"Oh, yeah. I'm used to the 'too busy' thing. My advisor at Princeton was always sooo busy…" He paced her down the stairs and into the MCZ lab wing. "So, Bob said he was working on it with you. So, you two are a team?"
"Collaborating. I'm doing his morphology and he's doing my genetics."
"Genetics?" His face lit up. "You found DNA?"
"Some, but ancient DNA's sometimes like a jigsaw puzzle without all the pieces. I'm hoping we have enough for my dissertation proposal."
"You're still working on a proposal?"
She wasn't sure if his tone was sardonic or not, but felt a flare of unaccustomed anger. "It's not as easy as you think."
He followed her down the second flight into the basement. "Oh, I know it's not easy. I'm just surprised. You're second year's almost up. You must be worried."
"Not really. Just busy." She stopped at the door to her lab and turned to face him. "If you're not busy, you're not working hard enough. Which is why I've got to get to work." She smiled politely and opened the door to her lab.
"Oh, right." He put a hand on the wall beside the door. "Hey, I'm having some people over tonight. Nothing big, just drinks and fun, maybe some movies. You want to drop by?"
I'd sooner claw my eyes out, she thought with a cringe. "I'm working late tonight, Derrick."
"Okay, sure. Well, good luck!" His eyes swept the lab as the door swung wide
"Thanks." Aleksi stepped inside, ice water trickling down her spine as she turned her back on him. She wondered at the sensation. Sure, Derrick was kind of creepy, but it wasn't like he was going to attack her. "See you in class."
"Right! Bye."
The door closed, but there was a small safety window near the handle. As she hung up her coat and took her computer bag into the draped corner where her samples awaited, she caught a glimpse of Derrick's face peering in through the glass. More ice water dribbled down her spine, like a centipede with cold feet.
Relax, Aleksi. She reached for protective gear. He's just new and curious. A spoiled rich kid trying too hard. She put on a gown, dust mask, and goggles, glancing back toward the door. It's not like he's a monster.
Working on the bone bed samples, revealing the once-living remnants from their sheaths of solid rock, time lost its meaning. Aleksi worked methodically, exposing and photographing segment after segment of the jumbled fossils, taking measurements and logging copious notes on her computer. She worked through midday without realizing it, and when a voice from outside the barrier called her name, it was dark outside.
"Aleksi?"
"Yeah?" She straightened from her work and stretched her back, eliciting a sequence of cracks. She could see more than one shape through the translucent plastic barrier. "Who's there?"
"It's Hutch."
Aleksi got up from her stool and moved to the barrier opening. Two men accompanied Hutch; one she recognized as the department chairman, Dr. Vandyke, the other she did not. She removed her safety glasses and mask in a cascade of rock dust.
"I thought I'd find you here working late."
"No rest for the wicked," she said with a smile, nodding to the chairman.
"You know Dr. Vandyke." Hutch gestured to the other man, tall, silver-haired and wearing an expensive suit, though his tie was loose. "And this is Congressman Twain. He's working with me on the pipeline project."
" Dr. Vandyke, nice to see you. Congressman Twain." She snapped off her gloves and shook hands with the two men, smiling through the dust. "Sorry, I'm such a mess, but grinding through rock all day leaves me looking a bit like a dust bunny."
"Not at all!" Vandyke grinned at her, his face flushed. She caught a whiff of whiskey on his breath. "We were just talking with Hutch, and I mentioned the fallout of your switch over to his lab." She opened her mouth to say something, but he held up a hand. "Not to worry! Both Dr. Oliver's and Hutch's records speak for themselves. Frankly, I'm surprised you stuck it out with her as long as you did."
"Well, I probably would have stayed with her, if not for this project." She shrugged. "It's kind of right up my alley."
"Which is why we came to visit you." The congressman's eyes twinkled above that perfect politician smile. "Hutch told us about the bone bed samples and this mystery specimen you've discovered, and I asked if I might be allowed to see them."
