Night Game
Page 2

“That’s true, Gator, but thankfully, although Dahlia is enhanced, she has never had cancer. Nor could I find references to cancer in the files of any of the other girls he experimented on.”
Lily pressed her fingertips just above her eyes. “I haven’t gone through everything in Flame’s file but the cancer returned several times and each time he adjusted the virus and continued doping her after he put the cancer in remission. She’s very enhanced.”
“And you suspect I am as well.”
She bit her lip, but nodded again. “Are you, Gator? Can you run faster, jump higher? None of you have ever mentioned it to me-not even Ryland.”
He avoided the question. “Are you warning us that anyone who might be enhanced is susceptible to cancer?”
“I have no idea,” she said truthfully. “I believe he was working on a way to prevent the doping from stimulating the wrong cells. I think he used Flame to perfect his technique so he could make certain you and the others had fewer problems.”
“Charmin’ son of bitch, wasn’t he?” Gator stuffed the jeans into the duffel bag with a short violent stabbing motion. “He used her like a damn lab rat.”
“It’s worse than that, Gator. I hope to God I’m wrong. I can barely conceive of the idea that the man I knew as my father could have been such a monster, but I don’t think he wanted to cure Flame. I think he knew she’d get sick, and he figured her adopted parents would bring her back to him.”
“But they didn’t.”
“Not that I can see. But the chances of the cancer recurring seem likely. Regular treatment for leukemia would help, but it wouldn’t cure her. The cancer is caused by one particular wild cell.”
“And he knew that.”
Lily nodded reluctantly. “Without a doubt he knew it. The first time he experimented with putting the cancer into remission, he used a virus to insert DNA that caused the cancer cells to self-destruct by producing a protein that was deadly to itself. The second time he used a method of actually forcing the cancer cells to produce a protein that identified itself to her immune system, thereby causing her immune system to attack in a concentrated force, successfully destroying the cancer. It was brilliant really, far ahead of his time.” There was a trace of admiration in Lily’s voice she couldn’t hide from him.
Fury swept through him. Ugly. Dangerous. A snarling demon triggering an aggressive response. Gator turned his back and dragged air into his lungs. He noted the way the walls expanded and contracted, the movement nearly imperceptible. “If he was so damned brilliant and successful at destroying cancer, Lily, why didn’t he report his findings to the world? Why did he secret away his data in a hidden laboratory?”
“Any hospital, university, or private facilities involved in human experiments such as the Whitney Trust are required to have Institutional Review Boards to ensure the research complies with Department of Health and Human Services regulations for the protection of human subjects. And any experiment involving gene insertion must be approved in advance by an Institutional Biosafety Committee.”
He turned to lock his gaze with hers. “So bringing unwanted orphans into the country, virtually buying them and using them as human lab rats to experiment with genetic enhancement, psychic enhancement, and cancer doesn’t fall into the accepted regulations? He would have been labeled the monster he was and he would have been jailed. He tortured that child. And now she’s out there somewhere, isn’t she, Lily? She’s out there and you want her found because you and I both know she’s very, very dangerous and she’s got a hell of a mad on for the Whitney Trust, doesn’t she?”
“I want her found because she needs help and she’s one of us,” Lily corrected, her chin up. When he continued to look her steadily in the eyes her gaze shifted down to her hands.
“Spit it out, Lily.”
“He also found a way to stimulate the growth of tumors with genetic therapy and then he caused the cancer cells to cut off their own blood supply so the tumor withered and died. That kind of research is invaluable.”
“On her? Flame? He gave her cancer, deliberately? He was a son of bitch, wasn’t he, Lily? A pathetic monster who had to find some kind of kick in torturing children. How old was she when he did this to her? How long did he have her? Why didn’t you tell us all this?”
“You aren’t helping me by talking this way, Gator. This happened a long time ago. I’m finding all this out about my father. My father. A man I loved and respected. I can’t help but see his brilliance. And yes, it was monstrous to perform such experiments on children, on any human, but he did and that doesn’t change the fact that he was able to perform medical miracles. He was light-years ahead of anyone else in his field. I want her found, Gator, because she needs us. And she needs medical help. Her body is a ticking bomb and will turn on her sooner or later. She must come back here and let me help her.”
Suspicion flickered for a moment in his eyes but he quickly masked it. “She makes a hell of an experiment, doesn’t she? She must be a walking medical miracle.”
“That’s not why, Gator. She needs to be where we can help her.”
“Has it occurred to you that she’ll think you want her back here for more experiments? I hate to be the one to point this out to you, Lily, but you have that same love of science. You put it before morality, and you admire a monster who tortured children. If I can see that in you, so will she.”
“You can say whatever you like about me, Gator. I believe we need research and yes, I admire his brilliance, even while I condemn the things he did. I do not put it before morality, but do you have any idea how far ahead of his time he was?”
“So you’ve said, more than once. Who are you trying to convince, Lily?”
“DNA was first sequenced in 1977. It wasn’t until 1997 the first genome was sequenced. Don’t you see what that means? He had to have been years ahead of the game. With the things he did, we should be able to figure out better gene therapy and possibly which viruses to use as vectors without the possibility of triggering cancer in unstable cells.”
