GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra

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Chapter Fourteen

The New York Institute of Neurological Science and Development was a square, two story building right in the middle of downtown New York City, conspicuous on a large block of much taller buildings that towered over it like a range of mountains. Traffic in New York, as always, was a nightmare, and Duke pulled into the building’s parking lot almost half an hour late.

“I hate rush hour in this city,” he said, shaking his head.

“It’s alright,” Hawk said, unbuckling his seat belt. “I don’t think they cancelled our appointment.”

Duke and Hawk got out of the dark blue SUV, followed by Shipwreck, who had been sitting in the back seat. He stepped out and stretched with a grunt, looking around the landscape of skyscrapers. While Duke and Hawk had chosen to dress formally, Duke in a white dress shirt and Hawk in his military dress, Shipwreck was dressed in jeans and a blue long-sleeved shirt. He had the sleeves rolled up, exposing the tattoos in his arms, and he wore a pair of black sunglasses. He brushed a hand through his jet black hair and stared up at the buildings.

“Now I remember why I joined the Navy,” he said.

“Don’t like the big city?” Duke asked.

“Not really, man. Cities are too close. I like to see things coming a long way away.”

Hawk smoothed out the front of his green uniform. “Come on guys, let’s go meet the doctor.”

They walked into the large, white tile lobby and went to the front desk. The secretary quickly got on the phone while they waited. Duke and Hawk walked around the lobby, looking at the corporate artwork decorating the walls, while Shipwreck leaned against the desk and flirted with the secretary.

A few minutes later, a man came into the lobby, his hands folded behind his back. He wore a long white lab coat, spotlessly clean, and gray trousers and shoes. He was completely bald, the overhead lights shining off the top of his head, and he sported a thin mustache. Wire rim glasses rested on the bridge of his sharp nose.

“Welcome,” he said with a trace of a German accent. “I am Doctor Dimitri Bogdanovich, and I’m the senior researcher here at the Institute. It is good to meet you, General.”

Hawk shook the doctor’s hand firmly. “Good to meet you too, Doctor. I take it you know why we’re here?”

“Of course,” Bogdanovich said with the merest trace of a smile. “I can take you right into our lab if you wish. I’m sure you have many questions.”

He led Hawk and Duke out of the lobby and into the hallway to the elevators. When Shipwreck followed, Bogdanovich glanced at him uncertainly.

“It’s okay,” Hawk said. “He’s with us.”

“Okay,” Bogdanovich said, sounding disappointed. He glanced at Shipwreck’s casual clothing with a frown.

“We only know a little bit about the work you do here,” Duke said. “How about you start by giving us some more information?”

“Certainly,” Bogdanovich said with a curt nod. “Our primary interest here at the Institute lies in treatments for a variety of neurological disorders. We study the effects of various medicines and drugs on the brain, to put it very simply.”

“What kinds of drugs?” Hawk asked.

“There are many different drugs we work with,” the doctor said, somewhat evasively. “Some of them are standard medications you can get at any pharmacy, such as Valium or Prozac. We study their effects and publish our results in medical journals. Some of the drugs we use have not been passed by the FDA yet, and we perform various clinical trials, of course. Some of our other work is more advanced.”

They boarded the elevator and Bogdanovich hit the button for the lower floor. He slid his hands into the large front pockets of his lab coat. “We do lots of work for the Pentagon, testing different drugs and treatments for use by the military. I am allowed to tell you about this, but much of our work is by necessity classified.”

“I understand,” Hawk said. “My men and I have the appropriate clearance.”

“Yes, I know. I had to check before I could come and speak with you.”

The elevator opened and Bogdanovich walked out, leading them down a long corridor lined with windows into many different lab rooms. Shipwreck glanced into the rooms to see men lying on hospital beds, hooked up to IVs and other medical equipment. Other rooms had men wearing large devices on their heads that were hooked up to computer displays. There were other scientists wearing lab coats, but they paid the GI Joe team members little mind.

“This is one of our current projects,” Bogdanovich said, motioning into one of the lab rooms, where several men were sitting at tables, IV drips attached to their arms. A nurse at another desk was showing them a series of photographs.

“It’s a memory test,” Bogdanovich explained. “We believe that the combination of drugs we are giving them can increase their memory. It is one of many programs we are currently running.”

“Is this program for the Pentagon as well?” Hawk asked.

“To be honest, I don’t know,” Bogdanovich said. “They provide a significant amount of funding for us, so most of the projects are at least partially funded by the Pentagon.”

“Exactly what drugs are you giving them?” Duke asked, crossing his arms, watching the testing intently.

“Well, I can’t give you specifics,” Bogdanovich said. “The treatments we use are all safe in the doses we use, if that is what you’re worried about, and the men here are all volunteers, of course. Every test we do is cleared by higher management before we start.”

“But all the drugs you use here are ... what’s the word? Psychoanalytic?”

“Psychoactive,” Bogdanovich corrected him. “Yes, the medications affect brain function by altering the levels of neurotransmitters in the brain.”

Duke gave Hawk a concerned look, and Bogdanovich continued, somewhat defensively. “They are no different than other legal, prescribed medications such as Prozac and Valium, I assure you. Those drugs work by altering brain function, I thought that even a non-medical man would know this.”

“What other kinds of tests are done here?” Shipwreck asked. “If the Pentagon is funding your research, there must be military applications.”

