Soul Meaning (Seventeen) by AD Starrling

Author:AD Starrling [Starrling, AD]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-07-13T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

At five in the morning, the Prague Institute of Molecular Genetics was dark and deserted. We broke in through a side door and went in search of the Functional Genomics and Bioinformatics department.

Reid and Anatole took up guard duty outside the room while Anna and I entered the lab.

‘How long will this take?’ I said, switching on the overhead lights.

‘Two hours at the most,’ Anna replied. She walked around the room, her face brightening while she studied the array of machines humming quietly on the countertops: already, her eyes held a far-away gaze. She found some gloves and removed the vial of blood from the metal canister. After carefully placing one drop from it into a smaller tube, she turned to me. ‘Can I have your sword?’

I stared at her, nonplussed.

‘I need a sample of my blood,’ Anna explained quietly. I lifted the wakizashi from my waist and passed it across reluctantly.

She nicked the tip of her thumb with the edge of the short blade and dripped a few scarlet droplets into a second vial. I removed a band-aid from the first aid kit on the wall next to the sink and wrapped it gently around her finger. ‘Thank you,’ Anna said softly.

‘You’re welcome,’ I murmured. I took a seat in the corner of the room and silently watched her work.

Anna moved swiftly from one complicated apparatus to another, her fingers gliding confidently over keypads and dials. All the while, a tiny frown wrinkled her brow. I looked out of the window, unsettled as always by the complex feelings her presence engendered: if Reid had been in the room, he would no doubt have had a sickening leer on his face.

Forty minutes later, Anna came and took a seat next to me. ‘Now we wait,’ she said at my questioning gaze.

The next hour passed at a snail's pace while we watched a large machine hum quietly. Just as the sun peeked above the horizon and cast a pale light through the windows of the lab, Anna finally pulled a sheet of paper out of the printer attached to the instrument. She stared at the data crowding the page for timeless seconds. ‘It’s done,’ she said in a flat tone.

We left the campus and headed back to the estate.

Traffic had picked up and Anatole guided the new Volkswagen Transporter carefully through the busy streets. Anna remained subdued during the drive, green eyes gazing blindly at the landscape outside the window; I remained silent by her side, certain that my suspicions about the vial of blood would prove to be correct.

Victor and Tomas were waiting for us when we reached the mansion. ‘Well?’ said Godard anxiously as we entered the foyer. ‘What is this all about?’

Anna had deliberately refused to answer any questions a few hours ago, when we roused the rest of the household to organise our small expedition to the Prague Institute of Molecular Genetics. She studied her grandfather dully. ‘You had better sit down.’

After we gathered in the

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