Chromosome 6

by Robin Cook

  There were no cases under way nor were there any patients in the recovery room. There weren’t even any lights on except for those in a supply room halfway down the hall. The supply room’s door was ajar, emitting a faint glow.

  Hearing the repetitive thumps on the operating room doors, a woman appeared from the supply room. She was dressed in a scrub suit with a disposable cap. She caught her breath as she saw the four figures hurtling in her direction.

  “Hey, you can’t come in here in street clothes,” she yelled as soon as she’d recovered from her initial shock. But Warren and the others had already passed. Perplexed, she watched the intruders run all the way down the rest of the corridor to disappear through the doors leading to the lab.

  Turning back into the supply room, she went for the wall phone.

  Warren skidded to a stop where the corridor formed a “T.” He looked in either direction. To the left at the far end was a red wall light indicating a fire alarm. Above it was an exit sign.

  “Hold up!” Jack said, as Warren was preparing to dash down to what he imagined would be a stairwell.

  “What’s the matter, man?” Warren questioned anxiously.

  “This looks like a laboratory,” Jack said. He stepped over to a glazed door and looked inside. He was immediately impressed. Although they were in the middle of Africa, it was the most modern lab he’d ever seen. Every piece of equipment looked brand new.

  “Come on!” Laurie snapped. “There’s no time for curiosity. We’ve got to get out of here.”

  “It’s true, man,” Warren said. “Especially after hitting that security type back there, we’ve got to make tracks.”

  “You guys go,” Jack said distractedly. “I’ll meet you at the boat.”

  Warren, Laurie, and Natalie exchanged anxious glances.

  Jack tried the door. It was unlocked. He opened it and walked inside.

  “Oh, for crissake,” Laurie complained. Jack could be so frustrating. It was one thing for him to have little concern for his own safety, but it was quite another thing for him to compromise others.

  “This place is going to be crawling with security dudes and soldiers in nothing flat,” Warren said.

  “I know,” Laurie said. “You guys go. I’ll get him to come as soon as I can.”

  “I can’t leave you,” Warren said.

  “Think of Natalie,” Laurie said.

  “Nonsense,” Natalie said. “I’m no frail female. We’re in this together.”

  “You ladies go in there and talk some sense into that man,” Warren said. “I’m going to run down the hall and pull the fire alarm.”

  “What on earth for?” Laurie asked.

  “It’s an old trick I learned as a teenager,” Warren said. “Whenever there’s trouble cause as much chaos as you can. It gives you a chance to slip away.”

  “I’ll take your word for it,” Laurie said. She motioned for Natalie to follow and entered the lab.

  They found Jack already engaged in pleasant conversation with a laboratory technician wearing a long white coat. She was a freckle-faced redhead with an amiable smile. Jack already had her laughing.

  “Excuse me!” Laurie said, struggling to keep her voice down. “Jack, we have to go.”

  “Laurie, meet Rolanda Phieffer,” Jack said. “She’s originally from Heidelberg, Germany.”

  “Jack!” Laurie intoned through clenched teeth.

  “Rolanda’s been telling me something very interesting,” Jack said. “She and her colleagues here are working on the genes for minor histocompatibility antigens. They’re moving them from a specific chromosome in one cell and sticking them into the same location on the same chromosome in another cell.”

  Natalie, who’d walked over to a large picture window overlooking the square, hastily turned back into the room. “It’s getting worse. An entire car load of those Arabs in black suits are arriving.”

  At that moment, the fire alarm in the building went off. It featured alternating sequences of three ear-splitting shrieks of a horn followed by a disembodied voice: “Fire in the laboratory! Please proceed immediately to stairwells for evacuation! Do not use the elevators!”

  “Oh, my word!” Rolanda said. She looked around quickly to see what she should take with her.

  Laurie grabbed Jack by both arms and shook him. “Jack, be reasonable! We have to get out of here.”

  “I’ve figured it out,” Jack said with a wry smile.

  “I don’t give a good goddamn,” Laurie spat. “Come on!”

