"We have some promising first results, yes." Wigner held up his hands as if to slow her down. "However, we're still in preliminary testing. We need to work on actually taking our formulations and creating a vaccine from them--"
"A vaccine?" Selah leaped to her feet. "You did it. We did it. We got a vaccine."
Wigner smiled at Dominique and the other man, and then nodded. "It's possible. Very promising first results. But no, we don't yet have a vaccine, nor do we yet have the permission to pursue this line of inquiry. We're under an incredible amount of scrutiny and pressure here, and today we're going to be presenting our findings live to the head of the US Army Medical Research and Material Command. They've had access to our results for several days, and today we're going to ask for the green light to pursue this research all the way."
"Wow," said Selah quietly. She leaned back in her chair.
Wigner turned to the new arrival and began speaking to him about some scientific stuff, and Dominique had picked up a mini-Omni and was manipulating the controls for the wall screen that glowed to life, but Selah didn't pay any further attention. General Adams had been correct. A vaccine. That would change everything. And all because of her. She felt a tentative warmth begin to suffuse her soul, begin to thaw out the misery that had locked her into a bleak depression these past few weeks. She slowly shook her head in amazement. She was going to be able to pay it back. Return something of value to the world. It wouldn't wash her of her sins, but it would help balance them out, wouldn't it? Something this large, this good. She reached up and rubbed her face and turned to the wall screen.
The face of a genial-looking man in his early fifties had appeared, his craggy features and ponderous brow giving him the look of somebody who had spent much of his life outside. He looked up and returned Lt. Colonel Wigner's salute in a relaxed manner.
"Lieutenant Colonel."
"Major General Selleck. Thanks for making the time to meet with us."
Selah sat up straighter.
Major General?
"With news like yours? You betcha. I've asked Camilla to join us for this chat. She should be coming through any moment."
Camilla? Selah saw consternation appear on the faces around her. Worried glances shared between the other three, and Wigner nodded. The Major General's face suddenly halved in size and moved to the left side of the screen as a new window opened up, and the severe, focused face of a woman in her late forties appeared, her black hair cut at jaw length, her features marking her as Asian, possibly Japanese.
"Harry," she said, at which the Major General nodded. She looked out at the conference room. "Lieutenant Colonel."
"Surgeon General." Wigner shifted uneasily, as if he had discovered a prickling burr just that moment on his seat. "I--uh--thank you for meeting with us." He nodded as if to affirm his own statement. "We're glad to see that news of our discovery is being taken so seriously."
"Of course, Lieutenant Colonel. I've had a little time to review your findings. Would you care to explain them further?"
"Sure. Yes. This is Dr. Sanderson, our head researcher on this project. This is Dr. De Freitas, who has been assisting her, and this is Selah Brown, the source of the unique blood."
Selah resisted the urge to look down as everybody stared at her. Instead, she pursed her lips, raised her chin, and met the Surgeon General's eyes full on.
"A pleasure to meet you all." The Surgeon General's tones were crisp and precise. The Major General simply nodded.
"Now," continued Wigner, "as our abstract stated, thus far, Selah's blood has shown an incredible resistance to the macrophages contained within common vampiric blood. In fact, as you can see on the graph on page three..."
Selah tried to keep up, but the jargon and terminology were beyond her. At one point, Dominique--Dr. Sanderson--picked up, and explained her process, her preliminary hypothesis, how she had been forced three times to start anew, and only four nights ago finally made a discovery that had turned the entire program on its head and lead them in a startling new direction.
"What we believe, what the evidence seems to suggest, is that if we were to continue to isolate and encourage this folding of the sigma and delta proteins through Selah's unique RNA, we might be able to replicate the reaction. Of course, we would have to run extensive tests after that, but we have a fully operational primate lab here on premises, and could run everything here ourselves."
Dominique sat back and exchanged a tight, excited look with Wigner. Then everybody looked up to the two faces on the screen. The Major General looked thoughtful and stared at Dominique with pursed lips, while the Surgeon General's face was inscrutable, her attention offscreen as she flicked through the report.
"All right. Interesting. This confirms my suspicions. If you will give me a moment, I have to make some calls. Gentlemen." The Surgeon General's screen went blank.
