Goldilocks Forever

Chapter 21

Santa Monica, California

March 2006

A bright light blinded her. She started awake and blinked, holding her hands in front of her face to shield herself.

"Get up." George shook her awake.

"What the fuck?" She yanked the blankets up and ducked under them.

He poked her in the arm with the flashlight and shook her again. "Wake up. We're leaving in fifteen minutes."

"What?" Anna shoved him away. "What's going on?" She sat up and squinted at him.

He wore jeans and an untucked shirt, not his usual fare at all, and he sported an almost comical case of bedhead. "Just get up. I'll explain in the van." He waved the flashlight in her face and put a finger to his mouth. "Get up. Go! C'mon! Keep it down though. Other people are sleeping."

He swung the door behind him as he left, leaving it unlatched. Anna stumbled out of bed and closed it. She dressed in jeans and a sweater, echoing George's casual attire, and pulled her hair back into an unbrushed ponytail.

She brushed her teeth and splashed cold water onto her face. George waited at the foot of the stairs. He said nothing, only stalked off into the garage. She followed. Peter and Elliott joined them. They exchanged puzzled looks fraught with uneasiness.

For once Anna wasn't alone in not knowing. She put her hands in her pockets and fingered the tube of lip gloss still there. She caught Peter looking at her and pointed to her wrist, mouthed What time is it?

He angled his watch in the dark hallway, illuminated its display, and held up three fingers.

3 a.m. What the fuck.

Without a word, George directed them into a white passenger van she'd never seen before. Anna took a seat in the back next to Elliott. They sat in silence, not looking at each other. George idled the van in the driveway until the front passenger door opened and Sabian edged into the seat wearing the same suit he'd worn yesterday at the Council meeting.

He gave a nod to George who backed down the driveway and into the neighborhood. Not until they were on the freeway did Sabian speak. "As you know, two weeks ago there was a break-in at Hematech's downtown lab. The perpetrators—we know there were three—were lab technicians employed by Hematech who had planned the attack in advance."

Attack. Anna frowned.

"We believe the purpose of the attack was to confiscate certain biological materials, namely my blood, my cell line, and an isolate of the virus."

George opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but remained silent.

"In this, the perpetrators were successful. We believe they also managed to copy our research including detailed information about our drugs, even those that have not yet been cleared for use." Something flickered across his face—Anna caught it in the tightening of his frown and the momentary wrinkle of his forehead—that gave her the impression that it hurt him to say these words, to admit defeat.

He continued on in the same stern voice, laying out the disaster in a matter-of-fact way, blasting through their fear and anxiety, cutting to the core of the matter. "We have apprehended the three men responsible and learned they all have ties to the Northern California Society."

At last, he paused and looked out at them, searching their faces for the questions and concerns which remained unspoken. "You may ask your questions now."

George, with his seniority and rank, spoke up first. "What did they want with your cell line and blood? It's obvious why they want our research, but..." He froze as if unable to say anymore. His shoulders slumped further against the seat.