Fruit of Misfortune (16 page)

“I’m sorry, but I’m not taking my clothes off
in front of you, Dr. Gunn.”

“I’m a doctor. It won’t be the first time
I’ve conducted the procedure. Your husband may be present, if it
makes you feel more comfortable.”

I glanced at David, whose eyes were wider
than mine.

“Uhh… No,” David said.

“It’s routine.” Gunn tucked his hands into
his lab coat pockets. “I’m sure you’ve had the procedure done by
your gynecologist.”

“I…” I shook my head.

Galen scratched the back of his head and
raised his brows before he walked away, leaving David and me to
deal with the scientist.

“Mr. Chios,” Gunn turned to David, “the final
evaluation of her menstrual troubles would be more precise with
this test, but it’s her call. I can’t force her.”

David looked at me, waiting for my final say.
I knew that the reason I needed both the sonogram and the physical
was because it was imperative to verify that my ovaries were
releasing millions of ovules at one time as Eryx had said, and Gunn
might be able to pinpoint the reason behind it. Nyx’s and Eryx’s
empathic skills were good, but until I held concrete evidence of
their so-called finding, it was nothing but a lot of hot air. I
hoped Gunn liked surprises because he was in for a rather
unexpected one if they were correct.

“Okay.” I sighed. “In the name of science,
right?”

“That’s right,” Gunn said, turning on the
sonogram machine. “Let’s begin.”

David stepped away from the area that Gunn
had designated for me. He pulled on a long curtain that hung from a
steel rail, enclosing the section. He then instructed me to lie
flat on my back. He placed a white paper sheet over the lower half
of my body and lifted the hospital gown to my midriff.

“The gel’s cold,” the doctor said.

From a plastic bottle, he squeezed a blue gel
over my abdomen. My skin responded to the material’s icy
temperature by sprouting hundreds of goose bumps. He reached for a
wand in the shape of a half moon and slid it over my stomach.

“Why isn’t David having any more tests run?”
I asked.

“I’m undecided on the type of testing that
should be done. I’m also running his blood tests one more time
because I’m not getting a very good—” Gunn stopped in mid-sentence.
The wand in his hand was placed over the lower mid-region of my
abdomen. He applied pressure, angling the half-moon in different
directions. With quick strokes, he pressed buttons on the machine
that made it print photographs of what was displayed on the screen.
He dropped the wand on the cart and held the photocopies up. From
his lab coat pocket, he pulled out his glasses and put them on.

“What do you see?” I asked.

“Are you taking fertility drugs, Mrs.
Chios?”

“No.” I lowered the hospital gown to my
lap.

“Hmm…” Gunn’s face twisted. “And you’re not
pregnant.”

“No.”

Gunn’s eyelids began to flutter. I felt my
own eyes mimic the doctor’s. His tick was starting to rub off on
me.

“We need to move on to the physical
examination,” he said.

After taking my vital signs, checking my
reflexes and inspecting my nose, eyes, and ears, the awkward part
came. I crossed my arms over my face to hide the embarrassment that
felt like a fire burning through my cheeks.

“Oh, dear,” the doctor said. He pulled the
paper sheet down and over my legs. “I can’t continue with this
examination.”

“Why not?” I kept my arms crossed over my
face. “I’m not going to do this over again, so you better do it
now.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Gunn lifted my arms
off my face.

“Tell you what?”

“That you’re not sexually active. There was
no need to conduct the examination.”

I stared past him, thinking that there wasn’t
a lie I could tell him that wouldn’t make me sound ignorant.
I
didn’t know I was a virgin
, was the best excuse I could think
of, and I was pretty sure he wouldn’t believe it.

“Sit up, please.” Dr. Gunn pulled on my arm
to help me. He took a jar of cotton swabs from a small cart next to
the bed. “Open your mouth.” He rubbed the inside of my cheek with
one of the swabs, and then dropped the swab in a glass tube. He
tugged at the curtain, making the silver rings slide across the
steel rod.

Behind the drape, Galen and David stood a few
tables away. Gunn gave them a rude stare.

“Is there a problem?” David asked.

“I couldn’t perform one of the examinations,”
Gunn said, walking to a set of machines that were lined against the
wall. “I’m sure you know why.” His voice was seasoned with a pinch
of hostility.

