NEXUS POINTS : Chapter 19-20

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Chapter 19

The Bioterrorism Division of the SSA was brimming with activity when Beck Hollen arrived. Dan Malick was compiling the evidence they had gathered for Yong Liu’s case.

“How was court?” Dan asked.

“As expected.” Beck stood examining the files on the oversized display screen. Liu was meticulous in detailing his research but sloppy to the extreme in covering his tracks. There were experimental reports, tissue samples, assay results and acquisition forms. 

On the surface, this was an open-and-shut case. To Beck, however, there was something unsettling about the evidence in front of him. The details were too neat, as if someone had packaged them up and wrapped everything in a bow before handing it to the SSA. Nonetheless, the evidence against Liu was overwhelming. The only thing left to do now was to make sure no one else was involved.

Beck opened the folder on Kora Amelli. He didn’t get this girl. She wasn’t your typical inner-ring-elite type, but she wasn’t your usual middle-state-country-girl either. There was a fire and a tough streak about her that contradicted her delicate exterior and reserved demeanor. And that sharp wit of hers!

It was clear to Beck and Malick that Amelli didn’t know anything, and neither did anyone else on Liu’s research team. The biggest question was why. They couldn’t find any real motive except perhaps Liu had some sort of God complex. The evidence suggested he was experimenting on inserting synthetic DNA into brain cells in order to manipulate brain function.

“Maybe Liu thinks he can create super-humans,” Malick said, shaking his head. “These techie types think they can get away with anything.” 

Beck smiled at Malick. Dan’s contempt towards those who lived and worked in the inner seven rings was no secret in the department.

“Hey handsome...” 

A sultry voice called out from behind him. Beck turned to see Gina Jenkins coming towards him in her red sky-high stilettos, her breasts jiggling seductively under her white shirt. Her long red hair appeared to be freshly tinted.

Beck smiled. “Who? Me?”

“Yes, you.” Jenkins sat down in Beck’s chair, offering him an unobstructed view of her cleavage. 

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Beck asked, trying to keep his eyes on Jenkins’s face.

“There’s a pretty girl downstairs who wants to see you, and here I thought I was your one and only.” Jenkins laughed. “Her name is Kora Amelli.”

“Uh oh! Someone’s in trouble,” Malick teased.

Beck rolled his eyes at him. He turned his attention back to Jenkins. “Tell them I’ll be right there.”

*

Beck found Amelli waiting in one of the interview rooms on the 13th floor. He studied her for a moment through the glass panel next to the door. 

Amelli was wearing a grey crew neck sweater and tight blue jeans, her long hair tied into a low pony tail. She seemed deep in thought, her face paler than he remembered.

Beck knocked lightly, then opened the door. “Dr. Amelli. What a surprise. I heard you went to visit Dr. Liu.”

Amelli looked up, her honey brown eyes seemed distant. It was as if she were somewhere else.

“Mr. Hollen,” she said curtly, “I want to talk to you about Yong’s case.”

Beck sat down next to Amelli. “Do you have new information for us?”

“I... I want you to consider the possibility that Yong might have been framed. The research he and I were working on could potentially get some very powerful people into trouble.”

“Are you saying there’s a conspiracy behind Dr. Liu’s hybridization experiments?”

“There were no hybridization experiments. We were working to find out what caused my aunt’s death.”

Beck sighed. “Look, Dr. Amelli, I understand you and Dr. Liu work closely together. But just because you work with someone doesn’t mean you know them. I can’t get into specifics, but let me just say we have a very solid case with a lot of evidence.”

“Don’t you think it’s too convenient? That all the evidence was in plain sight for you to find?”

Beck found Amelli’s questions offensive. “That’s what we do here, Dr. Amelli. If a crime has been committed, we’ll find the evidence.”

Amelli bit her lower lip. “What I’m trying to say is if Yong was really doing something illegal, he would’ve covered his tracks. You wouldn’t have found the evidence so easily.”

“Are you saying he’s too smart or are you implying we’re too stupid?”

Amelli’s face reddened. “I’m... I’m saying it doesn’t make sense. I know Yong Liu. There’s no reason for him to do what he’s been accused of. Someone obviously is trying to stop him from continuing his research.”

Beck tried to hold his anger in check. “Dr. Amelli, I suggest you go back to doing whatever the hell it is that you do. Leave the investigation of this case to those who know what they’re doing.”

Amelli pressed her lips together. Her face was flushed, her eyes livid. “I may not be an investigator, but it’s obvious to me that Derin Serpius should be the one under investigation here. This all started because Yong made a connection between our research and the FS Project.”

