13
6:30 A.M.
'These people are with me,' Nancy Sellers said.
Nancy, Sheila, and Pitt were standing in front of the Serotec Pharmaceutical night security desk. The guard was fingering her ID. Nancy had already shown it at the gate before driving onto the parking area.
'You people have any picture IDs?' the security man asked Sheila and Pitt. Both produced driver's licenses which satisfied the man. The trio trooped to the elevator.
'Security is still on edge after the suicide,' Nancy said.
The reason Nancy had them get there so early was to avoid the other workers. And it worked. As yet no one else had arrived, and the entire fourth floor was empty. The fourth floor was reserved entirely for biological research. There was even a small menagerie of experimental animals at one end.
Nancy unlocked her private lab, and they all entered. She locked the door behind them. She did not want any interruptions or questions.
'Okay!' Nancy said. 'We are going to wear containment suits and everything will be done under a level three hood. Any questions?'
Neither Sheila nor Pitt had any.
Nancy led them into a side room which had changing cubicles. She gave them appropriate-sized gear and let them change. She changed as well.
Meeting back in the main room Nancy said: 'Now, let's have the samples.'
Sheila produced the coffee-creamer jar containing the snippet of desk blotter. She also produced multiple blood samples from people who'd acquired the flu. The samples had been drawn at various stages of their illness.
'All right,' Nancy said, rubbing her gloved hands together in anticipation. 'First I'm going to show you how to inoculate a tissue culture.'
'Where the hell did you get this thing?' Carl Maben asked his boss, Eugene Sellers. Carl was a Ph.D. candidate who also worked for the physics department.
With raised eyebrows Eugene glanced over at Jesse Kemper, whom he'd invited to watch the analysis of one of the black discs. Jesse told them that it had been taken from an individual who'd been arrested for lewd behavior.
Both Eugene and Carl expressed interest.
'I don't know the details,' Jesse admitted.
Eugene's and Carl's faces fell.
'Well, I do know that the man had been arrested for making love in the park,'' Jesse said.
'My God! It's amazing the risks people take,' Carl said. 'It's dangerous just to walk in the park at night, much less make love.'
'This wasn't at night,' Jesse said. 'It was at lunch-time.'
'They must have been embarrassed,' Eugene said.
'Quite the contrary,' Jesse said. 'They were irritated at being disturbed. They said that the police should be more concerned about the rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the resultant greenhouse effect.'
Both Eugene and Carl laughed.
As soon as Jesse told the story it reminded him of the conversation the previous evening about the infected people's concerns about environmental issues. The possibility that the noontime lovers were infected people had never occurred to him.
Redirecting his attention to the task at hand, Carl said to Eugene: 'I don't think this is going to work.' At that moment behind a darkly tinted glass screen they were blasting one of the black discs with a high energy laser to knock off some molecules. A gas chromatograph was poised to analyze the resultant gas. Unfortunately the laser wasn't doing the trick.
'All right, turn it off,' Eugene said.
The bright beam of coherent light was instantly extinguished when the power was interrupted. The two scientists gazed at the small disc.
'That's one hard surface,' Carl said. 'What do you think it's composed of?'
'I don't know,' Eugene admitted. 'But I'm as sure as hell going to find out. Whoever made it better have a patent or I'm going to file one.'
'What should we do next?' Carl asked.
'Let's use a diamond drill,' Eugene said. 'Then we'll vaporize the shavings and let the gas chromatograph do the work.'
Slipping an Antacid tablet into her mouth, Cassy emerged from the airline terminal building and waited her turn in the taxi line. She'd been anxious from the moment she'd awakened that morning, and the closer she got to Santa Fe the worse it had become. She'd magnified the problem by having coffee on the plane. Now her stomach was in a knot.
'Where to, Miss?' the cab driver asked.
'Do you know anything about this Institute for a New Beginning?' Cassy asked.
'For sure,' the driver said. 'It's brand new, yet it's the destination of half my fares. Is that where you want to go?''
'Please,' Cassy said. She sat back and blankly watched the scenery roll by. Pitt had been adamantly against the idea of Cassy visiting Beau, but once it had taken hold in Cassy's mind, she couldn't let it go. Although she admitted there might be some danger as Sheila predicted, in her heart she could not imagine Beau would ever harm her in any way.
'I have to drop you off here at the gate,' the driver said when they had reached the edge of the institute's property. 'They don't like car exhaust up near the house. But it isn't far. Only a couple of hundred yards.'
Cassy paid the fare and got out. It was a pristine location. There was a white fence as if it were a horse farm. There was also a gate across the driveway, but it was ajar.
Two nicely dressed men about Cassy's age stood off to the side of the gate. They looked tanned and healthy. They were both smiling pleasantly, but as Cassy approached, their smiles didn't change. It was as if their faces were frozen in an expression of gaiety.
Even if the smiles seemed contrived, the two men were cordial. When Cassy said she was hoping to see Beau Stark, they replied that they understood perfectly. They directed her to walk to the house.
Mildly unnerved by this strange interaction, Cassy followed the twisting driveway through the trees. On either side beneath the shade of the trees she caught sight of an occasional large dog. Although every dog she saw turned to watch her, none of them bothered her.
When the shadows of the pines gave way to the sweeping lawns surrounding the mansion, Cassy was impressed despite her anxieties. The only thing that marred the gorgeous scene was the huge banner draped across the entrance.
The moment Cassy started up the front steps a woman appeared who was approximately Cassy's age. She sported a similar smile to the men at the gate. From inside the house Cassy heard sounds of construction.
'I'm here to see Beau Stark,' Cassy said.
'Yes, I know,' the woman said. 'Please follow me.'
The woman took Cassy back down the steps and around the enormous house.
'Beautiful home,' Cassy commented to make conversation.
'Isn't it,' the woman replied. 'And to think this is just the beginning. We're all very excited.'
The rear of the house was dominated by a large terrace complete with ivy-draped pergolas. Beyond the terrace was a swimming pool. At the edge of the pool was a large umbrella shading a table seating eight. Beau was at the head of the table. About twenty feet away lay King.
As Cassy approached she studied Beau. She had to admit that he looked wonderful. In fact he'd rarely looked so good. His thick hair had more than its usual shine and the skin of his face glowed as if he'd just emerged from a refreshing plunge into the sea. He was carefully dressed in a white billowy shirt. The rest of the people were
