“What do you mean your tee time is six a.m.?”
Lily was not happy with Collin for two reasons. One, she hated golf and two he woke her up at 5:30 in the morning on her vacation.
“But Lily, You said it was okay if I played golf.”
“At 5:30 in the morning? We are on vacation!”
“You don’t have to get up. I’m having breakfast there also,” he expanded his lie.
“Fine.” She put the pillow over her head.
“I love you.”
“Hmmpf”
Collin finished dressing and took a banana as he went out side to wait for Charlie. It was only a few minutes before the 4x4 drove up. Collin finished his banana and tossed the skin into the brush.
“Good morning Mister Carter.”
“Thank you for picking me up, Charlie.”
Collin pulled out his Blackberry as Charlie drove the jeep away from the house. Collin didn’t bring his GPS scanner on the trip because he could not explain it to Lily. The Blackberry would work almost as well and would not make her suspicious. Charlie and Collin discussed how to hunt for the location of Shelby’s GPS transmitter. Charlie compared the GPS coordinates to the island terrain. It was Charlie’s opinion that they could follow one of the standard trails inland toward the mountains. Then take one of the more adventurous trails depending on the direction Collin’s tracking software indicated. If they could get close enough, then they could continue on foot. Charlie had a backpack with supplies, a machete and a pistol. Collin carried a borrowed gun hidden in a holster. He had to leave his own gun at home.
Hours later Collin and Charlie were pushing through the brush. They were sweating and tired but hopeful that they would be arriving at the end point soon. They had been able to use the 4x4 through the trails for most of the trip. The trails, however, are rough ruts through the jungle so the going had been slow. Collin had explained a little about why he was looking for the clinic. Charlie was outraged that women might be held against their will at such a place.
The jungle finally gave way to a clearing. There was a single story rectangular white building with windows attached to a larger building also white with two stories. It looked like it might be a school or very large church with a wing for classrooms. Charlie and Collin stood at the edge of the trees to observe unnoticed. There was a parking area where a 4x4 was sitting. Nobody was outside.
Collin led the way over to the far right end of the lower building. Charlie followed him as they snuck around the building to observe the other side. There was nothing to be seen except an open area and the taller building. They ducked back against the wall of the lower building as the door to the taller building opened and Doctor Holt accompanied by Doctor Phelps exited.
Doctor Holt spoke to Doctor Phelps, “You need to get things ready. The couples will be coming tomorrow at noon and they want answers.”
Doctor Phelps responded, “I’m not sure we can go forward with the project.”
“No. That is not an option. This has to go forward and you have to make it work.”
Doctor Phelps followed Doctor Holt to the 4x4 looking unhappy. As Doctor Holt got into the 4x4 he continued, “No excuses. There is too much money at stake here.”
Doctor Phelps with his hands in his lab coat pockets and his shoulders slumped in resignation returned to the larger building and went back inside. Collin told Charlie, “I have to see if I can find out what’s going on. Do you know where that man went with the 4x4?”
“Yes, now that we are here I can see that we must be a few miles inland from Nikao. If we had approached from there the trip would have been much easier, though it is still very isolated.”
“If I stay for a while, do you think you could come back and get me?”
“I can stay with you for a while, and then bring you back the easy way tomorrow. I don’t want to leave you way out here alone. And I’ll bet you want to be here for that meeting he mentioned.”
Collin agreed and they quietly entered the main building through the same door Doctor Phelps and Doctor Holt had used. It was a side entrance into the building and opened at the end of a hallway. After peeking around the door into the hallway Collin and Charlie slipped inside and carefully let the door close without making a noise. They crept quietly down the hallway to the first door on the right. Collin put his ear against the door to listen. Hearing nothing he opened the door just a crack and peeked inside. It looked like a conference room with a table and chairs. Charlie motioned that he wanted to see so Collin opened the door wider. Just then they heard voices in the hallway. Since the conference room door was already open, they went in and closed the door behind them all but a little so they could listen.
A female voice said, “This is terrible! Why didn’t you tell him no?”
“I told him, Donna. He won’t listen. There is too much money involved.”
Collin remembered the name Donna. Yes, the laboratory supervisor at the Gene Search compound was named Donna Singleton. He had seen the name on her office door the night he almost got caught breaking into the laboratory.
“How much money is all this worth? That poor baby,” Donna replied.
“That wasn’t my fault! The science is new. I couldn’t predict, nobody could have predicted, that the baby would be born blind.”
“Not just blind, Gregory. Born with no eyes, Gregory!”
“That won’t happen again.”
“You can’t guarantee that.”
The voices were getting fainter and Collin and Charlie opened the door wider so they could hear better.
“No, I can’t guarantee that it won’t happen, but we can guarantee that the parent’s won’t find out.”
Another door opened and closed and the voices could no longer be heard. Collin was aghast. So, the baby Lily had helped birth was part of Gene Search. It had to be. What were these people planning? It was too horrible to think. Could it be that the parents wouldn’t find out about failures with the genetic manipulation because the babies would be born by surrogates and only the successes would be delivered to the parents? What were they going to do with the failures? He had to get the girls out of here and stop these people.
Charlie asked Collin, “Do you know what those two were talking about?”
“I’m afraid so. At least I can guess.”
“Why don’t you fill me in on the way back to Avarua?”
Collin needed time to make a plan. He agreed to leave with Charlie and come back the next day. They carefully left the new Gene Search compound and made their way back through the jungle. It took considerably less time getting back now that they knew where they were going. Collin told Charlie the whole story about Gene Search and the girls on the ride back to Avarua. They made plans to return to eavesdrop on the meeting the next day hoping to do so without getting caught. There was a storage closet in the conference room. Their plan was to hide in there and listen.
Chapter Twenty-two
Gene Search: A Collin Carter Mystery Page 21