Aphrodite

Aphrodite.

by Russell Andrews.

PROLOGUE.

Washington, D.C.

February 23

She knew there were no monsters.

And yet, when the lights were out, she also knew that there were.

It"s why she screamed when she heard the footsteps. There was a quick flurry, someone running-no, darting darting, that"s the way it sounded, definitely darting-and then there was a crash, gla.s.s being shattered, a piece of pipe, perhaps, swung against the ugly overhanging fluorescent light. Everything turned shadowy; the whole room was suddenly fifty percent darker than it had been. Then, almost before she could register what was happening, there were more footsteps, on the other side of the garage-how did he get over there so fast? It didn"t seem possible-and another crash, another light smashed, and then it was dark. Not just darker this time, but completely dark. She couldn"t see her hand right in front of her face.

It was absolutely quiet, too. Black and silent.

And suddenly there it was.

The feeling.

Even under normal circ.u.mstances, when things were calm, when she was tucked safely in bed, under the down-filled covers with the lights out, Maura Greer was overwhelmed by the dark. Even in her own room there was nothing she could do to stop her imagination from running wild. To stop her heart from beating madly and her throat from drying up and that thing inside her head from saying: Be afraid. Something bad is coming. Something really is there, inside the blackness. ... Be afraid. Something bad is coming. Something really is there, inside the blackness. ...

And now something really was was there. there.

Footsteps again.

She could hear someone breathing.

She thought she was going to faint. Her whole body was shaking and, despite the freezing temperature and dankness of the garage, hot, clammy sweat was starting to drip down the back of her neck.

Maura had lived with this fear for so long. Maybe her whole life. As a child she needed a night-light. When she went away to college, got her very first apartment, she used to leave the light on in the hallway outside her bedroom. She told her roommate it was so she could find the bathroom when she woke up in the middle of the night, but that wasn"t true at all. It was because the darkness terrified her. Filled her with numbing, paralyzing dread.

That"s what she was feeling now. She was stuck in the underground garage of her apartment building with some madman who had shattered all the lights and was, she was positive, going to stalk her and catch her and rape her. So the dread was deep in the pit of her stomach. A physical sensation. A pain. As if she"d been injected with a drug that was quickly taking effect, moving upward from her feet, through her legs, clenching her stomach, wrapping around her throat, choking her. It"s not fair It"s not fair, she thought. Not today. Not now. Not today. Not now. Not when, in less than an hour, her whole life was about to change. And it Not when, in less than an hour, her whole life was about to change. And it was was going to change. She going to change. She knew knew it. Today he was going to tell her he loved her. He was going to tell her they could be together. Finally. And she was going to comfort him and a.s.sure him that everything would be all right, and make him understand he"d made the right decision, and ... it. Today he was going to tell her he loved her. He was going to tell her they could be together. Finally. And she was going to comfort him and a.s.sure him that everything would be all right, and make him understand he"d made the right decision, and ...

More footsteps!

To her left. He was all the way to her left, maybe thirty feet away. There was a door there, leading up to her apartment building; it was the way she"d come in. But there was another way out. An easier way. The driveway. That was maybe fifty or sixty feet to her right. The metal door, the one that rolled slowly down from the tracks on the ceiling and guarded the ramp the cars came up, was shut. It shouldn"t have been-it was supposed to stay open until 7 p.m. She didn"t have the clicker that opened it, either. She would have, normally, but she hadn"t brought her purse. He didn"t like her to carry any ID when they met. He didn"t want them to be seen together in public, and they always took extra-careful precautions, but he didn"t want her to have any identifying papers in case anything happened, so she just took to leaving her purse and her wallet at home when she saw him. She could picture her bag sitting on the kitchen counter. And in it was the G.o.dd.a.m.n clicker. She"d thought about taking it, decided it wasn"t important, she wouldn"t need it, not before seven. So she left it. Her ticket to freedom sitting on the G.o.d-d.a.m.n kitchen counter. ...

But there was still another way out, she realized. Another door that led out to the front of the building. All she had to do was beat him to that door by the driveway and she could make it up to the street. There"d be people there. Someone to help her. There"d be light.

But she didn"t know if she could make it. She wasn"t dressed for running.

