Taming the Telomeres, a Thriller

by R. N. Shapiro

  The ambassador looks flustered. He stares down at the wood conference table, collecting his thoughts.

  "Mr. Undersecretary, I am authorized to advise that my government is willing to consider an appropriate trade of assets. We will negotiate in good faith on this matter. I specifically ask you to convey that information back to your government, and we can again meet at the earliest opportunity."

  The ambassador pushes back his chair, stands up straight and walks around the table toward the undersecretary with his hand outstretched.

  “Thank you for coming, Mr. Undersecretary. I hope we can resolve these issues quickly and satisfactorily for both our nations.”

  As the limousine turns onto Wisconsin Avenue Bauman explodes at his aide. "How could you let me be blindsided like that? The ambassador thinks I was hiding the truth about whatever dilemma we are in the midst of. When you briefed me on this meeting, didn’t you check with all our intelligence sources?"

  "Yes sir, I assure you we checked with intelligence, counterintelligence, and did our usual due diligence."

  "Well, we'll see about that. Somebody held back, probably the CIA. What assets is he referring to? What do we have that they want? Get to the bottom of this as soon as we return, and report to me first thing in the morning."

  Chapter 103

  3/4

  Both Stephanie and Rachelle had numerous questions, and Charlyne had few answers for them. She was just the messenger. It’s all about that time they dressed up as Dorothys, Charlyne explained, and Amanda’s quest for her memory from before the crash. The two girls had agreed to help, but Elizabeth, the fourth Dorothy, had moved to California. The three girls agreed to meet in D.C. since Stephanie lived in D.C., Charlyne in Middleburg and Rachelle now lived in Baltimore. Three out of the four Dorothys would have to suffice.

  Stephanie picked Claude’s, a restaurant they all knew, under the Whitehurst Freeway at the foot of Georgetown. After warm initial hugs, and placing their orders, Amanda quickly pulls the picture out of her small purse.

  "I want to talk about this picture of us dressed up as Dorothys," Amanda says, placing the picture flat on the table for all of them to look at. "Charlyne already told me that it was in sixth grade, at the park bench that used to be on the playground at M.A.”

  “Yeah, it was Halloween, even though they wouldn’t officially call it that because some parents thought we might turn into witches." Charlyne says, laughing.

  "That was my last full year at M.A. I remember that day," Stephanie says, smiling and sipping her hot tea. We even walked through the hall together because everyone thought it was so funny. We got the costumes at the same store, and we all slept over at your house for Halloween. Yours was the best neighborhood to trick-or-treat in because there were lots of kids.”

  “Cool. I actually didn't ask you guys to come here just to find out about why we were all Dorothys. I'm really trying to remember stuff.”

  David was adamant before they got there that she not disclose any specifics about vWD, or cell biology. David lifts his teacup and sips. Amanda notices he’s being invisible, just taking things in.

  "I remember how many of the parents talked about us all being Dorothys, and the kids trick-or-treating too." Rachelle says reminiscing.

  "What about my house? I've seen pictures, but I don't remember it.”

  "Your mom was great. She baked cupcakes for us. And she got our beds ready and stuff like that." Stephanie says.

  "Did you guys ever see other parts of my house, like my dad's office?"

  "I don't remember that," Rachelle replies.

  "Me neither," Stephanie adds.

  The waitress brings each of their orders, briefly interrupting the conversation.

  “I do remember watching a lot of movies at your house.” Stephanie says. “And I remember your dad telling us that you needed to stay still for a while because you were getting blood transfusions. That was for your, oh I forgot what it’s called.”

  “I don’t remember that. Was there a nurse at my house, or how did I get the transfusions?”

  “Your dad did it. I remember him putting some small device on the couch right next to your arm, and you weren’t supposed to move for like an hour. If you had to go somewhere, you had to carry the thing with you. I think it was battery-powered or something.” Rachelle says.

