this information. You have to admit it’s rather impressive.’
‘So from your perspective it was a xenograft,’ Jack said.
Ted shrugged again. ‘If you made me guess, I’d have to say yes. But
taking the DQ alpha results into consideration, I don’t know what to
say. Also I’ve taken it upon myself to run the DNA for the ABO blood
groups. So far that’s coming up just like the DQ alpha. I think it’s
going to be a perfect match for Franconi, which only confuses things
farther. It’s a weird case.’
‘Tell me about it!’ Jack said. He then related to Ted the discovery of
an Old World primate parasite.
Ted made an expression of confusion. ‘I’m glad this is your case and not
mine,’ he said.
Jack placed the sheet of celluloid on Ted’s desk. ‘If I’m lucky, I might
have some answers in the next few days,’ he said. ‘Tonight I’m off to
Africa to visit the same country Franconi did.’
‘Is the office sending you?’ Ted asked with surprise.
‘Nope,’ Jack said. ‘I’m going on my own. Well, that’s not quite true. I
mean, I’m paying for it, but Laurie is going, too.’
‘My god, you are thorough,’ Ted said.
‘Dogged is probably a better word,’ Jack said.
Jack got up to go. When he reached the door, Ted called out to him: ‘I
did get the results of the mitochondrial DNA back. There was a match
with Mrs. Franconi, so at least your identification was right.’
‘Finally something definitive,’ Jack said.
Jack was again about to leave when Ted called out again.
‘I just had a crazy idea,’ Ted said. ‘The only way I could explain the
results I’ve been getting is if the liver was transgenic.’
‘What the hell does that mean?’ Jack asked.
‘It means the liver contains DNA from two separate organisms,’ Ted said.
‘Hmmmm,’ Jack said. ‘I’ll have to think about that one.’
COGO, EQUATORIAL GUINEA
Bertram looked at his watch. It was four o’clock in the afternoon.
Raising his eyes to look out the window, he noticed that the sudden,
violent tropical rainstorm which had totally darkened the sky only
fifteen minutes earlier had already vanished. In its place was a steamy
sunny African afternoon.
With sudden resolve Bertram reached for his phone and called up to the
fertility center. The evening tech by the name of Shirley Cartwright
answered.
‘Have the two new breeding bonobo females got their hormone shots
today?’ Bertram asked.
‘Not yet,’ Shirley said.
‘I thought the protocol called for them to get the shots at two p.m.,’
Bertram said.
‘That’s the usual schedule,’ Shirley said hesitantly.
‘Why the delay?’ Bertram asked.
‘Miss Becket hasn’t arrived yet,’ Shirley explained reluctantly. The
last thing she wanted to do was get her immediate boss in trouble, but
she knew she couldn’t lie.
‘When was she due?’ Bertram asked.
‘No particular time,’ Shirley said. ‘She’d told the day staff she’d be
busy all morning in her lab over at the hospital. I imagine she got tied
up.’
‘She didn’t leave instructions for the hormones to be given by someone
else if she didn’t arrive by two?’ Bertram asked.
‘Apparently not,’ Shirley said. ‘So I expect her at any minute.’
‘If she doesn’t come in the next half hour, go ahead and give the
scheduled doses,’ Bertram said. ‘Will that be a problem?’
‘No problem whatsoever, Doctor,’ Shirley said.
Bertram disconnected and then dialed Melanie’s lab in the hospital
complex. He was less familiar with the staff and didn’t know the person
who answered. But the person knew Bertram and told him a disturbing
story. Melanie hadn’t been in that day because she’d been tied up at the
animal center.
Bertram hung up and nervously tapped the top of the phone with the nail
of his index finger. Despite Siegfried’s assertions that he’d taken care
of the potential problem with Kevin and his reputed girlfriends, Bertram
was skeptical. Melanie was a conscientious worker. It certainly wasn’t
like her to miss a scheduled injection.
Snapping up the phone again, Bertram tried calling Kevin, but there was
no answer.
With his suspicions rising, Bertram got up from his desk and informed
Martha, his secretary, that he’d be back in an hour. Outside, he climbed