The Eyes of Darkness by Dean Koontz

Posted by admin_akashic on Aug 7th, 2022 in Stories

appear to be anything life-threatening about the parietal spot, but you sure should keep a watch on it.”

Tina met Elliot’s eyes, and she knew that the same thought was running through both their minds. Could this spot on Danny’s brain have anything to do with the boy’s psychic power? Were his latent psychic abilities brought to the surface as a direct result of the man-made virus with which he had been repeatedly infected? Crazy—but it didn’t seem any more unlikely than that he had fallen victim to Project Pandora in the first place. And as far as Tina could see, it was the only thing that explained Danny’s phenomenal new powers.

Apparently afraid that she would voice her thoughts and alert Dombey to the incredible truth of the situation, Elliot consulted his wristwatch and said, “We ought to get out of here.”

“When you leave,” Dombey said, “you should take some files on Danny’s case. They’re on the table closest to the outer door—that black box full of diskettes. They’ll help support your story when you go to the press with it. And for God’s sake, splash it all over the newspapers as fast as you can. As long as you’re the only ones outside of here who know what happened, you’re marked people.”

“We’re painfully aware of that,” Elliot acknowledged.

Tina said, “Elliot, you’ll have to carry Danny. He can’t walk. He’s not too heavy for me, worn down as he is, but he’s still an awkward bundle.”

Elliot gave her the pistol and started toward the bed. “Could you do me a favor first?” Dombey asked. “What’s that?”

“Let’s move Dr. Zachariah in here and take the gag out of his mouth. Then you tie me up and gag me, leave me in the outer room. I’m going to make them believe he was the one who cooperated with you. In fact, when you tell your story to the press, maybe you could slant it that way.”

Tina shook her head, puzzled. “But after everything you said to Zachariah about this place being run by megalomaniacs, and after you’ve made it so clear you don’t agree with everything that goes on here, why do you want to stay?”

“The hermit’s life agrees with me, and the pay is good,” Dombey said. “And if I don’t stay here, if I walk away and get a job at a civilian research center, that’ll be just one less rational voice in this place. There are a lot of people here who have some sense of social responsibility about this work. If they all left, they’d just be turning the place over to men like Tamaguchi and Zachariah, and there wouldn’t be anyone around to balance things. What sort of research do you think they might do then?

“But once our story breaks in the papers,” Tina said, “they’ll probably just shut this place down.”

“No way,” Dombey said. “Because the work has to be done. The balance of power with totalitarian states like China has to be maintained. They might pretend to close us down, but they won’t. Tamaguchi and some of his closest aides will be fired. There’ll be a big shake-up, and that’ll be good. If I can make them think that Zachariah was the one who spilled the secrets to you, if I can protect my position here, maybe I’ll be promoted and have more influence.” He smiled. “At the very least, I’ll get more pay.”

“AH right,” Elliot said. “We’ll do what you want. But we’ve got to be fast about it.”

They moved Zachariah into the isolation chamber and took the gag out of his mouth. He strained at his ropes and cursed Elliot. Then he cursed Tina and Danny and Dombey. When they took Danny out of the small room, they couldn’t hear Zachariah’s shouted invectives through the airtight steel door.

As Elliot used the last of the rope to tie Dombey, the scientist said, “Satisfy my curiosity.”

“About what?”

“Who told you your son was here? Who let you into the labs?” Tina blinked. She couldn’t think what to say.

“Okay, okay,” Dombey said. “You don’t want to rat on whoever it was. But just tell me one thing. Was it one of the security people, or was it someone on the medical staff? I’d like to think it was a doctor, one of my own, who finally did the right thing.”

Tina looked at Elliot. Elliot shook his head: no.

She agreed that it might not be wise to let anyone know what powers Danny had acquired. The world would regard him as a freak, and everyone would want to gawk at him, put him on display. And for sure, if the people in this installation got the idea that Danny’s newfound psychic abilities were a result of the parietal spot caused by his repeated exposure to Wuhan-400, they would want to test him, poke and probe at him. No, she wouldn’t tell anyone what Danny could do. Not yet. Not until she and Elliot figured out what effect that revelation would have on the boy’s life.

“It was someone on the medical staff,” Elliot lied. “It was a doctor who let us in here.” “Good,” Dombey said. “I’m glad to hear it. I wish I’d had enough guts to do it a long time ago.”

Elliot worked a wadded handkerchief into Dombey’s mouth. Tina opened the outer airtight door.

Elliot picked up Danny. “You hardly weigh a thing, kid. We’ll have to take you straight to McDonald’s and pack you full of burgers and fries.”

Danny smiled weakly at him.

Holding the pistol, Tina led the way into the hall. In the room near the elevators, people were still talking and laughing, but no one stepped into the corridor.

Danny opened the high-security elevator and made the cab rise once they were in it. His forehead was furrowed, as if he were concentrating, but that was the only indication that he had anything to do with the elevator’s movement.

The hallways were deserted on the top floor.

In the guardroom, the older of the two security men was still bound and gagged in his chair. He watched them with anger and fear.

Tina, Elliot, and Danny went through the vestibule and stepped into the cold night. Snow lashed them.

Over the howling of the wind, another sound arose, and Tina needed a few seconds to identify it.

A helicopter.

She squinted up into the snow-shipped night and saw the chopper coming over the rise at the west end of the plateau. What madman would take a helicopter out in this weather? “The Explorer!” Elliot shouted. “Hurry!”