Gifted Read Free Page A

with various papers 16 and file folders on it, arranged in what appeared to be a rather haphazard fashion. Even from this distance, though, she could discern that the materials involved genetic research.
    Otherwise the room was filled with shadows. She thought she could make out someone at the far end. Someone big, built like a linebacker. Beyond his general shape, though, she couldn’t see any details.
    “Come in, please, Doctor Rao,” said the voice. It was deep, sonorous, but otherwise didn’t sound particularly threatening. “Close the door behind you.”
    She automatically reached over and flipped the main light switch. It clicked impotently.
    Well
, this
is coming across like a bad horror movie
.
    “As an alternative proposal,” she said, still not stepping inside, “how about I call security?”
    “By the time they arrive, I’ll be gone,” said the voice. “Along with all that tasty research on the table—which, I have reason to believe, will be of great interest to you.”
    On a day that was already spectacularly bad, she wondered pragmatically if it could really get any worse. So what if this was some insane person trying to tempt her into danger by putting out research, like cheese intended to attract a mouse, so he could snap some sort of trap down on her?
Even insane people deserve a little consideration
, she thought with bleak humor.
    Besides, what she could make out on the table was intriguing.
    She stepped in and shut the door behind her.
    “Thank you,” he said. The shadowy form gestured toward the materials. “Look it over. Take your time. I’ll wait.”
    17 Slowly she strode to the table and stared down. She touched nothing. She simply looked at the research, all laid out before her.
    “As you see,” said the voice, “it focuses on a mutual interest of ours: mutants. What causes them. And what can stop them. The fact is—and know that I will always be honest with you—I despise mutants. I think them destructive in every sense of the word—and an incredible danger to not only this world, but also to others. You, I believe, have a more…generous…point of view. It doesn’t matter, because our goal is the same. Namely, to render them no longer a threat to anyone. Whether this extends from altruism or self-defense is really beside the point. Our motivations, however dissimilar they might be, intersect when it comes to the intended goal.”
    Rao was barely listening. Her eyes were widening with every moment as she realized what lay in front of her. Copious amounts of information, study, and data that built upon what she had done thus far and took it to the next level.
    It was all right there. At last, there was hope…
    “This is…it’s unbelievable. I can scarcely…” Then she stopped, and a voice within warned her not to get too excited. There had to be a catch. There had to be…
    “Strings,” she said.
    The man in the shadows sounded puzzled. “Pardon?”
    “What are the strings? There are always strings attached. What sort of Faustian bargain are we talking about here? What is this going to cost me?”
    “Cost?” He seemed offended at the notion. “No cost. Consider it a gift. A small boost the rest of the way to a goal you would have certainly 18 reached on your own. Surely you see that you were very close, Doctor Rao. Your work was brilliant.”
    She looked back down at the research. She still couldn’t help but be suspicious. “My work is what it is. And I appreciate the flattery. But frankly…Henry McCoy is the man you should be talking to. And that’s not an easy thing for me to admit. There are aspects here I have to struggle to understand that he would just intuitively grasp since he’s…”
    “A mutant?”
    “Smarter…is what I was going to say,” she admitted wryly. “For all my expertise, he still exceeds me in this area. In fact, I wonder why you didn’t go directly to him. He is higher profile than I am when it comes to this particular area of