White Mountain (34 page)

Now he knew, but what he was going to do with the information remained to be seen.

David shoved the microscope aside and stood, stretching wearily as he stared at a small spot on the ceiling.

“It didn’t divide, did it?” Rufus asked.

David shook his head.

“The sample was too old.
 
We don’t heave enough viable DNA to make it work.
 
It’s time to quit now, before it’s too late.”

David shook his head.
 
“Not just yet,” he muttered.
 
“I wish Samuel were still alive.
 
He’d know what to do.”

John slapped a lab table with the flat of his hand.

“Damn it all to hell…Samuel was no better than the rest of us.
 
If he had been, we wouldn’t be looking at a one-hundred percent failure rate.”

“ninety-nine point nine,” David corrected.
 
“Everything didn’t fail, and you know it.”

“I’ve said it before—that one doesn’t count,” John muttered.

David spun, suddenly loud and angry.

“Why the hell not?
 
We implanted that mother the same way we’ve done every other woman who wanted a child.
 
The mother conceived.
 
She carried her baby the full nine months without a hitch.
 
The child is the only healthy adult we have.”

David snorted angrily.
 
“And why you’ve chosen to rehash old history is beyond me.
 
We’ve got the world coming at us from all sides.
 
Let’s try and finish what we’ve started before we’re crushed.
 
What do you say?”

“Fine,” John said.
 
“But there’s only enough DNA nucleus for one more try.
 
After that, the writing is on the wall, my friends.”

Shock spread across David’s face.

“Only one?” he asked.

“And considering what we had to work with, lucky to have that many,” Rufus muttered.
 
“You try getting DNA out of three-hundred-year-old bones and see what you come up with.”

David’s shoulders slumped.
 
“I’m sorry.
 
You’re right.
 
I know you’re right.
 
And were it not for your breakthrough research last year, we wouldn’t be able to do even that.”

Rufus was mollified enough by the praise to stop arguing.

“Where are Samuel’s notes on his last tests?
 
Maybe there’s something we’re missing.”

“They’re right here,” David said.
 
“I’m not missing anything but some luck.”

“Then here’s to luck,” John said.
 
“And a big hearty breakfast.
 
I’m starving.”

“There’s a woman upstairs who’s come a long way for a child.
 
Let’s just remember the promise she made to God and make this work.”

Rufus chuckled as he picked up the last piece of bone.

“Irony…that’s what this is....Irony.”

“How so?” John asked.

Rufus held up the bone.
 
“Saint Bartholomew here gave his life to God and died for his troubles.”

David shook his head.
 
“He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time in history.
 
Europe in the seventeen hundreds was a hotbed of hypocrisy and mysticism.
 
They branded him a heretic and hanged him.
 
Then, ten years later, they were praying to his remains and expecting miracles.
 
Go figure.”

“But the miracles did happen.
 
Remember that,” John said.
 
“They’ve been happening for centuries.
 
He did not die a saint.
 
It was the Catholic church that gave him the title, and you know they don’t give it lightly.”

Rufus smiled.
 
“So we give a man of God to a woman who’s promised to give him back to God.
 
There’s the irony.”

David tuned out their abstract chatter as he chose a new egg and began to remove the nucleus.
 
A short while later, he looked up.

“I’m ready when you are,” he said.

Rufus nodded.
 
“This is it, my friend, and if this doesn’t work, then we move to plan B.”

David snorted.
 
“There is no plan B.”

Rufus waddled over to David’s lab table, deftly moving his cumbersome bulk between the equipment.

“Here…and be gentle.
 
The fellow was supposed to be celibate, although back in those days, it was iffy.”

It was the unexpected bawdiness of Rufus’s comment that settled their nerves.
 
Laughter was brief as David began the process.

“step one,” David said, then took the adult nucleus Rufus handed him and injected it into the dish beside the one he’d harvest from Maria Silvia.

“Step two,” he said, and shot the adult nucleus with an electrical impulse, trying to shock it to life in lieu of human sperm.

“Step three,” he said, checking settings as they crowded around the computer monitor.

The image on screen was exactly what they would see under a microscope, only magnified for easier viewing—one empty egg from Maria and the adult DNA from a long-dead monk.
 
Theoretically the electrical impulse would charge the adult nucleus to behave as human sperm—piercing the outer membrane and cytoplasm of Maria’s egg and becoming one with it.
 
Cell division wouldn’t happen without that.

They watched the monitor with their hearts in their throats, thinking of Samuel, who’d died before his dream had been realized, remembering Frank who’d been martyred because of it, and praying for Thomas, who had been beaten down by it.
 
If they failed now, it was over.

One long second followed another until Rufus slapped the arms of his chair in disgust.
 
“That’s that, then,” he said.
 
“It isn’t going to work.”
 
He got up from his seat and began removing his lab coat.

John nodded in agreement and had started to walk away when David suddenly shouted.

“Wait!”

They rushed back, their gazes riveted to the screen.

“See!
 
There!” David cried.
 
“It’s working!
 
By God…it’s working.”

