Wolves and Men

Not that he would ever underestimate Alessandro. The old man might need him to deal with the wolves, but the old man was the power base for their kind in L.A. He was not in a position to contest him on that… yet.

He walked through the front doors and asked for doctor Swaan. Some nervous looking little man with glasses pointed down the hall as he rushed off down a side corridor holding a beaker in one hand and test tube in the other.

The place was as sterile as a hospital, and smelled just as bad. Somehow the smell of overly disinfected floors and super clean walls left an uncomfortable sting in his sensitive nostrils.

He walked down the brightly lit main corridor. His Italian leather shoes made a soft squeak with every step. The side hallways were well labeled and he had no problem finding the side hallway the orderly had pointed him to. After that though, the place turned into a honeycomb mess of doors, rooms, side hallways, dark closets, and throughways. This place looked more like a hospital and less than what he imagined from a research lab.

With a little bit more difficulty than he was comfortable admitting, he finally found the lab the orderly had directed him to. He pushed open the door and entered a clean room. The walls were lined with heavy plastic and some clean suits hanging on racks. He found a wide window looking into the lab with an intercom built into it. On the other side were three people in white hazmat suits moving between two tables. One was peering into a microscope while another was replacing a slide on the microscopes base.

Kenneth pressed the intercom button. “Dr. Swaan might I have a word with you, please?”

One of the haz-mat suits turned around. Kenneth couldn’t quite make out the man’s face. He was wearing some sort of goggles or glasses inside the suit. He turned to one of the other suits, gripped the shoulder of the person next to him placing the tray under the microscope, and walked out into the clean room.

As he entered a small adjacent room, Kenneth heard a hiss of air and the decontaminant spray. After a few moments the entry door opened and the man slid the helmet of the suit off. His hair was matted and wet with sweat. His face glistened with perspiration.

As soon as he saw Kenneth the man bowed his head, “Teacher, how may I help you?”

Kenneth smiled at his newest student. He wasn’t sure how well this particular man’s brilliant mind would react to his domination. He was working, which was good. Kenneth didn’t answer right away; instead he chose to look out the window into the clean lab. “How is it going with your research, student?” he asked, not unkindly.

Dr. Trevor Swaan straightened up and ran a hand through his matted hair. “Not as well as we would have hoped, we are having trouble with the CPP’s.” Kenneth cocked his head to one side, questioningly. Trevor explained, “Cell-penetrating peptides. The polycationic amino acids aren’t reacting the way we had projected. We are trying to reassess with other amino acids like lysine but right now the acid itself isn’t transmitting the cargo to the cells, it’s just getting lost and absorbed in the cellular covalent bonds.”

Kenneth held a dead expression on his face. “Fascinating.” He turned to look at his student directly. “I have need of your expertise and facilities.”

Trevor nodded, “I will do what I can, Teacher.”

Kenneth smiled. “Yes, I know you will. I want you to abandon your current project and put all of your available resources into something for me.”

Trevor rubbed at the back of his neck. “Uh, I’m not sure I can…we have put so muc….”

“Look at me Trevor.” Kenneth took a step toward his student and helped the man with his gaze. He projected his will onto his student and spoke with all the authority and power of a god over a mouse. “You will abandon all your current research. You will inform your team of a new project. Do you understand?”

Trevor nodded; his eyes had glazed over as everything Kenneth said was absorbed into the very fabric of his soul. “What is the project, Instructor?”

Kenneth continued to stare into the blank, dead eyes of his enthralled student. “You will find a way to inhibit the regenerative qualities of cellular mass and tissue.”

Trevor’s face twisted with confusion. “But Instructor, simple irradiation will break down cellular tissue and kill cells out right, why the need to just inhibit regeneration?”

Kenneth nodded; it was a valid question. He had to maintain control of himself. If the man was asking questions he was not fully under his control. If he brought Trevor fully under his thrall, his scientific mind would be dulled and then he would be useless to him as a student.

He took a deep breath, “I understand, student. For what I have in mind, irradiation is not an option. I need something that will attack the cells only. I need an aerial transmitting agent, which can be quietly spread through a wide area that will only stop cells from regenerating, without any other side effects. It needs to be quiet, odorless, tasteless, and colorless. Do you understand?”

Trevor nodded. “I understand Instructor. I will get my team to work on it right away.”

Kenneth shook his head. “No, it’s all right. Why don’t you go in there and tell your team to call it a night. Go have some fun. Cassandra could greet you and take you out for a dinner date, if you wish.”

Trevor couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across his face. “Yes, Instructor I would like that very much!”

Kenneth smiled as well. “Very well then, close up shop and I’ll have Cassandra pick you up at your place in one hour.” Trevor turned back toward the small adjacent room already pulling his helmet back on. Kenneth stopped him dead. “Trevor?” The man turned around to face his instructor with his hood half pulled back on. “After tonight, I expect you and your team back here early tomorrow and working twenty-four hours to find a solution to my problem.” He turned back toward the scientist. “Don’t disappoint me.” At the exit he paused and said over his shoulder. “Oh, and Trevor don’t be late. Cassandra hates it when people are late.”

He returned to the car and rechecked his phone. Alessandro still had not contacted him about the two hits they had taken last night. Well, he wasn’t going to just sit around and do nothing. He told Michael to drive to the Farm first. Better that he get a firsthand view of what the wolves had done to them and just how badly they had been hit.