F Wilson - Implant

All the useless or discontinued compounds I worked on during my years with GEM. I kept a sample of each one." Gin was startled by the array of bottles lining an entire wall. There had to be hundreds there, perhaps even a thousand.

"So many. How would you ever find a particular one? " "Easy. They're in alphabetical order." He gave her a sheepish look. "I can't help it. That's the way I am." He stooped and ran a finger along one of the rows. "R . . . . . . T . . . " He squinted at a few bottles, grunted a few nes, then straightened and turned to Gin. "The, um, TPD . . . it's missing."

"I know, she said. She pointed to the pill bottle he still clutched in his left hand. "Some of it's in there.

Duncan has the rest." He stared down at the bottle, then at her.

"You've got to be mistaken.

Duncan wouldn't do something like that. What reason would he have? " "Because I know about the others."

"Others? " "Let's go upstairs and I'll explain everything." They sat in the kitchen, Gin sipping a can of Pepsi, the the containing the implant sitting between them in the center of the table, and Oliver leaning forward, listening intently, a look of growing horror on his face as Gin explained what she suspected about the deaths and mishaps nvolving Senators Vincent and Schulz and Congressmen llard and Lane.

She shivered with a sudden chill. Was it the Pepsi or was she starting a fever? Her strength seemed to be fading.

"Are you okay? " Oliver said.

"My incision might be getting infected."

"What incision? " Since showing was better than telling, she stood, unzipped her jeans, and turned sideways as she slid them down to her , nees. "Gin! " Oliver said, averting his face at first, then staring as the Ace bandage was revealed.

Gin unwrapped the Ace, then peeled the gauze halfway back to reveal the incision. An angry red had invaded the edges.

Oliver sucked in a breath. "Oh, dear Lord. You did that? To yourself? " Gin let him get a good look, then she smoothed the gauze back into place and began rewrapping the Ace.

H Ise was I going to get it out, Oh He said nothing, simply sat and stared at her, wonder in his eyes. "Do you have any antibiotics in the house?

pulled her jeans up.

"I've got some amoxicillin. Not his first choice but it would do for now few?

Of course." He hurried away and returned a minute later with an amber plastic bottle. Gin washed down four of the capsules with water and pocketed it for later.

Oliver was staring at the vial with the implant, shaking his head and speaking to himself as much as to Gina n't believe Duncan would do such a thing.

Well maybe to the committee members . . . I could see that . . . I mean, after Lisa died he went a little crazy, made all sorts of threats . . . but you . . . he thinks the world of you . . . he'd never .

.

. " - Poor Oliver, she thought. His heroic image of his older brother is coming undone.

"He knows I'm on to him, " Gin said softly. "And he knows I'll be in the way tomorrow Qliver's head snapped up. "Tomorrow? Oh, no! You don't think, he wouldn t!

"Yes, he would. That's why he did this to me. To give him a clear shot at the president." He got to his feet. "I've got to go see him stop him. I can talk to him. He'll listen to me.

"Will he? I wouldn't count on it."

"He'll have to. Now two people know. And soon more will. He grabbed a jacket that had been hanging over the back of a chair. "He's beaten. But still I've got to see him." Anger flashed in his eyes. "Using my implants for something like this! I've a good mind to . . . " He didn't finish the thought.

Instead, he pointed to the bottle on the table.

"Can I take that with me? " Gin grabbed it and held it tight in her fist.

"No. Sorry. This is the only proof I've got that I didn't make all this up. I'm not letting it out of my sight. And you realize, don't you, that as soon as you confront him he'll know how you found out and he'll know where I am. And since I have the only hard proof against him, I think maybe I'll disappear for a while."

"Good idea. Don't even tell me where you're going, just in case, '' He shook his head to clear it. "Who'd ever believe I'd be thinking this way about my brother? " "I know how you feel. Can you call me a cab?

" Another shiver rattled her teeth as Oliver was phoning the cab company.

She was definitely getting a fever. She hoped whatever was infecting her wasn't penicillin resistant.

'"They'll have one here in about ten minutes, " Oliver said. "I'm going to call Duncan. ' '"No! " "Just to see if he's home. No sense in going over there if he's not in." He dialed, waited, then said, "Duncan. It's me. We need to talk. No, in person. I'll explain when I get there. See you in a few minutes. ' He hung up and bustled toward the door. "Wish me luck, " he said. "And lock the door as you leave. ' Gin shivered again as the front door closed behind Oliver.

It was almost over. Duncan was at his place, Oliver was on his way there, a cab was on its way here. But where was she going?

Not another hotel. She couldn't stand the thought of another strange little box with a bed and a TV that passed for a room.

Her folks' place? The old homestead. The thought comforted her.

She'd make a quick stop at her apartment for a change of clothes, then head over to Arlington. She'd be safe there. Another chill wracked her. And warm.

Where was that cab? She took a look our the window but the driveway was empty.

She went down the hall and found Oliver's bathroom. On the top shelf of the medicine cabinet she found a thermometer. She rinsed it off, shook it down, and stuck it in her mouth. After a couple of minutes she checked it, 102.4 degrees.

No wonder I'm shivering, she thought. I'm sick.

Well, she had two grams of amoxicillin perking through her bloodstream.

It had to kick in soon. She'd left her Tylenol at the hotel, so she took a few of Oliver's.

A car horn honked outside. She hurried back to the living room and peeked out a corner of the front window. Her heart was pounding, from fever as much as fear.

If I've fallen into a B movie, she thought, there'll be a black Mercedes idling out there.

But no. It was a Diamond cab. She hurried outside, thinking that if she were in a real schlock movie, Duncan would be behind the wheel, disguised as the driver. But a black face peered out the driver window as she approached and pushed open the rear door from inside.

'"Where we going? " She gave him her address and they were off. She huddled in the back seat, shivering.

"Would you mind turning up the heat? " she said.

She was so cold her teeth were chattering.

Duncan sat mute, shaken. Oliver's arrival had taken him completely by surprise. He'd never seen his brother like this. He'd burst in and immediately launched into a blistering verbal attack. Duncan didn't know which shocked him more, Oliver's nakedX self-righteous anger, or the fact that Gin had reached Oliver and told him everything.

The words poured out of Oliver in a steady, rapid-fire fusillade. Not just his anger, but the story of Gin slicing open her own leg in that hotel room and removing an implant with drugstore equipment.

Despite his ongoing shock, Duncan had to admire the unwavering determination and pure guts Gin had shown. He doubted he'd have been able to do the same had situations been reversed. But he was glad he hadn't underestimated Gin. He'd half anticipated this. That young woman did not know the meaning of the word quit. And she was as intent as ever on stopping him.

And she just might. His whole world seemed about to crumble around him.

Visions of headlines and courtrooms and, Lord, prison swirled around him. Everything was falling apart, He shook off the visions. He had to settle down and deal with Oliver.