Robin Cook - Seizure

Gaetano saw a stairway to the second floor, and believing he would have a better view from there, he climbed it. Reaching the second floor, he saw the musicians. They were set up in a small sitting area directly above the hostess stand. To make room, they had pushed the hotel’s furniture aside.

Gaetano walked down the open hallway on the right, running his hand along the railing as he progressed. He had a good view of the diners below, at least at those tables not obscured by the vegetation. The candles conveniently illuminated the people’s faces. Intending to make a full circuit, Gaetano was confident he would be able to see everyone unobtrusively.

All at once, he stopped, and the same hairs that had arisen earlier stood bolt upright once again. Not more than fifty feet away, sitting at a table beyond a flowering oleander bush, was the professor, engaged in what looked like an animated conversation. His head was bobbing as he talked, and he was even jabbing an index finger in the air as if to make a point. Gaetano couldn’t see Stephanie’s face, as she was facing in the opposite direction. Quickly, Gaetano backed up to put the oleander back between himself and the professor. Now came the fun part. If he had a rifle with a scope, he could pop the professor from where he was standing, but he didn’t have a rifle, and besides, such a hit would hardly be sporting. He knew all too well that with a handgun, even with a laser sight, you had to be practically on top of the mark to be sure it was a kill. With that in mind, he knew he’d have to bide his time.

Gaetano looked around. Now that he found the lovebirds, he wondered where he could wait for them to finish their romantic dinner. As soon as they did, they undoubtedly would head back to their room on one of the many dark, isolated walkways, which would be a perfect location for the hit. Worst case, they’d take a walk on the beach, which would be equally fine as far as Gaetano was concerned. With his excitement growing, Gaetano smiled contentedly. Finally, everything was falling into place.

Ahead, there wasn’t much except a stairway. It led to a spa, at least according to a sign Gaetano could read from where he was standing. Gaetano glanced back at the sitting area where the musicians were playing and decided it would be a perfect place to wait. Although he probably wouldn’t be able to see the professor or Tony’s sister, due to the intervening oleander bush by their table, he’d see when they got up to leave, which was the important thing. Equally important was that while he waited, it would look like he was sitting there listening to the ensemble if one of the security people happened by.

Daniel rubbed his eyes to give himself patience. He blinked a few times before looking back at Stephanie, whose expression was one of exasperated anger that perfectly mirrored his own. “All I’m saying is that the security man, whatever his name is, said he searched you when he found you trespassing, which isn’t so unexpected.”

“His name is Kurt Hermann!” Stephanie spat. “And I’m telling you, he groped me disgustingly. I was humiliated and terrified, and I’m not sure which was worse.”

“Okay, so he groped you as well as searched you. I’m not sure where one stops and the other begins. But be that as it may, you shouldn’t have been the hell in the egg room in the first place. It’s like you were asking for it!”

Stephanie’s mouth slowly dropped open. She was appalled that Daniel could say such a thing. It was the most insensitive thing he’d ever said, and he’d said some pretty insensitive things during their relationship. Abruptly, Stephanie pushed back her wrought-iron chair, which made a considerable grating noise against the concrete pavement, and stood up. Daniel reacted almost as quickly by leaning forward and grabbing her forearm.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he demanded.

“I’m not sure,” Stephanie snapped. “At the moment, I just want to leave.”

For a few beats, they eyed each other across the table. Daniel did not let go, but Stephanie did not try to struggle either. They had become aware that the people sitting at the nearby tables had gone silent. When both Daniel and Stephanie glanced around, they saw that all eyes were on them. Even several waiters had stopped in mid-stride to stare.

Despite how she felt, Stephanie sat back down. Daniel continued to hold her arm, although his grip significantly loosened.

“I didn’t mean that last statement,” Daniel said. “I’m angry and upset, and it slipped out. I know you weren’t looking to be molested.”

Stephanie’s eyes were blazing. “You sound like one of those people who think rape victims purposefully put themselves at risk by what they wear or how they act.”

“Absolutely not,” Daniel said. “It was a slip of the tongue. I’m just really angry you went into that egg room and caused this major flap. You promised you weren’t going to make waves.”

“I didn’t promise,” Stephanie retorted. Her voice had lost a bit of its edge. “I said I would try my best. But my conscience is hounding me. I went into that egg room to try to prove what I feared, and I did. Among the other things we already knew about, they are definitely impregnating women and then aborting them for fetal ovaries.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I saw definite proof.”

“Okay, can we talk about this without yelling at each other?” Daniel eyes darted around at the nearby tables. People had gone back to their own conversations, and the waiters had resumed their duties.

“Not unless you avoid saying things like you just did a second ago.”

“I’ll try my best.”

Stephanie eyed Daniel, trying to decide if his last statement was deliberately passive-aggressive or if he was making fun of her by echoing her. From her perspective, it had to be one or the other, and along with everything else, it wasn’t a good sign.

“Come on!” Daniel said. “Tell me this definitive proof!”

Stephanie continued to stare at Daniel. Now she was trying to decide if he had changed during the last six months or if he’d always been so dispassionate about everything but his work. She looked away for a moment to reprogram her emotions and get herself under a semblance of control. It wasn’t going to solve anything if she stalked off or they sat there and bickered. Turning back to Daniel, she took a deep breath and described everything she had seen, particularly the details about the ledger book that had laid it all out in black and white. When she finished, they stared at each other across their unfinished dinners. It was Daniel who finally broke the silence.

“Well, you were right. Does being right at least give you some satisfaction?”

“Hardly!” Stephanie said, with a sarcastic laugh. “The question is: Can we proceed at this point, knowing what we do?”

Daniel looked down at the table and fiddled absently with his silverware. “The way I see it is that we accepted the oocytes before we knew the details of their origin.”

“Ha!” Stephanie scoffed. “That’s a mighty convenient excuse and a world-class example of fair-weather ethics.”

Daniel raised his eyes to meet Stephanie’s. “We are so close,” he said, solemnly enunciating each word. “Tomorrow, we’ll start differentiating the cells. I’m not stopping now because of what is going on at the Wingate Clinic. I’m sorry you were manhandled, mistreated, and molested. I’m also sorry I got beat up. This has not been a picnic, but we knew treating Butler was not going to be easy. We were well aware from the outset that the Wingate principals were unethical, venal idiots, yet we decided to proceed in spite of it. The question is: Are you still with me or not?”

“Let me ask you a question,” Stephanie said, leaning closer to Daniel and lowering her voice. “After Butler has been treated, and we go home, and CURE has been saved, and everything is hunky-dory, can we somehow anonymously alert the Bahamian authorities to what is going on at the Wingate?”