The Black Market DNA Series: Books 1-3

by Anthony J Melchiorri

  “Release her.” He shook his weapon at the doctor. The man’s nonchalance surprised him, but Chris wasn’t about to let down his guard. If the map provided any indication, those green dots represented cronies or security guards still alive and well. His heart dropped as he thought of Robin and Jordan. If guards still roamed about, they might discover his friends.

  “Fine, fine.” Reed turned his back as he undid the straps around Ana’s ankles.

  A shudder went down Chris’s spine, a premonition. Something didn’t feel right, and he didn’t like being unable to see Reed’s hands. He sidestepped to get a better view while keeping his gun trained on Reed’s back.

  Then his mind returned to Reed’s house. They’d discovered a gun case. An empty gun case in Reed’s bedroom.

  “Stop and turn around,” Chris said.

  “You told me to release her, and now you want me to leave her here,” Reed said. “You’re a bit confusing.”

  “Drop your gun.”

  Reed raised an eyebrow and held out his hands, open palmed. “I don’t have one.”

  “I’m not playing around.” Chris shook the machine pistol.

  “And neither am I. Carrying guns around usually isn’t my thing.” He pointed toward the ceiling. “Doesn’t work so well when I have to go upstairs. Patients like their doctors to carry around medicine and stethoscopes, not Glocks.”

  Chris didn’t see any concealed weapon peeking out from under Reed’s shirt, but he didn’t trust the man. “Prove it.”

  Reed glared but made no effort to satisfy the demand.

  “Come on.” Chris’s face grew hot, and he shook his gun at Reed. The man moved with no sense of urgency, and thoughts of Robin bleeding out while he dealt with this asshole churned in Chris’s mind. “Down to your underwear.”

  “If that’s what it takes...” Reed unbuttoned his shirt, shaking his head all the while. He slipped his arms out and started to bend toward his shoes. In one motion, he whipped the shirt up, obscuring Chris’s vision, and dove for his legs.

  Chris jumped back, but Reed slammed into his legs, knocking his feet out from under him. He fell. When he swung his arms out to break the fall, his machine pistol clattered across the floor.

  Reed landed a punch across his cheek. Chris’s head flew back. Pain splintered through his skull, and the doctor scrambled toward the weapon.

  Lunging, Chris grasped at Reed’s ankle. He yanked the man back and pounced. Slipping one arm under Reed’s chin, he tightened his grip, crushing Reed’s throat.

  Reed flailed and tried to shove Chris off.

  Thoughts of Robin, Ana, and Jordan fueled him. He didn’t relent, and Reed passed out.

  Chris checked the man’s pulse to ensure he was still alive. He snatched the machine pistol and leapt over to Ana. “Are you okay?”

  Her eyelids trembled before opening. “I’ll be okay. Did you kill him?”

  Chris shook his head.

  “Tie him up so we can take that bastard with us.”

  Chris grabbed the leather straps that had bound Ana’s ankles and tied Reed’s hands behind his back. He dragged Reed’s body next to a lab bench. He recognized the menagerie of laboratory equipment and its use in the production of genetic enhancements. He thought to take a few images and holorecordings of the setup for potential evidence, but the bright red of Ana’s exposed wound demanded his attention first.

  “What did he do to you?” Chris asked as he gathered up materials he could use as a temporary bandage. Scouring drawers and cabinets, he found one tube of biodegradable glue. It would work to hold the cut skin together.

  “Some kind of synthetic blood cells he’d manipulated. He’d altered them to deliver poison or acid or something.” Ana winced as Chris dabbed the glue across her wound and pressed it closed. “All I know is it hurts like hell, and that guy is a sick freak.”

  “You won’t hear any disagreement from me.” Chris bandaged her arm. He recalled how Reed had supported Robin’s and his enhancement reversal research.

  Jordan had been right; Reed must have had a vested interest in seeing them succeed so he could help sell his products.

  But now that he thought of it, he wasn’t exactly sure what products Reed sold. The devices and contraptions in here, along with Robin’s experience, pointed to the man’s involvement in lacing the Blackbird Organics supplements with the camouflaged prions. “Did you find out how he maintained ties with Protiomics?”