  They rushed out into the hall. Other people were appearing as well. Everyone seemed confused as they looked up and down the hall. Some were sniffing. There was animated conversation. Many people were carrying their lap-top computers.

  Without rushing they moved en masse to the stairwell. Jack, Laurie, and Natalie met up with Warren who was holding the door. He’d also managed to find white coats which he distributed to the others. They all pulled them on over their clothes. Unfortunately, they were the only ones wearing shorts.

  “They have created some kind of chimera with these apes called bonobos,” Jack said excitedly. “That’s the explanation. No wonder the DNA tests were so screwy.”

  “What’s he carrying on about now?” Warren asked with irritation.

  “Don’t ask,” Laurie said. “It will only encourage him.”

  “Whose idea was it to pull the fire alarm?” Jack asked. “It was brilliant.”

  “Warren’s,” Laurie said. “At least one of us is thinking.”

  The stairwell opened up into a parking lot on the north side. People were milling about, looking back at the building, and talking in small groups. It was deathly hot since the sun was out and the parking lot was blacktop. A wailing fire siren could be heard coming from the northeast.

  “What should we do?” Laurie asked. “I’m relieved we’ve gotten as far as we have. I didn’t think it was going to be so easy to get out of the building.”

  “Let’s walk over to the street and turn left,” Jack said while pointing. “We can circle around the area to the west and get back to the waterfront.”

  “Where are all those soldiers?” Laurie asked.

  “And the Arabs?” Natalie added.

  “I’d guess they’re looking for us in the hospital,” Jack said.

  “Let’s go before all these lab people start going back into the building,” Warren said.

  They tried not to rush to avoid attracting any attention. As they neared the street they all glanced behind them for fear they were being watched, but no one was even looking in their direction. Everybody was captivated by the fire crew who’d arrived.

  “So far so good,” Jack said.

  Warren was the first to reach the street. As he got a look to the west around the corner, he stopped abruptly and put his arms out to block the others. He backed up a step.

  “We’re not going that way,” he said. “They’ve got a roadblock at the end of the street.”

  “Uh-oh,” Laurie said. “Maybe they’ve sealed off the area.”

  “You remember that power station we saw?” Jack said.

  Everyone nodded.

  “That power has to get over here to the hospital,” Jack said. “I’d bet there’s a tunnel.”

  “Maybe,” Warren said. “But the trouble is we don’t know how to find it. Besides, I’m not thrilled about going back inside. Not with all those kids with AK-47’s.”

  “Then let’s try walking across the square,” Jack said.

  “Toward where we saw the soldiers?” Laurie questioned with dismay.

  “Hey, if they’re over here at the hospital, there should be no problem,” Jack said.

  “That’s a point,” Natalie agreed.

  “Of course, we could always give ourselves up and say we’re sorry,” Jack said. “I mean, what can they do to us besides kick us the hell out. I think I’ve gotten what I came for, so it wouldn’t bother me in the slightest.”

  “You’re joking,” Laur
ie said. “They’re not going to accept a mere apology. Warren struck that man; we’ve done more than trespass.”

  “I’m joking to an extent,” Jack agreed. “But the man was sticking a gun in our face. That’s at least an explanation. Besides, we can leave a bunch of our French francs behind. Supposedly, that solves everything in this country.”

  “It didn’t get us past the gate,” Laurie reminded him.

  “All right, everything but get us in here,” Jack said. “But I’ll be very surprised if it doesn’t get us out.”

  “We’ve got to do something,” Warren said. “The fire crew are already waving for the people to come back in the building. We’re going to be standing out here in this god-awful heat by ourselves.”

  “So they are,” Jack said, squinting against the sunlight. He found his sunglasses and put them on. “Let’s try crossing the square before the soldiers return.”

  Once again, they tried to walk calmly as if they were strolling. They got almost to the grass, when they became aware of a commotion at the door into the building. They all turned to see a number of the black-suited Arabs push their way past the lab techs who were entering.