Beck frowned. “The FS Project? That’s the research project that prompted the State to ban all DNA hybridization experiments.”

“Yes, and it was a team at NID that led the project.”

“If that’s the case, where’s the evidence?”

“You’re accusing the wrong man!” Amelli’s voice was filled with frustration.

Beck looked at her steadily. “Are you trying to tell me how to do my job?”

“I wouldn’t be if you were actually doing your job and catching the bad guys!”

Beck had heard enough. He stood up, closing the distance between them deliberately, towering over Amelli. “Be very careful here, Dr. Amelli!”

“Or what? Are you going to charge me with crimes I haven’t committed?”

Beck grabbed the arms of Amelli’s chair. He bent down, eyes boring into Amelli’s. “I work with evidence and evidence alone, not with my emotions!”

“I’m telling you things are not what they seem!” 

Amelli’s returned his stare, her eyes burning with anger and intensity, her breathing shallow and rapid. Their gaze locked for several long moments. A sweet scent filled Beck's nostrils. Gardenia.

There was something oddly familiar about her. Beck fought back the urge to grab and kiss her. Suddenly the look in Amelli’s eyes changed. Anger was replaced by confusion. For a moment Beck wondered if she saw through him.

“What?” he asked softly. 

“I... I have to go.” Abruptly, she got up from her chair and hurried out the door.

Chapter 20

Kora wandered the streets of the 1st Ring aimlessly. Pedestrians scurried past her. Transports crowded the crossways. Dark clouds shrouded the afternoon sun. It smelled of snow in the air. The city around her seemed alien and hostile. 

She felt alone and scared. Anita was dead, her career was ruined, her mentor was arrested, her boyfriend had left her, and she was slowly going insane. It was all too much…

Kora thought about Beck Hollen and his grey blue eyes. She couldn’t believe the way she’d screamed at him earlier, how badly she’d behaved. He seemed to bring out a side of her that she didn't know existed, a side of her she was almost afraid of.

For a brief moment, looking in his eyes, she’d felt something, a longing that was almost too much to bear. Painful feelings from another time, another place. Somehow she recognized those eyes and the soul behind it. It was as if they had known each other from somewhere, only she knew they hadn’t.

Kora knew she wasn’t crazy, at least not yet. Her cognitive functions were fully intact. All the visions she had were too logical and sequential for them to be mere hallucinations. But what do they mean? 

She felt as if she was standing at a nexus where past, present and future were merging. Her logical brain couldn’t process this feeling and that frightened her.

“Focus on your research,” the small voice inside her said. 

She wondered where that voice came from. 

“You’ll know soon enough,” it answered, to the question she hadn’t even asked.

Kora thought about Yong Liu, sitting in his detention cell awaiting trial, and about the degeneration in her limbic brain. She couldn’t really pinpoint how she felt. Guilt, grief and anger all seemed to roll into one.

Finally, Kora called Sage Sandberg. “Sage, I’ve decided to take you up on your offer to join your research team.”

*

The library at the University hadn’t changed since Kora had graduated almost four years ago. It was one of Kora’s favorite places in the world. She especially loved the antique wooden bookshelves in the main hall. Each was three meters tall and held hardbound books printed on real paper. Some of these books were almost a thousand years old. The shelves were covered with climate-sealed carbon fiberglass panels that preserved the precious volumes.

Methodically, Kora began searching for any archived entries that mentioned the FS Project. Unfortunately, there was very little useful information. What she did find she already knew. 

At a time when geopolitical power was shifting around the world, the newly formed Virgo State Assembly had voted to expend an extraordinary amount of resources on the FS Project. What was curious was the way the project was shut down, unexpectedly, and very suddenly. Any related research had since been deemed illegal. Something had happened.

What did the State have the research team sworn to secrecy about? Why were the files sealed? Kora wondered. 

She decided to search the scientific journals. Such groundbreaking work was bound to have been reported by the research journals. Someone must have bragged about their participation, she thought. 

Kora was right. There were multiple reports on NID being awarded the contract from the State. The original team was headed by three of the giants of modern genetics, Dr. Rene Bartlett, Dr. Yong Liu, and Dr. Tariq Shirani. Of the three, Shirani had died in a transport accident years ago, Bartlett had retired shortly after the FS Project was shut down, and Yong Liu was sitting in a detention cell. But if Yong Liu had kept his original hand-written notes, perhaps Bartlett had as well. 

Kora jotted down Bartlett’s address. It was time to find some real answers.

- End of Chapter 20 -