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away and it was already becoming hard to imagine
what had been so terrible that it drove him away.
It didn t matter now though because he was there
and he had work to do. Returning to the gels, he
continued draining stain until all of the gels were
solidly colored rectangular slabs in the bottoms of
otherwise empty staining trays. He then began to
pour the clear destain solution on each slab and
all of the gels were again soaking pretty quickly.
The four returned to Edward s quarters to wait out
the first wash. The washes would be short so there
would only be enough time to maybe grab something
to eat and drink before they had to return to the
lab.
A couple of washes later, the data appeared as
small dashes in the otherwise nearly transparent
sheets of gel. Walking around the lab taking a
quick look at all of the data, the four scientists
began to get a heavy feeling in the pits of their
stomachs. They had remained unsure of exactly what
they had actually expected in the data, but it
definitely wasn t what they found. Doubts flooded
in immediately and they continued to compare gel
after gel. Maybe they had made a massive mistake
loading the gels. But even that wouldn t account
for the results they were seeing. George, Ella,
and Edward had each run samples from the entire set
of bone fragments, ultimately to arrive at three
independent data sets of exactly the same
experiment, a DNA run of each of the seventy-nine
squares. The problem was, the data on the gels
looked exactly the same, and not just the
triplicates independently run from the same
original samples. They were all the same, every
single gel. Overlaying the results, they were
169
indisputable and could indicate only one thing.
The bone fragments were all from the same person!
The statistical probability of this particular set
of markers appearing together further indicated
that only one person who had ever lived on the
planet could have this pattern of genetic data.
The woman continued to ignore her nausea as
she searched the brick wall finding it solid from
top to bottom. When she was about to lose control
of her violently threatening stomach, a loud click
filled the air followed by the unmistakable sound
of stone grinding on stone. The woman had tripped
a switch somewhere on the wall and the entire wall
was now swinging open. The foul odor that poured
out through the gradually widening crack took her
breath away before she could stop inhaling and
pushed her nausea beyond what she could tolerate.
The whole room full of soldiers stared at the
opening that had been a brick wall a moment
earlier. None of them made a move to stop the
woman as she stumbled into the adjoining chamber
gasping for breath and vomiting bile as she went.
The gradually revealed cave beyond held the
soldiers attentions like deer frozen in the
headlights of an approaching car. They had never
seen anything like it and probably never would
again in their lifetimes.
Eventually accepting the unexpectedly repeated
results, the four scientists now stood in front of
the wall monitor in Parker s lab waiting for their
link to be picked up by the General in the Shawnee
Nation. Captain Daniels now stood amongst the
others, the glacial ice barrier having melted into
oblivion over the course of his time in Parker s
lab. Not knowing what to think of the results
themselves, they couldn t imagine how the General
would deal with their results.
The image of an Apache soldier abruptly
snapped onto the lab s monitor, the com tech who
picked up the link speaking to someone off screen.
The General then came into their field of view, her
face grim as she spoke briskly into a headset.
General? Parker inquired, a little reluctant
170
to disturb her in her obviously tense situation.
They could now hear her side of the communications
over her headset and she was far from happy
already.
What? they heard her say. She was still too
distracted by what was coming through her headset
and her eyes hadn t focused on them yet. Blinking
rapidly several times, she appeared to realize they
were on the monitor in front of her and said, I m
sorry, Council member Parker, I just lost one of my
people.
In a farm field? Parker asked, recalling the
details of her investigation, and having difficulty
believing such a thing could happen in the heart of
the Nations and in a farm field of all places.
It was an accident, a fall. She said
quickly, We re not in the field anymore. She then
paused and the scientists simply stared, waiting
for her to tell them more. She didn t, and a
little later, Parker repeated General?
After another few rapid and hushed words into
her headset, General Cochise seemed to fully
acknowledge them, her face remaining grim. You
have results? she asked without a change in her
expression. That was quick.
Yes, General. Parker said, noting her mood
and letting the smile fade from his face. They
aren t what we expected.
What do you mean? she asked, the grim look
becoming a little puzzled.
The experiments went well and we re sure of
the results having done the experiment in
triplicate. He said.
She now realized the captain stood right among
the other three, and the overwhelming tension was
only at her end of the link. And.. she said,
briefly ignoring the return of frantic chatter from
her headset.
The samples are from the same source, the
same person. Parker stated, and they could have
only ever come from that one person statistically.
In the house next door to the funeral home,
tension was building as the owner carried his wife
into their kitchen to answer the phone.
171
"Is this Marcus Lemonte?" The person on the
other end of the line asked as the man picked up
the phone.
"Yes, this is Dr. Lemonte." He replied weakly.
He had only answered the phone with a plan to hang
up immediately and kill the nonstop ringing.
"This is the Shawnee Nation Investigative
Unit. We understand that you own the funeral home
on Restview Way. Is this true?"
In slight confusion, he recalled the flashing
lights he had seen earlier and the hesitation that
followed in the conversation made the agent on the
other end of the line uneasy.
"Yes." Marcus said, waiting to hear the
worst.
"Uhhh..doctor...if you haven't noticed out
your windows, we re preparing a large scale search
over here. We'd like for you to come over if you
could. We will pick you up if necessary.
Pausing again, Marcus finally said, "No,
no..that's O.K. I'll come over there. What's this
all about? I thought you had to have a search
warrant before you could search a place? I mean, I
don't really care, but what the hell s going on?"
"We had a tip that the two missing boys were
holed up in the funeral home. Too urgent for
protocol, you can understand the circumstances, I'm
sure."
Marcus paused again, but this time he heard
the line go dead. It was more than he could handle
tonight. For a second, he stood in the kitchen,
forgetting that he had hi wife Nikki in his arms.
Then the strong smell of hotdogs and popcorn
returned in full force along with the feeling he
was being watched. Marcus looked out the window
and then into the living room. Matt must have been
listening to his phone call because someone had
definitely been staring at him. It wasn t just
paranoia this time, it was intense and well
defined. The room started to close in on him and
he leaned against and slid down the wall, somehow
keeping Nikki in his weakening arms. He just
couldn't fit things together right now. A loud
cough from the living room briefly caught his
fading attention. Matt was in there, but he
172
couldn t make it back. His attention lapsed
completely, the dreaded smell became overwhelming,
and he blacked out.
At the same instant in the living room, Matt s
mouth twitched in anxiety. His tension and fear
were again building, and he could now also feel an
ungodly presence forcing its way into his
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