"Oh, well, there's really not much to see right now. It's mostly still encased in rock and plaster." She held the drape open and waved an arm at the laden benches. "The one under the drape is the mystery, but I've stopped working on that until we get more information from Bob Tomlin, who's working up some genetic data. We can go in, but you'll have to put on a mask and gloves."
Everyone did, and she gave them a short tour of the work, carefully lifting the drape to show where the plaster had been excavated to expose the ash cast. " Dr. Hutchinson and I took the samples that Bob's working on from here, and here." She indicated the two spots overhanging the edge of the table with a gloved fingertip. "They were kind of hard to get to, so we moved the slab over where it is now to get a better angle. The really curious part was the CT scan." She went to her computer and pulled the image up for them to see.
Vandyke sidled up to peer at the screen. "Hutch told us about that, but he said your preliminary data shows contamination."
"Well, it shows two disparate types of DNA, but we don't know that it's contamination. Bob is thinking that the strange CT is due to two intermingled specimens. We'll see."
"But the CT didn't show a skeletal structure at all?" The congressman peered at the exposed ash cast.
"No. We thought that was due to the heat of the pyroclastic ash, but now that we've found DNA and analyzed some of the ash material, we know it couldn't have been that hot." She shrugged again, replacing the drape over the sample. "And these over here, are the bone bed samples."
"You've made good progress." Hutch ran a gloved hand over the newly exposed fossils. "Amazing, actually."
"They're beautiful," the congressman said, and Aleksi looked at him with a new appreciation. Not many people saw the beauty in such things.
"Thanks," she said with a shrug. "I get caught up and can't seem to stop myself. In fact, I missed lunch, and dinner, so I better get home and eat, or I'm going to start chewing on these old bones, and I know how Dr. Hutchinson hates that."
They all laughed, and Hutch gaped at her.
"Well, we've all just eaten, but it's still early." Congressman Twain gestured toward the exit. "I'd be happy to buy you a late dinner, if you'd join us to continue this fascinating discussion."
"I don't know if we should—"
"Oh, come on, Hutch." Vandyke ushered them outside the barrier and they doffed their gear. Aleksi stripped off her cap and gown as well, taking care not to raise a cloud of dust. "You said she'd made excellent progress. She's probably going to be cooped up in here all weekend chipping away on these things. Let her live a little."
Hutch gave Aleksi a look that she couldn't quite interpret, almost as if he was scared what she might say.
"Well, I'm done with the journal translation, so I wasn't going to work on this anymore tonight anyway."
"Excellent! I know someplace that serves wonderful food, and it's not far." The congressman grinned wide.
"Besides," Aleksi hurried over to the sink to get cleaned up, "if I said no, I'd be breaking one of the four cardinal rules of graduate school."
"And those are?" The congressman arched an eyebrow.
"Never stand when you can sit." She did a quick but thorough job of dusting off with the little hand vacuum as she spoke. "Never sit when you can lie down. Never lie down when you can sleep. And never, ever, turn down free food." As they all laughed, she washed her hands and face, then grabbed her coat. "Ready when you are, Congressman."
As she flipped off the lights and they left the lab, Hutch leaned close to whisper. "Who are you, and what have you done with Aleksi?"
"I must be delirious with hunger," she whispered back, enjoying the whiff of
his residual aftershave mixed with just a touch of his underlying scent.
Moments after the door closed, it swung silently open again. Derrick Penningly stepped inside, removing the strip of duct tape he'd place over the locking latch of the door. Simple, no key necessary. He'd used that trick often; the spring-loaded locking latch was separate from the other regular latches. Taped down, the door would close and appear locked, but the lock wouldn't engage.
Squinted into the darkness, he moved to the dust barrier and slipped inside, breathing in the scents of plaster and decay, of things long dead.
Mystery monster. My ticket to a PhD. If his plan worked, this would be his lab in a very short time indeed. Aleksi would eventually accept one of his invitations to come over, then she'd be his bitch. But he needed to be able to step in, and that meant getting all the information he could. Derrick peered under the sheet into the small gaps where something, probably bone, had been removed. The diffuse light glinted on something within.