  “Yikes. I hate needles. I know that from my rehab. Where was the needle, in my forearm?”

  “Yeah, there was a small thingy with an elastic thing around your arm. We could hear a humming sound. Your dad said it treated your blood and you needed it because of your blood condition.” Rachelle adds.

  “Did you see the device on my arm more than once?”

  “Yeah, not every time, a few times.”

  “Why’re you asking so many questions about it?” Stephanie asks.

  “Just hoping something will jog my memory,” Amanda lies. David taps her foot under the table and gives her a dagger-like stare meaning shut up, she presumes, so she changes the subject.

  Standing outside the restaurant, they all hug each other and agree to keep in touch, shouting over the loud traffic noise from the Whitehurst Freeway above their heads.

  “I knew it! Your dad was doing something with your blood.” David says excitedly as they walk several blocks to his car.

  “Do we really know that? It could’ve really been for vWD.”

  “There’s no way. Well, I guess there’s a way, but he was doing something to your blood. Don’t you see? It all makes sense. There was no nurse involved, which is what everyone else would’ve done. He was doing something. That’s why you have these unusual qualities. Who knows what you can survive, maybe anything.”

  “We still have no idea what my dad was doing—if anything. You’re acting like we have proof that he was injecting me with kryptonite or something.”

  “I’m telling you, we’ve gotta go meet Pletcher. That’s how we’ll figure it out, I know it.”

  “There’s one little problem, David. I spoke to my uncle yesterday and he doesn’t want us going to New York at all.”

  “What? Why? We asked him to go along.”

  “He said we need to leave it to him, it’s too dangerous for us to go, so he’ll investigate.”

  “Look, at some point we’ve got to make our own decisions. Seems like now’s the time.”

  Chapter 104

  Tour Guide

  Finally, after boring introductory remarks, a different speaker takes the microphone at the front of the packed auditorium.

  “If your last name begins with A through G, Claire, who’s waving her hand over there, will be your tour guide. If your last name begins with H through N, Ashley, on the other side there waving her hand, is your guide.”

  Amanda and Aunt Barbara immediately stand and start heading toward their guide for the UVA. According to Aunt Barbara, they were lucky to get a slot since it was a Saturday during spring break for many of the nation’s high schools.

  Amanda has serious misgivings about this whole trip. Especially the part Aunt Barbara and Uncle Andy don’t know about. She hopes she doesn’t completely freak them out.

  Ashley leads the group of perhaps two dozen seniors and parents past a number of colonial buildings designed by Thomas Jefferson and stops in an area with an expansive view across a green open space, where she launches into her first speech.

  “Straight ahead of us, across the open lawn is the Rotunda. In 1817 Jefferson laid the Rotunda’s cornerstone, along with fellow Virginians James Madison and James Monroe, making it the only U.S. university with three presidents connected to its birth. Jefferson’s blueprint called for a central domed Rotunda, modeled after the Roman Pantheon, with 10 pavilions lining the open green space, now called The Lawn. Colonnades connect the pavilions to two rows of student dorm rooms that are highly sought after by fourth year students today. Let’s have a look at these coveted dorm rooms along the lawn,” she says, guiding the group along the walkway.

  Onc
e they near the long row of dorm rooms, Ashley continues, “They’re currently all occupied, but let me see if we can get a look at one.” A couple of college students sit in rocking chairs in front of one of the doors. “Do you mind if we take a quick look?” she asks one of them.

  Aunt Barbara is near the front of the group, keenly interested in the unique Jeffersonian dorm room. This is the moment Amanda has been waiting for, and she quickly dashes around the side of the building, crosses behind it and slips the UVA map David gave her out of her jeans pocket. She quickly studies it, then trots in the direction of their meeting point. After she zigs and zags around two buildings she finds David’s Toyota 4-Runner in the parking lot. As soon as she jumps in the passenger seat, David takes off.