  “No, not really,” Ana said. “All that matters now is we bring Reed and his operation down.”

  Chris added another strip of tape to her bandage. “We’ve got to spread word of the Blackbird contamination.” Satisfied with the wound dressing, he bent to untie the remaining straps holding Ana’s wrists. “Good enough. What do we need to take with us to put this guy away?”

  “You won’t need anything,” a woman’s voice replied.

  It wasn’t Ana’s.

  Chris lunged for the machine pistol, but a spate of bullets over his shoulder stopped him. Just a warning.

  He slowly spun around, hands up. Before him stood a woman with short-cropped blonde hair, a pistol in tow. He vaguely recognized her severe jawline and the round, almost-friendly blue eyes. “Who the hell are you?”

  A grin cut across her ruby lips. “You’re not quite as bright as I thought you were.” She stepped into the room. A man and woman followed, each cradling guns and dressed in suits, a stark contrast with Reed’s security forces clad in hospital employee garb. With a nod, she indicated Reed’s unconscious and tied-up form. A flash of concern spread across her face. Her nose twitched. “Is he alive?”

  Chris nodded. He was confused by her show of apparent sympathy for Reed but didn’t feel in a position to ask questions.

  “Don’t let Mr. Morgan move,” the woman said to her compatriots. She rushed to Reed’s side and cradled his head in her lap.

  A realization spread through Chris as he watched the woman examine Reed and check his breathing. He guessed the pistol she dropped next to the doctor would fit in the gun case Robin and he had discovered at Reed’s house.

  The sharp nose, the amicable blue eyes clicked in his mind. He recalled the image he’d seen in Jordan’s car when they were scouring for clues to find where Reed had disappeared to.

  The woman before him now was Linda Thomas, the CEO of Protiomics. It became clear to Chris why Reed had cited a conflict of interest when he abstained from the Institutional Review Board meeting regarding Protiomics’s clinical trials of prion disease drugs at the hospital. He was involved with her. Judging by her concern, their relationship was no tenuous affair.

  The answers to his questions about Protiomics and the Blackbird Organics prion contaminations began to collate.

  Linda turned away from Reed, her nose scrunched in a snarl. “You did this?”

  Again, Chris nodded weakly.

  She marched toward him. She stood a head shorter than him, but her presence filled the room when she jabbed a finger into his chest. “I will not forgive you for this. I came down to take her away.” She gestured to Ana. “I wanted to know who else is aware of her investigations and where they might be. Now you come walking through the door playing hero. It appears David underestimated you. He thought you and Robin would be a golden ticket, a nice push to encourage our more reluctant customers.”

  Chris said nothing. He hoped that referring to him as playing hero—and not Robin or Jordan—meant she hadn’t discovered the others. And the way she moved about, she hadn’t noticed Ana had been freed. Her concern for Reed clearly clouded her judgment.

  “A man with your talents, we could use you.” She waved a hand to indicate Ana and Reed. “But it’s pretty clear where your allegiances lie. Even if I chain you down and keep you producing enhancements for us, I don’t think I can trust you. David said he could eventually sway you, with your history, to help us.” She leaned in close. The subtle scent of roses wafted from her perfume. “He was wrong, wasn’t he?”


  Chris recalled Robin’s and her colleague’s patients and Vincent’s dire warning of the impending mass contamination. “I wouldn’t help anyone who planned on spreading a prion disease in infants and their mothers.” His fingers curled into fists. “That’s a pretty damn wicked way of making money for your desperate company.”

  Linda scoffed. “Now is that all you think we were going to do? Get mothers and their children sick for a profit?” She shook her head and brushed a hand through her short hair. “No, no, no. We don’t discriminate. Once the company’s sale goes through to the new owners, it’s going to be the whole Blackbird line. At least, every supplement containing vitamin B12.”

  Chris cocked his head, unsure of the implications.

  “Come on, science guy. B12 can be derived from beef products. Cows. Mad cow disease caused by prions. See how this works?” She smirked and toyed with the weapon in her hand.