Lowering the drape, he turned to the computer that lay under a protective plastic cover on the bench. As he reached out to boot the machine up, a click and voices from outside froze him in his tracks.
Shit! Getting caught burglarizing a lab was a one-way ticket out of Harvard. He needed someplace to hide.
"I told you I was delirious with hunger." Aleksi's voice carried easily through the dust barrier. "I'll just grab it and be right back."
Light flooded the room, and he heard her footsteps crossing the lab. There was only one place he could hide. The harsh fluorescent lights cast deep shadows under the tables, and the drape over the mystery monster almost reached the floor. He ducked down and crawled underneath, holding his breath as he heard the rustle of the dust barrier parting. He watched her shadow as she crossed over to the lab bench.
He tensed, lips curling back from his teeth. Don't take the fucking computer!
But she just leaned down and picked up the bag that lay beside the bench and retreated without glancing in his direction.
Yes!
"Got it! Julie would never forgive me if I had to wake her up to get into the apartment." The room darkened and the door clicked closed.
Derrick let out his breath and crawled out from his hiding place, but stood up too quickly. The back of his head cracked the plaster cast, and a cascade of dust fell from the excavated portion of the sample. He drew a sharp breath to stifle a curse, and the shimmering dust filled his sinuses.
It stung like breathing broken glass.
Derrick drew an even deeper dust-laden breath and sneezed into his hands, trying to stifle the sound. His ears popped. He shook his head and listened, his sinuses on fire.
Silence…
That was close.
He emerged from beneath the table dusting the mixture of plaster, ash dust, and some kind of golden glitter from his hair and jacket. Wasting no more time, he went to the computer, and booted it up from sleep mode. There was no password; it was Aleksi's personal laptop, not one of the school's machines.
"Sweet."
He withdrew a flash drive from his pocket and plugged it in. The empty drive came up automatically. He did a search for any files updated in the last week, and saw that most were in two folders, one named "Bears" and another named "Loktev." He transferred the latter to his drive. It was large, and took time. Patience… Done, he ejected his drive, put the computer back to sleep, and left the lab as quietly as possible, checking the hall before he slipped out and vanished into the cold Cambridge winter.
17
They arrived at the restaurant in more style than Aleksi had ever been privy to; a limousine complete with bar and privacy screen. They were ushered under an awning with the nondescript moniker of "Abe & Louie's" by a smiling maître d', and relieved of their coats and bags by a hostess at the door. The maître d' escorted them to a comfortable corner booth. Aleksi smoothed her sweater, glad she had worn something reasonably nice instead of a hoodie, and took a seat on the end beside Hutch.
A waiter wearing a white jacket and a solemn smile approached. "Good to see you again Congressman Twain."
"Good to be seen, Danny. Drinks?" The congressman asked, eyebrows arching.
"Best not change horses in the middle of a race," Vandyke said. "Johnny Walker Blue on the rocks."
"Same for me, but make mine neat." The congressman looked at Hutch and Alex. "You were drinking Sam Adams Octoberfest, weren't you, Hutch?"
"Yes."
"And you, Aleksi?" He cocked one silver eyebrow at her.
"A glass of red wine would be perfect." She raised an eyebrow right back. "A Zin, maybe? Something to go with a steak? And a menu?"
"A meat eater! Well, I hope we don't offend the good Dr. Hutchinson."
"No worries." Hutch smiled easily at Aleksi.
"Excellent! Have the steward pick out a nice bottle of old vine Zinfandel for Aleksi here." He turned to her, "And if I can make a recommendation on the steak, the porterhouse is very nicely done here."
"Sounds perfect! Thank you."
"My usual for the lady, Danny."
The waiter nodded with a smile and turned away. Aleksi looked to Hutch. "I never asked you why you were a vegetarian."
"The male side of my family is riddled with heart disease and colon cancer. It's not any kind of a moral statement." He gave a little shrug and sipped some water.
