Trispero

by Sean Adelman

  Debbie got out of bed. It was almost light out so Nate would be back from his run soon. She turned on the espresso machine and then changed out of her pajamas before turning on the computer. It had been a long time since she’d thought about how Rachel had died. Nate’s latest discovery had stimulated something inside her. Nate wasn’t the only genius in the family. She had her skills and now was a good time to use a few of them. She knew she couldn’t use the Gibson Labs server after all that had happened, but there had to be a trail somewhere else. While working on her technical writing skills, she also worked on computer science and developed a knack for finding information that helped with her research goals. Having never broken a single rule growing up, she thought it would be fun to bend the rules, just a little.

  The National Institute for Health (NIH) or Federal Drug Administration (FDA) had to have something on this immune boost thing. Before she could get started, Nate walked through the door.

  “Hey, sweetheart, come here quick. I grabbed the paper.”

  Debbie got up from the computer to sit with Nate at the table. “What’s going on?”

  “Look at this,” he said, pointing to the front page of the Ann Arbor News he held in his hands. He began to read, “Local Ann Arbor icon dies. In a report filed by Ann Arbor police last night, Randal Lemay was taken to the University of Michigan emergency room last night after his nurse at Glacier Hills found him not breathing. After numerous attempts to resuscitate him failed, he was pronounced dead. He is survived by his wife, Missy Lemay.”

  On the front page was a picture of Missy with Randal from at least a few years ago.

  “Nate! What the heck? Didn’t you just meet with her yesterday?”

  “Yeah, she was out on a run when I spoke with her. This is nuts, Debbie.”

  “I’ll say. And not looking good for us either.”

  “She did give me a contact who she said was a friend of hers in the government. He was investigating Gibson. I think maybe I should call them.”

  “Did you trust her?”

  “Absolutely. At least I think so. I guess I don’t really know who else to trust, especially now that he’s dead.”

  Nate took the number out of his wallet. It was an area code he didn’t recognize, but he dialed the number anyway. As expected, the call went right to voice mail.

  “Yes, this is Nate Amsler, a friend of Missy’s. I need a new vet for my dog.” He then hung up.

  Debbie looked over at him with a quizzical look on her face. “A new vet for your dog. Really?”

  “Hey, I’m just doing what she told me to do.”

  Just as Nate answered Debbie, his phone rang.

  “Mr. Amsler?”

  “Yes.”

  “Dr. Lemay, he is gone?”

  “Yes. I spoke with Missy about him last night. She gave me your number and we just found out he is gone.”

  “All right. Stay calm and tell me what you two discussed last night.”

  For the next ten minutes, Nate answered questions and filled the mystery person in on the events of yesterday. It made him nervous telling all to a stranger, but at this point he was getting desperate.

  “I think we need to meet, Mr. Amsler. You may need protection for both you and your wife. I need you to go to work like nothing’s happened, but be careful. After work, I want you to go directly to the Starbucks on Liberty and Main. We have an office on the second floor of that building. I am in Cleveland right now, so it will take a few hours to get up there. Bring your wife with you.”

  “Okay, I’ll meet you there. How will I know it’s you?”

  “You won’t. I will call you at this number when I see you and give you directions. I just don’t know what the situation will look like until this afternoon.”

  Nate was shaken, but after reading the paper, he knew that it wasn’t just going to blow over. He got in the shower and then made Debbie her morning espresso.

  Debbie wanted to talk. “Who was on the phone?”

  “It was the guy Missy told me about. He wants to meet today. Don’t worry, honey, things are under control. I’ll update you tonight.”

  This wasn’t some bad TV cop show; there was a good explanation for what was going on. Nate had done nothing wrong, and now he had a line on someone who could help get to the bottom of it. He finished his coffee and said goodbye to Debbie.

  “I know you will be fine, but call me when you get off before you head to this clandestine meeting of yours. I will meet you there.”

