betting it’s got to be close by.”
Scott slowed his stride while tugging his mother’s elbow. “You okay, Mom?”
Cathy placed her arm over the boy’s shoulders. “I’m okay now. Thanks, hon. Let’s see if you can find the hidden door for us, okay?”
They came upon more entryways by the sides of the hall. The closest one opened into a library, and Quentin was certain it had to be the place. The four of them spent the next fifteen minutes pulling hardbound books from the shelves and feeling the walls, hoping to find a button or lever that would open up a hidden accessway.
After running his hand along one of the desks in the center of the room, Nick shook his head in disappointment. “I don’t think it’s here.”
“I believe you’re right,” Quentin said. “This room looks too pristine.”
Scott pointed back towards the corridor. “I’ve got an idea. How about just looking at the ground?”
“Brilliant idea,” Quentin said. Moving back out into the hallway, he began to shine his light along the floor. Sure enough, the crimson brown stains were more concentrated, and he continued to sweep the searchlight back and forth, hoping to spot a pattern.
Nick and his family joined him. They all spread out a little, each one covering a different side. There were hardly any stains on the steps of the stairs, and Quentin quickly discounted the possibility of the lab being situated in the upper floors.
Cathy walked slowly alongside her son as she shone her phone’s light by the side of the staircase. Her device’s application didn’t have the battery power of a dedicated flashlight, and it began to beep, telling her the charge was low.
Scott pointed at what looked like an obvious trail leading up a wall built along the sides of the steps. “Mom, look.”
Cathy bent lower so she could get a closer look using her dying phone’s flashlight. “Guys, over here.”
Quentin and Nick joined them and both aimed their more powerful flashlights towards the floor. The crimson trail ended right up against the wall.
“It’s got to be here,” Nick said.
All four of them began tracing their hands along the wooden paneling, hoping to find a way through. As Quentin pushed at one particular frame, there was an audible click, and the entire side of the wall slid down, surprising them. Beyond the divider was a door, seemingly made out of stainless steel.
Quentin placed his hand on the metal push plate along the side of the door. “Here goes.”
They heard another click as the door easily gave way, and all they could see beyond were concrete steps leading down a narrow gray corridor.
Nick led the way as they descended in single file. The air was thick and they could hear the sounds of lapping water somewhere close by. Quentin was right behind him, wincing in pain with every step. Cathy and Scott went down last, and the boy’s mother left her handbag beside the doorframe to prevent the entryway from fully closing behind them.
The bottom of the steps led to a partially flooded corridor. Nick stood at the edge of the blackened water, unsure of whether to place his feet into the brackish muck. He shined his light onto the liquid surface, but failed to see anything. “How deep does this go?”
Quentin stood just a step above him and frowned. The wound on his side had settled into a dull ache, and he was very reluctant to expose it to the potentially toxic waters in front of him. “Only one way to find out, mate.”
“Be careful, Nick,” Cathy said a few steps above.
Nick wanted to cuss at such an obvious comment, but he let it go. Using his right foot, he dipped the toe of his shoe into the flooded surface before fully plunging into it, all the way up to his shin. The chilled saltwater smelled like ammonia and rotten meat, and he didn’t want to think about what could be in it.