She had wanted today to be so perfect. She wore his favorite blouse, a flowery Donna Karan, very flimsy and practically see-through. She had tried on two different pairs of pants in her apartment, then decided that pants weren"t right, she really wanted to go s.e.xy, so she wound up with a short black skirt. Straight, no pleats, linen. It came down to the middle of her thighs, and she knew he really liked her thighs; even in public he could barely keep his hands from brushing up against them at dinner, sometimes being as daring as he could be, squeezing them under the table and lingering.

The bra had been easy. It came from the Bra Store, in Manhattan, on Madison in the East Sixties, practically her favorite place on earth. Today"s choice was very daring. It was flesh colored and revealed a lot of cleavage. Under the Donna Karan it would look, at first glance, as if she was naked, and she knew he"d really, really like that. Leaving her apartment, she"d thought about how he"d look at her in mock disapproval, shake his head, and say something like "That should be illegal." She"d look concerned and maybe say, "Do you want me to go home and change?" And, of course, he"d grab her then, because he couldn"t help himself, and she"d let him hold her, touch her, for a long time, and she"d kiss him, once or twice, slowly lick the inside of his upper lip, he loved that so much, and when he groaned with pleasure, she"d say, "Did you do it? Did you tell her?" And this time she knew the answer would be yes. Because this time she really had something for him. She had some real information. She would show him once and for all that she was not just a piece of fluff or merely the object of his l.u.s.t. She had a brain. A good brain. And she was important to him. Useful.

Because this time she could give him what he wanted, something besides the s.e.x.

He"d given her a name.

Aphrodite.

And now she knew what it meant.

She could, even in the darkness of the garage, picture his eyes, the way they"d shine when she told him what she"d discovered. And she imagined his voice when she finally heard the words she"d been dying to hear for so many months now.

Yes, I told her. Yes, we can be together.

Yes. I love you.

Yes ...

It was going to be exactly how she"d dreamed about it. That"s why she"d had to get the shoes just right, too, of course. He liked spike heels, all men did. G.o.d, men were fools sometimes. It was still the middle of the afternoon and she didn"t want to look like a hooker, but what the h.e.l.l, she"d decided to go for it. She wouldn"t wear them when he took her to the White House-and he was was going to take her to the White House, he"d all but promised-but today wasn"t for meeting presidents and senators. Today was supposed to be for something altogether different, so she went for the Jimmy Choo eggsh.e.l.l-colored heels. Why not? They showed her ankles off so perfectly and that was the best part of her body, she knew. She might be ten pounds on the plump side-okay, fifteen-but her ankles were perfect. So that was what she was wearing with her tight skirt, and that was why she was not dressed for running. going to take her to the White House, he"d all but promised-but today wasn"t for meeting presidents and senators. Today was supposed to be for something altogether different, so she went for the Jimmy Choo eggsh.e.l.l-colored heels. Why not? They showed her ankles off so perfectly and that was the best part of her body, she knew. She might be ten pounds on the plump side-okay, fifteen-but her ankles were perfect. So that was what she was wearing with her tight skirt, and that was why she was not dressed for running.

Her ankles just might get her killed, she thought. ...

Where was Hector? Why hadn"t that occurred to her before? He was always always in the garage during the day. He complained about it all the time. in the garage during the day. He complained about it all the time. Sunny outside but I"m underground all day long Sunny outside but I"m underground all day long, that"s what he constantly said to her. He"d leer at her a little bit, especially when she looked like she did today. He"d leer and complain about being inside and underground breathing in car fumes. Where was he now?

She screamed out his name.

Hectorrrrrrrrrrr!

No answer. Was Hector the one doing this? It seemed inconceivable. But still, the way he looked at her sometimes. Had she ever told him she was afraid of the dark? She might have. Everyone said she was too gabby. She might have told him and now here he was, wanting her and knowing she"d be terrified.

There was another noise, a ssssstttt ssssstttt. A match being lit. Then a tiny speck of light. She saw something. A man. Not Hector. Nothing like Hector. A tall man. Tall and thin with short-cropped white-blond hair. Handsome and pale.

Then the match went out and the light was gone. And so was he.

Back in the dark.

That"s when she realized that if she couldn"t see him, he couldn"t see her. So, as terrified as she was, her brain began to work: It told her to crouch down and kick off those eggsh.e.l.l high heels and move quietly, quietly but steadily, toward the door by the driveway. ...