“
Really?
” Galen cocked his brow at
David, and David shot him a glare in return. Galen took two steps
back, raising his hands as if in defeat. “It’s a compliment.”
Twisting his neck to look at me, Galen gave me a wink and a nod
that a coach would have given the team member deemed
Most
Valuable Player
.

I raised my hands to my face, covering the
awkwardness and dread of having Galen—of all people—cheer me on, in
one of the most intimate aspects of my life. But most of all, I
understood that until that moment, Galen thought that David and I
had had sex. Did the rest of their family think the same? No wonder
Nyx was so fixed on the idea that I might’ve been pregnant.

“I’ll continue with this charade of yours—the
fake names, the unwillingness to reveal more details about
yourselves…” Gunn pointed to me. “But submitting this girl to a
test she didn’t need by lying about marriage, well that’s morally
wrong.”

“Hmph,” Galen huffed. “I doubt you’re
qualified to tell anyone what’s right or wrong.”

“I beg your pardon?” Gunn furrowed his brow,
his hands crossed over his chest.

“If morality is the issue, then I’m sure you
won’t have a problem with a small error of judgment on our part,
Doctor. You have quite the track record yourself.” Galen stepped
toward the scientist. “Or am I wrong?”

Gunn’s blinks seemed to be permanent at that
moment. His lids would have flown away from his eyes had they not
been fixed to his face. The tension in the room rose, and David
stepped closer to the doctor and his brother.

“You’re wrong.” Gunn’s eyelids flapped.
“You’re very wrong.”

“Deny it all you want, but I know about your
dirty ties with Gío Carboné,” said Galen.

The scientist responded to the accusation
with silence. Galen stared him down until Gunn’s evident discomfort
made him turn away.

“That’s the man that was here when we
arrived—the collector,” David said to Gunn. “What’s your
association with him?”

“Why?” Gunn asked. “Are you here to arrest
me? Are you Interpol? Tell me now, because I’ll have to call my
wife if you’re taking me to prison. I’m allowed one phone call,
aren’t I?”

What was this man involved in that had him
thinking we were the police? Whatever it was, it was serious. Very
serious.

“What’s he talking about?” David turned to
Galen.

“Did you even bother to look at the
information on the flash drive I gave you last night?” Galen’s
light green eyes blinked once in frustration.

“I was—uh—preoccupied.”

“You didn’t tell me about that.” I tugged at
David’s sleeve. “What was on the flash drive?”

“Doctor,” Galen said, “would you like to tell
them about your business ventures, or will you grant me the
honor?”

“I’m not talking. Are you Interpol or not?”
Gunn demanded.

“And if we are?” David played with the
scientist’s uncertainty.

“I’m calling my lawyer.” Gunn pulled a cell
phone from his pants pocket. “No, I’m calling my wife first, and
then my lawyer.” He scratched his head. “Or maybe I should call my
lawyer first? Yes. A lawyer would be more helpful than my wife
right now.” He held the phone up with a trembling hand and looked
at it, his eyelids blinking at full speed. “Son of a bastard
banshee! I don’t have a lawyer!” He slammed the phone down on the
counter. “Why don’t I have a lawyer?”

“Calm down.” Galen placed a hand on Gunn’s
shoulder. “It’ll be days before Interpol catches up to you.”

Gunn squealed.

“Are the police really looking for you?” I
asked.

“I assumed—” Gunn said.

“No,” Galen interrupted. For once, his evil
smirk mollified me. He was just teasing the poor man.

“Well, not him, specifically, but they are
looking for someone tied to a theft.” Galen placed his index finger
on his chin. “Or is it thefts?”

“Tell me how you know about that!” Gunn
demanded.

“I’d like to know, as well,” said David.

“Mhh… No.” Galen wrinkled his nose. “But I
can tell you that Einstein’s genius brain is missing from the
Smithsonian. And guess who has it?”

“Carboné,” Gunn admitted, leaning over the
sink. He turned on the faucet and splashed water on his face and
neck. “He replaced it with another.”

“Tsk, tsk, Gunn.” Galen shook his finger at
the geneticist. “Be honest, now. Who stole that one-of-a-kind
specimen?”

“I did.” The doctor sighed. “I was granted
access—to study it. I needed funds for my research and Carboné was
willing to finance me in exchange for leads. I didn’t think I’d be
the one to carry out his plans.”

