Chapter 4
Harry slept for most of the train ride. Having the weight of his pistol gave him a sense of security which allowed him to relax. With three hours of sleep Harry departed the train feeling almost rested. Making his way to the university campus, he was surprised at how much it had changed. The bioscience building was no more and he needed help in locating the parasitology department within the massive life sciences building. Seeing Laura’s name listed as the department chairman made Harry nod his head as he thought, “She deserves it.”
Harry entered the department section and was met by an efficient looking young lady who asked if she could help. Harry said, “I would like to meet with Dr. Laura Anderson.”
“I’m sorry, but she’s teaching a class and has meetings scheduled for the remainder of the day. I can schedule you an appointment for tomorrow.”
Harry glanced around the room and noted the four offices which radiated from the waiting area. Laura’s office appeared to be on the outside wall. Harry said, “I’m an old friend and thought I would stop in and say hello. Would you tell her Harry stopped by?”
“Anything else?”
“No. I’ll stop by some other day.”
Harry left the department, but took a good look at the door lock as he was leaving. He found the local coffee shop and returned with a large mug of coffee to watch the department. At noon the secretary carefully locked the doors and took her break. Harry nonchalantly disposed of his coffee and walked back to the department door. He used one of his credit cards to spring the latch and walked into the department. Closing the door behind him Harry opened Laura’s office door and took a look around. It was much nicer than the office he remembered, but the general feeling of the room was the same: too much stuff in the space. Harry made himself comfortable behind the desk and waited. It was almost 5 o’clock before he heard Laura’s voice and the door open.
Laura saw Harry sitting behind her desk and turned to the secretary, “I’ll lockup. You can head on home.”
“Harry Williams, it has been a long time. What do I owe this visit to?”
“I need some parasitology help.”
“I think I heard that same line 12 years ago and look at the problems it caused.”
Harry’s expression turned dark for just a second before he replied, “The past is over. I do need your help.”
“Last I heard, you were completing a neurosurgery program. Why would you need help with parasitology?”
“I removed some brain worms from a patient and someone is very upset about it. I would like to know why.”
“Did something go wrong?”
“No, surgery went well. The next morning though my patient disappeared and the surgical specimen never made it to pathology.”
“Tough to make a conspiracy out of a patient who skips out and a missing lab specimen.”
Harry hesitated before telling Laura the next piece of the puzzle because he knew how she felt about violence. He simply said, “Someone tried to kill me.”
It was Laura’s turn to have her emotions color her expression. She replied, “I would think there were many from your previous career who would like to kill you. What makes you think it’s related to your surgery?”
“I saw one of the guys. He was Middle Eastern, just like my patient.”
The light had changed enough that Laura could see the bruising on Harry’s face. She walked over and removed his baseball cap which revealed his singed hair. She gently touched the side of his bruised face. With tears in her eyes she said, “When are you going to quit playing cops and robbers? We live in a civilized world. What happened?”
“They placed a bomb in my car. It exploded when I tried to use my cell phone.”
“You could have been killed!”
“I think that was their idea.” Harry could see the emotions swirling across her face as she wrestled with the same issues that had torn them apart a decade ago. Laura refused to accept the fact that there were those in the world who could not be persuaded with love and flowers to live in peace.
“This doesn’t make any sense. Why would somebody try to kill you because you helped a patient?”
“I think they knew I kept a couple of the brain worms.”
“Why would you do that?”
“I thought my patient would enjoy seeing what had caused his problem.”
“Do you still have them?”
