Once John had given the word, with stealth and proficiency, Joe Islington and his team approached the Wilson’s home. By use of a small aircraft camera drone, they assessed the situation. Linda was being guarded by two men, both equipped with guns.
Linda was sitting on the sofa. Complications with her pregnancy were making it hard for her to get comfortable. Due to her condition and constant need for the toilet, her captors were agitated and losing their patience with her. She glanced at her watch.
“I need my medication.”
“Where is it?” one of her captors growled.
“In the kitchen, above the stove, on the second shelf next to the….”
“I’m not scrambling through your cupboards,” the man interjected with a sneer. “If you want it, you’ll have to get it yourself. Go with her!”
Without any assistance, Linda managed to wobble off the sofa and into the kitchen. Her captor followed close behind her. Such a gentleman! She opened the refrigerator and took out some bottled water. Filling a glass from the cabinet, she shook two capsules in her hand and popped them in her mouth.
As her guard passed through the doorway to the kitchen, one of Sir Richard’s men clouted him at the base of the skull with a cosh. He went out like a light. Linda was quickly ushered out the back door and to safety. The rest of the team moved in and finished the job.
Linda was put in a waiting van and rushed to Barksdale Air Force Base.
Working together, Jared and Juanita had managed to stabilise Melissa. While the teams were getting ready to leave for the UK, Jared made a quick inspection of the plane. To his surprise, every piece of medical equipment he’d asked for was on board and firmly secured in place. The Cessna jet had been transformed into an air ambulance. Even if the pilot ran into turbulence, there would be little movement on the plane.
In some things, Jared still didn’t agree with Sir Richard’s methods, but he was impressed at the amount of influence Sir Richard had with people in high places.
After a brief explanation, Jared managed to get Linda to let him examine her. As soon as Linda, Jared, Juanita and Melissa were on board, the plane taxied down the runway, lifted off and disappeared into the clouds.
Once they levelled off, Jared and Juanita did as much for Melissa as they could. Juanita made a trip to the toilet at the back of the plane and checked on Linda in passing. Jared had given her a mild sedative to help her relax, and she was sleeping peacefully. Juanita took her seat, beside Jared. He was sat, blankly staring out the window, lost in thought.
“Jared… are you all right?” she softly asked.
He turned to face her. “No, Juanita. I’m not all right. It was hard enough to deal with Donna being on the other side of the Atlantic. I don’t know what I’m going to do when she’s a few feet from me, and I can’t let her know I’m there.”
“I can’t see her either.”
Jared frowned. “Yes you could, sweetheart. Your situation is different from mine. There’s no earthly reason why you shouldn’t see your best friend. Given your opportunity, if I were in your place, I wouldn’t hesitate. Except for Gary, and possibly Richard, Donna is among strangers. She may welcome, or even need that familiarity. If I were you, I would be more concerned about seeing Gary.”
“Jared, I don’t want to see Gary. I have nothing to say to him. I outgrew him, just like he outgrew me. Our relationship was a mistake, but Gary seems to think because we were engaged once that he has some kind of claim on me. As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing there. There hasn’t been for years. Unlike you and Gary and Donna… I don’t believe in perfect matches.”
Jared grinned. “Neither did Donna.”
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As soon as the teams in Shreveport left, John, Gary and Sir Richard flew back to the Centre. Gary headed straight for the genetics lab. Time was running out for Melissa, and they needed to figure something out fast. Since Sam was helping Donna, Gary started helping Richard with the stem cell cultures.
Sam sat on a stool and worked at the electron microscope next to Donna. His task was to help her find a genetic marker to identify the specific gene sequence they needed to aim the CTZ5 at. Two hours later, Donna completed her task. “This looks like a match,” she said, comparing the two paper readouts. “Sam, check this. See if you get the same thing. I want to make sure I’m not making a mistake.” She rubbed her eyes and moved aside so he could see.
Sam stepped closer and wrapped an arm around Donna’s waist. He tilted her chin up and softly kissed her. “What do you have, sweetheart?”
“What we’re looking for - I hope. My eyes are starting to cross.”
Sam looked in the microscope and checked her readouts. He smiled. “Congratulations, sweetheart.”
“Positive match made. Genetic marker found,” she said and handed Gary the results. Richard looked up.
Gary glanced at the graph. “Already? Remarkable!”
Donna raised an eyebrow. “You doubted me?”
Gary grinned. “Oh no, but I had expected it to take more than two hours!”
“Well…” she said indecisively. “I’ve only been able to achieve a compatibility rate of sixty-five percent. Still, it should be enough for the stem cell cultures.”
Richard took another culture disc from cold storage. “Let’s see what we can come up with. Shall we?”
Sam glanced at his watch. “Gary, while you and Richard test the cultures, Donna and I are going downstairs and catch a few winks before Missy gets here. There’s no telling how long we’ll be in surgery with her.”
“OK, Sam. I won’t disturb you unless we have a major breakthrough.”
“See you later, then.” Sam led Donna toward the door.
“Call me if this works,” she said to Richard.
Richard smiled. “I will pet. Sweet dreams.”
Sam led her into the lift. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Donna softly smiled. “I hope you have something more comfortable than a couch in your office.”
“I have a single bed in my quarters behind my office,” Sam responded and kissed her again. “It will be a tight squeeze, but no tighter than it was on Sir Richard’s settee.”
Donna furrowed her brow. “Settee?” she prompted.
“It’s what we call a couch over here. You didn’t seem uncomfortable on the settee.”
The lift doors opened. Sam led her to his sleeping quarters and turned on the light. “It’s not the honeymoon suite, but I think we can manage,” he said, closing the door and locking it.
Donna grinned. Sam watched as she slipped out of her jeans and took her bra off. She crawled under the sheets and gave him room. “I hope you don’t mind. I sleep better this way.”
