Bain, Darrell Sex Virus

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sold. He was at the door waiting when they arrived.
"Come on in and make yourselves comfortable." Mary introduced Crystal. "I appreciate you coming
here on such short notice."
"Everyone keeps thanking me, Mr. Reeves. It's not necessary, and I'm used to traveling in my
work."
"Fine. And it's Jim, not Reeves." He looked at Mary as he said this.
"Right."
Dee said, "I'm sorry, we got so used to calling Slater a mister that it might be hard to get out of
the habit. He insisted on it. He said it enhanced the prestige of the office. If you slipped up he marked it
against you on your evaluation reports."
Reeves muttered under his breath, then raised his voice. "Damned idiot. He was just trying to
build his own prestige. You didn't hear me say that."
"Yes, sir. Have you met Julie?"
"Not formally. Julie Barnes, isn't it? You work for Mary in forensics, if I remember the personnel
records. I have you scheduled for an interview next week."
"Yes, sir. You have a good memory."
"I try." He turned to Jantz. "Have all of you been checked by a doctor?"
"No, sir. There wasn't time. I'm fine, though."
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"Ladies?"
"I'll go in tomorrow and take Crystal with me. Honestly, though, I'm just bruised and a bit shook
up."
"Me, too," Crystal said.
"All right. Before we get started here, there's drinks at the bar and if you like your ethanol cold
it's in the fridge. But let's all take it easy for the time being."
Once everyone was settled Jantz apologized for not having it in a more ordered fashion, but
Reeves waved him off. "I think going through a gunfight and demolition derby at the same time absolves
you. Carry on."
As Jantz began, Reeves took out a pack of cigarettes and shook one out. He lit up with no
apology to anyone. Jantz grinned behind his hand. Political correctness had no place in Reeve's life; his
house, his prerogative. Jantz looked longingly at the pack. It had been weeks since he had smoked. Not
being able to light up in most buildings, restaurants, and bars had gotten to be such an inconvenience that
he had quit. Or thought he had. Reeves saw the look on his face and smiled. He slid the package and
lighter across to Jantz, and he lit up.
"I don't know if the attempt on our lives was part of what we're facing or not, but I can't see any
other reason why anyone would want to kill us. And if it was we're up against a wider& more lethal
conspiracy. We know for a fact that someone, or some group has released a genetically altered virus into
the environment, which is infecting the population here in Houston. We are surmising that Washington DC
and its suburbs, and Atlanta are also focal points of the virus. Given the large number of people who
travel we must assume the virus has spread all over the world by now, although Crystal thinks it was
introduced into a limited number of urban areas to start with; which ones, we don't know yet. The
presumed virus hasn't been identified, nor noticed yet, simply because the symptoms are so mild.
However, we also believe it lingers in an infected person, gradually introducing HI genes in the body in
organs where they may be best expressed. HI is the acronym for homosexual inclination." James Reeves'
mouth tightened into a grim line as Jantz ran through the evidence, both circumstantial and solid. "I haven't
had a chance to get Mary's latest figures, but as of yesterday, approximately fifteen percent of her lab
people who previously showed no indication of HI genes are now carrying them."
"It may be higher than that," Mary said.
"Why do you say that?" Reeves asked.
"Because all we did so far are cheek swabs. They tell us that the mucosal epithelial cells have
had new genes introduced, but all we're sampling are the surface cells. I have no idea if the changes go
down to the basal cells where the epithelium multiplies, and if it doesn't, then there could be some people
where the surface cells were sloughed off before we took the samples, yet where the virus took hold
elsewhere in the body. And we still might not catch the changes. Most of the surface cells are past the
stage of absorbing new genes into their DNA; in the normal course of things, they die and are replaced
by less mature cells, which die off in turn."
Reeves followed Mary's discourse, indicating a basic knowledge of genetics and human
anatomy. "You look as if you want to say more," he said.
"Um, yes. Although I haven't looked further than the cheek swabs, I suspect that the virus is
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simply introduced as a URI-upper respiratory infection-and that the organs where the genes are actually
expressed probably lie somewhere else."
"What do you mean by 'expressed'?"
"Well, put simply, a gene by itself does nothing. For instance every cell in our body has exactly
the same genes, but they work differently according to which genes are active. The DNA of the active [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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