Harry reached into his shirt pocket and removed the specimen tube which he handed to Laura. She used a hand lens to look at the small cysts floating in the fluid. After just a few seconds she said, “These are cysticerci of Taenia solium. They cause most cases of brain parasitism and are pretty common in developing countries. Nothing too unusual about them.” Laura slipped further into her academic mode as she continued, “Man is the only final host for the pork tapeworm and pigs are the usual intermediate host. Pigs consume feed contaminated by human waste and eggs of the tapeworm. The eggs hatch and the larva move through the intestinal wall into the bloodstream and from there into the muscle tissue where they form the cysticerci. The cycle is completed when humans eat the pork which is not adequately cooked. The cysticerci are released by the stomach acids and develop into tapeworms to continue the cycle. If humans consume the eggs they become accidental intermediate hosts. As you have seen CNS involvement is common.”
Harry asked, “For my patient to have contacted these brain worms he would have had to be around pigs?”
Laura answered her student’s question, “The disease is endemic only in those areas with widespread small-scale hog farming.”
“Then this makes no sense. My patient was religious and they consider pigs unclean.”
Laura asked, “How do you know that?”
“They made me change his diet order to a pork free diet.”
“I would suppose he had traveled to some area where the disease is endemic.”
Harry had to agree academically with the logic of Laura’s argument, but his instincts told him differently. He pushed the issue, “Is there any other test we could do to see if there’s something unusual about these brain worms?”
Laura, shrugging her shoulder said, “We could perform electron microscopy on the head of the scolex and possibly do genetic analysis. Sub species differentiation is pretty minimal in Taenia solium, but some differences have been reported.”
“Can we do it now?”
“I’ve had a long day. But if you buy me dinner, we can have a look.”
“Dinner it is.”
Harry followed Laura down the corridors to the lab section. Laura started working at a small machine about the size of an office copier. There was an absence of the usual lab paraphernalia with only an occasional sink and some glassware to signify they were actually in a lab. There were automated machines for everything. Laura used a small pipette to remove one of the brain worms. She placed it in the examination port and pushed some more buttons. A monitor became active and she used a joystick to control the electron microscope. As the scolex became visible, Laura zoomed in on the head region. The monitor filled with an image of an inside-out monster. Clearly visible were the four suckers and the crown of hooklets which were invaginated into the cyst.
Laura explained, “The outer wall is dissolved in the stomach and the scolex turns itself right side out. Sorta like peeling off a glove. The suckers and hooklets then attach to the intestinal wall where the tapeworm begins to grow.”
Harry asked, “How did something this weird ever develop?”
Laura ignored the question as she zoomed the microscope onto the region of the hooklets. Harry knew the look of concentration he now saw on Laura’s face. She was seeing something, and her mind was in the analytical mode. Harry was again amazed, seeing his former love as a hard-core scientist instead of the flighty peace advocate with no logical reasoning. Harry looked at the screen, but could not determine what was so interesting to Laura. She had zoo
med the microscope so almost the entire screen was filled with hooklets. They looked like disorganized crab claws. Laura began mumbling to herself and sketching a drawing of the clawlike structures. Harry just waited.
Laura finally said, “This just isn’t right. I’ll be right back.”
While Laura was gone, Harry unlaced his shoes and carefully took his socks off to inspect his feet. A few of the blisters had not yet broken. For the most part his feet looked like raw hamburger. He saw no sign of infection and was gently putting his socks back on when Laura returned. She saw the bleeding skin on his one heel as he was pulling the sock back on. “What happened to your feet? You need to see a doctor and get that taken care of.”
“I got a few blisters trying to get away from whoever it was who blew up my car. I’ll be OK.”
“I think you need to see a doctor. That looks terrible.”
“Laura, I’ll be OK. Remember, I am a doctor now. And there is no sign of infection.” Before Laura could go on, Harry asked, “What is bothering you about these brain worms?”
Laura started to demand that Harry go to the emergency room. But the look on his face made her realize that he was not going to listen. She shrugged her shoulders and said, “The shape of the hooklets seems odd.”
Laura began paging through the collection of pictures she had brought. She found one demonstrating the hooklets and held it up so Harry could see the difference. The hooklets on his brain worm were definitely shorter and more disorganized than those in the picture. He asked, “What does this mean?”
