A smile spread over Caesare’s tanned jawline. “Not a chance.”
25
Later that evening, Alison watched from inside as the Embraer 190 touched down on the single runway of Mercedita Airport. There, it slowed and eventually turned toward the small terminal, located within the Vayas barrio. Outside, the rain was finally beginning to let up. Much like Miami, the smaller rainstorms usually moved through quickly and that evening was no exception.
Flight 667 was the last for the airport that night and most of the local employees had long since headed home. Alison was one in only a handful of people — just a few small families — waiting inside the terminal. She watched with an amused expression as two young children ran back and forth giggling in a game of tag.
Once the airliner began de-boarding, it took less than five minutes for Neely Lawton to appear through the double doors, pulling a large suitcase behind her. She was dressed in shorts and a dark blue tank top with no indication she was anything other than a tourist on vacation.
Alison smiled and closed the distance, meeting her with a warm hug. “How are you, Neely?”
“I’m okay, thanks. How about you?”
“Busy but good.” She glanced at the suitcase and then around the room. “Do you have any more bags?”
“Nope, this is it. Got everything I need.”
“Excellent. Follow me then.”
Once outside, the two walked briskly through the drizzling rain to a parking lot which appeared long overdue for repaving. Neely’s mouth curled into amusement when Alison stopped and opened the back of a white Nissan Leaf.
“Electric, eh?”
“Don’t tell me you’re surprised. An environmental girl like me?”
Neely chuckled and lifted her suitcase in. “Not surprised at all.”
Alison grinned, closing the trunk. The rain began to pick up, prompting them both to open their doors and climb in.
Inside, Alison relaxed and turned in her seat. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I guess I’m as well as can be under the circumstances. Thank you, though. To be honest, I think your call was just the distraction I needed.” She leveled her eyes at Alison. “Even if a little cryptic.”
“Sorry about that. I wasn’t in a position to say much on the phone. There’s something important I need your help with.”
Neely brushed a strand of damp hair away from her face. “What kind of work? You said it was something similar to what was aboard the Bowditch.”
“I think so.”
Neely’s voice rose with some excitement. “Where did you get it?”
“Well, that’s where things get a little…interesting. I don’t actually have anything per se. That’s what I need your help with.”
“What does that mean? You don’t have anything?”
“I don’t have an actual specimen. But I think there’s a strong relationship here.”
Alison could see the look of excitement on Neely’s face begin to fade.
“I don’t understand. If you don’t have a specimen, what exactly do you think is related?”
Alison bit her bottom lip momentarily, thinking. “I think I need to explain a few things first. To catch you up.”
“Okay.”
“It’s not a sample exactly. It’s more like…a reaction.”
“A reaction.”
“Right.”
“A reaction of what?”
“It’s a reaction to something,” Alison replied. “It’s the reaction itself that’s similar. When we were on the Bowditch, that sample you had was growing. Faster than normal, right?”
“Much faster. The growth rate was remarkable, and it had a DNA sequence we’d never seen before. But the sample was lost when we were attacked.” She then looked at Alison curiously. “Where exactly is this going?”
“Neely, when you were explaining to us what the DNA did to the plant, I believe you said it was actually regenerating.”
“That’s right.”
“Which no other plant can do.”
“Not to that extent, no.”
“Regenerating as in healing, correct?”
“It was more than just healing. The entire structure was being regenerated by cells that were lost or nearly dead.”
“Like cancer cells.”
Neely raised an eyebrow. How did Alison know that? It was a comparison she’d used on a call with Admiral Langford.
“Not exactly like cancer cells. Regeneration implies a coordinated function of cells and tissues with a goal of restoring form and function. Cancer cells don’t do that. They destroy the cells. But they can, however, live for a very long time. Some even live forever under the right conditions. What was similar in those plants wasn’t necessarily their cellular restoration but their growth rate. Those plant cells were growing almost exponentially. Faster than most cancers.”