Illumini

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The blue GTI was already two blocks away, moving rapidly down Memorial Drive.  With the sound of the helicopter circling in the distance behind them they turned and headed west on the Mass Pike.  Driving into the pull of the earth as it spun from night into dawn, the first glimmer of light just emerging above the horizon.  Nick pressed down hard on the accelerator, eager to embrace this new day.

He was smiling at the thought of how they met without realizing it.  Kate looked over at him and smiled in return, looking at him curiously, wondering what had possessed him.  Something sparkled just a little in his eyes, a sudden awareness perhaps, a clarity to all things, that she had not noticed before.  Much like she was starting to feel.

"What the hell is this virus doing to us?" she feared.

Nick let go of a big sigh.  "I don't know.  I am feeling some strange sensations."

"How did you find out about this in the first place?"

"You know, I was part of that research team, for the depression drug," Nick explained.  "Remember, I had talked about it."

"Ya, I remember," Kate said ruefully.

"I was invited to a couple of meetings by a colleague.  Then, all of a sudden, they stopped inviting me," Nick was still questioning things.  "The research was not what it seemed."

"What do you mean?"

"This was not the depression therapy.  They were up to something else," he continued.  "Something they called project Illumini."

"Project Illumini?" she probed.

"This was something new," Nick anxiously persisted.  "About different pathways, different genes," he hesitated, a guilt clutching at him.  "After they stopped inviting me I started to look around a little, in some databases and fileservers.  See what systems I could get access to."

"What the hell is going on?  What is this virus doing to us?"

"I don't know, I am in the dark on this," Nick blurted in frustration.  "I don't have answers for you."

"Damn," she swore.  "This is fucked up.  What the hell do we do now?"

"We have to get the enzyme, he resolved.  "We have to stay one step ahead."

"I guess," she reluctantly agreed, but there was little faith in her voice.  "How are we going to do that?"

"I don't know," he answered on reflex, as he searched his expanding conscience.  "I have the formula, we could make it," he concluded.

"I'm not sure I can do that," Kate explained.  "I mean maybe, with the right lab, the right materials, but I don't know."

"Maybe the trial patients have it," Nick supposed.  "They must have been on the enzyme, they must be taking a regular dosage."

"You're probably right," she acceded.  "It's easier than making it."

"We can just get it from one of the patients," he looked over at her, having decided on a plan.

"Are you sure you want to take this drug?" she looked back, her eyebrows raised.

"It's the genetic trigger," he said excitedly.  "What do you think it does?"

"Who the hell knows!" she wondered.  "We don't even know if it's safe."

"We can find that out, from the patients, or the clinic," Nick was certain now.

Kate didn't answer right away.

"Don't you want to know what it does?"  Nick enticed her.

She scrutinized him and smiled.