“It would seem that your sample of Taenia solium is either a new sub species or a genetic freak. I would expect that since it survived the larva stage it is a new sub species.”
“How do we tell for sure?”
“Genetic analysis.”
“How do we get this genetic analysis performed?”
Laura was already pushing buttons to retrieve her specimen from the electron microscope. She placed the specimen under a standard microscope and used a miniature knife to slice a small piece of the worm off. She carefully transferred this speck of tissue to another miniature test tube. She placed this tube into an opening of another machine called a “DNA Analyzer” and started typing on the attached keyboard. After several minutes she said, “We’ll know in 24 hours. Now you owe me dinner.”
“That’s it? You just put a piece of tissue in the machine and you get a genetic printout?”
“Not exactly. The tissue is digested and the DNA is replicated millions of times and the fragments are sequenced. The computer searches for patterns and compares them to known genomes. We have only a partial analysis of the Taenia solium, but it will be good enough for a simple comparison. Let’s go eat; I’m starved.”
Harry tried to control his limping because he knew it would give Laura another opportunity to hound him about going to an emergency room. He had been sitting long enough that his feet were able to complain about the agony he was causing. He knew he was only partially successful when Laura said, “I still think you need to go to the emergency room and quit being so macho.”
Harry ignored the remark, but was glad to wedge his large frame into her small car and take the weight off his feet. It was a short drive to a nice seafood restaurant where the food was tasty and the wine flowed freely. It was almost like when they first met. The conversation was wide-ranging. However, they both avoided any discussion of politics or the military. After a second bottle of wine, the discussion moved to their personal lives. Laura admitted to having been too busy with her academic life to have established any other long-term relationships. When she asked Harry about his love life, his expression saddened and he related the argument he and his wife had been having regarding his work. When he explained that Angie felt surgery was his mistress with whom she couldn’t compete, Laura was understanding. As Harry was explaining how Angie had gone back to stay with her folks, Laura could not help but smile to herself.
The waiter asked if they were interested in desert. Laura declined, but Harry said, “I would enjoy a dish of vanilla ice cream with some chocolate sauce.”
Laura laughed and said, “I see you still have your sweet tooth.”
“How do you expect me to maintain my svelte figure if I don’t have a bit of ice cream occasionally. You don’t think I got to be this size by eating tofu, do you?”
“I must admit you still look pretty fit. How do you stay in such good shape?”
“I still work out every morning and play racquetball a couple times a week. How about you? Do you still work out?”
Laura sat up a little straighter before replying, “Some. Not as much as I used to. I still cross-country ski most weekends when the weather is reasonable.”
The evening was getting late and as Harry was finishing his ice cream, Laura asked, “Do you have a place to sleep tonight?”
“Haven’t thought about it yet.”
Laura hesitated only slightly before saying, “You’re welcome to crash at my place.”
“I have to sleep somewhere. So if you don’t mind, I would appreciate it.”
Harry was so busy cleaning the last traces of ice cream out of his bowl he did not notice the smile that crossed Laura’s face. He paid cash for their meal and they walked back out to Laura’s car.
Harry was feeling the effects of the wine and his lack of sleep and did not notice how quiet Laura had become. It was a 45 minute drive to her condo and Harry slept. He was awakened as the car stopped, and realized he had been asleep. He apologized for being poor company. Laura laughed nervously, and replied, “You needed your sleep.”
They walked up one flight of stairs and Harry held the door while Laura entered and turned on the lights. She apologized for not having taken time to clean better, but she had not been expecting company. Harry just ignored the apology. The place was clean, and except for having too much stuff in it, appeared quite nice. He sat on the sofa which seemed a little small with Harry’s large frame on it. Laura said, “There might be some brandy in the cupboard above the fridge. Make yourself at home while I change out of these work clothes.”
“Thanks anyway. I think I’ve had plenty to drink already. Could I use your computer to check my e-mail?”
