“No sign of cancer. None.”
“Telomerase levels?”
“They were completely normal.”
She drummed her fingers on the tabletop and took another sip of coffee. “That doesn’t necessarily mean anything.” In some types of cancer, telomerase levels didn’t rise at all.
She thought about it some more, pulling her coffee close to her chest and letting the steam waft up into her nose. “How old is the subject?”
“Forty. He looks thirty.”
“Have you met him?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“What’s he like?”
“Handsome, polite. Currently a threat to national security.”
Aliana grinned. “There’s always something, isn’t there?”
Emma’s voice softened. “I’ll say. I’m not kidding. The guy seemed really nice.”
Aliana’s eyebrows narrowed with disapproval. “What did he do?”
“I don’t know.”
“You didn’t ask?”
Emma said, “No. I’m a medical doctor. I treat who I’m asked to treat. That’s all.”
The lines around Aliana’s face hardened. Something about Emma’s voice sent a chill down her spine. Had she just been lied to?
It brought her back to the original question… was there a crime so morally and ethically wrong that she shouldn’t commit it in order to give the new drug a chance to change the world?
It came back again with a resounding, no.
“All right, I’ll keep at it,” Aliana said. “Look. If we’re going to do this we’re going to have to do it right. That will mean dipping into some significant capital. I’m okay with that, but I don’t honestly think the company will have the resources that you’re talking about, both in expertise and material, to reverse engineer the sample you’ve given me.”
Emma said, “I agree. I’ve been thinking the same thing.”
“And?”
“I think we should merge the two companies. Pool our assets. I’m willing to put everything on the table to make this happen.”
Aliana admitted, “I don’t even know how we would go about such a merger.”
“We can talk deals soon. I’ve told the hospital I’m not coming in for the rest of the week. I’ll be on a flight to meet up with you as soon as I can.”
“Both companies are publically listed. A merger will require some government oversight. And more time.”
“You’ll see,” Emma said. “There are structures in place that would trigger a merger, if it’s warranted or necessary. But for the most part, it’s nothing but shared profit and shared opportunity. And the chance to cure cancer.”
It was an overblown phrase. Cancer researchers never thought in terms of “curing cancer.” It was impossible, too big to hope for. You might as well hope for the sun to stop shining, because that’s what it would take to end all mutations.
And where would humanity be without mutations?
Still in the trees with the rest of the monkeys?
No, without mutations, life didn’t exist. There was no cure for cancer.
But there might be a cure for some types of cancer. Or…a way to stop cells that weren’t cancerous from aging.
Take your pick.
Aliana said, “When will you get here?”
Emma said, “I’ll be on a flight first thing in the morning.”
Chapter Forty-Three
The train rolled on through the night.
Sam stayed awake, having slept intermittently for the previous twenty-four hours. He was recharged, ready for whatever came next. He listened to the drone of the train’s wheels, monotonously grinding along the iron track, the freight cart rocking gently, reminding him of the swell of a gentle ocean.
Ben jammed himself into a ball on the adjoining, two-seater couch. He joined the sleep of the damned after refusing to sleep for the first leg of the trip, in case the train was boarded. Sam checked his watch, they were getting close.
The train started to slow. He glanced out the digital window.
A sign read, Welcome to Devils Lake.
Sam grabbed his thick jacket and woke up Ben. “Wake up. This is our stop.”
Ben tried to withhold a yawn. His lips curled into what might pass for a smile. “This is Minot?”
“No. Devil’s Lake.”
Ben blinked, his mind trying to place them in relation to Minot. He opened up the map. “It says on the map here that the next stop is Rugby and then Minot.”
“That sounds right.”
“We want to get to Minot, right?”
“Right.”
“So why are we getting off at Devil’s lake?”
“Because there’s still a chance THEY know where we’re headed.”
“You said everything was purchased through a separate business, not connected to you in any way?”
“Sure. But like you said, they’re the government; they’re not playing by the same rules as you and I. Which means, they might just know where we’re headed.” Sam pointed to Minot on the map. “If they do, they’ll have a small army of law enforcement officers waiting for us here, and if I was Devereaux, I’d put a second group at Rugby, just in case we get off early.”
“So we’re getting off two stations back?”
Sam grinned. “So we’re getting off two stations back.”
The train reached its stop with a slight jolt. Sam opened the shipping container’s door and he and Ben slipped through. He closed the door, making sure it was still locked, and stepped off the track, into the shade of the riparian forest.
They crouched down and waited until the freight train moved again.
As soon as it left, Sam stepped forward, trying to orient himself. He turned around slowly, his eyes taking in the landscape in the light of the gibbous moon. They were surrounded by thick forests and distant mountains, but there was no sign of a small city.
Ben looked at him. “What is it?”
Sam swallowed hard. “We were supposed to pick up a car left for us at the station at Devils Lake.”
“So where is it?”
“I don’t know, but judging by the lack of roads and, for that matter, train stations, my guess is our train made an unscheduled stop.”
“Great. How far out do you think we are?”
Sam tried to shrug, feigning an indifference he no longer felt. “I have no idea. Hopefully not too far, it’s got to be getting down below twenty degrees Fahrenheit. If we don’t find shelter soon, we’ll freeze to death out here.”
Ben sighed heavily. “Then we’d better make a start.”
Chapter Forty-Four
Ryan Devereaux watched the freight train roll in.
His lips curled into the crooked smile of a gambler whose efforts were about to finally pay off. A pair of military helicopters hovered directly above the train, their powerful spotlights and heat sensors making certain no one managed to open a door and jump off unannounced.
The train engineer brought the cab up to the start of the platform, applied the airbrakes, and shut down the massive diesel engines.
He met Devereaux’s eye, his jaw set firm. “You mind telling me what’s going on?”
“Yes. An officer here will take you aside for questioning while we search your train.”
The engineer crossed his arms, sticking out his chest, ready to argue the point, but one glance at the FBI agents and SWAT team who were all armed to the teeth, and the man simply nodded and kept walking.
Devereaux depressed the mike on his portable radio. “All right, move in!”
The FBI agents secured the perimeter around the train, while the SWAT team cleared the train individual carriage after carriage. It was a long process, because many of the shipping containers being hauled were locked.