"Live fast, die young, and have a good-looking corpse is my motto," the congressman said, though Aleksi would not have called him young or particularly good-looking, though he had the perfect grooming of a wealthy politician. They talked a little until their drinks arrived and Twain raised his glass. "Speaking of youth, may I toast our young lady companion, Aleksi. May your brilliance as a scientist be only out-shown by your beauty."
"Oh, I can't drink to that, Congressman! Brains before beauty for me!" She raised her glass and sipped. Her mouth exploded in a heady swirl of flavors, and she arched her eyebrows. This was very good wine.
"Oh? Why?"
"You need to ask a Harvard graduate student that, Congressman?" Vandyke laughed with a wry grin. "We don't recruit for looks, and if I remember correctly, Aleksi was Suma Cum Laude at NYU, isn't that right."
"And voted shyest in my class three years in a row." That wasn't really true. She had never gotten enough recognition to be voted anything.
"Oh, surely not!" The congressman knitted his brows at her, suspecting some joke.
"That's why I love paleontology." She stopped, suddenly realizing that she felt totally at ease, sitting here talking to three men, all of them her senior and having quite a bit of power over the future of her academic career. No clenching hands beneath the table, no anxiety, no fear. What's wrong with me? She shook off the thought and continued. "Peace and quiet, learning the secrets of things that have been dead for thousands of years; what could be better? And you said so yourself, Congressman, they're beautiful, these things we dig up. There's…something about them. Sometimes, I feel like I can hear them wanting to tell me about themselves." She shrugged and sipped her wine, startled at her own honesty.
"Well, you don't seem shy to me," the congressman said.
"Not to me either." Hutch cast her another quizzical look. "Not nearly as shy as when I first met you, Aleksi."
"I told you; I'm delirious with hunger." She knew that wasn't the case, but it sounded good. Another small sip of wine and she put her glass carefully aside. "And if I drink any more before I eat, you'll find out exactly how delirious."
They laughed, and Hutch thankfully changed the subject. Her dinner arrived, and she stared in shock at the inch-thick slab of meat that filled her entire plate.
The congressman chuckled, obviously enjoying his little joke. "You said you were hungry, didn't you?"
She picked up her knife and fork and winked at him. "You have no idea, Congressman Twain. Noooo idea."
Hutch was worried when the cab bearing him and Aleksi turned down the street toward her apartment. Congressman Twain had been a w
onderful host, and the drinks and conversation had flowed freely. To everyone's astonishment, Aleksi had finished the enormous steak and the last of the bottle of wine in the following hours. Both the congressman and Dr. Vandyke had imbibed a bit too much scotch. Hutch had paced himself and was far from inebriated. Aleksi had been the center of attention, and handled it with humor, confidence, and poise. Throughout the night and during the ride home, Hutch kept looking at her, unsure if he recognized her.
Who are you, and what did you do with Aleksi? It had been a joke, but now, he wondered.
The night had turned cold, the day's rain changing to ice and snow that drifted on the wind like faerie dust. Waiting for the cab, standing in ten-degree wind chill with her coat flapping, Aleksi had called the cold exhilarating. In the back of the cab, she'd fallen silent, sitting there with a quiet smile on her face.
Hutch was seriously concerned.
This was not the Aleksi Rychenkna he'd had to coax into having a coffee with him to discuss a potential research project. What changed her? Who is she? What happened?
As the cab's tires crunched to a stop in front of her building, she surprised him yet again. "Are you okay, Hutch?"
"Am I okay?" He glanced at her to find her looking him right in the eyes. He blinked and looked away. "I was going to ask you that."
"So ask." She got out of the cab before he could open his mouth.
Hutch followed, pulling his coat closed against the icy blast. She stood there on the sidewalk between the snow mounds staring up at the sky, her coat flapping in the wind. "Aleksi, what's gotten into you? You're acting strange."
"I probably drank too much, but I don't feel like it." She turned to face him, coat still open, snowflakes dotting her sweater. "I feel fine. Your turn. What's wrong? You've been looking at me like I grew horns and a tail or something."
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