F Wilson - Implant

'"Barbara! Did you use the FDA database yesterday? " "No, I, " "I saw the manual on your desk this morning." She leaned back from him, a startled expression on hex face. He hadn't intended to speak so harshly.

"I, I gave it to Dr. Panzella yesterday. She asked for it, so I dug it out for her." He was stunned. Gin?

"That was all right, wasn't it? " Gin?

"What? Oh, yes. Fine." Time for a little damage control. "I was just looking for it. I have to use it . . . need some data from the FDA myself." Barbara handed it to him and he returned to his office, shaking his head at the image of Gin attempting to pick a lock.

Absurd. Laughable.

And yet . . .

She certainly had access and opportunity. But why would she? No. No way.

And yet . . .

The jammed lock, Gin asking for the FDA manual . . . the juxtaposition was just a little too close.

Duncan returned to his desk and turned on his computer terminal. Maybe there was some way to find out just what she was after from the FDA.

Gin stiffened behind the wheel when she saw Duncan's car in the lot.

Not that unusual for him to be here on a Wednesday morning, but she'd been hoping and praying he'd have done whatever it was he did and be gone by now.

Well, she couldn't let that stop her. She jumped out of her car and hurried for the rear entrance.

She'd use the old, as yet untried Forgot-my-Senate-lDbadge excuse if anyone asked why she was here. The whole -ocedure would take ten seconds, log into the hard drive Del the file with the triptolinic diethylamide data, log out, , en get the hell out of Dodge.

Simple.

God, it better be.

. uncan had logged in to the FDA database but that was no elp. No way to tell what Gin had done. He'd even called the FDA, but three different clerks hadn't the vaguest idea ow to help him.

Seething with frustration, he exited the program and back, staring at the C-prompt. There had to be a way . . but what if there wasn't anything to find? And even if eye had been searching for TPD, she may never have found it. ars back, Duncan himself had had a devil of a time ccessing it and he'd known where to look. But if she had and it and simply read the information on the screen, There'd be no trail, no way for him to know. Only if she'd downloaded the file, Duncan straightened in his chair.

Download. She'd have to create a download file, have to a the incoming data before it could be written to the hard drive. He punched in DIR/OD and entered it. The entire contents of the hard drive, every directory and free file scrolled up before him at an unreadable pace.

No matter. If , in had downloaded directly to the hard drive, he'd find it >e, somewhere near the end of the list. If she'd routed the into one of the directories, he'd have to search it OUt srectory by directory. And if she'd erased it . . . well, then e'd just be wasting his time

And how would he recognize it, anyway? Would she have Lbeled it TPD?

Hardly.

And suddenly there it was, at the bottom of the screen.

eye last file. "RFP" followed by yesterday's date.

Regina F. Panzella. He'd forgotten what the F. stood for, as if that mattered. What was in that file?

He punched in TYPE RFP and watched the lines zip up the screen. When the scrolling stopped at the end of the file, he read the final line.

CURRENT STATUS, Further investigation of triptolinic diethylamide disrontinved.

No! He squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't want to see that.

He pushed away from the chair and wandered the room, turning this way and that with sharp, agitated movements. He couldn't be still. He felt as if some unseen force were at his back, propelling him around his office. This hurt like a sucker punch. Gin had been in his locked drawer, she'd picked the damn lock! How could she? Why would she?

That was the most unnerving question. Why? She couldn't suspect anything. He'd been too careful. He'd used a cuttingedge system only a few people were aware of to deliver a drug hardly anyone knew existed.

There had to be something else.

How much does she know?

Obviously she knows about the TPD. But what else?

And how to find out? He couldn't simply sit her down and ask her.

His peregrination took him near the door then and he heard Barbara call good-bye to someone. Suddenly he had to know who. His privacy had been violated, his little fortress had been broached. He wanted the name, rank, and serial number of everyone who walked through those doors.

He stuck his head through the door. "Who was that? " Barbara turned.

"Dr. Panzella."

"Really." He kept a calm facade as alarms clanged anew in his head.

"I hadn't realized she was here."

"Oh, she just popped in to pick up something she left yesterday." Her lock-picking kit? he wondered as he nodded and closed the door.

What was Gin up to now? What was she doing sneaking around here on her day off? Prying into more of his private affairs?

He made a fist.

Betrayed. By Gin.

He wanted to punch something.

I saved your life, f, hild!

How could she? And what had she done just now?

A thought struck him. He stepped back to his terminal and reran a DIR on the hard drive. The scroll of directories blurred past as before, but ended in a different place.

No "RFP" file.

She must have realized she'd left the file on the disk and came bacLa to cover her tracks. The perfidious little ingrate. What was she up to?

And dammit, how much did she Xenovv?

He had to have answers, and soon. Before next Friday.

GINA GINA YAWNED AND SHOOK HERSELF AS SHE WOVE through the traffic on Connecticut Avenue.

Tired.

Not just tired. Exhausted.

She'd done a shift as house doc last night. Tried to get out of it, tried to trade, but no one was buying.

At least she'd been able to get Jim Grady to agree to take the last two hours of her shift. But much as she'd love to, she wouldn't be using the time for sleep. She wanted to get the jump on Duncan before today's surgery. She was going to be there first, be there when Duncan arrived, and keep an eye on him until Senator Marsden arrived. After that she was going to stick to the senator like Krazy Glue, Assist with his surgery and not let him out of her sight until he walked out to his waiting car.

She turned into the office parking lot and skidded to a halt. Duncan's black Mercedes was already in his space.

She pounded her fist against the steering wheel. Damn it!

All right. She'd have to adjust. If Duncan asked she'd simply say she got off her shift early but not early enough to go home first.

She pulled into one of the staff spaces and hurried to the door. Once inside she stopped. Muzak filtered through the air, a lush, inappropriate string arrangement of a Beatles tune, accompanied by the rich aroma of Duncan's fresh coffee. Gin wasn't tempted. She'd been drinking coffee all night.

Her shoes were soft-soled and made no sound and she walked slowly down the hall toward his office. She slipped past Barbara's desk and listened a moment at the open door. No sound from within. Not even the television. Duncan almost always had CNN or C-SPAN running. She tapped lightly as she peeked inside.

' Duncan? " Empty. Except for the heavy aroma of coffee, the office was pretty much as she'd left it on Tuesday. But where was he?

As she turned to leave, a glint of light from the desktop caught her eye. She stepped closer. A bottle.

Her mouth went dry as she recognized the TPD. It sat on a metal tray.

So did the trocar and obturator, now sealed inside an autoclave pouch.

The assembly had been sterilized. Why? Being readied for use? Beside it lay an uncapped syringe. And a large implant. A full implant.

She felt sick. The room swayed and nausea rippled through her stomach.