The Fall: Victim Zero Read Free

better.”
    There was a long silence. Kell began to think Mitchell had ended the call, but caught the faint sound of the other man breathing.
    “That's very unfortunate, Doctor McDonald. Because Sinclair Global received a special dispensation for human trials three months ago, and half a billion dollars in DARPA backing to escalate our research.”
    Kell swore. Loudly.
    Mitchell chuckled nervously. “Understandable reaction, but you're going to like this next part even less. Tomorrow you'll be receiving a visit from some workers who will be installing a basic isolation unit in an unused section of your lab. You see, Dr. McDonald, we've had our Boston lab working with the primate variants for six months, and the first human subject began trials three weeks ago. There have been...complications. And we need your expertise.”
    Kell's free hand gripped the edge of his desk so hard he felt the heavy wood creak. “How long until this patient arrives, if I may ask?” Kell said with icy formality.
    “Oh, he'll be there in about six hours, actually. We're sending him in a temporary unit housed within a shipping container. Transitional staff will stay with him until you arrive at work tomorrow morning. Then he's all yours.”
    Kell pinched the bridge of his nose and for the first time in his life wished he'd gone into mathematics or physics or wizardry. Something harmless.
    “Yes, sir,” Kell said. “I'll be here.”
     

Karen was already in the shower and baby Jennifer in her crib, when Kell finally made it home. Kell thought about slipping behind the curtain to join his wife but reconsidered when he remembered her habit of keeping a loaded .38 on the towel rack next to the tub. One break-in was enough to teach her caution.
    Instead he stood over his newborn daughter and watched her sleep for a while. She fidgeted, tiny hands grasping and flexing as she did the baby equivalent of chasing rabbits. Strange how a person only eight weeks old could change everything about a person. Kell became interested in biology from sheer wonder as a child. Some people looked to the sky in awe at all the things that vastness contained, but he was always fascinated by the mysteries found in the smallest parts of living creatures.
    Every cell a puzzle, every strand of DNA a conundrum waiting to be tinkered with and explored.
    Yet here before him lay an enigma even he couldn't wrap his mind around. He and his wife made love, and then followed the meiotic dance that created an entirely new human being. It was so simple, so basic, yet that one primal act of creation moved forward with time to make his daughter. She would be her own person in the end, a collection of small mysteries of her own.
    Feather-gentle, he ran a finger over her fine hair.
    “ She's been sleeping for an hour,” Karen said from behind him.
    The tendon in Kell's jaw twitched, his only sign of surprise. Five years together had given his wife a good working knowledge of his reactions. It was a game of hers, to constantly try to get more than an involuntary twinge from him. Karen sometimes called him 'Buddha' for his unshakable calm.
    If only she could have seen him a few hours before.
    She put a hand to the back of his neck, using him as a fulcrum to pull herself high enough to kiss his cheek. He trembled as she did it, the stress of the day finally becoming too much.
    Karen put a hand on his shoulder lightly and turned him to face her. She wasn't short, but even at five foot eight she had to crane her neck to look him in the eyes. Hers were hazel flecked with gold, a striking match to her deep tan skin. Her mother was from South Africa, her father American but ethnically Indian. Both of them were lawyers, and their beautiful daughter, she of the almond-shaped eyes and wavy black hair, had followed in their footsteps.
    “ What's wrong?”
    Kell considered the question much longer than absolutely necessary. It wasn't that he didn't trust his wife—she was a lawyer, after all,