She wondered if they"d realize she was late checking into the hotel. She had told them she"d be there by five. They knew her there by now, at the Marriott in Virginia. The desk clerk no longer bothered to take her credit card imprint when she checked in; he"d just wave her away and say they"d take care of it on her way out. Then she"d pay cash. Her story was that she was from out of town, coming in repeatedly on business. She said she lived in East End Harbor, on Long Island, in New York, and that wasn"t really a lie. More like a fib. She also told him she was a lobbyist for the Nature Conservancy, and that was was a lie. She didn"t know why she"d said it, maybe because that"s what she wished she were. That"s what she a lie. She didn"t know why she"d said it, maybe because that"s what she wished she were. That"s what she would would be, one of these days. But the clerk certainly remembered their conversations because when he saw her he always called her Ms. Greer, he always asked how her lobbying was going, and then he"d hand her the key to her room, always the same room, 1722. He knew not to bother to call a bellhop; she had made it clear that she preferred to carry her small overnight bag herself. The only question he ever asked was, "Early or late checkout?" and after she told him she"d smile to show she was very satisfied with the service, then head straight for the bank of elevators that went to the seventeenth floor. All she"d have to do after that was wait for the love of her life to arrive. She always arrived on time, she was never late. So maybe they"d realize that something was wrong; maybe they"d come looking for her. be, one of these days. But the clerk certainly remembered their conversations because when he saw her he always called her Ms. Greer, he always asked how her lobbying was going, and then he"d hand her the key to her room, always the same room, 1722. He knew not to bother to call a bellhop; she had made it clear that she preferred to carry her small overnight bag herself. The only question he ever asked was, "Early or late checkout?" and after she told him she"d smile to show she was very satisfied with the service, then head straight for the bank of elevators that went to the seventeenth floor. All she"d have to do after that was wait for the love of her life to arrive. She always arrived on time, she was never late. So maybe they"d realize that something was wrong; maybe they"d come looking for her.

Another ssssstttt ssssstttt. Another flash of light. He was far from her now, the blond man. He was guarding that door all the way to the left, and she"d moved maybe fifteen feet closer to the driveway. She could make it. He was looking around, he didn"t see her, but she could see he was wearing a khaki suit with an open-necked blue shirt, and now she thought: I can do it. I can make it. He"s not even looking in my direction and, okay, I see the clearing, I see the door. As soon as the match goes out, just run like h.e.l.l. I can make it. ... I can do it. I can make it. He"s not even looking in my direction and, okay, I see the clearing, I see the door. As soon as the match goes out, just run like h.e.l.l. I can make it. ...

The match went out and she took off.

She banged her knee into the corner of a car-the darkness was dis-orienting, but that didn"t really slow her down. She was hauling a.s.s and there was no way he was going to get her. She didn"t even hear footsteps; he wasn"t even trying. He knew it was impossible, knew that he"d lost, and she reached the door, grabbed for the doork.n.o.b and started to turn it, started to yank the door open and yes, there was the crack of sunlight, she had made it. ...

And that"s when she felt the hand on her arm.

She looked up and there he was. The light from the crack in the door showed the short blond hair, the khaki suit, and the blue shirt. But it wasn"t possible. She"d seen him, knew he was all the way on the other side of the garage. She hadn"t heard him running. He couldn"t couldn"t have beaten her to the door. It was not humanly possible. ... have beaten her to the door. It was not humanly possible. ...

She felt a pain in her wrist now, realized he was twisting it, pulling her away from the door. She heard it shut with a click and a quiet whoosh whoosh. She started to scream-maybe someone on the other side would hear her-but his hand was over her mouth and she couldn"t scream. She couldn"t move and she couldn"t make a sound and she couldn"t even see him anymore. She couldn"t see anything. She was back in the dark.

There was a strange and overwhelming pressure on her throat now and she was having trouble breathing. She felt her head twisting and it hurt, it really hurt, and then she heard a little snap and started to fall to the concrete floor. She was vaguely aware that the man was holding her up, that he was dragging her to the back of a car. She felt herself being lifted up, realized that the trunk of the car was open, and she started to squirm.

And then she felt another tug at her neck and heard another crack and then she didn"t feel anything.

Maura did not hear the trunk of the blond man"s car close on top of her. She did not know that the Donna Karan blouse she was wearing now had a long tear under her right armpit or that the Jimmy Choo spike-heeled shoes were streaked with grease and carelessly tossed inches away from her bare feet. She did not see or feel the body of Hector, the garage attendant, which was already stuffed in the trunk next to her.