  “So once Blackbird Organics was sold and in someone else’s hands, you could blame the contamination on them.”

  “Now you’re catching on. The new buyer is using several new vendors. Hence the possibility for new contaminations. The neonatal supplements went out ahead of schedule. Not desirable. Someone in the shipping warehouse already paid the price for that mistake.” She walked away from Chris and put a hand on the lab bench holding the enhancement manufacturing equipment. “And here’s why I’m telling you this. This detective and her doctor friend discovered the prions we encapsulated to avoid immune system detection and most FDA assays.”

  She tapped a holoscreen, and a 3D model of a delivery vector bearing the prions wound up inside appeared next to her. “So I think we can do better. I know I said I can’t trust you, but I’m offering you the chance to help—to prove you are worth something.”

  Chris opened his mouth to protest, but Linda held up her hand.

  “I know you don’t want to, but let me lay this out for you.” She propped a foot on a stool and placed her hands across her knee, her pistol pointed at him. “I have researchers on my team scattered across the country. They’re working on this project as we speak, but none have offered what I need. So I’m not sure you have what it takes to develop a delivery vector to evade any and all FDA contaminant assays.”

  She took her foot off the stool and wandered toward him. “But hey, people play the lotto every day, and someone has to win, right?”

  “I’m not going to help you.” Chris puffed out his chest, hoping he appeared more confident, more courageous than he felt. “You’ll have to kill me first.”

  “Oh, I’m going to kill you either way. I know this sounds cliché, but you’ve got a choice on how painful and drawn out that death is going to be.” She tilted her head to indicate Ana. “I believe Ana can tell you how much control David has over causing pain.”

  “I’d rather suffer than help you spread a disease to thousands of others.” Chris didn’t want to die. The longer he delayed, the longer he pushed back, the more opportunity Jordan and Robin might have to call for help. Maybe they’d escape alive.

  Hell, maybe they’d send help his way. Looking for reassurance, he shared a quick glance with Ana. She gave him no knowing nod, no wink. It appeared as if she’d given up, as if Reed had already broken her spirit.

  “That’s noble of you, but I’ll succeed with or without you.” That menacing grin spread across her face once more. “If pride and chivalry are your thing, maybe I can convince you by framing you for the Blackbird Organics contamination. How would that rest on your mind?”

  “You couldn’t possibly—”

  “I managed to help bring down Vincent Kar’s Tallicor group and had a senator assassinated to protect our asses. If you’ve followed the news streams at all, you’d notice pretty much everyone believes Vincent had the senator killed. So setting you up to fry wouldn’t be too difficult.” She licked her lips and gave a single nod to her two cronies.

  They each grabbed one of Chris’s arms.

  “And for the final condition of my offer, I’ll spare the detective. Tell me this: Did you hear her screams?”

  Chris remained still.

  Linda’s eyes narrowed as she patted the tray holding the hypodermic needles filled with Reed’s nanobots. “I hope you did, because then you’d understand how much agony you and Ana are going to be in unless you both cooperate with what I’ve asked of you. It’s a little scientific work from you, Morgan, and a tidbit of information from her. It’s not too difficult in the grand scheme of things, is it?”

  Where were Robin and Jordan? Had they called for help?

  Hell, even if he wanted to assist Linda to spare himself from torture, he had no idea where to begin with developing a brand new vector suitable for her insane demands. She’d said it herself. None of her cadre of illicit researchers had broached a development she’d been satisfied with, so why should he?

  Agreeing to work for her might keep him alive long enough for Jordan and Robin to get medical attention and find him. But giving Linda the satisfaction of convincing him might not be worth it, and he couldn’t, in good conscience, perform what she asked of him. At best, he’d purposely fail, and he doubted this woman would react kindly to failure.

  Ana raised her head slightly, enough to catch his eyes, and gave a curt shake of her head. More of a tremor. It was enough to convince Chris to remain resolute.

  “I’m not going to help you, and neither is she.”

  Linda shrugged. “Fine. You know what a vivisection is?”

