Damascus Code

by Merri Christi Pemberton

  Silas didn't want to turn his head all the way to the side to talk to Avalon. That would be a bit too awkward. He did catch glances from time to time. He admitted to himself that she was especially lovely that evening.

  The wait staff brought out their food. Three platters of of beef, shrimp, and chicken. This was followed by the vegetables arriving. Silas was under the impression that the wait staff had forgotten their menus, but Sheldon had something else in mind.

  "I took the liberty of preparing a special menu for us. The owner and I are old college roommates; I told him this was a special occasion." On that note, Sheldon winked at Avalon. "Silas, my man, you know that you can cook the food yourself here?"

  "Oh, so that is what this portable grill is for!" Silas said sarcastically.

  Sheldon let out a good belly laugh. "That's a good one!"

  "I love it! So what will we make?” Avalon reached for the utensils to spear a short rib for grilling. Sheldon waved his hand.

  "No. Silas and I will do the cooking, right buddy?"

  Silas answered. “I can whip up a lovely sweet and sour chicken with shrimp,” he turned to Avalon, “which I am sure you will enjoy Avalon."

  Sheldon smirked "Sweet and sour? How lovely.”

  Silas came back with, “It’s delicious.”

  Ignoring Silas, Sheldon commented. “Avalon, you will adore my spicy ginger short ribs with calamari trimmings."

  "Kind of showing off there Shelley."

  Sheldon chuckled, "An exciting meal for a very exciting woman, my friend!"

  Avalon laughed at both of them. "I am sure both dishes will be very good."

  Sheldon took off his glasses to clean them with his silk handkerchief. "There is this exquisite restaurant AOH, which experiments with different spices from all over the world. You must come with me tomorrow.” In an after thought, Sheldon said, “Oh, you can come too Silas.”

  Before Silas could speak, Avalon stalled, “We have to first check in with our professor tomorrow to give him updates."

  She didn’t trust him, but his attraction to her was working to their advantage so far.

  A sneaky little smile crept across Sheldon's lips. "Of course, I apologize for not asking first if you were free."

  Avalon smiled sweetly. "No apologies. We'll let you know tomorrow morning.”

  Sheldon nodded in approval. He caught the attention of a passing waitress and asked for a tray of sauces for both men to use in their friendly cook-off. In minutes, the lovely raven-haired waitress returned with the tray. Both men had chosen their sweet and sour, ginger, lemon zest, soy sauce, and some green concoction.

  Silas inquired, "What is that green liquid?"

  Sheldon snickered. This irritated Silas. "It's something special I had the chef whip up for us." He shifted his gaze again back on Avalon. "It's available to his VIP customers. Very off the menu.”

  Silas rolled his eyes.

  Avalon broke up the backhanded trash talk. "Let’s see what you two can whip up."

  The cook-off was on! Silas immediately speared the raw chicken pieces from one plate and placed them on the hot grill. The meat sizzled with intensity. Sheldon speared six of the ten short ribs and immersed them in the secret green sauce. He then used a fork to take the calamari from a second plate and placed them on the grill.

  While Sheldon was busy stirring the chicken pieces in the secret green mixture, Silas glanced over his shoulder at Sheldon's masterpiece in the making. He saw the waitress coming towards their table again, and in the nick of time. Silas called the waitress. Sheldon wondered what this buttoned-up stiff was up to. Silas requested a small cup of orange juice, orange zest, a few slices of pineapple and pineapple juice

  Avalon was intrigued, but Silas wasn’t finished. He asked for hot shortbread cookies, coconut and semi-sweet chocolate. Avalon loved chocolate! The pixy-hair waitress nodded and was on her way to get the ingredients. Sheldon began placing the short ribs, soaked in the green mixture, on the grill. The smell it gave off was very savory with a hint of ginger. As the meat cooked, he turned his attention to Silas.

  "I see your creativity is finally kicking in.”

  Silas came back with, “An exciting recipe for an exciting woman."