“It’s in the spare bedroom. The switch is on the power strip to the right of the monitor. While you’re doing that I’ll take a quick shower.”
Laura took her time getting freshened up and agonized over which nightgown to wear. She used some of the perfume she had left from what didn’t seem so long ago anymore. When she walked into the spare bedroom, she instinctively clutched her robe tighter around her. Harry had been transformed. He was sitting rigidly erect in front of the computer. Muscles on the side of his neck and shoulders were so tense it looked like he was going to tear her desk apart. She timidly asked, “Harry, what’s wrong?”
Harry was quiet for several seconds before he replied in a cold, controlled voice, “They’ve kidnapped Angie.”
Laura felt the same fear she had when Harry would have nightmares of his imprisonment and torture. It was the same fear and the violence from which it sprang which had destroyed their relationship before. She could think of nothing to say, and just stood in the doorway trembling. After what seemed a longtime, she asked, “Have you called the police?”
“No. They’re demanding I meet with them. They promise Angie will be released unharmed if I cooperate.”
“But they might hurt you!”
“I would expect you’re right.”
“Harry, what are you going to do?”
“I’m not sure. If I can’t contact my old friends for help, I guess I’ll do what they’re asking.”
“You can’t! It’s too dangerous.”
“Laura, I have no choice. I’ll do what I need to do. I’m going to make a few phone calls and I want you to get ready to leave for a few days. They might have tracked me to you, and I can’t have you staying he
re by yourself.”
Laura went and began packing as she had been told. She was crying both from fear and from the memories of their failed relationship. Harry used a phonecard to dial his old friend Theodore who was living up in Alaska. Harry did not even bother to exchange pleasantries. He simply said, “I’m in trouble and need your help.”
Theodore listened to the brief summary and asked, “We need a little time. Can you leave for Alaska in the morning?”
“Yes. But I can’t leave Laura by herself. I may have been followed.”
Harry could hear the clicking of Theodore’s keyboard in the background and waited somewhat patiently for the next step. Theodore finally said, “I have Andrew booked on a flight from San Francisco, arriving in Seattle at 9 AM. You’re booked on a flight through Anchorage at 7 AM under the name of Barry Williams. You need to change your ID. I’ll pick you up at the airport.”
Harry was rummaging through the desk drawers looking for a sharp knife and laundry pen when Laura came back. When he explained what he needed, Laura without saying anything went to the kitchen and came back with a small knife and laundry pen. Harry tested the knife and was going to ask if she had a sharpener, but decided to make do with what he had. He carefully shaved portions of the “H” on his driver’s license, then used the laundry pen to transform it to a “B”. He was now Barry Williams.
Laurel finally asked, “What are we going to do?”
“We have a room at the airport for tonight. I leave early in the morning and an old friend is arriving at 9 AM to protect you. I want you to stay in the room until he arrives.”
“But I have a class to teach at 10.”
“You’ll have to be a little late. I want you to do everything Andrew says without any arguing.”
“How will I find him?”
Harry’s expression softened as he said, “Andrew has a soft Southern drawl and when he knocks on the door he will address you as ma’am. He walks with a definite limp.”
Laura asked, “He has something wrong with his legs?”
“He doesn’t have any. When we were captured, he tried to escape and they tortured him by breaking both legs. Before we were rescued, infection set in and they needed to amputate both lower legs.”
Laura’s face went white as she contemplated the brutality. She finally asked, “And this man without legs can protect me? How does he walk?”
Harry actually laughed and his face had a shadow of genuine joy as he said, “Andrew without legs is still one of the most capable warriors we have. He gets around on his prosthetic legs pretty well. If anyone can protect you, Andrew can. But you must do as he says.”
Before Laura could say anything else, Harry handed her a sheet of paper with a telephone number and an e-mail address. He said, “I need you to send the results of the genetic testing to this e-mail address. I’ll be at this telephone number if you need to reach me.”
