Catch and Release

Chapter 14

Chapter 14Zoe jumped in her seat as her boss spoke. She had been so engrossed in the simulation that she was oblivious to everything else. “Holy crap, John! Wanna knock next time? You scared the living crap out of me!”

John looked at her like she were mad. He was considered a very intelligent man, but he was hardly threatening; he was five-foot one inch tall and 100 pounds dripping wet. The average twelve-year-old was larger than him. “Sorry, didn’t mean to frighten you. I’m simply wondering why a sample of the Marburg virus was ordered with my authorization. I didn’t order it, and I certainly don’t remember authorizing the order.”

Zoe panicked a little. John Cameron was the kind of doctor who was easily engrossed in his work and didn’t even bother to check his messages until he had finished his current train of thought. She hadn’t expected that he would get the order confirmation before she could get her hands on the sample.

“What are you talking about, John?”

John moved forward, holding out the printout of the viral order confirmation. “This. An order confirming a sample of the Marburg virus is to be delivered here. I wasn’t aware we were working with that virus.”

Zoe took the printout from his hand and moved her eyes across the paper, trying to come up with a plausible excuse. After a moment, she had her excuse ready. “Must be a mix up. I ordered a sample of the Malaria parasite to make vaccines for the next Doctors Without Borders mission to the Congo. They must have picked up Marburg by mistake.”

John nodded with a thoughtful look on his face. “Yeah, that makes sense. Well, the sample is already on the way, so make sure it gets back to the proper place. Last thing we need is that nasty little bug around here.”

Zoe breathed out an inaudible sigh of relief. For such a smart man, he was surprisingly gullible. “I’ll make sure it gets back there.”

John smiled. “Excellent! I’ll leave it in your capable hands.”

John turned and left the lab and Zoe slumped into her chair, trying to get her breathing back under control. Less than two minutes later, she had regained her composure enough to deliberately frown at the arrival of her assistant.

“Mornin’ Zo.” Damian said, with an overly familiar tone that Zoe suspected was his attempt at making her uncomfortable.

“Do you mean Good morning Doctor Morgenthal?”

Damian’s smirk left his face, replaced by a frown. “Yes, good morning, Doctor Morgenthal.”

Zoe noticed that Damian was carrying a Bio-hazard Transport Container which most likely contained the Marburg sample she had requested. She sighed, thinking she needed this i***t poking around today like she needed a hole in the head. The professional relationship between Zoe and Damian was tense, and Zoe was hoping that if they were hostile enough, then he would get assigned elsewhere. She had to get rid of him for today at least.

“And where exactly have you been? I have a list of tasks for you to do a mile long, and you’re over an hour late.”

“My new girlfriend just started here yesterday as a lab assistant. She asked me for a hand with virus identification.”

“Trying to figure out what STDs she has?”

“She doesn’t have any STDs.”

Zoe feigned a look of shock. “You haven’t slept with her yet?”

Damian groaned, having realized two seconds too late that he had fallen into Zoe’s trap. He put the container on the table next to him a little more aggressively than he probably should have and walked out while saying, “Here’s your delivery.”

Zoe thought she heard him whisper “b***h” afterward but was simply happy he was gone. She walked over to the container and after confirming that there was no damage, opened it, retrieving the vial containing the Marburg virus. It was at that moment she realized that, in his anger, Damian had left the container there without signing the transfer. “I wonder how I could use this,” Zoe mused as she loaded the vial into a vacuum sealed workstation along with an empty vial and quickly went about transferring the virus over. Once the transfer was completed, she sealed both vials and sterilized the workstation before retrieving them. She returned the original vial to the Bio-hazard Transport Container, placed it back on the table where Damian had left it, paged Damian, and waited.

Two minutes later, Damian was back in Zoe’s lab with a look on his face which screamed if I could be anywhere else in the world right now, that’s exactly where I would be. Without looking up, Zoe pointed at the container. “That isn’t mine. I asked for a Malaria sample. Kindly take this back to the lockup and retrieve the correct sample.”

Damian picked up the container and left the lab without saying a word. Zoe leaned back in her chair, talking to the empty room. “At least that i***t is making this part easy.”

Zoe looked over at the clock on the wall, noting that it was a little after midday and the viral vectors she needed were still at least two hours away. “Guess I’ll get something to eat.”