Out of the Ashes by Skip Allen

Author:Skip Allen [Skip Allen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780595763306
Publisher: iUniverse
Published: 2004-04-22T00:00:00+00:00

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Srikant turned onto Mulberry Street so fast that he almost lost control of his Honda Civic when the back tires skidded on some loose dirt and gravel lying in the road. An elderly neighbor, who lived in the corner house, was watering her garden when she witnessed Srikant’s reckless display. She was quick to shout, “Slow down, you idiot! The speed limit is 20 miles per hour here! You’re gonna kill somebody if you keep driving like that, you maniac!”

Srikant heard her through his open window, but knew he’d only be delayed longer if he stopped to tell her off. The hell with her. I own a house here, and I can drive like I damn well please in my own neighborhood, he muttered.

He pulled into the narrow driveway and quickly drove down the path to the house. After coming to a screeching halt, he flung open the car door in his rush to get out. But before he could even stand up, the door bounced back with even greater force, banging up against his extended left leg and smashing into his shin bone. Srikant screamed out in excruciating pain, holding his shin as tears began to roll down his face. After a few moments the pain subsided barely enough for him to yell, “Oh, shit, that hurts!”

He pulled up his left pant leg and saw a deep cut over the shin bone beginning to bleed. Fortunately, it wasn’t bleeding profusely, but the skin around the wound was swelling fast. He knew he’d be able to get through today, but sure-as-hell wouldn’t be able to walk on this leg tomorrow. Who cares? he thought. Come tomorrow morning, I won’t have anything in the world to worry about.

Slowly, Srikant got out of the car. He tried to walk but the injury was too painful and could only manage to slowly limp. His determination to find the E. coli batch was the only thing that pushed him forward. Fortunately, the house was only one level, and his lab was set up in the den toward the back. He made it to the den and began a frantic search for the batch that he stole from BG Labs. His checks of the fermenting and dehydrating equipment came up zero. The highly concentrated, powdered E. coli was still secure, but the original batch of E. coli 157:H7 was nowhere to be found. “Damn! What am I going to do now?” Srikant said aloud.

Then he had an idea. It was a wild idea, but it might just be enough to get him out of trouble with Andy and keep the auditors off their back so that they wouldn’t be in any danger of losing the government contract. In the refrigerator, in one corner of his lab, there was a small amount of E. coli 157:PH7 still in liquid form. Srikant thought, All I have to do is change the labels on this container and I’ll be home free.

From what Srikant could remember about the contract, a certain amount of the experimental E.

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