“I’ll need some blood. I can run a number of tests. It might take a while, but my guess is whatever made his blood so threatening is likely to show up pretty quickly.”
“But?”
“No, it’s nothing. You just have to realize, depending on where the abnormality is, this could take anywhere from days to weeks. There just are so many different things to check.”
Ben shook his head with a curt nod. “No, whatever it is, it showed up immediately. I mean, I donated blood and less than an hour later, I had become the prized animal at the zoo.”
“All right. We can go to my lab first thing in the morning and find out.”
Sam looked at her, his deep blue eyes pleading. “Any chance we could get started any earlier?”
She glanced at her watch. “It’s four-thirty in the morning. Besides, have you heard the weather report? We’re supposed to get the blizzard of the decade.”
“We’ve pissed off some important people,” Sam said, “There’s a national manhunt for us. We don’t have a lot of time.”
She grabbed her keys and sighed. “All right. Let me grab my jacket. We’ll take my car and go now.”
On their way out, Ben glanced wistfully at the Camaro.
Chapter Fifty
Tom said, “That’s Minot up ahead.”
Genevieve joked, “That black smudge in the distance? How can you tell?”
Everywhere they went, everything was surrounded by a belt of trees that slowly emerged from the distance. It was hard to tell if they were looking at trees, a low thunderstorm rolling in, or even the Rocky Mountains. They weren’t close enough to the mountains to see them.
Their flight had been diverted to Fargo after it became apparent that Minot was in for a devastating blizzard. Tom had hired a car and led them, arrow-like, from Fargo up to Grand Forks, then along an endless stretch of Highway 2 toward Minot. The most excitement they had was stopping for gas, and trying to figure out whether they would run out of it before they hit the next open station.
Tom put on the blinker. Out of nowhere, the rail yard had appeared outside the edge of town. He pulled up into Main Street, before finally stopping in the front of a local camping and sporting goods store. Because of the storm, it was already open, despite being just after seven a.m. People were already trying to grab survival supplies in case the weather reports being bandied about were even close to accurate.
He opened the door and stepped out of the rental car, an inconspicuous silver Ford Explorer.
The gray sky turned to pitch darkness on the horizon, where angry clouds approached.
Genevieve turned to him and said, “Let’s get the supplies. We have lots of work to do before that storm hits!”
Chapter Fifty-One
The blizzard hit with speed and ferocity.
Ben recalled the evil looking, dark clouds he’d seen on their way over as the wind howled and whipped at the building’s roof high above. He held his breath, wondering whether or not the building could take it. Sam sat opposite them with a mug of coffee.
Aliana applied the tourniquet to his right arm.
It seemed a lifetime ago since he first donated blood at George Washington Hospital — where all his problems had started. In fact, that was where his old life had ended and a new one commenced. He’d lost his career, the few acquaintances he might have accepted as friends, and his freedom, but hey, he’d met a few genuinely good people who had restored his faith in mankind. So, it wasn’t all bad.
There was a loud bang as a tree fell on the roof. Aliana didn’t flinch.
He asked, “Do you think the building will hold?”
Aliana smiled, revealing a nice set of teeth and a kindness he hadn’t recognized before. “Are you kidding me?”
“No. I’ve survived being wrongfully imprisoned by the FBI, jumping from a helicopter shot out of the sky by my own government, a white-water rafting trip two months before the river was meant to be ridden, some drug dealers, and a whole lot of icy cold weather — so, no I’m not kidding you — I want to know, was it all for nothing because I’m about to get killed in some freak storm in North Dakota!”
She inserted the needle and started drawing blood, without breaking stride. “This building wasn’t purpose built for our needs. Do you want to take a guess what its original intended purpose was?”
“No.”
Sam said, “See, Aliana, it’s like I said, he’s no fun at all.”
Ben, adequately placated said, “What was this building originally meant to be used for?”
“Storage.”
“Of what?”
Aliana tilted her head slightly and grinned. “That’s the right question.”
“And the answer is?”
“ICBMs.”
Ben’s felt something large squash his chest. “Intercontinental ballistic missiles!”
“That’s right,” she replied calmly.
“We’re sitting in a nuclear missile silo? Isn’t that dangerous? Nuclear radiation or something?”
“No. ICBMs don’t actually leak radiation. Besides, this one was built late during the Cold War and never put into active duty.”
Ben looked at her through narrowed eyes. “You’re saying Uncle Sam spent a fortune to build this place… and never used it?”
“Technically, we spent a fortune on all the nuclear silos during the Cold War and never put any of them to use. But yes, Uncle Sam paid for it, and then we got to pick it up for a song. And now you’re reaping the benefits of being inside the most secure building in Minot!”
“That’s great. How long do you think the blizzard will rage?”
“They’re saying it could be days, but I think they’re wrong.”
Ben’s lips curled into a half grin. “You think the meteorologists are wrong?”
“Yep. It’s like the old saying, ‘weathermen and fools predict the weather’. In this, I’m betting on the fool. And why shouldn’t I? I’ve lived here long enough to know when a storm front is moving too quickly to stay around.”
“You think it will be quick?”
“Few hours at most,” she replied without hesitation.
Aliana released the tourniquet and pulled out the needle. She’d withdrawn a hundred milliliters of blood into a bottle. She pressed down with her thumb hard enough that it hurt at the puncture site, and then said, “Hold this for about five minutes if you don’t want to keep bleeding.”
“Okay, thanks.” Ben eyed the bottle of blood. It seemed like a lot. “Got enough?”
Aliana smiled. “Yeah. I wanted to get extra so that I don’t have to keep poking and prodding you. One needle. Lots of blood. No repeats.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.” Ben looked at her and asked, “Now what?”
“Now I’ll run some tests while the storm rages on outside.”
“What will that entail?”
“For the most part, I’ll feed the various samples into a machine that will give me very specific answers in the format of ‘yes you have something’ or ‘no you don’t’. But I’ll also put a sample under the microscope and go back to basics — see if I can spot anything unusual.”
“You can do that?” Ben opened his mouth to speak and closed his eyes. “I’m sorry, what I meant to say was, people still do that sort of stuff? I thought computers spat out the readings?”
Aliana wasn’t offended by his surprise. “For the most part, that’s what I do. Did I mention I’m a leading geneticist? To answer your question, yes, I can look through a microscope and tell you if something’s wrong — or at least different.”
Sam finished his mug. He washed it in the little kitchenette and dried it with a towel, before putting it back in the cupboard. He turned to Aliana. “Don’t keep us waiting. I’ll bet you a romantic vacation with a guy you sometimes can stand that you’ll have an answer for us two minutes after you glance at his blood.”