They stared in disbelief, watching as the adult nucleus began to move.
 
Melding itself to Maria’s egg, it began to pierce the outer shell.

Division had started.

They stood in humble silence, enraptured by the creation of life.
 
Maria Silvia didn’t know it yet, but her child was on the way.

Isabella arrived at her door, only to realize that her keys were inside.
 
If it was locked, she was going to have to go to the registration desk in her night clothes.
 
Just as she reached for the doorknob, two of her household staff opened the door and came out.
 
When they saw her, they both smiled, but it was Mavis who started talking.

“Oh, Miss Abbott, thank goodness you’re all right.
 
We heard all about what happened to you last night, so Shirley and I came in early to clean up.
 
Everything is back in order except for the bullet hole in the wall and that little green lamp that sat by your father’s chair.
 
I’m afraid it’s broken beyond repair.”

“It doesn’t take long for news to travel, does it?
 
As for the damages, considering what might have happened, they’re nothing.
 
I was really dreading coming back to the mess the police had made, so thank you for coming in early.
 
My gratitude will be reflected in your paychecks.”

“It’s not necessary.
 
Really,” Mavis said.

“It is for me.
 
Thanks again,” Isabella said, and opened the door as they left to begin their regular shift.

She paused in the doorway, remembering the abject terror with which she’d left last night.
 
This was the only home she’d ever known.
 
She’d learned to roller skate in the hallways and had sat in her father’s lap before this very fireplace as he read her to sleep each night.
 
She wasn’t going to let evil destroy every good memory she had.

Her eyes narrowed angrily.
 
Lifting her chin, she strode inside, firmly shutting and locking the door behind her.
 
Then, to be on the safe side, she turned the dead bolt in place.
 
Not because she thought Victor Ross would come back in broad daylight, but because until she got the locks changed, she would take no further chances.

Hurrying into her bedroom she stripped of her clothes as she headed for the shower.
 
Half an hour later, she was dressed.
 
Two phone calls and she would be ready to meet Jack for breakfast.
 
She glanced at the clock.
 
It was almost eight.
 
Maybe the locksmith would be in his office by now.

She called, and to her relief she got him instead of an answering machine.
 
When she explained her problem, he promised to be out before noon.
 
When she hung up the phone, she sat for a moment, thinking about the next call to be made.
 
If it was as simple as the first, her day would be off to a fine start.

She dialed the hospital and asked for Thomas Mowry’s room.
 
It was Jasper who answered.

“Hello?”

“Uncle Jasper, it’s me.
 
How is Thomas?”

“He’s fine, just fine.
 
In fact, he’s going home as soon as he has some breakfast.
 
But it’s you who we’re concerned with.
 
John called us last night and told us what happened.
 
David wanted to rush right home to you then, but John assured us you were all right and under Mr. Dolan’s protection for the night.”

She thought of sleeping with Jack and waking up in his arms.
 
She hadn’t just been protected.
 
She’d bee loved.

“It was very frightening, but yes, I’m fine.
 
Jack saved my life, Uncle Jasper.”

“Then we owe him a great deal.
 
You are so very precious to us all, my dear.”

A lump came in Isabella’s throat, but she wouldn’t give in to her emotions.
 
The uncles loved her, she knew.
 
But the time had come for some explanations, and she wasn’t going to quit until she got some.

“So, you’ll be home before noon?”

“Someone will have to come get us.”

“What happened to the car you drove last night?”

“Oh!
 
I forgot to tell you.
 
You know how I nod off at night.
 
Well, David stayed up with Thomas until almost daylight.
 
When I woke up and saw how exhausted he was, I sent him home.
 
He’s probably sound asleep right now, so I wouldn’t disturb him.
 
He’ll come down when he’s rested.”

“Okay, and I’ll make sure that none of the household staff clean up there today.”

“Good idea, darling.
 
Well, here they come now with Thomas’s breakfast.
 
I’d better go and see if I can talk them into bringing one more for me.”

“I’ll pick you up around eleven.
 
If you’re ready earlier, give me a call.”

“All right, sweetheart, and drive safely.”
 
Then he thought about what had happened last night and he added.
 
“Do you think you should come alone?”

“I won’t be alone,” she said.
 
“I’ll ask Jack to come with me.”

A brief silence followed her announcement; then she heard Thomas talking in the background and realized Jasper’s attention had been momentarily diverted.

“Uncle Jasper…did you hear what I said?”

“Yes, yes.
 
I’m sorry.
 
Thomas was talking to me at the same time, and I can’t hear thunder out of my right ear, so I had to lower the phone to hear what he was saying.”

“Is he really okay?”

Jasper laughed.
 
“I’d say so.
 
He was asking me to tell the nurses that he likes butter on his toast, not margarine.”

Isabella laughed, and she was still smiling when she left to meet Jack for breakfast.

Jas was wiping the last of the shaving cream from his neck when his cell phone began to ring.
 
There was only on person who would be calling him on that phone.
 
He raced to answer.

“Dolan her.”

It was the director.