Page 56 of Thorn

“No. Nor are they closely related, genetically speaking.”

“Okay then. That gives us a little more information.” Thorn couldn’t say why that brought him so much relief. But he had to point out the other obvious explanation. “Of course, he could have adopted her.”

Zoe frowned.

The energy in the room sparked.

“You found something, didn’t you?” Gage asked.

“The zero subset was for David DuBois. When I ran it the other way around,” Zoe said, “Juliette Dubois had a subset of three. Juliette, and two women, Habiba Khouri and Polla Khouri.”

“Sisters?” Thorn asked.

“Perhaps,” Zoe said. “Or, perhaps, aunts…cousins. Neither is her mother. Habiba is thirty years old, and Polla is thirty-two.”

“What else does the file say? What’s included in the intake?” Honey asked.

“Oh, well this was the hearts and minds cover story for the sample collection,” Zoe said. “Where the data collectors pretended that medical help was the reason that they were in the region. The techs performed a cursory medical exam on each. The exam results were included. Both women were healthy, if underweight. Their vitals were fine. They didn’t need any medical attention.”

“Does it list where the women went through the check?”

“Yes, let me see.” Zoe looked down at her lap. “Polla was in Aleppo at the time, and Habiba in Damascus. Their file recorded that they were part of an early wave of asylum seekers, crossing at separate times.”

“Syrians?” Gage asked.

“Juliette’s Syrian?” Thorn asked at almost the same time.

“Syrian, well, that’s not part of the blood marker test. All we can say is that’s what Polla and Habiba each listed as their nationality.”

Honey turned his head toward Juliette. “She looks like she could be Syrian. The light olive skin, the honey colored hair, and her blue-green eyes.”

“She doesn’t look anything like David DuBois, that’s for sure,” Gage said.

Before they chased this rabbit down a hole, Thorn needed to make sure. “The BIOMIST system has never given a false positive? Could this be a mistake?”

“Good question,” Zoe said, and Thorn was relieved that he hadn’t insulted her work. “The answer depends on the use. My system was developed to use in the field to tell the officer if a blood sample on site had the same blood biomarkers as the person they wanted to arrest, thereby letting those who didn’t conform to the sample go free. This isn’t as accurate as DNA, I can’t tell you definitively if this is a certain person or not, all it can do is tell if the person isnota possibility. For example, if the blood sample came from a woman and the agent was trying to compare that to a man’s, it would come up as a zero subset. If, however, it met all the criteria and the machine gave a green light showing a positive subset, you’d need to get a DNA test,becausethat blood sample could be his brother, cousin, or father’s. You could be holding one brother responsible for the actions of another.”

“But for identifying familial connections…” Nutsbe said.

“Close genetic familial connections, it’s extremely accurate. Connections of the heart, like Thorn was saying, adoption or marriage.” She paused and smiled at Gage. “Well, those don’t show up in a blood sample.”

“Syrian.” Thorn exhaled.Was that where she was tortured?

“We have locations on both women in the data base for those seeking asylum in Europe. Both women were assimilated into their new countries based on language skills and educational background. They both hold PhDs,” Nutsbe was saying.

That would mean that they might be able to get some answers.

“Sciences? Which sciences? Anything to do with neuroweapons or sound technologies?” Thorn asked.

“Uhm…” Zoe flipped through her notes. “Habiba is a geneticist at a university in Geneva, and Polla is a physicist in Munich.”

“Honey, you pulled the Geneva straw,” Nutsbe said, “and that means Gage you’re heading to Germany. If neither woman can speak English, both list Arabic as their main language, so you won’t have trouble. I’ve uploaded more photographs of Juliette in your files. I would be careful about using the name Juliette DuBois or even Juliette. Juliette is not a typical Syrian girl’s name, so it’s very likely not the name that these women would know her by.”

“Roger,” Honey and Gage said together.

Zoe looked around at Nutsbe. “If you’re done with me, I need to get back to my lab.”

“Thank you very much, Zoe,” Nutsbe said. “Your input has been invaluable.”

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