“Why would Carboné want someone’s brain?” I
flinched.

“I told you. He’s a collector of rarities—an
eccentric man.”

“You do understand that you’re off his
payroll as of today?” David reminded him of the verbal contract
between them.

Gunn dried his face with the bottom of his
lab coat. “I understood and accepted the terms of our agreement,
yes. But Carboné’s was never exclusive, and I’m at liberty to
choose with whom I do business.” He picked up his phone and frowned
at the cracked screen. “I’ll make the call tonight to end future
projects with him.”

“Well, unlike Carboné’s, ours is a good
business relationship,” Galen said, and the doctor gave him a
derisive look. “Oh, you have something to say?”

“You’re blackmailing me. I wouldn’t exactly
call this ‘good business’.”

“It’s not blackmail, Doctor. It’s an eye for
an eye. You remember that.”

With a frustrated look on his face, the
scientist turned to me.

“What’s your relation to Mr. David?”

“I’m his girlfriend.”

“Fiancé,” David corrected me.

Why did that word make me feel
smothered—pressured?

“I can tell that you and Mr. Galen are truly
brothers,” he said to David. “Your physical genetic makeup is proof
of that.” Gunn’s eyes ran across the glass containers with steel
lids that were laid out across the table in front of him. He picked
one and pulled a cotton ball out. “Open your mouth,” he told David.
“I need a DNA culture of your saliva. Your blood results are all
wrong.” Gunn wiped the piece of cotton on the inside of David’s
cheek. “You can change back into your clothes. This concludes our
testing for both of you.”

I thought we would leave right after the
tests had finished, but Dr. Gunn asked us to stay just in case he
needed to conduct further testing.

Hours passed, and we observed as Gunn took
notes of each test result, of each slide he placed under a
different microscope, and of each data sheet he read. We watched as
he sketched two human bodies—a male and female. He added notes on
the side margins of each drawing and equations that must’ve been
like a first language to him.

“What time is it?” I asked, not caring who
the answer came from.

“It’s seven-thirty. You must be hungry.” The
doctor set his pencil down. “There’s a place that delivers. It’s
not very good, but it’s edible.”

“I’ll take it,” I said. “I’m starving.”

“We have to go,” Galen said to Dr. Gunn.
“You’ll contact us as soon as your results are ready?”

“I’d like to deliver them in person, so I can
explain the findings,” Gunn said. “Would it be a problem?”

“Not at all,” said David.

Galen grabbed a pile of papers from the
doctor’s hands and flipped through them. Gunn’s annoyed glare
didn’t seem to bother Galen.

“Gunn, did you study the culture that was
delivered to you last night?” Galen asked. “It’s not in here.”

“Yes, I did.” The scientist pulled the papers
from Galen’s grasp and shoved them into a folder.

“And?” I asked.

“It’s fat. Human fat and toxins,” Gunn said,
holding the disheveled file against his chest. “Where did you get
it?”

“That doesn’t matter. We only needed to know
what it was.”

“Just tell him,” I said, and Galen turned to
look at me, his stare warning me to keep quiet. “Fine. I’ll tell
him.” I glanced back at Gunn. “It’s mine. It’s my vomit.”

Three pairs of eyes stared at me: one pair
puzzled, one pair angry, and one pair not judging.

“That’s impossible,” Gunn said. “The human
body isn’t capable of—”

“And my body temperature drops every
night.”

“Isis.” David shook his head, prompting me to
stop.

“I get hypothermia. That’s why I have these
tiny blue spots.” I held out my arm so that he could see what I was
referring to. “And I feel like I’m going crazy, and I—”

“That’s enough,” Galen said.

“I get anxiety attacks, too. It all happens
at the same time every night, and that’s why we have to leave. But
last night—”

“I said that’s enough!” Galen’s voice echoed
against the thick laboratory walls.

“Let her speak.” David pulled me close to
him, as if protecting me from his brother’s anger. “How else is he
supposed to help us if he doesn’t have a clue of what he’s supposed
to be looking for?”

“Yes,” Gunn said. “I’ve been telling you that
all along.”

With a tight jaw, Galen turned and headed for
the door.

“We don’t have time for this,” Galen hissed.
“We need to go. We have a little over an hour before it
begins.”