The First

Chapter 60

"You're alive." Alexa sighed and sat down in front of her computer.

"But I'm freezing." Ray's teeth chattered.

"How did you avoid being attacked?"

"I remember you saying something about them having thermal vision. So, I hid in the cryonics lab freezer."

"Very smart thinking. No doubt your body temperature dropped, your heart became cooler than the tri-alleles' acute heat sense can pick up."

"Yeah ... brilliant. We almost didn't make it."

"Oh. You weren't alone?"

"Thank you so much. You're a darling," he said to someone in the room with him.

"Who's with you?"

"Sam's a candy striper. I found him cowering in a corner near the cryo lab and pulled him in there with me."

"That's good of you." Ray had shown true heroism.

"He found us a couple of heated blankets from down the hall."

"Good. I'd hate to hear you died from hypothermia."

"Beats getting my heart ripped out of my chest."

"Of course, hypothermia would cause you to go into a coma and your heart would stop. Whereas If a Trill ..."

"A what?"

"The tri-allele's have been given a name by Ross. I meant Agent Harris. He calls them, Trills. As I was saying, it would be much more painful to have your heart ripped from your chest."

"When did you two get on a first name basis?"

Alexa felt the heat rise in her face. "You have no idea?"

"Bitch ... spill."

"Pardon me?" Even though he'd embarrassed her, he shouldn't have called her a bitch. She imagined him sitting in her chair with his legs crossed on her desk.

"That's not important now. What we need to focus on is the tri-allele DNA I've collected."

"Okay. I'm connected to you now. Smart using your Bluetooth to connect to the computer and internet." On the other end of the phone, Ray typed away.

"What do you think?" She'd always valued Ray's opinion.

"Looks like everything's here to mass produce your bioweapon."

So far, so good. Things had started to fall into place.

"What happened to the Trills at the hospital?" The name had started to grow on her.

"Up and left. I've no idea why. Maybe they ate their fill."

"Now, that doesn't make much sense. For all intentional purposes, I'm not sure full is within their capabilities."

"I faxed the info to Washington. Now it's up to the fat cats and their scientists to figure out a way to deliver."

"The federal scientists are more than capable of creating darts. But they'll have to mass produce those as well. Darts might not be the solution."

Ray cleared his throat. "I'm going with ... no."

Still, she hadn't come up with a way to reverse the genetic response and knew in her heart, it might not be possible. If that did indeed end up being the case, she would have to help Teagan abort the baby. That's the only conclusion she could come up with to save her daughter's life.