They stopped at the gate of the community and the guard asked them whom they were there to see. After Jake said the name, the man at the gate turned and punched a combination into the pad and they drove in.
After parking, they headed over toward Roger’s building. The woman at the table smiled at them. “Hi, how can I help you?”
“We’re looking for Roger Pender?”
“Hmm, I’m not sure where he’s at today.”
Jake pointed. “He lives in that building, right?”
“I’m not sure which one he’s in this week.”
He narrowed his gaze. “I don’t understand.”
The woman shrugged. “He stays wherever he wants, we don’t keep track.”
Jake laughed. “So the residents just roam about from place to place?”
She chuckled. “No, not the residents, only the owner.”
Jake looked over at Ashley. “He owns this place?”
The woman started going through her phone. “Oh, you’ll find Mr. Pender over at the library.” She pointed a skinny arm. “Head over to that brick building. He’s doing a reading. He reads Shakespeare twice a week to the residents.”
Jake swung the wide door open and stepped into what looked like every generic public library he’d ever seen. It had the modern side filled with computers on desks, and the traditional side with low shelves of books spread out wide for easy reaching.
They turned the corner of a curved wall and came upon a crowd of about twenty people dispersing. Roger Pender was packing some books into a briefcase when Jake approached. “You almost had me fooled.”
Roger looked up at him and cocked one brow. “Pardon me?”
“You really almost had me fooled. That whole innocent act, it was compellingly done. You had me convinced.”
Roger stood upright. “Son, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Bullshit, you old bastard—you know exactly what I’m talking about.”
He set his stance and eyed Jake. “The last man who spoke to me like that had to have his teeth surgically removed from the back of his throat.”
“Take your best shot, old man. I don’t think you’ve got the balls.” Jake readied himself, but he was a little nervous. Roger was probably in his early sixties, but it was clear he was strong as a bull. Jake also had a suspicion that the old guy knew how to throw a punch.
Roger turned a half smile. “Son, I’d tear you apart and leave nothing for the buzzards.”
“You don’t scare me.”
He laughed. “Then you’re not only ignorant, you’re also stupid and lack the self-preservation skills and situational awareness required to live long enough to enjoy the wisdom I have acquired.”
Jake sighed. “Look, I don’t want to fight you.”
Roger laughed. “Now that’s the smartest thing I’ve heard you say yet.”
“I just want to know the truth. I want this insanity to stop. And I don’t want you to sit there and deny what I’m talking about. I know you know it.”
“I’m afraid you know nothing.”
“I know too much, and whoever pulls the strings in your little group wants me dead because of it. They’ve already taken Ariel. And since you’re going to kill us anyway, why not share the truth? I just want to know she’s going to be okay.”
“Son, you don’t deserve anything, because I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Jake laughed. “Okay, have it your way. But know this. I may be just ignorant and stupid enough to blow this shit wide open. And it might kill me, but it might also kill you. So you have to ask yourself, Roger, is that the way you want to play it? After all, I’ve already come further than anyone else has.”
Roger stared at him, but Jake didn’t waver one bit in his face. He kept cold and hard, and the poker face was not going to crack. Roger must have seen the desperation in his eyes, or something in there that caused his aggressive posture to sink just enough.
Ashley stepped up to him. “Dr. Pender, we don’t want to cause any more trouble. We just want to live. We’ve both lost so much we don’t want to lose everything else. But know that we will fight back with everything we have. And although it might not seem like much compared to you, the first rule in any battle is to never underestimate your enemy. I assure you, I’m not one to be underestimated.”
She stepped smoothly between the two men. “Look, whatever the truth is, it can’t be worse than what we’ve already assumed. And it’s not like we can prove anything, anyway.”
Roger looked at her. For a long time his hard stare didn’t change, but then, it did. His glare softened with a long sigh and a slight turn of his head. He slid his phone out of his pocket and turned away from them, taking a few quick steps out of earshot in front of some rolling carts filled with books.
Jake looked at Ashley. “How do you feel about this?”
She nodded. “I feel good. I feel like if they wanted to kill us, they would have already.”
“Yeah, but it’s not for lack of trying.”
Roger swung around toward them, sliding his phone into his pocket in one motion. He approached and folded his arms over his chest. “Okay. You two perhaps have earned the right to know the truth. But there are conditions.”
Jake nodded. “We have conditions too.”
“You’re in no position to make any demands.”
“That’s fair. But I want a guarantee that no matter what happens, Ashley comes out of this alive.”
Roger stared at Jake for several long seconds before sliding his hand into his pocket, and pulling out his wallet. Only breaking eye contact for a brief second, he finessed a business card into his fingertips.
“Meet me at this address in two hours. We’ll proceed from there.”
Jake glanced at the card and looked to Ashley, who shrugged. They spun away and headed back to the car.
