CODE X:Episode 1 (9 page)

“Okay, I’ll keep the line hot between 12
A.M. and 1 A.M. every night starting this Friday. I think that
since I know to look for the unknown, it will actually make it
easier to locate some information.”

Biggins replies, “Thanks. It’s too dangerous
for us to give you a channel, that’s why I have to make contact
with you.”

Jenna answers, “I know. Stay safe. Bye.”

Biggins turns to Parks, “Wherever they took
her, its super-secret.”

Parks steps back and slams his fist into his
hand. “You’re not telling me anything new. I’m so pissed off that
even a reporter can’t get a lead. This is so bullshit.”

“Calm down. Eddie’s got some underground
sources too. It’s early in the mission; it’s been only 30 days.
Concentrate on getting ready for the battles ahead. I know I’ve
given you shit, but you’re doing pretty damn good.”

Eddie chimes in, “Yeah, you got the physical
tools, but you gotta keep your mind right. Hell, if you had a right
mind, I might even take you.”

Parks stiffens, juts out his jaw, “Okay, I
get it. Biggins, I’m gonna toast your ass.”

“You mean you’ll try big mouth.” They all
laugh.

Chapter 26

Inside Vicki’s
lab, Candy watches a computer screen flash while it’s working to
solve a problem. Printer starts to hum readying to print, then the
printer stops almost as soon as it starts.

Candy slumps her shoulders, “It’s no use Dr.
Collins. The sequence ran out before it registered. What are you
looking for?”

“There’s got to be a cell programming
mechanism for DNA. I know it!”

Candy asks, “You mean like a switch?”

“It’s a code. That invisible code sends the
message to reproduce exactly like the original cell at life’s
beginning. A baby begins to form from a single cell. That cell
keeps dividing, growing double in size, forming body parts, until
it’s born.”

She looks puzzled, “You mean a code gives
instructions to make that baby half of each parent, not the mom and
dad?”

Vicki tries to explain. “Well, something
nature or God put in all humans at the beginning of life; that when
they start to grow into a baby, reproducing from a single cell,
instructions are sent out to form the parts of that life. It’s the
primer code that sends the orders to the rest of the genes for
arms, legs, everything, in a special sequence at the
beginning.”

Candy tries to clear up her confusion. “What
about the human genes already known and mapped out by the Human
Genome Project? How are we able to clone animals?”

Vicki shakes her head no. “That’s not the
same. The best way to answer your question; when we clone today, we
are putting a duplicate identical cell of another animal inside an
egg. That egg has no information in it because the nucleus or other
animal’s information has been replaced. When they cloned Dolly the
sheep many years ago, they discovered her telomeres were shorter,
actually the same length as the donor six year old sheep. Telomeres
are pieces of DNA that protect the chromosomes, like the plastic
tips on shoelaces.”

Candy steps forward, and hurries to explain
her lack of understanding. “We weren’t taught the details of in
depth cloning medical procedures in school. Our training
concentrated on basics and equipment usage. They told us we would
have had to go to med-school to learn about all the different
methods used. Our instructors said the doctors would teach us their
cloning procedures. I never learned that telomeres worked
differently in cloning or caused problems.”

Vicki pats her on the shoulder and
continues, “I understand, it can be real complicated. Don’t worry
about it. I don’t mind explaining it to you. When telomeres get too
short, old age takes over. The body can no longer repair itself.
That’s why old people’s bodies break down. Their cells are too old
and get replaced by older cells each time.”

“You’re getting me a little mixed up. But
they are called clones, aren’t they?”

Vicki nods and points at her because her
analysis is spot on correct. “Yes, they are identical to their
clone, the person who donated their DNA. But, the cells are older.
It would be like a human baby would look one year old, but the age
of the cells would be 40 years old if it came from a 40 year old
person trying to clone itself. The cloned people are easy targets
for disease because their death clocks are shorter, that’s a fact.
True clones are babies born as identical twins. Their egg splits
into two identical people.”

Candy shakes her head in bewilderment. “I
was pretty good in school, but now you have me confused. You say
you are looking for the unknown?”