As Harry handed her the paper, she saw the holster under his arm. “You’re carrying a gun?”
Harry at first didn’t seem to know how to respond. Finally, he said, “Yes. I’m going to leave it with you until Andrew arrives.”
“But I hate guns.”
Harry reached over and held her gently by both shoulders and said softly, “I know this is part of life you despise and deny, but for just a couple of hours I want you to be able to defend yourself. Once Andrew gets here, he’ll protect you and you won’t have to worry about the gun anymore. Can you handle this?”
Laura simply nodded her head. Harry gave her a brief hug and said, “We had better get going. I’ll drive.”
Harry followed Laura’s directions as they headed toward the airport. He seemed to spend as much time looking in his rearview mirror as he did looking forward. Laura was too upset to ask him if something else was wrong. They were headed south on I-5 in the center lane when Harry turned sharply in front of a double semi and took an exit ramp. The truck sounded its horned and Laura screamed. Harry took the next right, followed by another right, then parked the car and turned off the lights.
Laura said, “What are you doing? You almost killed us!”
“I think we were being followed. We’ll just sit here for a bit. Do you know where we are?”
“I’m either home in my bed having a terrible nightmare, or I’m in an alternate universe because this can’t be happening!”
Harry laughed and the tension seemed to drain down a bit as he said, “I like the thought of the alternate universe. It is a bit of a stretch from your normal life, isn’t it?” Not waiting for her to answer, he continued, “I’m truly sorry to have you involved in this, but I did need your help. Everything should settle down by morning.”
Harry started up the car and took the next right, hoping to get back on the freeway. They ended up on a one-way which crossed under the freeway without access. Harry asked Laura for advice, but she was as lost as he was. He tried a series of left turns, but ended up paralleling the freeway, headed in the wrong direction. When he finally found an entrance ramp, they were headed north toward Canada. He made light of the situation by saying, “If someone was following us, think how lost they must be.”
Laura finally recognized an exit. They took it and finally got turned around headed back toward the airport. When they arrived at the hotel, Harry parked the car and made Laura wait while he scanned the area. He got out and opened her door, easily lifting her luggage. As they were walking to the door he said, “Just think how exciting this would have been 12 years ago.”
Laura was so upset she just ignored the remark. They checked into the hotel and made their way to the room on the third floor. She noticed Harry would look around the corner with his hand under his shirt before moving forward. When they entered the room the first thing Harry did was move one of the beds against the door. By this time Laura was too emotionally spent and tired to worry about his paranoia. When Harry suggested she should get some rest she simply nodded and prepared for bed. It would have been nice to take comfort in Harry’s arms, but he appeared already asleep - fully clothed with the Luger resting on his chest in the ready position. She climbed into bed very tired, but knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep. The sound of Harry’s gentle snoring gradually relaxed her though, and she fell asleep.
She was awakened by a gentle shaking of her shoulder and, “Laura, it’s time to get up.” It took a few seconds for her to orient herself. But when Harry handed her the gun, she was instantly awake. He explained how the safety worked on the gun and she tried to listen. But when she took the gun her hands were shaking. Harry helped prop her up in the bed facing the door and said, “Don’t let anyone in until Andrew gets here. If someone tries to force the door just shoot in their direction and they’ll leave. You are going to be OK, and life will return to normal in a couple days.”
Laura wanted to say something, but it was all she could do to hold back her tears. She just nodded and then Harry was gone, leaving her facing the door with a gun. She stared at the weapon in her hands trying to remember what Harry had said. She glanced at the clock. It was 6:00 AM. Three hours. She could handle three hours. Every time she heard a noise or another door open, her anxiety would increase. When someone knocked on the door and announced “Room service” Laura responded, “Wrong room. I didn’t order room service.”
The voice responded, “Sorry; wrong floor.”