  “Yes ma’am, I know what’s going on is bizarre, but we just have to figure this out.”

  With Nate gone, Debbie got ready for work. She wasn’t scheduled to go in today, but she wanted access to their computers. She was anxious to see what she could find. The university hospital was too close to drive, so she grabbed her coat and headed out for the walk. There was something freeing about being able to walk to work. The route she enjoyed the most required her to walk through the neighborhood and into the back entrance of the arboretum. The university was attached to the arboretum on its east side, so after traversing the arboretum she just had to walk past the main hospital building to the cancer center where her lab was. It was amazing what a little fresh air and exercise could do to ease her mind.

  Feeling a little revived after the brisk walk, she crossed the street from the arboretum. The cancer center was fairly new, so everything still seemed clean and modern. She didn’t feel like taking the stairs to the eighth floor lab today. Even though it was the cancer center, much of the research was not immediately involved with cancer, as was the case with Debbie’s work. The labs she was helping were involved with bone healing and the different hormones the body used as triggers to help with healing. As she walked into the lab, she momentarily forgot that she wasn’t supposed to be there today.

  “Hey, Debbie, what you doin’ here today?” asked her co-worker Vicky.

  “I just needed to do a little research for our latest grant proposal, and honestly, I just needed to get out of the house.”

  “Things are quiet this morning, so she’s all yours. This afternoon though, we might need to kick you off.” Vicky washed her hands at the sink and dried them off with a paper towel.

  “That sounds fine. I don’t think I have the energy to do this all day.”

  Debbie sat down to get started with her research. She wanted to start with the NIH since Nate had mentioned the flu vaccine. There should be a trail. The records from ten years prior confirmed the concern of a major epidemic, and that several companies were contracted with to provide a vaccine for the virus. At the time, the prevailing thought was that it was a virus that would mutate quickly, which added to the concern of being able to have a useful vaccine.

  Gibson Labs was one of the companies contracted for the development of a vaccine. The only thing recorded in the public files was that after the first feasibility trial, the Gibson vaccine was pulled. There was nothing about genetic enhancement or “immune boost.” Debbie used every trick she knew to try to figure out what happened. She was even able to pull up the letter from Gibson Labs pulling the vaccine, but nothing pointing toward the project Nate had mentioned.

  After a few hours, Debbie knew she was going to run out of time. I need to think about this differently; what else can we correlate with the vaccine to search for? Immune boost. What if I search for immunotherapy patents during that period of time? She changed tactics and pulled up the FDA’s website. There was nothing public, but she was able to get past the firewall and pull up the phase one permits for different patents before they were ever introduced for human trials. There it was; almost one year before the flu vaccine there was an animal model for a T cell gene therapy treatment to boost immune function. Nothing else was recorded past the original application.

  Too many thoughts about immune function had Debbie thinking about Rachel again. She seemed so healthy; there was nothing about the pregnancy that gave her any trouble. She’d never had a problem, and no one in the family had ev
er had a problem, since....

  Oh my, it can’t be. Debbie searched Medline for medical articles about combined immunodeficiency. Twenty years ago it was extremely rare and was called severe combined immunodeficiency. That was where all of the stories of kids living in bubbles came from. Over the last decade the incidence of a somewhat different disorder called combined immunodeficiency had increased drastically. It was a somewhat milder and more treatable form of the disease. They had surmised this is what caused Rachel’s problems. The really bad part was that the children of the infected individuals were much more severely involved. Debbie knew all of this because of what Nate had talked about at home. Debbie had tried to ignore it but had filed it away nonetheless. Now, under a different light...

  What is going on here? This immune dysfunction problem started about the same time frame as this stuff with Gibson. I need to talk to Nate tonight. We just need to leave. We are both professionals; we can restart anywhere.

  It was already lunchtime, so it was time for Debbie to leave anyway. I don’t care if Nate wants to finish today, I’m gonna call him anyway. Debbie pulled out her cell phone.

