The Chimera Project (Chimera Protocol Book 1) Read Online Free Page A
Author: Jolie Mason
pushed an on screen menu with pre-programmed locations and leaned back in the seat as the car easily steered itself into traffic and out to the highway.
"How can you be so certain of that?"
"Because it's the relocated remains of the lab my unit was created in."
She turned to study his profile a moment. "First, you weren't created in that lab. You are yourself, no matter what was done to you. Second, how much data remained of the original files?"
"All of it that we are aware of."
"You're certain."
He nodded and looked away. "The facility was to be decommissioned. They left that task to us. Instead of destroying it, we moved it."
"Surely, the staff is aware you took the equipment." He glanced at her, troubled more than a bit, by the unspoken question. She read the look slowly, realization dawning. "Oh, they ordered you to kill the staff."
His jaw clenched. "Yes, and it was no hardship." That sentence bit out with all the bitterness she thought his body could hold. It also said clearly that he was done talking to her for this trip.
CHAPTER FIVE
Samuel stared at the schematic on the big screen for their latest target. He sat at the briefing table surrounded by their irascible comms officer, his second, Lt. Jeffery Tanner, and Officers Curtis and Siler.
"This makes the most sense as the primary entry point." He spoke to the room at large as he played scenarios in his head. One scenario he didn't expect was the slamming of the door at the other end of the war room as it swung open revealing a determined Dr. Manning and a flustered Thompson.
"I need to talk to you," she demanded.
"We're in the middle of something, Doctor." The doctor's eyes flew over the schematic and the files visible on the game board. That was their name for the display, not the military's.
"You have another facility target." It wasn't a statement.
Star made a sound. "Sir, are we really letting her in on classified information here?"
He looked at Dr. Manning's focused face in profile as she took in the board. "Doctor, I can come see you right after my briefing."
"You have staff dossiers in that pile, right?" Without looking at him at all, she stuck her hand out for the files without peeling her gaze from the board.
"I have them, but... ."
She pinned him with a commanding look and gestured give me with the hand she'd extended. "You want me to look at these files."
He handed her the dossiers. Samuel wasn't sure why he did it. It was just instinct. She flipped through each one in turn, even as she turned and sat down at the head of the table next to him. She tossed three to the tables surface and handed one back to Samuel.
"Dr. Natalya Korsky, genetic engineer. She has the practical experience I lack. She's 45, single, lives alone. Married to her work. That was until her last paper was published on the process of fusing various sea species’ genome with human in order to help regrow biological replacement limbs. That process was part of the basis for my research, fusing genomes to boost immune response in sick patients. She's been off the grid for nearly a year."
Star scoffed from the other side of the large oval. "And you know this how?"
Manning turned to look at her as if just noticing her. "You're the one who knocked me out. Thanks for that." Sarcasm dripped from her. She continued, "Because I tried to reach her only to be told she was out of the country on sabbatical. I needed help with the practical application of… ." She looked around the room at the blank faces, shook her head, and went on. "Never mind. It's not unusual, but, for Korsky, it was highly irregular. If there is a chance she isn't there willingly, I want her."
Samuel keyed up the heads up displays file image and took a look at the doctor in question; pert nose, sickly pale skin, mousy hair and deep brown eyes stared back at him. You could almost see the distraction in her eyes, not unlike the distraction he
"How can you be so certain of that?"
"Because it's the relocated remains of the lab my unit was created in."
She turned to study his profile a moment. "First, you weren't created in that lab. You are yourself, no matter what was done to you. Second, how much data remained of the original files?"
"All of it that we are aware of."
"You're certain."
He nodded and looked away. "The facility was to be decommissioned. They left that task to us. Instead of destroying it, we moved it."
"Surely, the staff is aware you took the equipment." He glanced at her, troubled more than a bit, by the unspoken question. She read the look slowly, realization dawning. "Oh, they ordered you to kill the staff."
His jaw clenched. "Yes, and it was no hardship." That sentence bit out with all the bitterness she thought his body could hold. It also said clearly that he was done talking to her for this trip.
CHAPTER FIVE
Samuel stared at the schematic on the big screen for their latest target. He sat at the briefing table surrounded by their irascible comms officer, his second, Lt. Jeffery Tanner, and Officers Curtis and Siler.
"This makes the most sense as the primary entry point." He spoke to the room at large as he played scenarios in his head. One scenario he didn't expect was the slamming of the door at the other end of the war room as it swung open revealing a determined Dr. Manning and a flustered Thompson.
"I need to talk to you," she demanded.
"We're in the middle of something, Doctor." The doctor's eyes flew over the schematic and the files visible on the game board. That was their name for the display, not the military's.
"You have another facility target." It wasn't a statement.
Star made a sound. "Sir, are we really letting her in on classified information here?"
He looked at Dr. Manning's focused face in profile as she took in the board. "Doctor, I can come see you right after my briefing."
"You have staff dossiers in that pile, right?" Without looking at him at all, she stuck her hand out for the files without peeling her gaze from the board.
"I have them, but... ."
She pinned him with a commanding look and gestured give me with the hand she'd extended. "You want me to look at these files."
He handed her the dossiers. Samuel wasn't sure why he did it. It was just instinct. She flipped through each one in turn, even as she turned and sat down at the head of the table next to him. She tossed three to the tables surface and handed one back to Samuel.
"Dr. Natalya Korsky, genetic engineer. She has the practical experience I lack. She's 45, single, lives alone. Married to her work. That was until her last paper was published on the process of fusing various sea species’ genome with human in order to help regrow biological replacement limbs. That process was part of the basis for my research, fusing genomes to boost immune response in sick patients. She's been off the grid for nearly a year."
Star scoffed from the other side of the large oval. "And you know this how?"
Manning turned to look at her as if just noticing her. "You're the one who knocked me out. Thanks for that." Sarcasm dripped from her. She continued, "Because I tried to reach her only to be told she was out of the country on sabbatical. I needed help with the practical application of… ." She looked around the room at the blank faces, shook her head, and went on. "Never mind. It's not unusual, but, for Korsky, it was highly irregular. If there is a chance she isn't there willingly, I want her."
Samuel keyed up the heads up displays file image and took a look at the doctor in question; pert nose, sickly pale skin, mousy hair and deep brown eyes stared back at him. You could almost see the distraction in her eyes, not unlike the distraction he
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