Mutant by Peter Clement

Author:Peter Clement
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9780307416162
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2007-12-18T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

“I know I can’t prove any of it, Greg. It’s just that the similarities in the two deaths—both men having their necks snapped—and an H5N1, or bird flu, outbreak being the only thing Oahu and Taiwan have in common . . . well, it’s got me spooked.”

“You really believe a geneticist in France and that farmer in Oahu were killed to cover up something about the bird flu? Come on, Kathleen. This morning I asked that you get me hard scientific evidence. Instead you show up back here tonight with conspiracy theories.”

She stiffened. His attitude had been increasingly skeptical since she first opened her mouth. She began to think it had been a mistake coming here to talk with him. After her last class they’d run into each other just as he’d been leaving for the day. On impulse she blurted out that there’d already been a new development since their morning meeting. He graciously insisted on hearing about it right away, and invited her to the faculty club for drinks. In the decorous setting of overstuffed, floral-printed sofa chairs, vases of fresh-cut spring flowers, and recessed lighting, he’d listened to her story, then proceeded to downplay what she’d told him.

“I don’t believe anything yet,” she countered. “I’m just saying that there’s an alarming possibility suggesting itself here.” She took a sip of her beer and wiped the foam off her lip onto the back of her hand.

Stanton left his white wine untouched on the table. “And I’m saying you’re speculating again. Christ! It’s exactly what I warned you not to do.”

“Look, I’ve always ridiculed the extremists in the environmentalist movement who concoct conspiracy theories about what the biotech industry is capable of doing to cover up its mistakes. But this is different, and it’s personal.”

“I don’t get what you mean.”

“Because, Greg, if that old man getting killed in Kailua has anything to do with a bird flu outbreak that happened eighteen months ago, then isn’t it obvious by the timing that they weren’t just worried about him?”

“You’re not suggesting what I think you are?”

“You’re damn right I am. It couldn’t just be a coincidence that they killed him within days of my going out there and demanding soil samples to test for genetic vectors. I’ve got to consider that they wanted to kill me as well.”

“Oh, my God, Kathleen, that’s absolute paranoia! If the board gets wind of you going around spouting stuff like that, no way can I help you keep your position on staff. Please, drop it now, before you do your career more damage than I can repair.”

“Really, Dr. Stanton, I am not paranoid,” she shot back, giving free rein to her Irish temper. His sitting there in his deluxe suit, all pampered and comfortable while dismissing her fears, left her wanting to douse him with his wine. “There’s a solid logic to back up the idea of those men with silencers being hit men and me as their intended target.”

“Dr. Sullivan, I really don’t want to get into this—”

“You’ll be hearing me out, Greg Stanton!” she interrupted.

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