  The waitress arrived and placed all of of Silas’ ingredients on the table. He positioned each ingredient in the order of its usage. He first took the pieces of chocolate and placed them on half of the already steaming shortbread cookies. After that, he sprinkled the shredded coconut over the chocolate on the shortbread. The other half of the cookies were placed individually on top of the ones with the chocolate and coconut on them. The heat from the cookies began softening the chocolate.

  As Avalon and Sheldon watched closely, Silas began his island citrus dish. He poured half of the pineapple juice into a separate empty small bowl. Following that, he soaked ten chicken strips and in the pineapple juice cup. Next, he grabbed the orange juice and poured half into the pineapple and chicken mixture. Avalon was amazed. Sheldon stopped watching to continue grilling his ginger ribs, and then sprinkled lemon zest to finish.

  Silas speared the shrimp with his fork and immersed them into the container with the remaining pineapple juice. An alternating supply of ginger and spicy chicken, pineapple shrimp, and caribbean-style chicken cooked on the grill. When they were done, they were assembled on separate plates. The spicy ginger short ribs on one plate and the citrus meats on another plate.

  Silas sprinkled the remaining shredded coconut over the shrimp, and then over the chocolate and shortbread sandwiches. The vegetables were also assembled on each plate, which were already steamed at Sheldon's request. All three shared the rice as well.

  Sheldon held out is hand towards Avalon. "If you kindly pass me your plate, I will serve your dinner."

  Avalon did so, and Sheldon expertly placed three spicy ginger short ribs on the plate and sprinkled a little lemon zest on the beef. He completed it with a heaping spoon of vegetables. This left a smaller section for Silas’ dish creations. Sheldon passed the plate to his new rival. Silas spooned a serving of the chicken and shrimp mixture on the plate beside the beef. The cookies were on a separate small saucer.

  As the two men eagerly waited for Avalon to have the first taste, she did something they didn't quite expect. She raised her hand and pointed her finger up—as if to say, "Just a moment.”

  She bowed her head and said grace. Both men looked at each other. Neither one was religious, but fumbled a little before they bowed their hands in a moment of silence. As Avalon finished grace, she noticed the two men with heads still bowed and eyes closed.

  “Okay, I'm done."

  Silas and Sheldon raised their heads eagerly awaiting for Avalon to eat. She grabbed her fork and tasted the spicy ginger beef ribs. After the first bite of the meat— with a hint of garlic and butter—she sat back in her seat. “Mmmm, this is so good!”

  The spicy heat hit her a a harder than expected, and she let out a slight cough.

  Silas laughed, but Sheldon just said, "It takes a little getting used to."

  Avalon followed up with the chicken and shrimp. After her first two bites of each meat, she shook her head. Silas began to worry. Was it that bad? Avalon turned her head around to face him and said, "I love it! Absolutely delicious!”

  Silas straightened up, "Of course it is!"

  The three spent the next hour dining and engaging in light conversation. They even shared the shortbread sandwiches. Sheldon admitted that this dessert was simple, but very good. As they waited for coffee, the trio got down to business. Sheldon initiated the conversation.

  Lab Secrets

  "I apologize for rushing you out of the lab, but I had no choice."

  Avalon accepted his sincere apology, "We pretty much guessed you couldn't talk about Dr. Phoenyx's work."

  "You're right", replied Sheldon, "but his research has to be completed."

  "Why haven't you pursued it?" Silas questioned.

  "After he died, Dr. Barr
ett became my new boss. He changed my duties."

  "To what?" asked Silas suspiciously.

  "To work on new drugs to treat the pain associated with sickle cell."

  Avalon didn't feel too comfortable with that answer. She tried another interrogation technique. "There's a lot of money in pharmaceuticals."

  Sheldon lashed out, "That's not why I do my work!"

  This caught both Silas and Avalon by surprise.

  Silas calmly warned, "Don’t bring unnecessary attention on us.”

  Avalon intervened, “We believe you. If you were in this for the money, you wouldn't have arranged this meeting.”

  “I know you weren’t—.”

  Avalon followed, "We were not implying that you were about the money."

  Of course not. Forgive me,” apologized Sheldon.

  Silas picked up from there, “We just want to understand how his research could help others with sickle cell and possibly other blood diseases associated with genetic disorders.”