  “I hope you’ve got my stuff cuz I don’t have any clothes or anything.” Amanda says.

  “Of course I’ve got your stuff, including your winter coat. You have your cell phone, right?” he asks.

  “Yeah. I can call Uncle Andy or my aunt in what, about an hour?”

  David promised that Amanda could make a payphone call within the first hour. There was no reason, Amanda said, to upset them any more than necessary. They’d been through too much already.

  “I’m covered till Sunday,” David says.

  “How?”

  “I told my parents your uncle was taking us sightseeing in New York City.”

  “Nice. Unless they call each other.”

  “That’s highly doubtful. Look, we’re going to be followed, not sure how or by who. It’ll take ‘em a little while to catch up to us. Can you believe a nor’easter is supposed to crush the New York area with up to a foot of snow in the next 24 hours? An April snowstorm, unreal.”

  “Does that change our plan? I mean the snow?”

  “No. I don’t think it changes anything, luckily.”

  “I hope you know what you’re doing. We’ll probably get caught and never get to New York.” Amanda says.

  “By who?”

  “I don’t know, but you say they’re always one step away.”

  “Trust me, we’ll get there,” he says confidently. Within a few minutes they arrive at the small Charlottesville Airport. David pulls into the short term parking lot, and drives directly toward the second row, looking for a certain parking space.

  “I need to get near this particular light pole.” David stops the car, looking around cautiously in all directions. As soon as he’s got the car parked, he opens his door, stands on the running board, and places something as high as he can on the pole beside the car.

  “What’re you doing?”

  “Nothing.” David gets back in the car and closes the door.

  “Get in the back seat and change into your disguise.” he says. “I won’t look.”

  “Disguise? You never said anything about that.”

  “You didn’t think we could get there without disguising ourselves did you? By the way, you’re pregnant, with your second already, we just couldn’t wait. There’s a strap-on tummy to put under your frumpy looking maternity dress. I get to play the proud papa.”

  “So we’re flying with this disguise stuff?” she asks.

  “Nope. We’re taking a taxi to the Amtrak station. That’s part of the plan to throw them off. We’re gonna leave the cell phones here, because I think they’re tracking them, and that’s how they’ll find the car. You can’t bring anything.”

  “What about my wallet, my ID, and some money?” she asks.

  “Put it all in this pouch and I’m gonna stash it under the spare tire in the trunk. I’ve got plenty of cash, and I got you a fake ID. Here, take a look.”

  “Who’s Lori Jane West?”

  “You are, duh.” David answers, laughing.

  “No, I mean is she a real person?”

  “No, but that’s your name now, so you need to memorize it.”

  “Lori Jane. Lori Jane. Where are we staying while we’re there?”

  “A hotel, actually it’s more like a bed and breakfast. Can you please change now?”

  When she is done, David changes his shirt, dons a curly wig, a Boston Red Sox hat, and a glue-on fake mustache as the crowning touch. He checks himself out in the rearview mirror while Amanda gets back in the front seat and checks her appearance in the vanity mirror.

  “I look hilarious with this bulging stomach. And you look like some drunk Red Sox fan that stumbled out of a bar somewhere.”

  When the cab arrives, David holds the fake baby, who is sleeping, while the driver puts the stroller in the back. David has even outfitted Amanda with a diaper bag, baby formula and all the other accessories necessary for the ruse. At the Amtrak station, David pays the cab driver with cash, they set the stroller up and push their baby into the building. He says the train should be pulling in within 15 minutes.

  David finds a pay phone in the small waiting area at the Amtrak station. He puts in the information from the prepaid calling card, gets the phone number for Andy from Amanda, and then hands her the phone.

  “You can only talk for a minute.”

  “Uncle Andy, it’s Amanda. I wish I didn’t have to leave this message on your voice mail, but I want you to know I’m fine, I’m not hurt. And I haven’t been kidnapped either. There’s just something I have to take care of, and I’ll call you by Sunday. So, don’t worry about me and I’ll check in with you within two days. Love you.”