Sam stripped down to his T-shirt and underwear. One side of his mouth turned up. He switched off the light. “I don’t mind if you don’t,” he said and crawled in beside her. He kissed her.
Donna laid her head on his shoulder and pressed her face into the side of his neck, breathing deeply and pulling his scent into her lungs. Sam shivered; his body responded. She grinned and moved her knee off his throbbing erection. “Sorry,” she whispered.
Sam cleared his throat. “Oh, I’m not sorry. I’m just sorry I don’t have time to do anything about it. Can I ask you something about what we’re doing with the CTZ5?”
Donna draped her arm over his waist. “Sure. What do you want to know?”
“How do you plan to use it to treat Missy?”
“Well, we’ll administer two separate proteins, which have been successful in increasing the natural production of stem cells, and suppressing malignant growth. What we’ll be attempting to do is ‘wake up’ the latent stem cells in her brain. To aid in this process, we’ll need to administer an injection of CTZ5 directly into the arachnoid mater{4}. Theoretically, it should aid in the transportation of new stem cells being stimulated by our protein solution.”
Sam raised his eyebrows. “Are you planning on using an epidural catheter?” His voice held a slight edge.
Donna lifted her head and studied his eyes. She tenderly kissed him. “You don’t need to feel threatened by me,” she whispered. “You’re the head doctor here. I’ll do what you tell me, but yes, I was going to suggest using an epidural catheter to administer the CTZ5.”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” Sam sighed. “I didn’t mean to seem snooty. Until you and I started working together, I preferred working alone. I’m – so to say – at the top. People seldom challenge my professional judgement. I’m not used to having someone who in many ways is my equal.”
“Should I take that as a compliment?”
“You most definitely should. I think we make a good team.”
Donna smiled and laid her head back on his shoulder. “So do I,” she murmured as she drifted off to sleep.
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Forrest’s private jet circled Heathrow airport until the runway was clear, then slowly made its descent. Wilson’s bodyguards stood. One of them dropped the door while the other one grabbed Wilson’s forearm and escorted him off the plane. Once more, Wilson’s feet touched British soil. He breathed in and sighed. Home at last. If only the circumstances were different.
It had been a long time since Wilson had been in his homeland. Since he moved to the US to become head of D’Netics, he’d had little opportunity to come back. Now, even after all this time it still felt like home. A black cab pulled up to the curb and waited. Wilson and his bodyguard crawled in the back.
“Where to?” the driver asked.
“Savoy Hotel,” one of Wilson’s guards responded.
On the way to the hotel, Wilson was tense. He hadn’t heard from Sir Richard. Did that mean he hadn’t received Wilson’s email or that he’d received it and had no intention of responding? If things had gone to plan, the person sitting beside Wilson would have been his wife; the reason he stayed in the States.
Even though, he knew it wasn’t true, Wilson had tried hard to think of the child as his own. Thank goodness he decided to hide that truth from Linda and the rest of the World. Now, if anything happened to him, even his diary couldn’t reveal those little dark secrets. He wondered how his life got so out of control. He had grown tired and old, and all he wanted was to come home and settle down.
The taxi driver pulled into the entrance of the Savoy. Wilson got out. One of the guards escorted him to the reception desk while the other one paid the taxi fare. Forrest had made certain Wilson didn’t have a moment alone; escape next to impossible. Once they were given their room cards, the clerk handed the two guards a small glossy gift bag with blue rope handles.
“What’s this?” one of the guards asked.
“It’s your VIP gift bags,” she responded with a smile and reached below the counter again. She brought out another bag; the only difference being the colour of the rope handles. Wilson’s was pink. “Oh… I’m sorry, Sir. I’m afraid that was my last blue one.”
“What’s the difference?”
“The – ah – the ones with the pink handles are for ladies. The soaps and shampoo have a flowery fragrance, I’m afraid.”
The two men burst out laughing when Wilson pulled out a pink shower cap. “Oh, it doesn’t make any difference,” Wilson groaned and stuffed the cap back in his bag.
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After settling in his room, Wilson went into the bathroom for a long hot shower. He opened his gift bag and started taking the items out. To his surprise, at the bottom of the bag was a paper napkin with nothing on it but a QR code, and the words ‘Enjoy your stay.’ Wilson shook his head. QR codes were everywhere these days. He tossed the pink shower cap in the bin and took out two white boxes; one labelled shampoo and cream rinse, the other soap.
He tore open the one labelled soap and tapped it against his hand. To Wilson’s surprise what fell out was what appeared to be a small cell phone about the same size as the bar of soap. Out of curiosity, he switched it on and found that it wasn’t a cell phone. It was a QR code reader – nothing more.
Wilson checked the bathroom door to make sure it was locked. Using the reader he scanned the QR code he’d found in his VIP gift bag. His mouth dropped open. It was a message from Sir Richard:
‘An eye for an eye - Kevin. Follow my instructions exactly. Betray me again and you’re finished. Go ahead and take your shower. I know you’re a clean freak. When you get out, ring room service and order a snack. Shortly, you will get a call on your cell phone. Pretend that it’s Donna. I’ve kidnapped her, and she needs your help to escape. Play the part Kevin.
Forrest should be calling you at 1:30am. Make sure the call is short. When you’re done, celebrate your good fortune with the guards, but don’t trade drinks – theirs is spiked.
You have a quarter of an hour to get to the pickup site. Strapped to the underside of your bed is a laptop case. It’s locked. Bring it with you and walk down the Thames embankment to Cleopatra’s Needle. Find a place to sit within sight of the needle and wait.
Flush this note down the toilet. Put the QR reader in the sanitary napkin bag and dispose of it. Remember, Kevin, follow the instructions exactly or else.’
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