Vicki emphatically shakes her head yes.
“That is the needle in a haystack. I just don’t know where the
haystack is located. You said unknown Candy. That’s a good name for
finding something nobody else even knows to exist; let’s name it
Code X. From now on we’re looking for Code X. If it occurs and I
can find it, the super computers can print out the DNA blueprint in
a few days.”

“Wow! Dr. Collins, it’s so cool to work with
you.”

Vicki puts her arm around Candy, “No, you’re
working with me made me try to solve puzzles again. We’re going to
make a great team.”

Chapter 27

Vicki is waiting
outside Dr. Landau’s office. Henry opens the door and announces,
“Dr. Collins, Dr. Landau is ready for you now.”

She enters, “Thanks Henry.” She takes the
single chair in front of Landau.

Landau swivels around front in his chair
from the aquarium. “Welcome Dr. Collins, how is your project coming
along?”

“That’s why I wanted to meet with you. I’ve
got a new idea that I think will solve a lot of the DNA questions
science wants answered.”

“Fantastic. Tell me about it. I want to know
about your new theory. This has no bearing on your request for
resources. Like we said from the beginning, we will supply you
whatever you ask for, whatever you need.”

Vicki moves to the edge of her chair, leans
forward, “Thank you. You know that scientists have known that
between the strands of the 23,000 or so pairs of DNA in a human
being, they discovered billions of other euchromatic bases that
seemed to have no purpose. I think they do have a purpose. I think
they are the switch that determines when a gene is turned on or
off, for example. This switch regulator is what makes one cell a
kidney cell, for instance, and another a brain cell. This could be
the identifier that would give us the answers to controlling the
makeup of a person’s DNA.”

Landau strokes his chin. “Fascinating.
That’s a very unique view of a newly discovered problem. I don’t
have to tell you that a project called the Encyclopedia of DNA
Elements, ENCODE, has found that many of these bases do,
nevertheless, play a chemical role in human biology.”

Vicki shakes her finger no. “Yes. But they
are identifying chemical switches. Less than 3% react to a chemical
switch and that is as far as they can go. That leaves 97% still
left to identify their usage. Right now it’s a dead end. I believe
there is something that is more universal in flipping or
controlling the switch. That’s what I’m going to pursue. I’ve named
it Code X. It's the code that makes it all happen. So I have an
unusual request for you that would aid my research. Dr. Einstein
left part of his brain for research and I would like to get a slice
to run some tests on it, to verify my theory.”

Now landau stands up and grabs his putter.
“That is a tall order, but, you are working with the right company
who can fulfill your request. I have a few friends in government
who owe me a favor. I’ll see you have the sample delivered to your
lab in a couple of days.”

Vicki breathes a sigh of relief. “That would
be wonderful. I do need to ask you a question concerning security.
I’m concerned that there is more surveillance on me when I’m away
from work. It’s quite unsettling.” Vicki notices a change in
Landau’s body language. She hit a nerve.

He answers, “I sympathize with you, but, I
have no control over security. You are a quite valuable asset as
you’re proving now. So, it would not be unusual for security to
keep a close watch on you to guarantee your continued safety. As
the head of Alomet, I’m also under tight security. You should take
comfort that you are being guarded at all times. Nothing bad can
happen to you.”

“You’re right. I guess it will take some
getting used to. Forget I even asked. Thank you again for the
opportunity.” She gets up to leave and Henry opens the door.

Before she completely exits Landau says his
final words, “Dr. Collins, keep up the excellent, excellent
work.”

Henry shuts the door behind her.

Landau smiles and sets his putter down
against his desk. “I want you to increase the monitoring of Dr.
Collins. She seems to be her old self and might be on the verge of
another one of her breakthrough discoveries. Report to me any
findings she might uncover that cause a buzz among the research
staff. I’ve got a special feeling about her fresh take on an
unsolved problem.”

Chapter 28

Six Weeks in the Jungle

Parks and Biggins are running on the jungle
trail in shorts. He looks over at her and smiles because he’s not
winded. He looks down at his stomach and smiles wider when he sees
his washboard abs and how flat his gut is. Vicki won’t recognize
him.