  The Arabs rushed out into the sundrenched parking lot with their neckties flapping and their eyes squinting. Each brandished an automatic pistol in his hand. Behind the Arabs came several soldiers. Out of breath, they stood in the hot sun, panting while scanning the neighborhood.

  Warren froze, and the rest of the group did the same.

  “I don’t like this,” Warren said. “The six of them have enough fire power to rob the Chase Manhattan Bank.”

  “They kind of remind me of the Keystone Kops,” Jack said.

  “I don’t find anything about this comical at all,” Laurie said.

  “Strangely enough, I think we’re going to have to walk back inside,” Warren said. “With these lab coats on they’re going to wonder why we’re standing out here.”

  Before anyone could respond to Warren’s suggestion Cameron came out the door accompanied by two other men. One was dressed like Cameron: clearly a member of the security force. The other was shorter with a limp right arm. He, too, was dressed in khaki but without any of the martial embellishments the other two sported.

  “Uh-oh,” Jack said. “I have a feeling we’ll be forced to use the apology approach after all.”

  Cameron was holding a blood-spotted handkerchief to his nose, but it didn’t obstruct his vision. He spotted the group immediately and pointed. “That’s them!” he yelled.

  The Moroccans and the soldiers responded immediately by surrounding the trespassers. Every gun was pointed at the group, who raised their hands without being told.

  “I wonder if they’ll be impressed with my medical examiner badge?” Jack quipped.

  “Don’t do anything foolish!” Laurie warned.

  Cameron and his companions walked over immediately. Silently, the ring around the Americans opened to allow them through. Siegfried stepped to the forefront.

  “We’d like to apologize for any inconvenience,” Jack began.

  “Shut up!” Siegfried snapped. He walked around the group to eye them from all directions. When he got back to where he started, he asked Cameron if these were the people he’d encountered in the hospital.

  “No doubt in my mind,” Cameron said while glaring directly into Warren’s face. “I hope you will indulge me, sir.”

  “Of course,” Siegfried said with a slight wave of dismissal.

  Without warning, Cameron punched Warren in the side of the face with a roundhouse blow. The sound was like a telephone directory falling to the floor. A plaintive whine escaped from Cameron’s lips as he grabbed his hand and gritted his teeth. Warren did not move a muscle. He may not have blinked.

  Cameron swore under his breath and stepped away.

  “Search them,” Siegfried commanded.

  “We are sorry if we—” Jack began but Siegfried didn’t let him finish. He slapped him with an open fist hard enough to turn Jack’s head in the direction of the blow and raise a red welt on his cheek.

  Cameron’s deputy quickly relieved Jack and the others of their passports, wallets, money, and car keys. He gave them to Siegfried, who slowly went through them. After he looked at Jack’s passport, he raised his eyes and glowered at him.

  “I’ve been told you are a troublemaker,” Siegfried said with disdain.

  “I’d rather think of myself as a tenacious competitor,” Jack said.

  “Ah, arrogant as well,” Siegfried snarled. “I hope your tenacity comes in handy once you are turned over to the Equatoguinean military.”

  “Perhaps we can call the American Embassy and resolve this,” Jack said. “We are, after all, government employees.”

  Siegfried smiled, which actually only increased his scar-induced sneer. “American Embassy?” he questioned with uncamouflaged scorn. “In Equatorial Guinea! What a joke! Unfortunately for you, it’s out on the island of Bioko.” He turned to Cameron. “Put them in the jail but separate the men and the women!”

  Cameron snapped his fingers for his deputy. He wanted the four handcuffed first. While this was in progress he and Siegfried drew off to the side.

  “Are you really going to hand them over to the Equatoguineans?” Cameron asked.

  “Absolutely,” Siegfried said. “Raymond told me all about Stapleton. They have to disappear.”

  “When?” Cameron asked.

  “As soon as Taylor Cabot leaves,” Siegfried said. “I want this whole episode kept quiet.”

  “I understand,” Cameron said. He touched the brim of his hat and then went back to supervise the transfer of the prisoners to the jail in the basement of the town hall.

