Read Online Genesis Plague by Sam Best - Free Book Online Page B

to suffer the same mistakes at the hands of the inept over
and over again. It’s quite amusing, if you can step far enough away to see it
clearly.”
    “So go ahead and step
far away, now, to get a better look at this situation,” I said.
    “What do you want?”
asked Levino.
    “The same thing I
wanted when I spoke with you earlier. I wish to accompany your team up Mauna
Loa.”
    “Absolutely not,” said
Levino. “You gave me no reason to allow it earlier, and nothing has changed.”
    “Oh, but it has,” Xander
said with a grin. He pulled out a piece of paper from his back pocket and held
it up. “And you will find that you have no choice, Dr. Levino, but to accept.”
     

 
     

     
     
     
    “T hey bought the insurance company?!” shouted Levino, his
face red with rage. He flipped through the papers that were handed to him,
scanning them with intense befuddlement.
    “How is that even
possible?” asked Cassidy.
    “It would help if you
understood,” said Xander, a look of smug satisfaction on his face, “that I’m
here as the representative of a cadre of corporations, not just one. Together,
they form a global conglomerate with a GDP more than that of many countries.
The potential monetary benefit to pharmaceutical research of whatever you
discover up there is immeasurable.”
    “What if we don’t find
anything?” I asked.
    Xander turned to me.
“Then we can always resort to physical violence, like last time.”
    “You got in a fight?”
asked Mike, showing slight interest for the first time since I met him.
    “More like a brawl,”
said Maria.
    “You were there?”
    “They were fighting
over me to begin with.”
    “I doubt that’s true,” said Cassidy.
    “Let’s all just calm
down,” said Levino, holding up his hands to try and placate the group.
    “What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Maria, turning toward Cassidy and putting a hand on
her hip. It was happening straight out of a soap opera, I swear to God.
    “It wasn’t so much over her as it was about her. It was an issue of safety,” I tried to explain.
    “I would have fought,
too,” said Mike.
    “Jesus Christ,” said
Levino, rubbing his eyes. “Can we please just get moving?” He turned to
Renfield. “Tell me we’re out of protective gear.”
    Renfield frowned. “We
have one more full set.”
    Xander stepped forward
with his hand out. “I’ll take that, if you please.”
     

 
     

     
     
     
    T he late afternoon sun remained hidden above a ceiling of swift-moving
gray clouds as we began our climb.
    Renfield went first,
following the same path his team had been using for their studies before the cave
was discovered. Dan Grayson was next, then Levino, Maria, Mike Pahalo, Flint,
myself, Cassidy, and Xander. A regular bunch of merry climbers, we.
    The grade was easy near
the bottom of the volcano, sweeping gently upward toward the peak. Halfway between
base camp and the summit was our target: the cave along the fissure.
    “Nice view from back
here,” said Xander.
    He grinned up at
Cassidy as she walked in front of him. I paused and let her pass, then fell
into step behind her. I’d be damned if he wasn’t right, though. She wore these
khaki shorts that hugged her upper thighs perfectly. It gave me something to
think about for a while, anyway, instead of focusing on Xander and how badly I
wanted to smash his teeth in. My default setting was far from violent, but
something about the bastard really got my blood boiling.
    The trail turned rocky
as we climbed higher.
    “You know,” said Xander
thoughtfully, “scientists in general are meek creatures who usually shy away
from physical confrontation. But not you, Paul. You are one microbiologist who
breaks from the herd of sheep and charges the wolf. Our last confrontation
proves my point.”
    “Don’t flatter
yourself,” I said. So that’s the thing about Xander that switched off my
higher brain functions and made me see red: he knew exactly how to push