Code X: Episode 1 by M.R. Vallone
“...wants to run some tests, I don’t see what’s wrong.”
Jimmy sets the glass of Coke down hard that Vicki brought out for him to drink earlier. “I’m out of here Candy. You piss me off when you start listening to other people instead of doing what I say.” Jimmy rips his jacket from the back of the sofa. He angrily storms out.
Jimmy’s odd behavior makes Vicki even more curious. She takes notice of the Coke glass he was drinking from for a few brief seconds. Something is just not right between them.
The officer snatches a phone and presses a call button, “Dr. Landau...”
Chapter 31
Vicki shuts the door behind Candy in her office. “I’ve asked you in here to get your help for some tests I’m going to be running on myself. I don’t want anyone on the staff to know about the experiment I’ll be doing, except you. I’ll want you to confirm the results.”
Candy leans forward, “That’s quite an honor. Are you sure I can do it?”
Vicki nods emphatically, “Oh yes. Let me tell you what I’m going to be looking for. I want you in the loop continuously following up on my experiments, double checking my results. Professor Einstein left his brain for study to help mankind figure out why he was so much smarter than everybody. So what I’m going to do is reproduce his DNA strand here in the lab. I’m also going to be testing my DNA to compare it to his.”
Candy’s eyes widen, “Wow!”
Vicki takes a relaxed position as she sits down at her desk. “I’ve always been embarrassed to tell anyone how easy it was for me to get ahead in school. That’s why I want you to promise you won’t tell anybody what we are about to discuss.”
Candy sits down across from her and leans forward in her chair. “I promise.”
“School has always been a snap for me. I was born with a gift. Plain and simple, I was born with my memory skills. That’s the reason everything came so easy for me. I have almost a photographic memory. When I read information, it stays in my memory. Puzzle solving? The answers seem to fall in place, they appear so clear to me when I study the problem.”
Candy frowns, “I always had to study at least two hours every night in nursing school. Gosh, you were lucky.”
“Very. That’s why I feel it so important to study the gap switches in our DNA. But, I’ll also be looking for similarities in our DNA that might provide solutions to improve the intelligence of all people.”
“Dr. Collins, I feel honored to be working with you.”
“Candy, do me a favor. Do not hero worship me. I’m just one person born lucky. I am treating you like an equal and I want you to treat me the same way. We’re a team, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Now, I want you to draw my blood.”
Candy leaves the office and a few moments’ later returns with a blood sample collecting basket full of test tubes. She puts the compression band around Vicki’s arm and draws two tubes of blood.
“There, I’ve got your sample.”
“Now, I want to draw your blood for the testing of your son’s DNA we talked about”
Candy hands Vicki the blue compression band and holds her arm out for Vicki. “I don’t think you’ll find anything unusual about me and my son. But, I don’t mind volunteering if you think it will contribute to the project. Jimmy is kind of put off at times in being a parent. But, I’m glad to help.”
Vicki finishes drawing two tubes of blood from Candy and puts them in her desk. “We’ll go over the results together when we get them completed.”
Chapter 32
Vicki looks up at the clock, hurries to take her lab coat off and glances around the lab with an intense study of the other techs. She drops her pen on the floor, stops, looks down at it, and then scoops it up. She hurries over to the DNA pipette tubes on station one, picks up a printout and pretends to look at it.
Candy enters the lab and walks over towards station one where Vicki glances up and expresses surprise. She sighs relief that Candy’s here and moves closer to her, lightly touches her on the shoulder, leans over and asks in a whisper, “I almost forgot to ask you, did you change the blood samples on your son?”
“No... I took his sample at home and marked both blood vials with his name. I haven’t touched them since I gave them to you. Why?”
“Nothing, lab vials were moved. I thought maybe you moved them.”
“No. You look a little worried Dr. Collins.”
“Not really. I just feel like some things aren’t where I left them. You know when you misplace something and don’t remember where.”
Candy replies, “Oh boy, don’t I know that feeling.”
“Say, I would really enjoy it if you had lunch with me today?”
“Sure!”
Candy and Vicki are eating their salads on the restaurant patio. It’s busy and crowded with a lot of background chatter from the patrons.
After sipping a drink, Vicki asks, “Tell me the procedure they used to impregnate you.”
Candy sighs, “Well…”, she takes a bite of her salad before continuing, “…I can’t tell you too much because the first thing Dr. Landau did was anesthetize me.”
“What?”
Candy moves her fork back and forth in the air as she speaks “Jimmy and I were having trouble conceiving because of my poor egg quality. He said the pregnancy had a much better chance of taking when I’m totally relaxed, so he put me under.”
Vicki nods and puts her wine glass down. “Can I trust you with something?”
“Oh yes Dr. Collins. You’re like a sister to me.”
“From now on outside the lab, I want you to call me Vicki.”
“You make me feel like I’m special…Vicki.” Smiling wide, she looks down and lets out a small giggle.
“It could put you in danger. Promise me you won’t tell a soul what we talk about...Not even your boyfriend.”
“Not even Dr. Landau?”
Vicki leans close to her then intones in a low whisper, “Especially Dr. Landau.”