Everybody looked at each other in surprise. Wigner looked up at the Major General. "Sir, do you know what's going on? That's not exactly the kind of reception we were hoping our news would receive."
The General shook his head slowly. "I'm not sure. This all has been very hush-hush. No chatter on the wires. I'm sure we'll find out soon enough. Patch me back in when Camilla returns, will you?" And with that, his screen went dark as well.
"Well!" Dominque looked across at Wigner. "It's not like we're promising to change the course of the war here or anything."
"Let's try and be patient," said Wigner. He turned his plastic tablet stylus over and over in his hand. "There's really nothing else we can do."
Dr. De Freitas asked if anybody wanted coffee, but only Selah raised her hand. He arose and left the room, only to return five minutes later. The coffee was surprisingly good, steam rising from the oversized mug with the letters USAMRIID printed around it in friendly pink and yellow letters. Selah held the cup in both hands and ignored the scientists, who were using so many technical terms she wouldn't have been able to follow them had she tried. She just drank the coffee, savoring its dark roasted flavor, and waited.
Somewhere along the last few weeks, her sense of initiative had died. She had spent the past few months fighting for every inch, exerting herself to shape events, but now, for the first time, she felt relaxed. Events were beyond her. She was just a pawn on the board, being moved by people larger and wiser than her. She didn't have to think. It was best if she didn't. She couldn't hurt anybody this way. She would let them take her blood, use her to end the war, and in doing so, find an anesthetized comfort in redressing some of the wrongs she had done.
The screen flickered back to life and Wigner choked, coughing as he stood to salute. A man with iron-gray hair cut close to his scalp stared out at them, face like a hatchet, barracuda gray eyes fierce and uncompromising.
"Mr. Secretary. I--"
"Lieutenant Colonel." The man's voice was both a greeting and an assertion of his own authority. Wigner closed his mouth and sat down.
Selah tried to catch Dominique's eye.
Secretary
?
"My staff has caught me up to speed with your project. I want to commend you and your people for your excellent work. Each of you will be receiving special recognition for your dedication and service. However, the decision has been made to pull the plug. We want you to remain focused on the Hybrid Project. That is clearly where the greatest gains are to be had. You are to close down this line of research effective immediately. Is that clear?"
Wigner blanched and opened his mouth. "Sir?"
"Further, with the project finished, there's no longer any need to extend Ms. Brown special consideration. It's my understanding that she was convicted for the murder of Colonel Caldwell, along with numerous other crimes. She should be punished. The details are being sent over by my staff, and you'll have them within the hour. She's to be sent to the SuperMax prison in Florence. Am I absolutely clear?"
"Sir?" Wigner looked as if he were seated in the center of his own private storm. "Close down the project? But-- Sir, let me review the results with you. This is incredibly promising--"
"Lieutenant Colonel, you have received your orders. Will you have any difficulty with complying?"
Wigner wilted under the Secretary's stare. Selah looked from one man to the other, disbelief paralyzing her. Serve her sentence? Project cancelled? She bolted to her feet. "Who are you?" She stared at the screen. The man turned his stare upon her, but her anger was rising now, as fierce and coruscating as it had ever been, and she wasn't cowed. "Do you work for them? The vampires?"
"Selah!" Dominique rose to her feet, but the man didn't seem offended.
"Work for the vampires? No." His smile was slight, a subtle thing. "I work for the President of the United States. Very well. This meeting is over. Thank you, all." The screen went blank.
"What just happened?" Selah stepped away from the table. "What the hell was that?"
Wigner stared at the table, raking his hands through his hair over and over again. Dominique stared at Wigner in shock. Dr. De Freitas blinked and looked around as if invisible flies were buzzing around his head.
Selah slammed her palm down on the table top. "What's going on? Why are they killing the vaccine? It doesn't make any sense!"
"I don't know," said Wigner. "I don't-- It doesn't make sense." Selah saw something adjust deep within his soul, saw him fight to come to terms with his order right there before her. "But that was the Secretary of Defense. He must have access to intelligence we don't. The big picture. He must know what's best. Have his reasons. For shutting down. For cancelling."