  She hands the phone to David who places it on the cradle. “I hope they don’t freak.”

  Amazingly, the train is actually within three minutes of being on time, and they make their way on board. Amanda holds their baby while David takes care of stowing the lightweight stroller. David locates the conductor, who then guides them to the private sleeper room David reserved. She unlocks the door and explains the various features, including the fold-down bed system.

  “We can also serve you food, just buzz us and we’ll take your order. If you need anything else let me know.”

  David rummages through his backpack, breaks out his laptop, flips it open, and waits patiently for it to boot up.

  “Well, they already found my car,”

  “What? How’d they find it so fast?”

  She looks over at his laptop. The video shows two plainclothes men who must be detectives circling the car. One of them checks the door, but it’s locked. Then he breaks out a cell phone and can be seen calling someone. A few moments later they disappear off-camera.

  “I put a surveillance camera on the lamp pole. They have a surprise in store for them when they come back with a search warrant,” he says.

  “Oh yeah? What?” she asks.

  “The car will be gone. Some guy I found online and paid cash is going to pick it up and drive it back to Reston. He’s leaving it in the shopping center parking lot by my house.”

  Chapter 105

  Nor’easter

  The heavy snow starts falling long before they exit Grand Central station. David especially enjoys the snowy scenery from the train. While he stares out the window, the whole plan clicks through his mind. He relishes the opportunity to answer the burning questions about Amanda and her dad. He also hopes this solidifies his new bond with her. He often feels guilty about Jonathan and Amanda, but it was Amanda’s decision.

  Later, the massive sized flakes create random patterns visible in the streetlight nearest the window of The Diane, the quaint Manhattan B & B David had booked. He wants to rent a movie on demand, a comedy, something mindless. They settle on Austin Powers, the second one. Exhausted from all the logistics, David falls asleep first, still dressed, watching the flick. Amanda realizes she has never been alone with a boy in a hotel room before--at least not that she can remember. She wonders if karma is compelling them together, as she changes into a night shirt. But, since David is out cold, she just points the remote at the TV and turns it off, wondering how David plans to confront Pletcher.

  Before first light, David is showered and dressed, and he gently wakes Amanda. He wants to be in posi
tion by 7:15 a.m.

  Before the appointed time, they encamp themselves in a small breakfast joint diagonally across the street from the brownstone condos where David believes Pletcher lives. The entire sidewalk, street, trees, and bushes are all blanketed in bright white snow. They are both wearing another of the disguises David concocted. Amanda is no longer pregnant, and is now blonde.

  An overweight bus-driver type guy sits at the breakfast bar, and beside him another blue collar worker in some unidentifiable uniform carries on a conversation.

  “It’s almost snowed a foot, I dunno how we’re supposed to operate in this.” He tells the other uniformed guy.

  David walks back to the small table with breakfast for both of them.

  "What's the exact plan anyway?" Amanda whispers.

  "To wait for him to leave and take pictures of his car and record his license plate. If he drives a car, that is. Or, if he takes off walking toward the subway, we're gonna shadow him."

  "How far is the closest subway?"

  “Less than two blocks."

  They both eat, watching the condo across the street. When they finish, David drops the disposable plates and utensils in a nearby trashcan, then walks back to their table.

  At that moment, an incredibly loud boom emanates from the street outside. The windows of the café shake, debris hits the windows. They both instinctively dive to the ground, with David hovering partly over Amanda. A second or two later David crawls a few feet forward and peers through the window of the small restaurant. Pletcher’s garage door is completely gone, and fire inside the garage engulfs what is left of a small unidentifiable car. Debris litters the driveway and street.

  David ducks his head back down. “A bomb blew up Pletcher’s car! I’ll bet it activated when he opened the door or started it. The entire garage door is gone."

  Amanda raises her head.