“Lily…” Gator raked a hand through his hair in agitation. “You aren’t going to get me to see him as some kind of a world savior. He deliberately caused a child to get cancer, not once but repeatedly.”
“You aren’t listening to me, Gator. Don’t you see how the research he did, monstrous or not, could be beneficial? It all happened years ago. We can’t change what he did, but we can acknowledge his brilliance and use what he found out. It’s the only way to bring some good out f the horror he inflicted on us all.”
He breathed deeply to calm the temper pushing so close to the surface. Lily didn’t know what he was capable doing. No one did. Not even Whitney. And he suspected Flame was just as capable of the same mass destruction as he was. “Damn him to hell, Lily, for what he did to her. For what he did to all of you. All of us. I’ll do my best to find her, but I doubt she’ll be very cooperative. I wouldn’t be under the circumstances. I guess you’d better explain exactly what genetic enhancement and gene doping is to me. And do your best to explain in terms I can understand.”
He couldn’t look at her. Didn’t dare look at her. He didn’t want to have to kill Flame Johnson. He didn’t want to have to look at her face, knowing what a monster had done to her and put a gun to her head, but he might have no choice. Lily was giving him no choice, and right at that moment, he was nearly as angry with her as he was with her father. She had no right to ask this of him. They both knew it wasn’t going to be simple bringing Flame back into the fold. Damn both Whitneys to hell for this.
“Basically, gene therapy uses genes to treat or prevent disease. A gene can be inserted into a damaged cell to repair it. At this time, researchers are testing different approaches to gene therapy. They can replace a damaged gene that causes disease with a healthy one. They can knock out a mutated gene that is malfunctioning and they can introduce a new gene into the body to fight a disease.”
Gator stuffed two more shirts into his duffel bag. “In theory, gene therapy is a good thing.”
“In any experiment, Gator, there’s going to be failures; it’s how scientists learn.”
“Tell that to Flame.”
“I don’t have to. Do you think I don’t know what she went through? I’m the one reading her files firsthand. You’re getting the watered-down version.” For the first time, Lily looked angry, her eyes dark with temper. “I thought you’d be the best person to approach about this. You’re always calm and you think things through. Throwing stones at me isn’t going to help Flame.”
“Is that what you think I’m doing? I’m hearing this for the first time. I’m struggling to understand not only what he did to Flame, but how it impacts all of our lives. How did you react, Lily, the first time you realized what he’d done? Did you immediately think to yourself what a brilliant scientist he was, or did you wonder how it would affect you and Ryland and your kids, because it damn well made me think about it. Did you picture Flame as a child so sick and miserable she couldn’t walk, with no one to comfort her? Because I did. I’m sorry I’m not handling this to your liking, but someone needed to kill the son of a bitch.”
Lily winced. “Someone did, Gator.”
He rubbed his forehead and the sudden headache pounding at his temples. “I’m sorry, Lily, that was completely uncalled for. Tell me a little more about enhancement and why gene therapy is such a great thing. I swear, I’ll try to listen with an open mind.” He flashed a small grin at her. “And try to speak English. I have to actually understand what you’re telling me.”
Grateful that he was at least willing to try, Lily sent him a small smile in return. “I’ll do my best. Gene therapy expanded to include the ability to not only correct faulty genes, but also enhance normal ones. This where it gets a little complicated.”
“I’m following you,” Gator said.
“A carrier molecule or vector is used to introduce the desired gene – or genes – into a patient’s target cells. A virus is used as the vector because viruses have evolved a way of encapsulating and delivering their genes to human cells in a pathogenic manner. Are you following me?”
“So far. I think being around you so much, I’m beginning to pick up all your scientific jargon.”
“Besides viral-mediated gene delivery systems, there are several nonviral options for gene delivery. The simplest method is the direct introduction of therapeutic DNA into target cells. But that approach is limited in its application because it can only be used with certain tissues and it requires large amounts of DNA.
“Another nonviral approach involves the creation of an artificial lipid sphere with an aqueous core. This liposome, which carries the therapeutic DNA, is capable of passing the DNA through the target cell’s membrane.”
“Hell, Lily, you just went into the ozone with that explanation.”
“Sorry. It wouldn’t enhance, let’s say, your legs. You’d need to reach a tremendous number of cells to do that. But…” Lily frowned and something in the way her face stilled and her voice lowered made Gator pay closer attention. “There are forty-six chromosomes in the human body. My father appears to have been working on a forty-seventh chromosome. One that would exist autonomously alongside the standard fortysix-not affect their working or causing mutations. It appears to be large vector capable of carrying substantial numbers of genetic codes. If he succeeded, the body’s immune system wouldn’t attack it. The difficulty, of course, is how to deliver such a large molecule to the nucleus of a target cell. If he managed to do that, it would solve a lot of the problems with gene therapy, but create other, much more frightening hazards.” One hand fluttered protectively over her stomach. “In the data we have so far, gene enhancement doesn’t appear to affect the next generation, but if he inserted a new chromosome, all bets would be off.”