“Yes, of course. Some of the work we do is designed to lessen the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder on soldiers in the field. We’re trying to develop treatments for other stress-related disorders as well.”

“Can we see some of the tests? Are they being done right now?”

Bogdanovich scratched absentmindedly at his cheek. “Yes, I believe so. Please, come with me.”

They followed the doctor down the hall to a stairway heading to the next level underground. He approached a locked door with a card reader, and slid his identification badge through. The door beeped and a green light clicked on.

Bogdanovich pushed open the doors. “This way, please.”

In a large lab area, there were more hospital beds laid out, and more men lying there, hooked up to dripping IVs. Knowledge that the men involved in the experiments were United States soldiers, instead of just regular civilian volunteers, made the test somehow different, although none of them could say exactly why. Perhaps it was just a soldier’s natural sense of loyalty to other soldiers.

“Most psychological disorders are caused by an imbalance in the neurotransmitters in the brain,” Bogdanovich explained, having apparently decided that Duke and the others were completely ignorant of the science involved. “Too little serotonin can cause depression, for example. Too much dopamine can lead to schizophrenia. These are oversimplified examples, of course, but you get the idea.”

He gestured into the lab area. “Our research here is designed to discover what causes other disorders, and if they can be treated with the proper psychoactive drugs. We’re trying to learn how different mixtures of drugs affect the brain.”

“Okay,” Hawk said. “Now, you know about the scientists who were kidnapped recently, correct? Such as Ward Stevens, who worked at the New York Mental Institute?”

“Yes,” Bogdanovich said with a short nod. “He was an associate of mine. He and I consulted with each other often about our work.”

“Dr. Stevens worked on similar research, is that right?”

“Yes, he and I worked in the same field, although his work was not funded by the military. I believe he got his funding from a consortium of pharmaceutical companies.”

Duke pointed into the lab room. “But he did tests like this as well?”

“Yes, I believe so.”

“We want to know why those scientists were kidnapped,” Hawk said. “We suspect that they were kidnapped by a terrorist organization, but we don’t know why. Can you maybe shed some light on that?”

Bogdanovich bristled at the question. “I assure you I have no idea what you mean.”

“Well, if I understand this right, you’re trying to use these brain altering drugs to cure psychological problems. Because the drugs can change the person’s behavior, correct? But how drastic are these effects? How much can you change someone’s behavior?”

“The effects are very specific,” Bogdanovich said. “We treat certain behaviors, such as paranoia, or depression, or even anger management issues. Sometimes the drugs have other behavioral side effects, but no more than regular prescribed medicine, as I explained.”

“But you also work with new drugs that haven’t been fully tested yet.”

“Yes,” Bogdanovich said, getting annoyed.

“What if there was a way to use these kinds of drugs to alter someone’s behavior completely?”

“That’s absurd,” Bogdanovich snapped. “You can’t brainwash people with psychoactive drugs. They don’t work that way.”

“Maybe not, but that would explain why the scientists were kidnapped,” Hawk said.

“Yeah,” Shipwreck said. “In some of those files about the ... terrorist organization,” he said, careful not to use the name Cobra, “the files mentioned that they might operate as some kind of cult. Parents accused them of brainwashing their children.”

“And I’m telling you that’s complete lunacy,” Bogdanovich insisted. “You can’t just brainwash someone like that.”

“But it would make brainwashing them much easier,” Duke pointed out. “If you gave someone drugs to calm them down or make them more trusting, it would be easier to manipulate them. Maybe that’s what their goal is. They kidnapped scientists who could help them develop some kind of treatment to make people easy to brainwash.”

Bogdanovich shook his head and looked at his watch. “Listen, I think what you’re suggesting is ridiculous. But perhaps you’re right. This group of terrorists might try something like that, I suppose. But it would never work. Now, I’m afraid I have a meeting to go to in a few minutes, so I’m going to have to cut short your tour.”

He led them back upstairs and to the elevator, and then back to the lobby. Hawk stopped to shake his hand before they left. “Thank you for talking with us. I think we’ve learned some important information. It gives us something to work with.”

“If you have any other questions, you can contact me,” Bogdanovich said.

As they walked back to the truck, Shipwreck shook his head. “I don’t know about this, man. Brainwashing people? It sounds awfully crazy to me.”

“Yes, it does,” Duke agreed. “But I think that’s got to be what Cobra has in mind. They kidnapped a bunch of scientists who all study how drugs alter brain chemistry.”

“Maybe they want to synthesize some kind of addictive drug,” Shipwreck suggested.

“That’s also a possibility,” Hawk said, opening the SUV door. “But at the very least, we have something to go on.”

All three of them got inside, and Duke pulled out of the parking lot. As the SUV drove out into the street and into heavy traffic, Dr. Bogdanovich watched them from his office window on the second floor of the Institute.

“Yes, I know,” he said in to a cell phone, talking hurriedly. “But they work for the military, and they already know about us. No, they didn’t say it was Cobra, but I know that’s what they meant. I’m telling you they know too much about this, they took one look at my work here and guessed most of it right away. Yes, I’m looking at their vehicle right now

He gave them the SUV’s license plate number and said, “They’re probably heading to the airport right now. We need to know who they’re work for and who else knows about this. I’m telling you they already know too much!”

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