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copied the master files containing all the histories of those donors. Then there was the part where the
intruder on the phone left instructions that could only mean others were expected to come after the
microproteins as well. The inside man or men at Barrington had been told to leave half of each fraction
sample behind, not to take it all.
Of course! Since Norman had already told them he'd changed the labels, anyone else coming to pinch
whatever was left would be totally confused. Worse yet, Norman's story was the best of his recollection,
but he'd been doped up the whole time. So had Ernie. What else had they disclosed? Was Machine
Dean Craddock in cahoots with the raid? Had he been paid off or threatened, or even promised
something that suited his 'little man' ego?
Jack's assessment was grim. His new M.I. phone was already programmed to his voice pattern, and he'd
learned how to use it. Now was the time. He needed to talk to Nat Foreman.
"Yes, sir. That's all we know right now. I advised against Murray contacting Norman and Ernesta in
person, but they should certainly be rewarded for their loyalty."
"Agreed," Foreman replied. "My estimate of the situation is pretty much the same as yours, Jack. One,
that reference to a senator is our most significant clue to all this. Two, he--or she, I suppose ... we can't
assume it's a he even if it was given out that way--directs the hit team to confuse any others who might
raid the labs the same way. That says he suspects others might already know about the stuff and he's
beating them to the punch. Three, we assume an inside man at Barrington, probably Craddock since the
raid team got by two guards. Who's in charge of guards there, if it's not the lab director? Four, lots of
money's obviously involved here, so it's probably a big corporation or conglomerate."
"How do we find out?"
"Let's analyze it. First we see the I.S. agents. Their visit couldn't have been official--Internal Security
these days is totally corrupt--so the information they got went to our senator behind all this. He's intrigued
by what he gets, but naturally suspects the I.S. boys'll try to double-dip and sell the same information to
others like him. Next, he sends in his own team right into Barrington, big as life, for a second pass.
Craddock's involved a second time. These boys spend time working with technician Wheelright, and that
should have been the end of it, but now we have a third, uglier visit. Can't be the second group, unless
they were incompetents, so we have a new player ... call it ABC corporation, perhaps a pharmaceutical.
They like what they've been told, but they have to have all the marbles. They send in their own team for
a really thorough scouring, and these are real pros. Conclusion: whoever this senator is, he's got to be
thinking Murray Blake's very existence could be his undoing. He's made a commitment to this thing, Jack,
a big one. He may have connections to some really big money."
"He'll try to eliminate Murray, you think?"
"Fits the pattern you and I know so well. Why else try to confuse whoever follows his special team into
Barrington? We have to know who this mystery senator might be and pull his plug. I'll make some
inquiries and start Mary doing the same. She might be able to finger the bastard for us."
"This wasn't I.S. agents, then? I didn't think so, either. Internal Security would have taken them off for
questioning."
Foreman paused. "Jack, it probably was internal security the first time, but this latest doesn't have their
signature. I.S. agents would definitely have taken them away for questioning. It smacks of CIA or even
our own military special forces. There are lots of ex-CIA and former military out there, selling their
services. Let me see what I can find out. In the meantime, I'm going to send a larger detachment out to
watch Murray's place, on top of what I have out there now. And it wouldn't hurt for you and Wilma and
Murray to take turns sitting up at night. Armed, I might add."
"That bad, huh?"
"Could be, and I'd rather not take chances."
"Okay. Murray wants to talk to you. He'll call next. Out."
Murray rang through just moments later. "General, can you get someone into Barrington Labs under
some pretense, to contact Norman and Ernie and let them know we're not sitting still? They're probably
both scared to death. Needless to say, I'm a bit spooked by what happened last night, myself."
"Stay that way. I like seeing you paranoid until we get this over with. Sure, I can get someone in there.
Tell me of some incident involving you and Norman that he'll be certain to remember."
"Hmmm. Okay, have your man mention the time I lost the instruction manual and thought I could do the
replication procedure on a DNA segment of an X chromosome from memory. That ought to do it."
The general laughed. "Will do. Replication procedure on a DNA segment of an X chromosome. Got it.
What is it you're needing to focus on next?"
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