“NTI is the only company with the technology to pull this off, as far as I know,” Ray said. He looked at Abby. “The fellow you describe, the one who attacked you in Dallas—I’m not familiar with him. I’m guessing he’s associated with Damien Cleary.”

Ben’s eyebrows rose. “What makes you say that?”

“Just a hunch. Cleary is a maverick. Brilliant but uncontrollable. He does what he wants.”

“What would be his motive?”

“That’s hard to say.”

“If one of his people is behind it, shouldn’t we inform Nichols?” I interjected.

Ray shook his head. “No. We can’t trust him. Nichols would never condone murder himself. But he might cover it up if he thought it would advance his cause. Everything revolves around his cause. That’s why he threw me in here—in the hospital, that is. I threatened his vision for humanity.”

If Ray and Abby had already discussed that matter, she hadn’t revealed it to me. Or had she?

“Why were you a threat?” I asked.

“Because of what I discovered. During the final phase of the brain transplant testing process, we began performing the procedure on actual subjects, elderly people with advanced brain disease”—he turned to Abby—“and a couple of them were Christians. What I discovered was that when we did the transplant procedure, they lost their connection with God.”

I felt a rush of satisfaction. I was right. Ray’s warning in his message involved what he believed to be the presence of God. And what I experienced watching Emma’s brain replacement wasn’t a singular event.

Ray continued, “I believe that when the biological brains were removed from the patients, the human spirit departed. It was as if they were dead. God’s Spirit joins himself with—becomes one with—a human spirit. When the human spirit leaves, God’s Spirit goes with it.”

Abby’s face conveyed her astonishment. “But how did you find that out?”

“From their own self-reports. They lost their sense of connectedness.”

Ben cleared his throat. “Ray, you said these people were elderly, with advanced brain disease. Isn’t it possible that they were imagining things—that they were simply experiencing a normal psychological side effect of the procedure?”

Ray looked at Ben. “It makes sense to question that. But no. I went back and checked these patients’ files. Only the two self-reporting as Christians experienced this.”

“I’m surprised you found any Christians at all,” Ben remarked.

“You have to remember, most of the patients were quite elderly.”

“So what did you do when you found this out?” I asked, keeping an eye on Abby’s face. Given her esteem for her grandfather, I hoped he had an answer she could accept.