Project StrikeForce by Kevin Lee Swaim Read Free Book Online

five
hundred and twelve people who died in the Red Cross bombing. Mothers and
fathers, sisters and brothers. They loved and were loved. Many died instantly,
but not all. Some died in the fire and some from smoke inhalation. Others died
from puncture wounds or blunt-force trauma. One woman suffered a heart attack
from stress. You know this. You’ve seen the reports.” He turned his gaze back
to the technicians working on Frist. “I’ve done terrible things in the name of
freedom, ordered men and women to their deaths. I believe in the sanctity of
life and I feel sorrow, even for Mr. Frist.” He stopped and tapped Eric on the
leg. “I also know that we do what must be done. We are the gatekeepers.
Like as not, if I were asked to do it all again, I would.” Smith paused. “This
isn’t about me, is it?”
    “No,” Eric said slowly, “I guess it isn’t. I think
I understand what you expect from me. No matter how I feel, I’ll perform the
job.”
    Smith nodded. “I have faith in you, Eric. Perhaps
we aren’t turning Frist into a monster, perhaps we’re helping him find redemption.”
    “Maybe,” Eric admitted, “Or maybe we’re going to
kill him, right here and now, in front of all these people, with a completely
untested medical procedure.”
    Smith nodded. “Perhaps. You’ve heard the
expression, you can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs?”
    “In this case, it’s his skeletal system.”
    “The nano-bots will do their job or we wouldn’t be
at the human trial stage,” Smith said.
    The plasma screens showed a number of graphs, all
green. Dr. Elliot directed a man to maneuverer a steel framed array with two
glass tubes, each the size of 2-liter soda bottles, directly behind Frist. One
was filled with a clear liquid, the other with a liquid so dark it appeared to
suck the light from the room. The nurse had finished inserting the PIC line and
was busy hooking other IV’s in his arms and legs.
    Dr. Elliot finished his last round of checks,
whispered something to another tech, and stepped to the front of the room.
“Test, test. Can you folks hear me?”
    The people in the auditorium sat up and the talking
abruptly ended. There were nods all around. Smith sat still, hardly blinking.
The only noise in the room was the hum of the equipment and a faint whisper of
the ventilation system.
    The techs behind the glass took their seats at
different workstations. The nurse finished hooking up the last IV and took a
position behind Oshensker’s workstation.
    “Well,” Dr. Elliot said, “it appears we are ready
to begin. Dr. Oshensker is here, just as a precaution. Once the nanobots are
inserted, we can’t stop until the program completes. We must finish the process
and extract the nanobots. If left in the subject’s body, it could be
disastrous.”
    The techs in the room nodded their heads. They had
worked on this for years, and not all the tests had ended well. When reading
through the archives, Eric had stumbled across pictures of a rhesus monkey. The
monkey was a bloody mess, as if it had turned inside out.
    Now we’re risking a man, not a monkey.
    Eric’s eyes swept the room, wondering if they were
nervous, and saw a twitch in Frist’s right eyelid. He turned to see if anyone
else had registered the twitch, but no one seemed to notice.
    The door to the auditorium opened and Nancy joined
them. Smith greeted her with a nod. “Nice of you to show up, dear.”
    “Wouldn’t miss it. How are we?”
    “Nathan is about to begin.”
    “Dr. Oshensker,” Dr. Elliot called out. “What’s
the status of the test subject?”
    “Well within parameters,” Dr. Oshensker answered.
“The monitoring program is in place and all vitals are normal. The program is
up and the telemetry is recording.”
    Eric was barely listening. He watched Frist, but
there was no further twitch, no sign that Frist was conscious. He glanced up at
the monitor showing Frist’s blood pressure. The status was green, the