“I promise.”
Vicki leans back in her chair, satisfied. She takes a deep breath before explaining, “I brought you here so they can’t listen to our conversation.”
Candy asks, “Who’s listening?”
“I don’t know for sure, probably security. I also thought that out here in a public place you will be able to control any signs of emotion.”
“What do you mean?”
I think they’re watching us.”
Candy looks around.
“Don’t look around. I don’t want anybody to know what I’m about to tell you.”
She stops swiveling her head.
“I ran a double set of DNA tests. Vicki goes on. “I purposely coded the second test on your son. In other words, I renamed one of his vials with a code and used a placebo sample in its place marked with his name. Someone switched the ones with your son’s name on it. Please, don’t fall to pieces on what I’m about to tell you. I need for you to stay calm.”
“Is it bad?”
“Promise me you will be quiet about what I’m going to tell you.”
“I’ll try real hard.”
Vicki leans in close to her on the circular bench and squeezes Candy’s hand. She takes a deep breath, then whispers. “You and your son’s DNA don’t match.”
Candy jerks her hand away. “You’re lying! I was awake when he was born.”
Vicki’s taken aback by her visible reaction to the news. “Candy, I’d never lie to you about something as important as this. He has none of your DNA.”
“I don’t believe you...You’re taking my son away from me.”
“Also, name one physical trait of yours in him. Plus, I took the glass that Jimmy drank from and ran his DNA. Jimmy is not the father. Your son’s DNA is from another set of parents.”
Candy’s eyes blink in surprise as her mouth drops open. The reality of what Vicki said hits her. She starts to softly cry.
Vicki puts an arm around Candy and pull
“Why? Why did he do this to me?”
Vicki hands her a tissue. “I don’t know why. Sometimes doctors begin to believe they’re God.”
“It’s so cruel! Why? Oh God, why?”
“Listen, you have raised him since you bore him. He has only known you as his mother. You always will be his mother to him.”
Candy sobs, “But now I know I’m not really, you know what I mean. What was the purpose for keeping it secret? “
“Let’s you and I find out together. Quietly check the clinic records on every pregnancy from the time Alomet started operations here five years ago, talk to the mothers. Be very discreet and raise no suspicions from them. There had to be only a couple of hundred born here since then. You can start the conversation by bringing up the fact you had to be put under to get pregnant and you’re working on a study. You can add that Dr. Collins needs the information for the research project. We’ll only discuss about what we find outside the lab.”
Chapter 33
Inside an Alomet airport hangar, Henry wears government blue SWAT gear and addresses ten men dressed likewise with big yellow NSA letters on their backs. The SWAT team is composed of Alomet security officers. They are all armed with assault rifles, grenades and wearing night vision goggles pulled up over their helmets. Standing with Henry are Jimmy and the liaison man from NSA.
Two large photos of Biggins and Parks plaster a briefing board above the satellite photo of the mercenary compound.
Henry briefs the group, “Listen up men. Ever since ISIS’ attack on Washington D.C. a year ago, the new anti-terrorist law allows us to dispose of conspirators in quick fashion. These two are planning violent acts against your loved ones and our country.”
He takes a laser pointer and places it on Parks’ picture. “You may remember this man when he was discovered planning an attack on the capitol approximately two months ago. He killed an undercover investigator in his escape. Jimmy is an elite helicopter combat pilot, and Parks escaped from him when we were close to his capture during the murder of our undercover agent. Parks can drive.”
He places the pointer on Biggins’ picture, “The second picture is one Carla Biggins. She is a former Special Forces operative who served four tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. She aided him in his escape to this terrorist training site in Mexico.”
He then points to a blow up of Macon’s camp that covers a large portion of the back wall. “They only have two routes of escape.” He then points to two trails leading away from the compound visible in the photo. “Their camp is located near the edge of a desert and that is a bad escape option, out in the open. Complete surprise is our friend.”
“NSA has provided a contact to embed with us to coordinate the AWAC surveillance plane, and to make sure their combat assets are put to good use. Meet Captain Rooney…,” Henry opens his arm towards the man standing next to Jimmy
A handsome man steps forward, quick nods to the group and raises two fingers in a quick salute. “… He will be the lead pilot on this mission under my direction.”
Henry continues, “I do not need to remind you that the mercs we are going to attack are ex Special Forces and other trained military men. Our worst estimate is there will only be a few disoriented stragglers left after the attack. We will mop up the remaining terrorists after the missiles strike.”
Henry walks around the table closer to the assembled group “NSA was kind enough to loan us attack helicopters for this operation. The first chopper is the S70A Blackhawk transport for you men. I will be lead for the missile attack in the Apache for use against enemy personnel, their vehicles and other soft-skinned targets. We’ll have a two hour flight time with in air refueling at approximately 6 A.M.”
Henry circles his arm overhead. The two choppers on the tarmac in the distance fire their engines.
“Any questions?”
One of the men shouts out, “What is the procedure concerning captured prisoners?”
“There will be no procedure. We take no prisoners. Mount up.”
