CHAPTER NINE
Sean was sorely out of place at Rose College, especially at the meeting of Leif Cole’s Action Now! group.
Twenty or so students gathered in the student union and talked well into the first hour. Cole was late, and Sean hadn’t seen Anya since he’d followed her to the garden, where he saw her meet up with Cole and behave rather intimately. Though they didn’t kiss, it was the familiar way they had touched, the way they had spoken to each other, that told Sean they were romantically involved. It bothered him, not just because she was Cole’s student but because Cole was twice her age-or more.
What he wouldn’t have given to have bugged the bench and listened in to their conversation.
A girl ran into the student union and interrupted the “meeting” that hadn’t really started. “Turn on the TV!” she exclaimed. “The news. Channel Ten.”
One of the kids flipped on the television set nearby.
The station was in the middle of a report. The film showed plastic bags full of dead ducks.
One of the students cried out, “What happened?”
“The police,” gasped the girl who’d told them to turn it on. “They killed them all!”
Murmurs. Sean was surprised to glimpse Duke in the background, just for a second or two.
The newscaster was saying, “… related to Butcher-Payne Biotech-”
Several boos came from the students.
“… in a fire early this morning. Sources close to the investigation told News Ten that the arsonists released ducks infected with a genetically altered virus into the lake here, at Lake of the Pines.”
“Genetically altered!” a student exclaimed. “Serves them right.”
“Someone died in that fire,” Cole said, but Sean suspected he was the only one who heard the man.
The newscaster said, “Residents were shocked and upset by the activities.”
Cut to an elderly woman. “I’ve never seen anything like it. They just broke their bodies in two and tossed them into garbage bags.”
A teen boy said, “They were sick.”
An older man said, “My wife had to lie down, she was so upset by this tragedy. We bring our grandchildren to the lake, but neither of us will forget all those little bodies.”
A professional-looking woman commented, “I can’t believe this happened, but I think it’s more shocking that the people who brought them here burned down a business in Auburn.”
The scene cut to the on-site reporter, who said, “Twenty minutes ago, I had the opportunity to talk with Special Agent Nora English of the FBI’s domestic terrorism squad.”
The lighting was different, certainly twenty minutes or more earlier, Sean thought. He couldn’t hear what she was saying at first because of the boos and complaints from the students gathered in the room. Cole said, “Shh, listen.”
“… broke into a private laboratory and released twelve quarantined ducks. The thieves believed that they were helping the birds by releasing them into the wild. On the contrary, they are responsible for all the dead animals you saw today. But even worse, they killed a human being.”
“I don’t fucking believe that fascist fed!” a tall, older student exclaimed.
“Shh!” Cole admonished. The kid continued to grumble and Sean strained to hear the television from his position on the far side of the room.
Agent English was saying, “… Sheriff’s Office will do everything we legally can to find and arrest those responsible for this tragedy.”
The on-scene reporter was back, and it was now dark and he wore an overcoat in the breeze. “The California Department of Fish and Game are still out here, but refused to say why. Speculation is that there are more infected ducks, or they’re looking for additional evidence. The Placer County Sheriff’s Department recently confirmed that the victim in this morning’s arson fire was in fact Dr. Jonah Payne, a genetic scientist from Auburn. Unconfirmed sources claim that the same group that attacked three other facilities, including a laboratory at Sacramento State University, is responsible for the Butcher-Payne arson.”
The broadcast returned to the studio, where a newscaster said, “The Placer County sheriff, Lance Sanger, issued a statement that his office was cooperating fully with the FBI. When asked whether officials were looking into Action Now! the environmental activist group founded by conservationist and Rose College Social Science Chairman Leif Cole, Sanger confirmed that Action Now! and other groups were all being looked at closely, but he wouldn’t comment on whether any one group is under investigation.”
Cole turned off the television.
His students ranted on his behalf.
“Okay, everyone!” Cole tried to get their attention. It took him several minutes before he could speak without raising his voice.
“I know that you’re all upset by what happened,” Cole said. “But we need to put this in perspective. What the FBI and Fish and Game did was wrong-”
“Absolutely! Fascist pigs,” a voice called.
“But,” Cole continued, “we also have to think about the loss of human life. That goes against everything we believe, and I know that all of you agree with me.”
There were still rumblings. One girl said, “But Leif, why did they kill the ducks? I don’t understand how they could be so cruel.”
“Neither can I,” Cole said.
Sean waited thirty minutes after the meeting had broken up. He finally got Leif Cole alone.
“Hi, Professor Cole? I’m Sean, I’m new here.”
“I remember you from my class this morning.”
“Anya Ballard invited me to this meeting, but she’s not here. Do you know where I can find her?”
Professor Cole was suspicious, Sean saw it immediately. Suspicious or jealous. “I saw her earlier,” he said. “She wasn’t feeling well.”
“Oh. Too bad. I’ll see you Wednesday morning.”
Sean felt the man’s eyes watching him leave.
In the campus parking lot, he got into his car. He had planned to head home, but a niggling worry about Anya had him getting out and heading over to the dorms. Earlier, he’d looked up Anya’s dorm room number, and now he knocked on the door.
She answered, her eyes tired and red. “Sean,” she said, surprised.
“I missed you at the meeting tonight.”
He looked over her shoulder, trying to maintain discretion. There were others in the room. Two boys sitting on the floor that he could see. One of them had been at the meeting.
“I’m tired. We were studying and time got away from us.”
“Sorry to bother you,” he said. Had he been wrong? He glanced at the kid who’d been at the meeting. Sean remembered his name had been Chris, and he’d left early. Maybe he’d come here to study … but Sean didn’t see any books or papers nearby.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” Anya said.
“Wednesday,” he said. “I don’t have class tomorrow.”
“Wednesday. Maybe we can have lunch again.” There was no romantic interest from her tone, just friendship, but Sean was emboldened.
“I’d like that,” he said.
She closed the door, and he could have sworn he heard a female voice asking, “Who was that?”
“Who was that?” Maggie asked Anya. The guy hadn’t looked familiar. Though she didn’t know why, he’d given