* * *
After parking in the dirt lot of the old marina, Jake looked out over the water and wondered where this was going. As suicidal as he was just a few days ago, dying was the last thing he wanted now. He especially didn’t want anything to happen to Ashley. He didn’t want to admit it to himself, even though he’d already said it, but he was in love with her all over again. Perhaps he’d never stopped loving her and he felt sick to his stomach that something might happen to her.
He glanced down the street when he heard an engine humming, but after a second it became clear it was not on the road, but in the water.
A medium sized pontoon boat, white with a faded yellow canopy and even more faded yellow outriggers, chugged slowly toward the rickety dock that led away from the marina.
Jake stepped up onto the weathered planks and turned to hold out a helping hand to Ashley. She was not the kind of girl that needed the hand, but he offered out of habit and because it was the chivalrous thing to do. He’d gotten used to doing those sorts of things for Cassie. She wanted a hand, doors opened, and things that used to define male chivalry. Jake didn’t hate doing those things, in fact he kind of liked it.
The skipper piloting the boat wasn’t familiar, but Roger Pender sat in the far corner, his elbows propped on the rail behind him and his arms spread like a waiting vulture.
Stepping over the small gap between the dock and the deck, he glanced back to make sure Ashley made the step as the boat drifted slowly by the dock.
Roger motioned for them to sit. “I told you there are conditions to this. That was not lip service.”
Jake sat. Ashley sat to his left away from Pender. “I’m sure.”
“I’ve discussed this with my colleagues and we’ve agreed. There have been too many deaths. We don’t trust you. We should just kill you.”
“You’re wise not to trust us.”
“You’ve surprised us at every turn. To top it off, Ariel is threatening to harm herself and her baby if anything happens to you. We can’t have that, not with the amount of time we’ve invested in her. And we may have an offer for you that will keep everyone happy.”
“Is that right?” He looked skeptically at Roger.
The boat chugged out of the open water and down the wide inter-coastal waterway. The tall, sandy hills rose up majestically on both sides and helped to usher them down into the river waters.
At the apex of a long, slow turn, the skipper turned the boat down a narrow, blind inlet that led them down a waterway just wide enough for the outriggers to scrape by the vegetation. The soft rustling of foliage was usually a soothing sound, but for some reason in this case it bothered Jake. Perhaps it was because he thought something sinister waited down this serene path.
Just as the trees and shrubs felt like they were closing in on them, it opened up to reveal a huge house. It was three stories, stone faced, and wrapped with porches and patios around the whole structure. It was not in impeccable repair, but it certainly didn’t look like a dump.
There weren’t any other houses around, it was as isolated as any on these inlets that Jake had ever seen. He wondered if it could even be seen at all from the road. Looking beyond the house, he couldn’t even see any roads in the distance. He knew the landscapes around these waters, but this place seemed almost foreign.
The skipper stopped the engine and let the boat drift silently between the two docks that reached out into the water until it bumped softly into the tires.
Roger stood and stepped effortlessly onto the dock without a word. Jake let Ashley go first before he followed. At the end of the dock, they traversed a few steps up to a winding sidewalk of cement lined with red bricks.
Roger turned and faced them. “What you are about to see only a handful of people outside of the organization have ever seen. You have to understand that trying to blow the proverbial whistle on something like this will result in nothing for you. You will accomplish nothing, you will prove nothing, you will save nothing. We have the power to take your life, without killing you. You will only make yourself look like a fool.”
Jake nodded. “I understand. But why’re you trusting us?”
Roger sighed. “Ariel is making life very difficult for us. We don’t want her to come to the same fate as her mother.”
“What fate was that?”
Roger turned, “This way.”
They headed up the sidewalk and entered the large house. The foyer was spacious and open, yet effectively clinical. Jake felt like he was walking into the future. Everything was white marble tile and gleaming surfaces.
Roger motioned with his hand. “The things you think you know about us, about the world, may not be the same once you leave here. And the fact is, not every question you have will be answered.”
“Then why are we here?”
“You’re here because you’ve eluded your demise more times than anyone has in the past. You’re here because Ariel still wields some power over us. You’re here because she loves you.” He turned and walked down an arched hallway.
Jake followed, gauging the look on Ashley’s face. It wasn’t one he’d seen before, but he knew what it meant. It was a universal look that all women could muster when needed.
They entered a large room, at the center of which was a small holding tank where Ariel lay in a sling of sorts, her tail dangling in the water. She wasn’t awake.
“What’s wrong with her?” Jake asked as they approached.
“She’s in a sort of medically-induced suspended animation so she doesn’t hurt herself.”
“Why?”
“She became increasingly agitated and had to be subdued. We can only keep her in this state for a few more hours due to the risk of harm to the baby. This is why we decided to bring you into the fold. She asked for you.”