  “Nate, pick up.”

  Nate answered just before his voice mail picked up. “Come on, Debbie, what’s up? I’m up to my eyes in stuff here.”

  “I’ve been doing some thinking. We just need to leave. We won’t have any trouble finding other positions. It doesn’t make any sense for us to stay here now.”

  He looked around and assured himself he was alone. He lowered his voice anyway. “I agree, but Missy’s friend told us not to raise suspicion. I’ll leave early so I can meet with you and him. We can be home before dinner.”

  “Why don’t you leave now?”

  “I just have one more thing I have to do. I promise I will be home after that.”

  Debbie clutched the phone with both hands trying to steady her emotions. “Okay, I’m just worried.”

  “I know. It’s your job to worry. Unfortunately, I’m good at making your job easy. Talk to you later, sweetheart.”

  Debbie was happy to hear Nate’s voice, but his situation did not help her spirits. With that on her mind, it was now time to start walking home. She hoped a nice walk would free up her mind a little. She knew Nate would be a little bit late, but was worried and could feel her anxiety increasing her pace. She turned into the arboretum to walk along the river. The leaves were thick, and most of the blooms were still out. As it was still midday, the sun was pretty high in the sky so the shadows weren’t as deep as they often were when she walked home. She was thankful for this, because she was feeling very jumpy after the events of the last few days. The Huron River came up fairly quickly and it was a nice enough day that there were students hanging out on the rocks and throwing balls in the river for their dogs to retrieve. Like any college town, regardless of how cold it was, there were a few people out sunbathing in outfits far too skimpy for the conditions, but apparently just right for the college arboretum mating rituals that were taking place. The route diverted from the river after thirty yards or so, and after ducking under some trees, it opened up into a large grassy field. Right now, the field was low enough to easily see over. The light breeze today that made the grass sway helped Debbie relax, at least a little bit.

  The path to her right took her back to the neighborhood and was only a half mile or so from their house. As she diverted through the tall grass, a sense of foreboding overtook her and caused her to look from side to side. She halfway expected someone to jump out at her. She carefully came out of the grass unscathed and chastised herself for being so ridiculous. The neighborhood immediately behind the arboretum was very wealthy with huge houses and was remote enough that there was almost no traffic. Even though she still felt it was ridiculous to be afraid, she walked down the middle of the street until she arrived home.

  After arriving home, Debbie immediately got out of her work clothes and sat down in her chair. She wanted to call Jason back, but after the third try remembered that he had his phone turned off. Just as Debbie was looking at her phone contemplating what Nate was up to the phone rang.

  “Debbie?”

  “Hey, Jason, I was just going to call you. What’s with the unfamiliar number again?”

  Jason gave Debbie a brief synopsis and she replied with her concerns about Nate and the previous days’ events.

  Debbie finished the conversation, “All right, will do. I’m gonna hang up, but I will call you later.”

  Debbie needed to clear her head and fortunately had a good book that she had just started so now seemed a good time to pick it up again. Debbie tucked her feet in as she sat down to read, and before ten minutes had passed, she was sound asleep in the chair.

  Nate was done faster than he thought after Debbie’s call. He knew that Missy’s friend had mentioned bringing Debbie, but he didn’t want to endanger her any further until he knew who this mysterious person was and what his motive was. He would get the info and let her know what the plan was so they could discuss it. After checking in with Julie, Nate went down to his car. He didn’t know what to expect so he figured he would just park in the deck and walk down and go from there. It was early afternoon so it was a quick trip downtown and Nate even found a spot on the first floor of the parking deck. Even thought it was a beautiful spring day he felt a cold chill as he walked toward the Starbucks on Liberty.

  As Nate crossed the street from the parking deck, he had the overwhelming urge to call Debbie. He had to force himself to leave his phone in his pocket and just as he pulled his hand away, it rang.

  “Dr. Amsler.”