As the blond man"s car slowly pulled out of the parking s.p.a.ce and moved toward the exit ramp, Maura felt like she was floating, like she was drifting off into s.p.a.ce, weightless. She was surrounded by blackness, blacker than she"d ever imagined. She tried to make herself come back, tried to stop herself from fading into the dark, but she couldn"t. And as she floated farther and farther away, she thought: It"s not fair. It"s not fair, it"s not fair, it"s not fair. He has to tell me he loves me. He has to take me to meet all the famous and powerful people. And he has to know about Aphrodite. It"s not fair. It"s not fair, it"s not fair, it"s not fair. He has to tell me he loves me. He has to take me to meet all the famous and powerful people. And he has to know about Aphrodite.

I have to tell him about Aphrodite.

And then the terrible feeling that had been with Maura Greer her entire life disappeared. There were no more shadows. No more terrifying shapes. And no more fear.

There was only a new and different kind of darkness.

London, England

March 2

The lecture hall was packed.

The turnout was more than a little surprising to Joseph Fennerman because over the past twenty-four hours a steady stream of cold, hard rain and a numbing winter dampness had re-arisen, and the combination seemed to permeate not just every English person"s clothes or even skin, but life life.

Fennerman was delighted with the event. For one thing, the size of the crowd guaranteed that his lecture fee would remain at the exceedingly high level he now commanded for an appearance. For another, he was autographing the hardcover edition of his latest book, The Morality of Numbers The Morality of Numbers, already a best-seller on the other side of the Atlantic, and judging from the buzz in the room he"d sell every copy on hand. Finally, prior to taking the stage he had been approached by a rather awestruck grad student, a somewhat bony brunette wearing a man"s rose-colored collared shirt, a short black skirt, and black leggings. She was not particularly attractive but, after a remarkably easy ten-minute conversation, she not only seemed charmed by his awkward demeanor, facial tics and all, she also agreed to meet him after the lecture to continue their discourse over a late supper at his favorite London restaurant, Rule"s. Fennerman was astonished by his successful pickup, and he was so eager to meet up with her he did something that went totally against his normal behavior pattern: He rushed through his material, knowingly omitting several salient and key points, trying to get to the end of his speech as quickly as possible. When the moderator opened up the floor for questions, forty-eight-year-old Dr. Fennerman, for the very first time in his distinguished career, was wishing that his audience would stop making him the center of their world and let him get off the d.a.m.n stage.

"Of course, we are just beginning to explore the complicated questions of limits," he heard himself saying in response to a rather smug, long-winded comment from someone wearing a corduroy jacket and a beard sitting in the third row. "By limits, I am referring to our own population, to the extension of human life into prolonged senescence, as well as limits to our own consumption and exploitation, of both resources and our very nature. The question of limits is probably our most difficult one to grapple with because biologically we are designed to increase at will and acquire whatever is available. The matter is complicated further because any kind of thorough historical perspective shows that people will exploit anything they can as completely as their technology and force permit."

Another question. This one from a singularly unattractive woman near the back. He barely let her finish her sentence before he roared into his answer.

"You must understand the difference between what is visible-and thus easy to ascertain and comprehend-and what is underneath the surface, which is, in almost all cases, far more defining than something that can be touched and seen. When it comes to the question of human existence, understanding that difference is essential. All of us carry a unique genetic profile in our cells. That profile includes expressed genes, those things easily recognizable, such as eye and hair color, size of various features, et cetera, and that is called a phenotype. But we also have genes that are not expressed, recessive if you will, that make up an individual"s genotype. If I can use a mundane but clear example: Think of a birthday present, nicely wrapped and handed to you. The wrapped package is a phenotype. You can tell something about what is inside by the size and the weight and possibly the sound. But you can"t tell exactly what it is-you can"t define it-until you open it. The contents-in many ways, the essence-are the genotype.

"What I hope you take away from our conversation this evening is the complexity of the ethical dangers inherent in tampering with either phenotype or genotype. Does it really matter to the moral structure of the universe if we use transgender engineering to produce perfect-looking strawberries? No, of course not. But does it matter if, because of our interference, we create something that looks beautiful but has no taste? That is no longer functional or serves the purpose for which it was originally created by nature? That"s what each of us must decide.

"Thank you and good night."

