Page 101 of The Cabinet of Dr. Leng

“And Leng?”

“Wewill kill him.”

“You and me?”

“Yes.”

“Can’t we just rescue Mary and leave the man alone?”

“As long as Leng remains alive, Constance and her siblings will never be safe in this world. And we know, from the mass grave uncovered in lower Manhattan that sparked the Surgeon murders, that he will go on to kill dozens of other young girls. So you see, Vincent, it isnot enoughthat we rescue Mary.”

“We also have to do Leng,” D’Agosta muttered. “It’s murder, plain and simple.”

“Indeed.” Pendergast smiled and reached once again for his champagne glass.

64

June 12

Monday

GASPARD FERENC HOPPED IMPATIENTLYfrom foot to foot as he waited for Proctor to open the lab door. The lock clicked open and Ferenc pushed his way in first, ahead of Proctor. The fear of Pendergast’s henchman and his threats hadn’t dissipated—but it now competed in Ferenc’s mind with the ongoing sense of outrage, backed by humiliation.

He took a slow turn around the idling machine, glancing here and there, opening the occasional panel to ensure the instrumentation within showed no signs of failure, wiggling leads and running resistance tests to make sure everything was optimal. “Okay, let’s get this over with,” he said at last, walking over to the master control panel. Proctor, who’d been watching silently, took up his own position. The man’s worktable, Ferenc noticed, was once again covered by a tarp. Maybe Proctor hadn’t yet had a chance to expend all the rounds he’d made for himself the day before.

Ferenc woke the machine from its idle state, one section at a time, nodding to Proctor, who followed him in lockstep.

“Checklist complete, lattice forming,” Ferenc murmured.

“Semiconductor temperature stable,” Proctor said.

“Bringing the main laser online,” Ferenc told him. “Braiding should commence in five seconds.”

The familiar low hum rose slightly as both men adjusted their instrumentation. Ferenc waited, watching his panel closely, then engaged the second laser. “Lattice forming. Bringing the power up to 50 percent.”

As he followed through, the slow crescendo of humming was interrupted by a brief stutter. The two men looked at each other.

“Holding at 40,” Ferenc said. “Diagnostics show anything unusual?”

Proctor shook his head, and Ferenc waited another few seconds. The humming remained stable. “Taking it up to 50.”

As he began increasing the power, the stuttering returned. “I’ve got a spike in the secondary,” Proctor told him. “There’s a red light.”

“OK. Let’s bring it back down to idle—slowly.”

Once the lasers were offline and the main power was down to 5 percent, Ferenc stepped back from the master control panel.

“What is it?” Proctor said.

Ferenc rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Don’t know. A thorough check would mean shutting it down and running every component through an analyzer or oscilloscope.”

“We can’t shut it down. It has to remain in idle, or Pendergast can’t return.”

“Don’t teach your grandmother how to suck eggs, all right? That’s what we’d doideally. Since it isn’t an option, I’ll need to test it at idle.”

“Can it still be inspected thoroughly?”

“Yes. I think. But it will take longer.” Ferenc paused, still rubbing his chin. “Look: we’ll switch places. You take up a position here at the master console. I’m going to send some pulses through the secondary and tertiary units, and I want you to read the indications back to me.”

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