Page 10 of Sinner
“I disagree. I haven’t even shown you the best part.” Barry bent low to a fridge wedged beneath the lab bench and opened the door. He pulled out a jar with a child-sized human hand floating in the fluid.
“Jaysuz.” Flint flinched. “What the hell, bro?”
“Oh, it’s not real. Well, it is. But I grew it.” Barry placed the jar with the hand specimen on the countertop next to the others. He eyed it like a proud papa bear. “Isn’t she beautiful?”
“You grew that?”
“Yep. I combined the stem cells Gloria supplied and grafted a combination of spliced DNA from—”
Flint held up his hand, stopping Barry in his tracks. “Spare me the details. Cut to the chase.”
Barry laughed. “It’s not new knowledge. Scientists have been able to replicate body parts in jars for years, but… I can grow you another body part at ten times the normal speed. You lose an arm, I’ll get you a new one in two years.”
“Shit, you will win the bonus. And I really need it.” Flint needed a new tire. He needed to put away extra money. College was expensive. He only had a handful of years before he had to think about that. The orphaned girl would need help.
“Shut it,” Barry added. “You know how good your shit is. You’re only here because my desk is the closest to the Project door.”
“You ever wonder what’s going on in there?” Flint nodded at the frosted door behind the reception area. It was only a few yards away.
Barry snorted. “Nope. Don’t care, mate. I got my own problems to work out. Like how to stabilize the rate of cellular division at a certain marker in time because, at the moment, the limb just keeps growing until adult size, then shrivels and dies.” Barry scratched his brown hair, gaze turning inward. “I’m almost there, I can feel it.”
Flint’s mood picked up. Maybe he’d win the bonus after all. He glanced back at the frosted glass door behind reception. They got paid the best in there, and it was where he aspired to be. He didn’t even know if they needed someone like him in there, but he had to try. For college tuition.
“The nuns walk in fresh,” Flint said, “and then walk out frazzled. I don’t get it. Why would they need nuns? And why do they look so exhausted when they come off shift? And, speaking of that, why do they work in shifts? Around the clock. Morning. Night. Behind guarded doors.”
“Well, if you ever get level six clearance, you can tell me. Until then, I have to finish.” After a moment, Barry lifted his head. “You going to stand there all day?”
“What? No… I just…”
“You wanted a glimpse of your gorgeous nun.”
Heat flared up the back of Flint’s neck and his temper returned. “She’s hiding something.”
“Her double D cups?”
“I’m serious, bro.”
“Me too. Go away. I want to make progress before the boss gets here.”
“I have theories.”
“I know about your theories. I’ve heard about them for the past eight years.”
Flint leaned on the counter and poked the dead frog leg with his pointer. “Come on, Barry. Don’t tell me you’re not curious about what we’re doing here.”
“Get your finger off my Hairy Frog.”
“Sorry.” Flint took his hand back.
Barry took a deep breath. “You’re trying to bait me, and it won’t work. I don’t ask questions because questions get you fired. You remember what happened to Josie down in receiving last year.”
Flint bit his lip. “Yeah. Actually, no, she just disappeared. But I guess that’s the point.”
“Just be happy knowing that we’re working toward a better future.”
“But, bio-tech-weapons?”
Barry shrugged. “We don’t know that.”