Dominique shook her head. "Alex. No. None of this makes sense. Why would they give us permission to begin this research if they only planned to cancel it?" Outrage finally began to creep into her voice, her shock receding before it. "This vaccine could change the war.
Would
change the war. You know that. You can't let them. You can't let politics get involved. We need to finish this project."
Wigner rose to her feet. "We can't. That was a direct order. The project is finished."
Selah felt outrage bubble up within her. "Then ... then tell somebody! Tell the press! Tell them what's going on!"
Wigner laughed. "What? Tell the press? About a classified project? In direct defiance of the Secretary of Defense himself?" His laugh was mocking, almost cruel. "Enough. This meeting is over."
Dominique moved around the table to stand before him. She was shaking, her voice thick with emotion. "Alex, please. We
need
this. We can't let it go."
"This is out of our control," said Dr. De Freitas, rising to his feet. He gathered his Omni and coffee mug and looked soberly at them all. "This is clearly not about the science. We're dealing with politicians. There's nothing we can do."
Wigner was finally pulling himself together. "Dominique, meet me in my office in fifteen. Let's review closure procedures. Jim, secure Selah in her room. I'm going to make some phone calls." He hesitated, then nodded. "Very well. Good work, team." He marched out of the room.
"Come on, Selah. Time to go." Jim had stepped up behind her. She felt an overwhelming surge of fury, of negation. This couldn't be happening. She wanted to wrest Jim's gun from him, force them to listen, to react like normal human beings. Never had she wanted Sawiskera's unholy might as badly. Her body felt feeble, weak, useless. All she could do was back into the corner.
Dominique gave Selah a helpless look of raw confusion and anger, and with agonizing reluctance left the conference room. Jim was the only one left. His face was closed, but she saw a measure of sympathy for the first time in his dark eyes.
Selah looked around wildly and then lowered her fists.
There was nowhere to go, nowhere to run.
Chapter 10
The ponderous bolts of the Hybrid security door locked behind her with resonating finality. Selah stood shivering just within the small hallway, still feeling Jim's gentle push on her shoulder that had ushered her inside. Her mind spun. This wasn't how it was supposed to work out. They were supposed to run with the vaccine, not cancel it. What sense did that make? Why would they close it down? She didn't understand. There was a war raging outside. One they had nearly lost last time. Why would they turn away from a solution?
She entered the small living room. Lee, as always, was stretched out on one of the couches, Goggles on, hands laced behind his head. Gordon was seated on the other couch, staring at the screen of his Omni in flat boredom, stubby fingers tapping away. He looked up idly at Selah and his gaze immediately sharpened.
"You okay?"
She didn't know how to answer, so instead, she simply shook her head and slid onto the couch next to him, gripping the arm. She hadn't once sat out here. She stared at the wall and shook her head again. "They're cancelling my project."
"No shit." Gordon set his Omni down. "Didn't work out?"
"No. I guess you could say it didn't." She blinked. Frowned. Tried to summon her anger once more. Reach for that kernel of fire. She'd been in a daze ever since she'd left the conference room.
"Well." Gordon leaned back with a sigh. "On the upside, you get to leave this shithole. Sunlight. Fast food. Freedom. Not such a bad deal."
"No." She shook her head again. It felt like it was floating a couple of inches above her neck. "They're going to send me to a SuperMax."
"What? You're shitting me." Gordon sat right back up. "Why the hell they doing that?" Tom had stepped into the living room entrance, drawn by the sound of their voices.
"I murdered Colonel Caldwell back in Los Angeles." She didn't care. It was true. "I thought he was a drug dealer. Didn't know he was supplying USAMRIID with the Dust."
Tom stopped brushing his teeth. Gordon just stared at her. "You... That was you? We were told it was a vampire."
"It was me. I was turning into a vampire at the time. I was infected. It's a long story. But I'm clean now. The infection is gone. But I don't think that's why they're sentencing me." Selah felt like these facts were separate from her. Distinct from who she was as a person. As if they were blocks of wood she were simply holding out to show the others. "I think they're sentencing me because the project worked out. They're burying me and the vaccine."