Laura glanced at the clock: 8:45. If Harry’s friend was supposed to arrive at 9:00 AM he would still have to make his way to the hotel which would take a half-hour. Forty-five minutes to go. She could make it. The digital clock seemed to advance the minutes much too slowly. Surely time was not going this slow. The clock read 9:12 when the knock came again. She ignored it.
A voice on the other side of the door said, “Room service.”
“I didn’t order room service.”
Somebody was trying her door. She heard noises like somebody was trying different keys i
n the lock. The lock clicked open and the door was opened to the extent of the safety chain. Laura’s hands were shaking as she raised Harry’s pistol and pointed it at the door. She squeezed her eyes shut. When she pulled the trigger nothing happened. She looked down at the pistol and remembered Harry had said something about pushing a safety. She started pushing things, trying to remember exactly what she should be doing. A clip of bullets fell out of the handle as she was trying to turn the safety off. She looked up and saw someone using a wire cutter on the chain. She tried pushing the clip back into the gun, but her hands were shaking so badly it would not go in.
Hearing a thump, Laura looked up and saw the hand with a wire cutter sliding down the gap in the door. This was followed by, “Miss Laura, this is Andrew. Harry’s friend. Would you please undo the door?”
Laura scrambled out of bed still holding the pistol and the clip of ammunition. She stood to the side because of the hand and arm that were sticking in the room. She dropped the pistol and ammunition to work on the chain, but there was too much tension and she was unable to release it. In a trembling voice she asked Andrew if he could pull his arm back through the door. He replied, “Ma’am if you hold the door open as much as you can, I’ll try.
Laura pulled against the security chain and the hand and arm slowly slid out of the door opening. She closed the door and released the security chain. When she opened the door, she saw a small man holding a larger man under the arms. He said, “If you please, I think we should bring our friend in.”
Laura stood back as Andrew dragged the unconscious man into the room. He positioned the man in the chair by the desk and used sheets to tie him up. When he was finished, he apologized for almost being late.
Laura asked in a voice surprisingly steady, “What did this man want? And what did you do to him?”
Before replying, Andrew picked up the pistol and ammunition clip Laura had dropped. He inserted the clip expertly into the pistol and put it in his coat pocket. He then said, “I would expect this gentleman meant you harm. Why didn’t you use the gun?”
“I tried, but I forgot how to work the safety, and when I pushed a button those bullet things fell out. I’m sure glad you’re here and I would like to leave this place.”
“Ma’am, I think that is a good idea. While you are getting ready I’ll make a few phone calls and have this gentleman taken care of.”
Laura was dressed and ready to go in just a few minutes. Andrew picked up her small suitcase in one hand and his cane in the other. He held the door open for her. As Laura was walking through the door she glanced back again at the intruder. Andrew interpreted her look and said, “The FBI will be here shortly and I expect they will have some interesting questions for our new friend here. It would be best if we were gone before they arrive.”
They made their way down the elevator and were exiting the lobby when unmarked cars with sirens began arriving. Laura started walking to her car but Andrew said, “Considering what they did to Harry’s car, it may be best if we use the rental car that’s waiting for us.”
Andrew offered to drive and Laura was more than willing to let him. When they arrived at the campus, there were security cars everywhere around her building. She was required to show her ID and had to vouch for Andrew just to get in the building. Her department seemed to be filled with campus security people and police. When she walked into her office, the reason was obvious. It had been ransacked and was a disaster. The security people were asking her lots of questions, but she had trouble focusing. She said, “What about the labs?”
“Your parasitology lab was broken into and some of the equipment appears damaged.”
The police were asking questions too, but Laura ignored them and started walking to the lab. She could not remember where they had left Harry’s brain worms. Did he take them when they left the lab? She remembered using the optical microscope to obtain her sample for the DNA analysis but could not picture what she had done with the specimen afterwards. It probably didn’t matter because all of the specimen racks and containers had been taken. Someone had plundered her lab completely. The DNA analyzer had been damaged and they had partially dismantled the unit. Her lab technician was examining it and she asked him what had been damaged.