  Sheldon fell silent for a few seconds, which prompted Avalon to share her personal story of sickle cell. "Like I said, I have a brother with this sickle cell—.”

  “What are you really after?”

  "Excuse me?" Avalon responded in defense.

  "You're not students?"

  Silas jumped, “Call Out professor Michael Darius, he assigned us this mission.” Silas gave Sheldon a stare that could burn holes in steel. He wasn't hostile, but Sheldon knew not to push him too hard in a public place. He bit his lip and lowered his voice.

  "Dr. Phoenyx's research had findings that could disrupt the pharmaceutical industry and bankrupt their investors…to say the least.”

  Silas continued to play naïve. “So his research results offer an alternative cure to sickle cell?" inquired Silas.

  Sheldon grew irritated, "No, you don't get it. From what we understand now about sickle cell—we can suppress the gene that produces the adult hemoglobin, so that the fetal hemoglobin will produce. That cures it. We just need more researchers and doctors to correct the mutation causing the disease or boost fetal hemoglobin levels.”

  “I see,” Avalon said slowly, “Phoenyx’s research goes way beyond just finding or cultivating a cure for sickle cell.”

  Sheldon whispered. "Yes! From what he told me, he was part of a research task force who may have found the solution to a range of other serious illnesses…not just blood diseases.”

  Silas held up his hand. "Hold on. Do you know for sure that those results are in his research?”

  “Yes,” Sheldon nodded.

  “Are you absolutely sure?”

  "Dr. Phoenyx is a man of his word.”

  Silas pushed forward, "So, you have seen these results in writing and documented?"

  Sheldon paused. He was afraid to say anymore, but he knew he had to tell them some of this information. These two will step into a snake pit, if they didn’t know how dangerous pursuing this mystery will become. "I’ve seen the record of a patient who said she was cured of sickle cell. I think her name was Majors.”

  Silas side-glanced at Avalon, but did not breathe a word about their meeting with Evelyn. Avalon wanted for more answers. "What did they find?"

  Sheldon leaned forward. "The genetic mutation was gone.”

  "Completely?" Avalon questioned.

  "As if she never had it."

  Silence fell on the trio. They knew the conversation was about to go even deeper. Each person now has to really watch what they say. Avalon and Silas couldn’t give away too much of their plan. Sheldon could not give away exactly how much he knew. Any slip of the tongue could put all of them at high risk. Both parties, however, want this research to become known.

  Chapter 4

  Sheldon spoke in a low mumble. “Phoenyx told me a few days before he passed that he saw—something else in her blood sample."

  “What do you mean?” Avalon quietly demanded.

  "He didn’t finish telling me. We had an unexpected visit from our board of directors visiting the lab that day.”

  "Did he give you any hint of what it could be?"

  "No, but he said that what he saw shook him and his partner to his core."

  That raised a big red flag for the two detectives.

  Silas took the lead. "Do you think he told anyone else about this?"

  Sheldon thought for a split second. "I seriously doubt—wait—there was another specialist.”

  “Who.”.

  “Benjamin Ezra.”

  BOOM! This was what they came for.

  Silas said calmly, “We’ve read about his work too.”

  “Ezra took the blood sample for further examination at his own lab.”

  “I wish we could meet Dr. Ezra,” said Avalon.

  Silas picked up from there, “Where is he now?"

  Sheldon eyes shifted to the side. That is not a good sign. "I can’t reach him. His cell number was blocked.”

  "Our professor knows him, maybe he can help,” said Avalon.

  "The last I heard, he was in Prague."

  Avalon froze. PRAGUE!

  “Listen, if I were you, I would let this go.

  “Sheldon, we can’t do that.” Silas sat back and rolled his eyes.

  “I’m not playing around! I love your passion, but you don’t want to find Ezra."

  Silas was about to argue, but Avalon intervened again. “We understand.” She reached across to take Sheldon’s hand. “We’ll take Dr. Barrett’s contact number.”

