Washington DC, 22nd February 1991
Senator George Griffin got home at nine p.m. His wife hadn’t arrived yet, and he thought she might be at the club gossiping with her friends, or perhaps at the house of one of them. Griffin went into the living room with his bodyguard, John, and saw that the answering machine was flashing. There were two messages. George pressed Play:
New message, recorded at 7.46 p.m.
‘Dad, you´ve no idea what I´ve found out! I analyzed the blood in the cylinder and i found something sensational. it doesn´t belong to any species known on this planet. As a matter of fact the DNA of this blood has 48 chromosomes, while human blood has 46. Isn´t it fantastic? By the way, I´ve decided to try and create the clone. Call me as soon as you get this message. Bye.’ The senator gave a start.
He felt a mixture of delight at the news and alarm and remorse, for not having told Thomas not to speak of the matter over the phone.
‘Damn it,’ thought the senator, ‘my son’s very naïve.’ George pressed the button to delete the message.
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New message, recorded at 8.59 p.m.
‘Hi George, this is Arnold. I’m calling to invite you for our game of golf at the club. We’ve got a lot of stuff to catch up with. Call me and we’ll fix it.’
George was surprised at his old friend’s call. It was months since they had spoken and here he was calling out of the blue for a game of golf. his billionaire friend with the white hair must be over eighty now, he would hardly be up to playing golf with George.
Arnold owned banks in the us and europe and was one of the twenty richest men in the world, according to Forbes magazine.
George and Arnold were university friends; they had studied and graduated together at the harvard economics faculty many years before. They hadn’t seen each other for years, because both of them had very busy lives, until two years before when Arnold had resurfaced, inviting George and his wife for dinner at his house.
George picked up the phone and called his son.
‘Hallo, son.’
‘Hi, Dad, get my message?’
‘I did. Son, please don’t phone me and above all don’t leave messages about these things. We must always discuss them face to face.’
‘Ah, I understand. Sorry.’
‘We’ll talk later. Keep going on the project, I’ll be there Saturday and we’ll discuss it.’
‘oK, see you Saturday then.’
George had never spoken to Thomas so seriously and so shortly, but it was the only way he would understand the message without more explanation.
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‘John, come here!’ called George to his bodyguard and butler John.
‘Yes, sir.’
‘John, I need you to check the phone lines here at home to make sure they’re not bugged. Call those people you used before.’
‘Have you heard some noise on the line? Do you suspect something?’
‘No, it’s just to put my mind at rest.’
‘Very well, consider it done.’
‘Thanks, John. I’m going up to take a bath. Ask them to make a snack for me, tell them I don’t want dinner today.’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘oK I’m going up. When Jane gets in tell her I’m in our room.’
George went upstairs. He’d call his friend another time, now he was very tired and also worried about the possibility that someone might have heard Thomas’ message.
When he reached his room he thought it better to be sure. he picked up the phone and called the kitchen extension.
‘John, one more thing: send two guards to New York and tell them to watch my son twenty-four hours a day, but without him knowing it.’
‘Yes, sir.’
John was absolutely trustworthy, having been the senator’s bodyguard for more than twenty years. He was an ex-Marine, a black belt in Brazilian ju-jitsu and aikido, as well as an expert in arms and explosives, his specialty when he was in the Marines. He was well over six feet tall and more than 260 pounds of solid muscle. he watched over the senator day and night and consequently knew all there was to know about him, including his deepest secrets. Apart 101
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from John there were another five guards or more who looked after the safety of George’s wife and their house.
‘Ask them to bring the snack to my room, I shan’t be coming down again tonight,’ said George, lying back on his bed and switching off the bedside light.
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