Knowing they had little time to debate, Warren motioned in the direction
of the arrow. ‘That way!’ he barked.
‘The operating room?’ Jack questioned. ‘Why?’
‘Because they won’t expect it,’ Warren said. He grabbed a stunned
Natalie by the hand and propelled her into a jog.
Jack and Laurie followed. They passed Horace’s room but the chubby man
had locked himself in his bathroom.
The operating suite was set off from the rest of the hospital by the
usual swinging doors. Warren hit them and went through with a straight
arm like a football running back. Jack and Laurie were right behind.
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.’