Joseph Fennerman practically raced off the stage, sat at a small desk off to the side where he impatiently signed books for half an hour, then threw his coat and m.u.f.fler across his shoulders and, waving away his well-wishers and admirers, rushed outside to his stretch limousine that was waiting in front of the University of London"s urban campus. He tapped on the dark, tinted window to alert the driver to his presence and jumped into the back, a good six feet away from the front seat, rubbing his hands together to brush off the cold and the rain. The driver didn"t bother to turn around.

"I"m waiting for a young woman," Fennerman said, smothering his nervousness with an awkward cough. "She"ll be here momentarily." He tried but was unable to make out a fragment of the man"s face in the rearview mirror. He remembered from the initial pickup that he was handsome and young, with smooth, pale features and well-groomed blond hair. Not the sort of face that would be surprised or anxious at the thought of his having dinner with a too-skinny woman.

"She was already here, Dr. Fennerman," the driver said. "She said she"ll meet us a couple of blocks away, at the corner of Melton and Euston Square."

"Why?" Fennerman asked. The little twitch in his left eye was suddenly back and doing its work. It occurred to him that the driver had an American accent. Not a very refined one, either. Broad and harsh. He hadn"t noticed that earlier. "Why didn"t she just stay here?"

"It"s where she parked her car. I guess she had to get something out of it. I told her I could drive her, but she didn"t want to wait."

Fennerman grunted and nodded, said, "Fine, fine," and kept rubbing his hands together as the driver took him two blocks away. When the long black car pulled up to the curb at Euston Square, the back door opened. Looking up in antic.i.p.ation, Fennerman was more than a little annoyed when a man slid in next to him.

"You"ve got the wrong car," Fennerman told him with an exasperated sigh. When the man didn"t move, he added an impatient "You"ve made a mistake."

"I don"t think so," the man said. Then, turning to the driver, he said, also in a jarringly harsh American accent, "Have I made a mistake?"

Fennerman, facing the front seat, demanded to know what was going on.

"Just taking on another pa.s.senger," the driver told him. "It won"t be for long."

"This is unacceptable," Fennerman said. "In my hotel room I have the name of the event organizer who booked your car service and I will definitely make a complaint. Now take me back to the lecture hall."

"You flying to Washington tomorrow?" the man in the backseat now asked.

"How do you know that?"

"I"m a psychic." The man held his hand over his eyes as if envisioning the future. "Three o"clock meeting at the Hubert H. Humphrey Building. Two hundred Independence Avenue. Southwest. You want the room number?"

"Take me to the lecture hall," Fennerman told the driver again. "Take me back immediately and let me off."

"Meeting your young lady?" the man next to him said.

"Yes." It took Fennerman only a moment to make an unpleasant and frightening connection. It was what he did for a living: make connections between thoughts. "How do you know about her?"

"Move forward. There"s something up there I want you to see."

Fennerman hesitated, then slid toward the driver and jutted out his chin until it almost touched the gla.s.s shield that separated the front seat from the back. Slumped all the way forward in the seat, unmoving, her head resting limply between her knees, sat the woman he had talked to at the lecture hall. He also saw the large, ugly wound running from her spine around to her ribs and the pool of blood that was still acc.u.mulating under her body.

"Oh my G.o.d," he said, his eyes blinking furiously and uncontrollably. He looked at the driver"s face in the rearview mirror now, then turned to stare at the face of the man sitting beside him. "What"s happening?"

"I read one of your books. The one about actions and consequences," the man said. "You should have realized. You made that appointment; now there are consequences."

"What consequences?" Fennerman asked, his voice hoa.r.s.e and his throat dry.

"We"re gonna have to f.u.c.k with your genotype," the man said and moved so quickly that Fennerman barely saw what happened. All he knew was that there was a sharp stinging at his throat and the black leather car seat was suddenly splattered with red. Fennerman felt himself choking, heard a loud and harsh gurgling noise, like a clogged drain trying to disperse its contents or a neglected fountain struggling to increase its water pressure.

Dr. Joseph Fennerman, physiologist, scientific ethicist, and internationally esteemed observer of the complexity of human life, was dead before he could even realize that his throat had been cut. The man whose reputation was made by connecting abstract theories to form precise and practical applications did not even have time to make the connection that the unpleasant noise he was listening to, the last thing he would ever hear, was the sound of himself drowning in his own blood.

Long Island, New York