Chapter 6
Tears slipped down Elena's face.
"Because I was afraid."
"My wife died two years ago."
"I know."
"You had this for two years."
"I didn't have everything."
She took a breath.
"Genevieve told me not to contact you unless something happened to her and the twins became ill."
"Why?"
"Because if the children stayed healthy, she believed exposing the program might place them in danger for no reason."
"And when they became sick?"
"I didn't know.
I don't read financial news.
I don't watch television.
I've spent the past year moving from shelter to shelter after my sister died."
My anger faltered.
"Sofia died?"
Elena nodded.
"Same mutation."
I looked at the report again.
"You said this explains why treatment isn't working."
"Yes."
"Does it explain how to save them?"
Her silence answered before she did.
"Maybe."
One word.
But after ten days, maybe sounded like oxygen.
"How?"
"Genevieve found another patient."
"Who?"
"Me."
I stared at her.
Elena rolled up her sleeve.
There were faint scars inside her elbow.
"My markers are compatible with the twins."
"Bone marrow?"
"More than that.
The mutation originated from a cell line derived from samples taken from my family."
I felt sick.
"Your DNA is inside my children?"
"Not exactly.
But the receptor design was built using data from Sofia and me."
I pressed the call button on my desk.
"Get Yates here."
Prescott stepped forward.
"Lawson, we should verify everything before moving her near the children."
"Verify it."
"We also need to consider the possibility this is engineered."
"Then engineer an answer faster."
He nodded once.
Within forty minutes, Dr.
Yates arrived.
He read the documents twice.
Then a third time.
His face changed gradually from skepticism to disbelief.
"Where did you get these?"
"Is it real?"
"I need laboratory confirmation."
"Assume it's real."
Yates pointed toward one page.
"If this receptor modification exists, it could explain almost everything we've seen.
Their response pattern never made sense."
"Can Elena help?"
"Possibly."
"How?"
"If she's truly a source match, we could isolate compatible immune cells and design a targeted therapy."
"How long?"
"A normal process could take weeks."
"They don't have weeks."
"I know."
"Then don't do it normally."
He looked at me.
"Money can't change biology."
"No.
But money can change how many laboratories work on the problem at once."
By midnight, three private research centers had received encrypted copies of the data.