“What is all this?”
Roger walked them to a wall on the far side, where several very old pictures hung on the wall. He pointed to the top left. “Gretchen Korolev, she was the first one. Born to a Russian mother and father unknown, she came out severely disfigured. The bones in her legs were fused together, her hips were malformed. Doctors tried everything but the mother was told she would die.”
“I don’t understand.”
Roger pointed to another picture. “That was Anna Companelli. By the time she was born they had a name for the condition, they called it Mishkaylev Syndrome after the one prior.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a genetic mutation. It’s like nothing anyone has ever seen before, and even in this day and age we don’t understand what causes it.”
Ashley touched a picture. “They’re all so beautiful.”
Roger nodded. “They are indeed.”
“Who’re their parents?”
Roger smiled. “As I indicated, not every question would be answered. There are things even I don’t know.”
“This makes no sense,” Jake stated. “So these babies are born with this syndrome and you turn them into mermaids? This is twisted.”
“Do we turn them into mermaids? Or are they born that way?”
“You put tails on them and toss them into the water. For what reason? To perpetuate a myth?”
“Myth and legend are rooted in truth. There is nothing so callous going on here as you suggest. They are not born like you and I…they are different.”
Ashley spoke up. “You steal their lives, force them to have babies, and kill them. What the hell do you mean there’s nothing callous going on here? That’s the very definition of callous.”
“There are things you don’t understand. We do as we’ve been commissioned.”
Jake rolled his eyes. “Passing the buck again. To whom this time?”
Roger’s poker face didn’t flinch. “We save them.”
Jake tilted his head. “What’s to stop me from killing you and taking Ariel out of here?”
“Son, you’d not get a minute down the road before being crushed into dust. You wanted to know the truth, now you know.”
“I don’t know anything. All I know is that something twisted is going on here and you still won’t tell me who’s in charge.”
“Who’s in charge doesn’t matter as much as the fact that they are.”
“It matters.”
He motioned one hand. “Look around. You’ve seen only a tip of this operation. There are millions upon billions of dollars at work here. The untold fortune behind this is not what you think it is. It’s more money than you’ve ever seen. And more power than you can imagine.”
“But why? To what end?”
Roger walked along the wall, looking up. “A legacy perhaps? A fascination with the unknown? It’s anyone’s guess.”
Jake laughed. “This is insanity. Are you telling me some eccentric billionaire has been taking little girls born with some crazy unknown syndrome and turning them into mermaids for his own twisted pleasure? Is that what you’re telling me? Because I want to get this straight.”
“It’s far more complex than that.”
“Well, why don’t you break it down for me so I can understand it.”
“There are things we are not meant to understand.”
“This is bullshit!” Jake exclaimed. “You’re telling me everyone goes along with this not knowing who they’re working for or to what end? I don’t buy that, Roger. You’re a smart guy. You wouldn’t agree to this unless you knew exactly what it was all about. So quit jerking our chain and tell us what’s really going on here.”
“I told you what I’m allowed to tell you. It has to be enough to satisfy your curiosity. There are certain things I’m unable to pass along to you for various reasons.”
“Like what?”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Everything is as simple as the truth, Roger.”
“The truth is an illusion of time. All things we know of truth today will be but myth and legend tomorrow. And all things that were myth and legend of the past will be truth again someday.”
Jake sighed. “Why are we really here?”
“Because, Jake, the organization is impressed with you, mostly with how much you cared. They want you to be the next guardian.”
Jake let his jaw drop open like his mouth was expecting words his brain would not send.
“That’s right,” Roger reiterated.
“But I’m not a doctor.”
“No, Jake, not the guardian for one of the mermaids, the guardian for all of them. They want you to run the entire organization. You’d be working directly above me. You’d be my boss.”
Jake looked to Ashley, she was just as flabbergasted as he was. “I don’t understand. I don’t know what to say.”
“What’s to understand? With all that has gone on, we have not had the time to vet a replacement. Under normal circumstances, one would be chosen ahead of time. However, our friend Castro made some flawed errors in judgment. Losing Dr. Shepard was not part of the original plan, but things went sideways a little bit and he left us on his own terms. He was on the committee set to choose a new president.”
“Why me?”
“Because you’re the perfect choice.”
“No, I’m not. I’m really not.”
He handed Jake a set of keys. “These are for the house where Dr. Shepard was living, and for the front entrance to this facility. You will watch over Ariel until the baby comes, and then you will live here and oversee the operations. We will train you on everything and give you a handsome salary beyond your wildest dreams. And of course Ashley is welcome to join the organization. You asked how people do work and don’t ask questions? Well, you’re going to find out why.”
Jake stood there slack-jawed. He didn’t know what to say.
Roger fixed his hair. “I’ll leave you two alone to talk for a few minutes while I take care of a few things.”