  Chris’s eyes widened at the mere thought of a live dissection, and his stomach twisted. He had no doubt who the intended subject of the procedure would be.

  She grabbed a scalpel from the tray next to Ana’s chair. “Let’s begin with the eyes, shall we?”

  Chapter 39

  The suited man delivered an elbow to the back of Chris’s head when he struggled. Ana’s arms trembled, and fear sped through her veins like a saline injection fresh from the refrigerator. Linda laughed as Chris cranked his neck from her.

  Ana tensed, ready to lunge.

  Linda turned back, scalpel in one hand hovering above Chris, and pointed at Ana with her pistol in her other hand. “You see what you have to look forward to? Are you sure you don’t want to talk to me about where we might find that doctor?”

  She froze and held her hands still under the leather straps lying over her wrists. Chris had unsecured them but hadn’t taken them off.

  Linda turned back to Chris and slid the blade down his forehead toward his eye. A red stream followed the scalpel. “Last chance.”

  Ana wanted to stop her. Her energy had dissipated. All the bravado she’d mustered had dissolved under the scourge of Reed’s cruel nanobots.

  She squeezed her eyes closed. She’d failed. She’d failed when she’d let Sharp die, full of bullets on the highway. She’d failed when her former colleague, Gordon Huff, had sabotaged the PD evidence room. It had been Robin who saved her when those home invaders had almost abducted her.

  She’d been useless since Senator Sharp’s assassination, and now she was nothing more than a sniveling, weak shadow of her former self. Her eyes darted between Linda’s pistol and the submachine guns slung over the shoulders of the two lackeys restraining Chris.

  Chris’s cry echoed in the lab.

  Adrenaline surged through Ana. She grabbed the hypodermic with the nanobots. With a howl, she burst from her restraints and tackled Linda. Their bodies intertwined. Two shots went off from Linda’s gun.

  But both bullets careened through the ceiling. Ana had been weak, her muscles tired and burning.

  No more.

  She rolled on top of Linda, landed one elbow on the woman’s nose, and plunged the needle into the woman’s biceps. She wrapped an arm around her neck and hoisted Linda in front of her as a human shield.

  The CEO writhed and cried in agony as the suited man and woman leveled their submachine guns at her. Linda may have been a savvy businesswoman, a nefarious criminal, and a twisted sadist, but s
he was no fighter, especially not with her lover’s pain-inducing nanobots swarming into her muscles.

  Ana wrenched the woman’s wrist and freed the pistol from her grip. She aimed it at Linda’s head. “Don’t make a damn move.”

  The man and woman remained stolid, but their eyes danced among Linda, Chris, and Ana.

  “Drop them.” She pressed the muzzle into Linda’s temple. Linda’s violent lurching from the nanobot-induced agony threatened to turn her loose, and Ana dreaded that she might lose her hold on the woman. If she lost her, she lost her only leverage. She backed Linda up to the patient exam chair and picked up the syringe filled with the neutralizing solution. She injected it into Linda. Within seconds, the woman’s thrashing and agonized moans turned to exhausted panting. “Tell them, Linda. Tell them.”

  Instead, Linda dropped. Ana fired off two shots into the chest of the suited woman and ducked to her right.

  Blood streaming down his face, Chris dove at the feet of the barrel-chested man. His submachine gun sprayed a volley of bullets. Glassware and holodisplays shattered. The arc of shots strayed innocuously toward the lab equipment and up the wall as the man fell backward.

  Ana kicked Linda to the floor and leapt past Chris. She squeezed off two rounds into the man’s chest before returning to Linda.

  Linda lay on the floor, groaning, holding her head. Her scalp split where it had slammed against the tiles. Ana lugged her up and pushed her into the patient exam chair where she’d been tortured minutes ago. “Chris, you okay?”

  Chris let out an agonized groan of his own. He had one hand pressed over his right eye. Blood covered that side of his face. He clenched his jaw and fell back to his knees, his left hand against the floor. He needed help. Medical attention.

  “Hurts...like hell,” he managed. “But I’ll live...Can’t be as bad...as what you went through.”