Chapter 34
Inside an Alomet movie theater, Vicki and Candy sit alone with nobody near them. “The Island of Dr. Moreau” plays on the screen. Expressionless, they whisper between themselves.
Candy informs her, “Every woman I talked to that gave birth had to be artificially inseminated and put under by Dr. Landau.”
Vicki answers, “That’s what I figured.”
“What does it mean? I don’t understand.”
“I don’t know Candy. Quietly check the DNA records on all the women you spoke to. Check theirs against their babies and do it by hand. Make written copies on their files and create your own paper record on the results. Don’t log onto any computer. I’ll check the children out in the day cares against their mothers. Also, I want you to try to find out what’s behind those guarded doors.”
“Which set of doors are you talking about?”
“You mean there are more than those on my lab’s floor?”
“The freight elevators, down the stairway, anything leading outside the lab has guards. I know because I had to deliver five cases of blood to a doctor I’ve never seen before. He was wearing an infection contamination prevention suit.”
“Something’s going on up there. Are you sure you talked to every woman that was treated in the pregnancy ward in the last two years?”
“Everyone except Molly. She became scared to death of her pregnancy. I worked with her here in the DNA lab. She was always so much fun to be with. We used to go out on double dates together all the time, and it was Molly who was always making jokes, cracking everybody up. Then one morning she came into work trembling, shaking and constantly biting her lip. She became a nervous wreck overnight and changed into a sad, depressed woman who would break out crying every time she saw a child.”
“It might have been mood swings in her pregnancy,” Vicki offers.
“I don’t think so. Molly started to constantly rub her pregnancy bump, and not like a woman who’s in love with her baby does. It was really strange. When I asked her what was wrong, what happened, she just started crying and ran away from me into the restroom. This went on every day for a whole week. Then the next day, she was killed in a car accident on her way to work. Now, there are no records on her anywhere in the company. I checked.”
Vicki warns her. “Be careful. Be suspicious even when you’re home at night. They could have your house bugged.”
Candy replies, “Funny you should say that. I always feel like somebody’s watching me at home.”
“I have that very same feeling.”
Chapter 35
Vicki is approached by Dr. Roberts, the young doctor in charge as research director, as she starts to enter her office. Along with him is a female technician. In the background softly plays the Little Drummer Boy song at the part, “Pa rum pum pum,” repeating itself coming out of the PA system.
“Dr. Collins, sorry to bother you, but we need to talk to you privately.”
Vicki reaches for the door and opens it. “No problem, come on in” She enters and offers a seat to the both of them in front of her desk. She sits down.
“What’s on your mind?”
The man speaks up. “Dr. Collins, I’ve been reading some research papers that were published to bone up on your new theory. I really think you might be onto something.”
“Wonderful. I’m curious. Are you here to go over the information you researched?”
“Uh…Uh. No. Quite the opposite. The paper that changed my mind about the project was an estimate on the workings of the human brain. It stated that we need a deeper understanding of the staggering intricacy of the estimated 1015 trillion cerebral synapses. That’s one thousand trillion synapses
Vicki answers him, “Doctor, let me assure you that I intend to use my findings to help mankind move forward with cures and the elimination of disease. I don’t have any sinister plans for my discovery if it is found.”
“I know, I know. I’m so embarrassed to have to talk to you about this. That’s why my girlfriend…Uh, you know Patricia…”
“Yes, she’s a fine research technician.”
The man nods. “That’s why we both came in here together. We want to discontinue working on the project and leave Alomet.”
Vicki can’t help but do a double take at his statement. She gathers her composure. “What could I do to persuade you to stay?”
“Well…nothing. This isn’t a reflection on you Dr. Collins, not at all. We have our minds made up. We are resigning.”
Vicki blinks in bewilderment, suddenly out of words “Is there anything I can say or do to change your minds?”
“No.” The man rises on his feet. “We are both deathly afraid that if you succeed, you’re opening Pandora’s Box for the human race.”
Chapter 36
Biggins stands with Parks on the edge of the raging river she calls “The River Walk.” They’re both in their shorts to conquer the river. He’s become a lean, muscled, fighting machine who stands on the jump off rock with her. He’s smiling a cocky, confident smile. He is back and in fantastic shape. What a change in parks. Biggins gives herself a satisfying smile when she looks at him.
Parks announces, “I’m first, Biggins. You might need my help.” She scrunches her face up at his bravado.
He dives in the white, frothy water, zipping through it like a human speedboat. What a transformation from his first attempt! Biggins smiles wide in satisfaction at her work. She clenches her fist and punches the air when Parks stands up victorious in calm water. He shoves his fist skyward in triumph. He walks back to the bank punching the calm water with one hand, with each step he takes.
He yells across, “Come on Biggins, beat that!”
She jumps in. She overhands herself with ease three times when her taut pull line anchored 20 feet behind Parks - Snaps! Like a striking snake, he grabs her broken line. He reels her in like a guppy on the end of a fishing line. He stands tall, straight and proud of himself. He doesn’t break a sweat because her 130 pounds is nothing now for him to pull in. He pulls her in fast and hard to give her a little payback. She can’t control the speed or right herself as he drags her through the water, not letting her stand up even in the calm water.