  Avalon’s Hotel Room

  Avalon came out of the bathroom freshly showered and teeth brushed. She had on her favorite two-piece pajama set. The long sleeve, long pants, light guy green-striped pj’s embraced her in comfort. She slipped into bed. Avalon’s eye lids were heavy. As she laid her head down on the deliciously soft pillow, she immediately sunk into a deep sleep. Her fatigued mind was silent for about 30 minutes, and then the dreams began. She was transported back to...

  Prague

  Avalon crouched behind a bush outside of a gated estate. The grey clouds shrouded everything in this eerie moment. She felt a tap on her shoulder. She jumped.

  It was her friend Max. "You really should calm down.”

  "Easy for you to say,” Avalon whispered with a stinging tone, "I don't feel good about this.”

  Max's scruffy brown hair and sideburns were just as menacing as what he, Avalon, and the rest of the their crew were about to pull shortly.

  "You'll be fine Ava. Just follow Tai and my lead. We'll get Morgan out of here and be on our way.”

  Avalon let out a deep breath. "You better be right.”

  He grabbed Avalon's right shoulder with a hefty squeeze. "I'm always right!”

  A woman's voice interrupted with, “There she is.”

  Avalon and Max raised their heads above the tops of the bushes where they were hiding. They peaked through the spaces between the leaves.

  Far off beyond a well-manicured lawn stood a gothic mansion. It was a small castle complete with a round courtyard capping the estate's front steps made of stone.

  An woman descended the steps with a piece of burgundy luggage in hand. It was Morgan. She wore a smart dark leather jacket, zipped and hip length. Her jeans and brown boots completed the outfit.

  The dark sunglasses she wore was puzzling. It wasn't sunny outside. What was she hiding?

  Avalon recognized her and looked over to Tai. Tai looked back and winked. Her long dark raven hair was tied in a bun. All of the crew was dressed in dark clothing, mainly t-shirts and loose paints, and athletic shoes. Behind, and beside them, were backpacks with whatever equipment they needed to get out of any "high risk" situations.

  On each side of Morgan was a musclebound man dressed in black. Both men looked like twins with grim and angular faces. Both had the dark shade of hair. They stuck close to her, but did not put their hands on her.

  One of the men broke out of character. He gave Morgan a quick glance. Avalon saw a brief sadness wash across his
face. That honest sense of emotion left as quickly as it came. He was back into that stone-hard expression.

  The crew of Morgan watchers couldn't wait soon enough for her to get beyond the gate. The plan was to wait for Morgan to get beyond the gate and she, and the two guards, would stand at the entrance until her hired car picked her up.

  Little did the guards know that the driver will be a Prague exchange student from Aberdeen. The car would drive Morgan out of the city. She will meet the crew later. They will travel to to Dresden, Germany less than two hours away and board their flights back to Aberdeen.

  As Morgan and the guards approached the gate, the three crew members sunk further back into bushes away from sight. Tai passed Avalon her binoculars. Avalon looked through them, eyes locked intently on Morgan’s face. She could see the drops of tears streaming down her cheeks from under the sunglasses. That's why she was wearing them. One might say that she was just happy to get away from that castle. Avalon and Tai knew better.

  Tai shook her head, "I hate this happened."

  "Betrayal never feels good", answered Avalon.

  "What betrayal,” interrupted Max. The two women didn't hear their sneaky friend crawl up behind them. He has a nasty little habit eavesdropping.

  Avalon answered, "It’s over now, that’s all we need to know. Thank God.”

  Ten minutes passed when a black sedan pulled up. The guards loaded Morgan’s luggage into the trunk. She shook the hands of both men. The one guard who had a brief second of emotion gave her a short hug. He smiled.

  "Good luck,” he said in a gruff tone.

  Morgan looked up to him, "Thanks Hannibal, take care of everyone. Okay?"

  The guard opened the back seat door for her She was about to get in, until she heard a...

  BAM BAM!

  She looked up to the right at the castle.

  "What was that noise?" said Max.

  Tai, Max, and Avalon peered through the bushes to find the noise. Was it a gunshot?

  Avalon focused on the castle's third floor window. “Look at the window. The fourth from the left, third floor."

  Tai focused her binoculars at the window. She saw a figure leaning against it. He was looking out with his hands flat on the glass.