  “Yes, who is this please?”

  “I’m sorry but you don’t need that information yet. I need you to turn right before you get to the Starbucks in front of you. I will give you a couple of directions before we meet.”

  “Come on, enough with this clandestine game. Just tell me where to meet you.”

  “Dr. Amsler, I need you to listen to me. This is nonnegotiable. If you want to meet with me, go where I tell you.”

  “All right, I’m turning.”

  Nate walked right behind the block around a restaurant that wouldn’t be open for a few more hours.

  “Turn left, Dr. Amsler.”

  This is nuts. There was a delivery area and a small parking lot with trucks just to his left. The gate to the loading area came up so one of the trucks could leave. Nate held up at the edge of the gate so the truck could leave when he felt a little prick in his left thigh. Nate felt his left thigh twitch with a small spasm then his whole body lurched forward. Jason couldn’t control his body as he lay on the sidewalk in too much shock to realize what was happening to him. The only muscles he could control were his eyes and he was barely able to see the tiny needle with a wire connected to his leg. A tall figure with a jogging hoody and running shorts removed the contraption from his leg and jogged away.

  Nate knew he had been tasered and would gain control of his muscles in a few minutes. Debbie was right. We should just leave town. Just as Nate thought about Debbie, he heard the sound of the truck leaving the lot. It was a huge white box truck with a single driver. The grill of the truck was several feet off the pavement. The reality hit Nate almost too late. He was not going to stop. Dear God, Debbie!

  “Papa, not Nate! What happened to him? Is he okay?”

  Olivay took a moment before answering Alucia. “I’m sorry dear, whatever happens to Nate is crucial in moving our story forward. We don’t treat others like this or intentionally do harm in our world today. In Lily’s world people did harm each other. I know it’s hard to understand but there was a need for words like hate and greed. We have very little need for those terms now but we are not perfect and during Lily’s time we were even less so.”

  The previous night had been so stressful Debbie didn’t realize how tired she had been until she woke to the sound of ringing. She was so disoriented that she barely made it to the phone.

  “Mrs. Amsler?”

  “Y
es. May I ask who is calling?”

  “Yes ma’am. I’m sorry. This is Officer Macey. I am afraid we need you to come down to the university hospital. It’s about your husband, Nate Amsler.”

  “Yes, what’s this about?”

  “I am sorry, but I can’t tell you everything over the phone ma’am. We believe your husband may have been in an accident.”

  Debbie was in an absolute panic when she threw her clothes back on and jumped in the car. When she arrived at the emergency room, Debbie gave the car keys to the valet and rushed in. Officer Macey was waiting right there for her, as promised.

  “Mrs. Amsler?”

  Debbie acknowledged her distractedly. “Yes! Yes! Can you please tell me what’s going on now?”

  “I’m sorry ma’am. We picked up a man we believe to be your husband. Please come with me.”

  Officer Macey then led her behind the emergency room to a small set of rooms. At this point Debbie was so nervous she could barely stand.

  “Mrs. Amsler, we believe your husband was involved in an accident tonight. He did have his identification on him, but because of his injuries, we wanted to make sure. Please forgive me. I wish there was another way. A loading truck was coming out after a delivery and didn’t see him. It’s not clear what happened or why he was even there, but we have questioned the driver extensively. He’s new, but nothing seems to be out of order.”

  Before Officer Macey could show him to Debbie, she knew, she knew he was gone. It was just like it had been with Rachel. She bit her lip pensively as they uncovered the body. She could hardly bring herself to remember what he had been wearing. Khaki pants, and a white shirt that was no longer white. He was also wearing his Ecco shoes, which were completely unscathed. Both arms were clearly broken in several places, and his upper torso was a mess of flesh and hair. They had tried to clean him up a little, but.... My wonderful man, what have they done to you? “Yes ma’am, it’s him.” Debbie could hear the words come out, but felt like she watching someone else say them.