“Okay Parks, today we increase to the top
level test run.”

“Did you forget to bring your leather mask …
whips...chains?”

“Aikido’s a sport for pussies like
you...I’ll take war games any day of the week.”

“Spoken like the true, kick ass, killing
bitch you are. You think Jenna or Eddie’s got a lead for us
yet?”

“When Eddie gets back today, we’ll call
Jenna...Mr. Candy Ass.”

She sprints ahead at a full run, leaving him
behind.

Parks smiles, kicks his legs into high gear.
Doing the male thing, he begins to leave Biggins behind. No matter
how hard she tries to match his power strides, he always flirts
ahead with his oversized frame and muscles. He mercilessly taunts
her with his physical actions.

She’s pissed! Losing kills her. He drops
back into low gear to match her pace. Smiles -- Then backpedals
around her, like she did to him so long ago.

“You been crowing like the Queen Hen so
long, I just thought I’d remind you...who’s the Rooster?”

They’re inside the command tent at night.
There’s an eerie computer glow to the setting.

Eddie, “Go Biggins. The lines secure.”

“Jenna, find anything?”

Inside Jenna’s apartment she sits at her
desk with her phone hooked up to an identical voice scrambler.

“Bad news Carla. The government denies
existence of any hidden base. Congress did divert funds from the
military to NSA behind closed doors when the new congress took
control. But, the session was behind closed doors and the funding
was classified top secret. Alomet research is a shadow company.
That’s my best guess where they went.”

Parks grabs the phone from Biggins, “Any
news on Vicki?”

“Zero. Like she disappeared off the planet.
I had some government spooks call on me here at home the other
night. They told me to lay off or I’d go straight to jail. Somebody
is raising you to the level of a national security emergency, all
out full press to silence you, and me. It really stinks. The more
it stinks, the better I like finding the body.”

Biggins grabs the phone back from Parks.
“How are my kids?”

“They’re doing fine Carla. I sent a cop
friend over asking them where you were. They wouldn’t say a
word…”

Alomet Security Center looks like it’s out
of “Mission Impossible.” The master control center has four techs
monitoring a wall of twenty monitors. Three wall screens show Jenna
in her living room from different angles. Henry smiles, paces
around behind the tech that controls her cameras. Jenna’s voice
echoes throughout:

“…Oh, watch CNN’s Wolf Blitzer tonight.
You’ll find a very interesting face at a Denver fund raiser for
Senator Concannon...Bye.”

Henry grabs the tech and spins him around
toward him, “Carla...run that name on all of Dr. Collins known
friends.” He shouts to the room, “Did anyone get a line on where
they are?”

A tech at the far end of the room answers,
“We were able to trace it into a remote area of Mexico.
Guerrilla-Mercenary territory. Don’t worry Henry. Give us a few
hours, and I’ll find the bastard.”

The tech Henry grabbed turns to him, “Carla
Biggins just came up. Three kids, single white female, best friends
with Dr. Collins since the first grade, and a war hero.”

“Good job. Mexico will owe us one for
cleaning out a merc camp.”

Later, back in the command center, Eddie
goes to his TV and switches it to CNN. “Here it is. Love my little
dishes.”

Concannon’s finished a speech. Wolf Blitzer
narrates as a TV camera moves to a close up on Concannon. His
supporters on stage surround the Senator. They mill around hoping
to congratulate him personally and he savors every minute of it by
working the crowd.

Wolf Blitzer describes the scene as it plays
out, “Can anyone stop Senator Concannon’s Blitzkrieg in his fourth
try for the Presidency? He leads by 60 points two months before the
first primary, facing only two token opponents. The polls for the
country have him leading by 40 points over the President with just
12 months before the country elects our next president. He’s going
to have a very happy Christmas with, for right now, a lock on
stopping the President in his bid to get reelected.”

A man behind Concannon places his hand on
his shoulder. Concannon smiles and waves to his ovation. He leans
close to hear what’s being whispered. Concannon glances and looks
to the right front row, flashes thumbs up to an enthusiastic,
applauding Landau!