  CHAPTER 22

  March 9, 1997

  4:15 P.M.

  Isla Francesca

  “Something very strange is going on,” Kevin said.

  “But what?” Melanie said. “Should we get our hopes up?”

  “Where could all the other animals be?” Candace questioned.

  “I don’t know whether to be encouraged or concerned,” Kevin said. “What if they’re having Armageddon with the other group, and the fighting spreads to here?”

  “God almighty,” Melanie commented. “I never thought of that.”

  Kevin and the women had been virtual prisoners for over two days. They had not been allowed to leave the small cave the entire time of their confinement, and it now smelled as bad or worse than the outer cave. To relieve themselves, they’d been forced to go back into the tunnel which reeked like a mini-cesspool.

  They themselves didn’t smell much better. They were filthy from wearing the same clothes and sleeping on the rock and dirt floor. Their hair was hopelessly matted. Kevin’s face was covered with a two-day stubble. They were all weak from lack of exercise and food although each had eaten some of what was brought to them.

  Around ten o’clock that morning, there’d been a sense that something abnormal was happening. The animals had become agitated. Some had rushed out only to return moments later, making loud cries. Early on, bonobo number one had gone out but had yet to return. That in itself was abnormal.

  “Wait a second,” Kevin said suddenly. He put up his hands to keep the women from making any noise. He strained to hear by turning his head slowly from side to side.

  “What is it?” Melanie asked urgently.

  “I thought I heard a voice,” Kevin said.

  “A human voice?” Candace questioned.

  Kevin nodded.

  “Wait, I just heard it!” Melanie said with excitement.

  “I did, too,” Candace said. “I’m sure it was a human voice. It sounded like someone yelling ‘okay.’ ”

  “Arthur heard it, too,” Kevin said. They’d named the bonobo who most often stood guard at the lip of the small cave Arthur for no particular reason other than to have a way to refer to him. Over the long hours, they’d had what could have been called a dialogue. They’d even been able to guess
at some of the meanings of the bonobo words and gestures.

  The ones they were the most sure of included “arak,” which meant “away” especially when accompanied by the spreading of fingers and a sweeping arm motion, the same gesture Candace had seen in the operating room. There was also “hana” for “quiet” and “zit” for “go.” They were very sure of “food” and “water,” which were “bumi” and “carak” respectively. A word they weren’t too sure of was “sta” accompanied by holding up one’s hands with palms out. They thought it might be the pronoun “you.”

  Arthur stood up and loudly vocalized to the few bonobos remaining in the cave. They listened and then immediately disappeared out the front.

  The next thing Kevin and the others heard were several reports from a rifle: not an ordinary gun but rather an air gun. A few minutes later, two figures in animal-center coveralls appeared silhouetted against the hazy, late-afternoon sky at the cave’s entrance. One was carrying a gun, the other a strong, battery-powered lamp.

  “Help!” Melanie shouted. She averted her eyes from the strong beam of light but waved her hands frantically lest the men not see her.

  There was a loud thump that echoed around the inside of the cave. Simultaneously, Arthur let out a whimper. With a confused expression on his flat face he looked down at a red-tailed dart that protruded from his chest. His hand came up to grasp it, but before he could, he began to wobble. As if in slow motion, he sagged to the floor and rolled over onto his side.

  Kevin, Melanie, and Candace emerged from their doorless cell and tried to stand upright. It took a moment for them to stretch. By the time they did the men were kneeling at the side of the bonobo to give the animal an additional dose of tranquilizer.

  “My God, are we glad to see you,” Melanie said. She had to steady herself with a hand against the rock. For a moment, the cave had begun to spin.

  The men stood up and shined the bright light on the women and then on Kevin. The former captives all had to shield their eyes.

  “You people are a mess,” the man with the light said.

  “I’m Kevin Marshall and this is Melanie Becket and Candace Brickmann.”

  “I know who you are,” the man said flatly. “Let’s get out of this shithole.”