years ago and
so might have been discontinued. And the public disavowal of some
wrongdoing was not unfamiliar to Castillo. It sometimes went with the
job. however, this . . .
“understood,” Castillo pressed. “how familiar are you with the full
environmental testings, ‘subject insertions,’ of Phase Three, Doctor?”
erdman paused on the other end. “Jacobson had plans, but we
never . . . DSTI rejected his proposal. If anything was done, he did it on
his own.”
Deny. Deny.
“Well.” Castillo rubbed his eyes. “his notes indicate that’s exactly
what he did. Adopting out infant genetic psychopaths to unknowing
parents to see how the ‘killer gene’ would play out. Paid for it himself
when you wouldn’t.”
“DSTI rejected the proposal, as it tendered virtually zero benefit to
our primary objectives.”
“So you’ve now noted twice. Guess he had motive to become disgruntled after all, huh? his records also indicate that he, himself, was
one of the adoptive parents.”
“Did you find . . . ?”
“A stolen clone? Nope. Not yet, doctor.”
There was a long pause on the other end of the phone. Then erdman spoke again. “Jacobson practically launched DSTI himself and is
one of the preeminent bioengineers in the world. he was permitted
many freedoms.”
“Clearly. Did you know he had a son?”
“Of course.”
“And that the boy is a clone from your lab?”
“yes.”
“how many more could there be then? how many families have
these children been placed with? Jacobson’s notes are iffy. Coded.”
“We don’t know for sure. A dozen, perhaps. All other embryos have
been accounted for. We’ll need to see his notes.”
“Good, he wanted you to see them. he left the key for a reason. I’ve
made my copies and will leave the originals for you. Pick ’em up here
in an hour. you can send me e-copies of what, if anything, you found
earlier when you tried to clear this place out. But it looks like I’ve got
what I really need here already. your six missing students was barely the
beginning. Jacobson’s going to find these other adopted kids, and then
he’s going to set them free, too.”
“Why do you think so?”
“It’s in the journals. he clearly wants the cages emptied. So, if I have
this right, by week’s end, there could be as many as eighteen of these
kids loose in the world?”
erdman returned absolute silence.
“Perfect,” Castillo said. “you guys need to start understanding I’m
on your team and I can’t do my job when I’m being lied to. On that
note, any idea what ‘SharDhara’ is? Person? Place? Something to do
with Afghanistan?”
“No.”
“No? he’s got a map of a region in Afghanistan, a blast radius and
what look like mortality numbers here. estimates. figures. readings of
some kind I can’t make heads or tails of.”
“Doesn’t mean a thing to me. how did you find the room?”
“I’ll be in touch.” Castillo hung up and tapped his chin with the
phone, thinking. The fight with erdman had already become one more
reason to call her. Practically as if he’d done it for that purpose.
So many reasons to call. A dozen more not to .
“Damn it,” he cursed quietly in the empty room.
he tapped in the number from memory.
0630. Might not even be at work yet. Would I call back if she wasn’t?
She answered on the first ring, “kristin romano.”
her name alone, or even the sound of her voice, would have been
enough. Combined, it felt like he’d been shoved out the back of an hC130 into a six-mile hALO-style free fall.
Kristin Romano.
When he’d returned from Iran, he’d spent another year recovering
at the Walter reed Medical Center in D.C. There, Colonel Stanforth
made sure he’d gotten the very best treatment available for the physical
damage he’d endured. Psychological healing had come harder. The biggest hindrance, he’d always known, had been himself. But the assemblyline treatment of Veterans Affairs hadn’t helped much
so might have been discontinued. And the public disavowal of some
wrongdoing was not unfamiliar to Castillo. It sometimes went with the
job. however, this . . .
“understood,” Castillo pressed. “how familiar are you with the full
environmental testings, ‘subject insertions,’ of Phase Three, Doctor?”
erdman paused on the other end. “Jacobson had plans, but we
never . . . DSTI rejected his proposal. If anything was done, he did it on
his own.”
Deny. Deny.
“Well.” Castillo rubbed his eyes. “his notes indicate that’s exactly
what he did. Adopting out infant genetic psychopaths to unknowing
parents to see how the ‘killer gene’ would play out. Paid for it himself
when you wouldn’t.”
“DSTI rejected the proposal, as it tendered virtually zero benefit to
our primary objectives.”
“So you’ve now noted twice. Guess he had motive to become disgruntled after all, huh? his records also indicate that he, himself, was
one of the adoptive parents.”
“Did you find . . . ?”
“A stolen clone? Nope. Not yet, doctor.”
There was a long pause on the other end of the phone. Then erdman spoke again. “Jacobson practically launched DSTI himself and is
one of the preeminent bioengineers in the world. he was permitted
many freedoms.”
“Clearly. Did you know he had a son?”
“Of course.”
“And that the boy is a clone from your lab?”
“yes.”
“how many more could there be then? how many families have
these children been placed with? Jacobson’s notes are iffy. Coded.”
“We don’t know for sure. A dozen, perhaps. All other embryos have
been accounted for. We’ll need to see his notes.”
“Good, he wanted you to see them. he left the key for a reason. I’ve
made my copies and will leave the originals for you. Pick ’em up here
in an hour. you can send me e-copies of what, if anything, you found
earlier when you tried to clear this place out. But it looks like I’ve got
what I really need here already. your six missing students was barely the
beginning. Jacobson’s going to find these other adopted kids, and then
he’s going to set them free, too.”
“Why do you think so?”
“It’s in the journals. he clearly wants the cages emptied. So, if I have
this right, by week’s end, there could be as many as eighteen of these
kids loose in the world?”
erdman returned absolute silence.
“Perfect,” Castillo said. “you guys need to start understanding I’m
on your team and I can’t do my job when I’m being lied to. On that
note, any idea what ‘SharDhara’ is? Person? Place? Something to do
with Afghanistan?”
“No.”
“No? he’s got a map of a region in Afghanistan, a blast radius and
what look like mortality numbers here. estimates. figures. readings of
some kind I can’t make heads or tails of.”
“Doesn’t mean a thing to me. how did you find the room?”
“I’ll be in touch.” Castillo hung up and tapped his chin with the
phone, thinking. The fight with erdman had already become one more
reason to call her. Practically as if he’d done it for that purpose.
So many reasons to call. A dozen more not to .
“Damn it,” he cursed quietly in the empty room.
he tapped in the number from memory.
0630. Might not even be at work yet. Would I call back if she wasn’t?
She answered on the first ring, “kristin romano.”
her name alone, or even the sound of her voice, would have been
enough. Combined, it felt like he’d been shoved out the back of an hC130 into a six-mile hALO-style free fall.
Kristin Romano.
When he’d returned from Iran, he’d spent another year recovering
at the Walter reed Medical Center in D.C. There, Colonel Stanforth
made sure he’d gotten the very best treatment available for the physical
damage he’d endured. Psychological healing had come harder. The biggest hindrance, he’d always known, had been himself. But the assemblyline treatment of Veterans Affairs hadn’t helped much
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