Ancient Awakening (The Ancient)
Page 26
Dr. Larry Conners was mad. As he stood at the side of the road, waiting for what was probably one of the most important meetings of his scientific career, he wrestled with his anger. More accurately it was what should have been one of the most important meetings of his career. Now it was going to be a disaster. To be fair, he was mostly mad at himself for putting his faith in Ann. She had been such a promising young scientist, bordering on brilliant even a year ago. But then her personal life had fallen apart and, with it, her work.
Dr. Renée Dupré had been Larry’s mentor many years ago and had helped him a great deal with his funding issues. She had been old then, and must be ancient by now, but was still a leader in her field. When she had sent her sample to Larry for his opinion, he‘d seen the opportunity to impress his old teacher. Ann had been given the package and begun the basic work, just as she had been doing for the past two years. She had seemed to be almost finished, just in time for the meeting with Dr. Dupré, when she vanished. She had gone out for lunch the day before and simply not returned. Worse yet, this morning when Larry had gone to check on the sample, which was some type of rare lily, it was gone. All that remained where it had been stored in the refrigerator was some dark black sludge. Now he and Wen Li had to meet Dr. Dupré without Ann there to present her research, and without the original sample. He hoped that she had been meticulous in recording her results in her lab notebook. When Ann did show up, there was going to be quite the reckoning.
Larry glanced up at the blue sky and then down at his watch. The day was cold for spring, but the sun was out in full force, so that if you stood in its light it was almost comfortable. He and Wen had been waiting out in front of the building containing their lab for about ten minutes. Something was going on at the hospital on the other side of the block. A few police cars were parked out front, their lights flashing. Larry’s mind registered this, but his attention was focused on the direction from which his guest would soon be appearing.
A white van turned the corner, slowed, and then stopped in front of Larry. Out came the tallest Asian man he had ever seen. The man seemed to unfold himself as he exited the van. He wore a neat black suit and dark glasses that screamed “federal agent.” His look was solemn as he shut the door behind him. That changed in an instant, when the man snapped off his glasses and gave both men a warm smile. It instantly made him seem friendly, despite his huge height.
“Hello there. You must be Dr. Larry Conners. I’ll have Dr. Dupré out in a second,” he said, and began to slide open the large van door.
“I am. And you are?”
“Agent Takahashi is my caregiver these days,” said the old woman, as the door slid open. Inside, the considerable frame of Renée Dupré, almost completely unchanged with time, could be seen. She was sitting in a large, complicated-looking wheelchair. The woman was oddly broad, with outsized hands and a wide face. Her eyes were brown, almost to the point of blackness. Most of her figure was hidden by the many, many blankets heaped on top of her. “It seems that your federal government likes to make sure I’m quite well taken care of.”
A ramp extended automatically from the van and down the wheelchair came, giving the old woman a bump as the wheels hit the sidewalk.
“Conners, time has not been kind to you.” She looked Larry up and down, her eyes landing almost with an audible thump on his cane. Larry tried to smile.
“No, I guess that it hasn’t. It apparently hasn’t affected you at all though. You look exactly the same as you did twenty years ago.”
“And I see that you are still a suck-up.” The words were cruel but there was a lightening to her features which led Larry to believe that she was trying to be funny.
“Now, I believe we have business to attend to inside,” she continued. She gave Agent Takahashi a hard look. “John, I’m with an old friend. Why don’t you stay with the van?” She did not wait for his response. “Conners, let’s see this lab.”
Larry looked from the agent to the old woman. There was an odd tension between the two.
“Of course. This way.” Larry waved her to the front door.
Out of the corner of his eye, Larry saw Wen step up to the tall Japanese man and ask the agent, in a quiet undertone, “Why is she under federal protection?” John Takahashi looked him in the face, and then flashed that easy grin.
“Well, I’ll tell you this much. It’s not because of her sparkling personality.”