Primal Law (Alpha Pack #1)(23)
"Snoop?" Jaxon suggested helpfully.
Her cheeks flushed. "Well, I had to get a report he'd forgotten to hand to me in his hurry to leave, and when I retrieved it from his desk, I bumped his computer mouse. Naturally, he'd forgotten to log out and shut down for the day and the screen saver went away."
"Naturally." Nick's lips twitched.
"The computer hadn't gone to sleep yet, so the screen and all the icons were right there. He had a document running, minimized at the bottom of the screen and I clicked on it. I know, I know," she said, the blush deepening. "It was wrong of me and I could've been fired."
Nick steepled his fingers and watched her thoughtfully. "You should've been and if it were me, unless you had a reason that was a matter of life and death, you would've been. But considering what came later, getting fired was the least of your concerns."
"I did a stupid thing," she admitted. "But the section I was able to read on the document was alarming. It wasn't text, like written narrative, but was several pages of formulas. Lines and lines of letters and numbers, arranged and rearranged, like notes on any number of experiments on test subjects."
Nick frowned. "Like the doctor was recording what worked and what didn't? Trial and error, and what he or they tried next?"
"Exactly. It took me a minute to realize the patterns that kept repeating on the page were genetic codes and DNA strands. And this is the part that's going to sound off the wall . . . Some of the codes, or more accurately the strands, weren't human."
Jaxon exchanged a telling glance with Nick before he spoke up. "Not so off the wall, from where we're sitting. Our DNA isn't exactly human anymore, either."
She blinked at him. "I hadn't thought of it that way, but you're right. Anyway, as I scanned the document, I had trouble believing what I was seeing. If I was interpreting correctly, it seemed that the lines represented genes being spliced and DNA being forced to mutate." Leaning forward, she warmed excitedly to her topic. "From the very top of the page, each line appeared to represent a strand of traits, the code and DNA mutated in some small way from the strand before it."
"Hang on." Nick's brows drew together as he tried to follow. "You're saying these lines represented progressive change . . ."
Like Nick, Jaxon struggled to assimilate what she was getting at. Hell, he was a soldier, not a scientist.
"Yes-recorded progression of a single individual from human to something else. That's what was on the page in black and white. From the data, I inferred that a series of tests must've been performed on the individual to get those results."
Nick's voice was low and troubled. "To what end? What are they attempting to force the human DNA to mutate into? And why?"
"That's what I was hoping to find out when I took tissue samples from the lab last night." Opening the purse on her lap, she reached in, dug around, and brought out several small containers. She sat them on Nick's desk and they eyed the contents.
Nick and Jaxon each picked up one and carefully turned it this way and that. A piece of tissue-it appeared to be flesh and a bit of muscle-floated in clear fluid in the one Jax held. A label stuck to the side declared the vial as belonging to "Subject 0013." It also had a string of letters and numbers underneath and was dated almost two weeks ago.
"Freaky," Jax commented in distaste, setting the thing on his boss's desk. Nick put them in a row and studied the labels.
"Three of these are from Subject zero-zero-one-three. The other five are from different subjects." He looked at Kira. "Was there any rhyme or reason to what you took?"
"Zero-zero-one-three was the label at the top of the document I saw on Dr. Bowman's computer. I grabbed what I could see of those, then some others. I was in a hurry. I had a loose plan to take them to a geneticist friend of mine in Los Angeles and see what he could learn." Her shoulders hunched. "Evidently I didn't plan ahead very well."
"I think you might've ended up in the right place all the same," Nick said, raising a brow. "Were you able to print a copy of the document from Bowman's computer?"
"No. I heard someone in the outer office and had to get out of there. I minimized the document the way I found it, and was never able to go back."
"Pity. Would've been interesting to have our scientists interpret it. These should help, though." The older man gestured to the containers. "I'll get these to our lab. Would you be agreeable to assisting down there, if they meet you and decide they'd like to take you on? After I conduct a thorough background check and you pass, of course."
"Hmm. I don't know, but . . . Where else do I have to go and what are my other options?"
"Nowhere and zip," Jaxon put in, not giving Nick time to come up with anything. He pointedly ignored the man, who was trying to hide a knowing smile. "We can't let you leave for the time being, and at least here you'd get to do the lab work you're familiar with, only better. How many people can say they study shifters and other beings?"
"True." Kira brightened, looking excited. "You know, I think I'd like that very much. I'm willing to give it a try, and I know I'll pass your check. I have a clean record with plenty of commendations, up until I ran across something I shouldn't have. And for what it's worth, I have a gut feeling something very wrong is going on at NewLife. I just can't prove it-yet."