He said, “They removed the specimen holding unit and the data drive. I don’t know what was in there, but it’s gone now.”
Laura said, “It was an unusual specimen of Taenia solium I was analyzing for an old friend. Is all the data lost?”
“They took the entire data processing subunit.” The tech looked thoughtful for a minute and plugged the machine back in. All kinds of red warning lights came on, but he scrolled down through the menu screen to the clock. It said 05:12. “Well, we know what time they were here now, and we may be able to recover some of the data if the machine backed up to the server at 4:00 AM as it was supposed to.”
They were interrupted by a police officer who wanted to know what they were talking about. Andrew spoke up for the first time. “It would seem that the vandals were some animal right’s nuts who thought we were doing animal experiments. The damage will take a while to sort out, and we will file a complete report as soon as we figure out how much damage we have. May I have your card so I know whom to contact?”
The cop was happy to have someone assume leadership and accepted Andrew’s suggestion without even asking who he was. Andrew accepted the officer’s card and thanked him for the help. As soon as the cop left, Andrew said to Laura and the tech, “We need to download that data file and see if there is anything on it.”
Laura immediately brightened; this was something she could handle. She sat at one of the computers and started punching passwords into the keyboard. Soon she was looking at the backup data files and after a few minutes said, “I’ve got it. Not a lot of data, but better than nothing.”
The tech was looking over her shoulder and said, “Looks like you have data on the primary fragments, but none on the replications. We should be able to tease a partial analysis out of this.”
Laura gave him her seat and the young man began typing rapidly. He looked up and asked what comparison Laura wanted. She told him to use Taenia solium.
Andrew watched for a while before asking how long the analysis would take. When the tech said he would have an initial report in an hour or so, Andrew suggested they get a bite to eat. Laura looked at the tech who said, “Go ahead, I’ll get this done for you.”
They went to the faculty dining room and went through the cafeteria line. Laura chose some fruit and cottage cheese while Andrew filled his tray with enough food for 2 or 3 people. They sat in the corner by themselves and Andrew proceeded to devour his food. When he was finished, Laura commented, “You eat as much as Harry.”
Andrew laughed an easy laugh and said, “I keep hoping I’ll grow up like Harry.”
This Andrew was an easy man to like. Laura said, “Harry told me about your legs. I have trouble visualizing such brutality in our civilized world.”
“It was our job to make the world seem civilized. I was pretty lucky they saved the rough stuff for Harry. The good news was we were rescued… I think we should be getting back and check on the data analysis.”
They walked back in relative silence and Laura tried to imagine what Harry must have gone through. No wonder he had nightmares. They arrived about the time the tech was performing crosschecks. The computer simulation showed a good general correlation with the known genome of the pork tapeworm, except for a few glaring discrepancies. The fragments were partial and they had no way of crosschecking their results. However, it appeared as if 4 to 6 of the genes were not natural to the parasite. Laura sat at the computer and used a program to compare the foreign fragments to known genes. The computer worked for only a moment before possible genes were listed. The matches were with human genes.
Andrew asked, “Could these genes be contamination?”
; Laura responded, “Possible, but I was pretty careful with the specimen. I wish we still had some material to work with.”
“Someone is intent on making sure you don’t.”
The tech asked, “What are you talking about? Is this why someone broke in? Because of a tapeworm?”
Andrew answered, “This parasite is important to someone. We don’t know who or why. I want you to keep this information quiet until we know more. Is there any way of telling what these human genes do?”
Laura began typing on the computer and studied the results before saying, “Assuming the match is correct, most of the genes are involved in neuro-endocrine function, but we don’t have enough data to be certain.”
“And no way of getting more data.” Andrew continued, “We had better send what we have up to Harry. He and Theodore may be able to make sense out of it.”