Page 43 of Guarding the Doctor
The door closed. A few minutes later, Dr. Xi opened the door. Looking visibly irritated.
“Dr. O’Brian, what is it? I’m very busy down here and I’m afraid you don’t have an appointment.”
“I wouldn’t think colleagues need an appointment,” I said, giving her an approximation of a friendly smile. “I want to talk to you privately. About your shifter experiments.”
Her eyes widened fractionally, telling me that she was surprised by my comment.
“Dr. O’Brian told me all about it, and I want to sign up,” Stacy said loudly. “I’ve always wanted to be a shifter, it sounds so cool.”
“I guess I could spare five minutes,” Xi said, her expression calculating. “Come back to my office.”
She led us along the south side of the lab, keeping as far away from the exam rooms on the opposite side as possible. My eyes darted over there as we walked, trying to see if I could catch a glimpse of Yuri or Darla, but this far away, all I could see was the reflection of the glass.
When we got to Xi’s office at the back of the lab, she closed the door behind us, gesturing to the small table on one side. I didn’t like being trapped in here with her, but then again, I didn’t want to blow our cover story. Stacy and I sat across from each other, forcing the doctor to sit between us.
“I’m curious, Dr. O’Brian, how is it that you know the nature of my experiments?”
“Well there’s been rumors,” I lied, breathing slowly to try to mask any physical signs that I was lying.
“You were in here that night, weren’t you?” she asked. “The night you were looking for your friend. What was his name again? Sean?”
She knew I had been, but she wanted me to admit it. I took a quick breath, reminding myself not to let her bait me, and kept my neutral doctor face on.
“His name was Seth,” I emphasized. “As I said, I’d heard rumors about your project, and then I saw the physical changes in Seth, which helped me put two and two together. I grew up on military bases around a lot of shifters, you know. When I saw Seth’s body on your table, halfway shifted, it confirmed my theory.”
Xi showed no reaction to my words. “If you were inside the lab, why didn’t you say anything before this?”
“I wanted to do my own research,” I said. “I wanted to figure out if what you were doing was possible, and if I could replicate it on my own.”
“Replicate it?” she sneered. “You’re no researcher.”
“You haven’t figured out how to combat the cardiac arrest some of your subjects experience due to the stress of the shift,” I said. “Natural born shifters have much stronger heart muscles. But I believe we could lower the human subjects’ body temperatures enough to slow down their heart rate and reduce the inflammatory load during their first shift, thus decreasing the strain on their heart. If we could develop a higher strength antipyretic, something stronger than acetaminophen or any of our usual treatments, it could work.”
Xi lost a bit of her icy composure. I’d surprised her. I’d learned a lot that day when I did research at the library.
“One thing I can’t figure out,” Stacy spoke up. “Why is it a secret? I bet people would be lining up at your door at the chance to be a shifter. The super immunity, fast healing, stronger senses, my God everyone would want that.”
“The U.S. government doesn’t like such… transformations.” Xi’s voice conveyed her disapproval of that stance. “That’s why they endeavor to keep so much of the population in the dark about the very existence of shifters.”
“But other governments?” I pressed. “Surely someone else would love to utilize your research.”
“I’ve had some interest from other governments,” she said cagily.
“I’d like to sign on to be a co-researcher,” I said, giving her my most earnest look. “I think we could win a Nobel prize in medicine if we can perfect this technique. Then we can write our own checks, everyone will want to fund this research.”
“You surprise me, Dr. O’Brian.”
Xi opened her mouth to say something else, but she was interrupted by the sound of a loud roar, loud enough that it seemed to shake the glass windows. Before we could react, the same man who’d let us into the lab ran into the office, his eyes wild.
“Dr. Xi! The bear is awake, and he’s pissed. We can’t get close enough to him to safely shoot him.”
Xi was on her feet immediately, Stacy and I right behind her. We raced across the lab where two other workers were standing nervously, both of them holding tranquilizer guns. Through the window I could see the largest bear I’d seen in my life. He was standing on his hind legs, giant paws pounding against the window as he roared. His front legs were free, but the back ones were chained to a stainless steel table. It looked like he’d just dragged it behind him.
The doctor skidded to a stop, giving her employees a disdainful look.
“Calm down,” she ordered. “These windows are built to withstand a bomb. A shifter can’t get through.”
Wordlessly, one of the workers pointed to the corner of the window, where a crack was forming in the glass.
