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Tuesday - September 14

Clearing my throat, I ask them both, "Hey, I know this is not very important, especially now, but where did you guys study?" I take another sip of coffee as I wait for an answer from either one of them.

"I received my PhD from MIT, John," Ted offers.

"Wow, MIT. That's very impressive, Ted. Monica, how about you? Where did you study?"

Monica changes the topic, and says, "John, check these lab reports." She gets up from her chair and walks to my desk.

She points to the blood count reports for the three victims and I'm floored by what the results say. "Is this right? The test results show nothing?" I grab the report from her hand and slam it down on my desk.

"What? What's wrong? What do you mean nothing?" asks Ted.

"Just what I mean, Ted. The report shows negative on all three blood counts of the victims. The blood counts could have been something that we could have had some leads on about this phenomenon. Damn it!" My disappointment startles Ted and Monica.

"Have we got the toxic reports back yet?" Ted asks.

Monica shuffles through the paperwork, looks inside the envelope, and then shakes her head no.

"Well," Ted continues, "even though the blood counts and some of the biopsies were negative, that doesn't mean anything. What it does mean though is that we've eliminated some things. Now, we just need to dig deeper."

I set my cup down and decide I'm not hungry anymore. I pick up the folder to check over the lab report one more time to see if we, or the lab, overlooked anything. No such luck.

"Damn!" I mumble.

I annoyingly tap my fingers on my desk, thinking about everything we did. We did everything according to protocol. Protocol!

"That's it!" I yell, as I eject myself from my chair.

"What's it?" asks Ted.

"We've been doing everything according to protocol. So far, all of the answers have been negative. Therefore, we now have to do things that aren't protocol; that isn't by the book!" I throw the useless folder down on my desk.

"Okay. So, where, or better yet, how do we start not doing things according to protocol, John?" Ted asks.

"Well...," I reply, "we were given permission by the President of the United States and Julie to go over all files. All files! Closed, opened, and top secret. Since we couldn't find anything out of the ordinary, let's start looking at the extraordinary. Yes, we need to go over every file we can get our hands on about anything that may have some similarity to our friends down in the lab."

Monica gives a "huh".

"What? What, Monica? Is there something you want to share?" I ask.

"No, well, not exactly."

"Not exactly. So, you do have something to share?"

"No, I don't. It's just that... well... since our friends have suffered so much, don't you think that with whatever they have, or had, would have already been discovered, or recorded somewhere?" Monica offers in her defense.

"Look, everyone," I say, as I walk towards the window. I begin to turn around, when I realize that this will be the best opportunity I will ever have to retrieve my father's old files. "Okay, I know where we're going to start first."

"Where's that, John?" Ted asks.

"With the one person who knew the most about the CDC, and the human body; my father. His files are locked, and even though we've been given full permission, I know I'll be able to persuade Julie to let us look at them. If there is any kind of similarities, then we'll know how to move forward."