Chuck picked back up the copy of his gun magazine, shaking his head at Rogers. Under his breath he muttered, "Pussy."
Rogers entered the lab and looked around to making sure Frank was not sitting in the dark behind a laptop. His actions here tonight could not easily be explained. He walked around flicking on the different terminals and powering up all the computers. He was going to have hours of work to do in a short matter of time. He knew Frank was unpredictable, never staying away from the lab for long. He seemed more committed to this project than any assignment they had been tasked with before. It was a shame he hadn't found a way to make the cure he longed for work before now. Rogers had seen Frank's original notes last week and photocopied them when he'd been looking for some other documentation. He found the original formula for X-74 and the hand written notes describing a trial cure for soldiers suffering the effects of bio warfare.
The previous week, he'd been studying the dynamics of the cure, looking at everything that was in it, and having a hard time getting his head around it. Compared to what they were currently using, he thought the formulae they developed looked like children's vitamins. He had sent a request down to the mixing lab to have a batch of the samples put together. If all went well, he'd be up in the CEO's office explaining exactly what they had been doing by the end of this week and smoking a celebratory cigar.
At the medical plant, they tested on rats per the federal health regulations. They were required to prove a drug worked before clinical tests on humans could take place. He knew if he didn't have the research to prove it, he could be banned from medical jobs, though he did not know the entire picture.
He had taken the X-74 and added a strong dose of Zometa, an aggressive cancer drug the company had created, but on its own it was not something that would cure terminal patients. He then added an additional calcium fortifying agent as well. He was sure testing this would be easy, and hoping the results would be immediate. They had been experimenting with different strains mixed with a much tamer version of what Frank called X-74--mostly the vitamin strand of the drug. He had given it to fifteen rats exposed to bone cancer causing pesticides to prove the serum worked. He had labeled them with a different name and a different chemical make up as Frank would know immediately something was off with the strain he had asked him to give to the rats.
Rogers was impressed with the injection method. He had always been taught to use injections into the blood stream, but, as he had learned after working with Frank, a vapor vaccination method can inoculate many people with the same distribution tool. Coming from a military background, it made perfect sense why Frank would consider this a good method. He turned on the lights to the animal cage room and went in to check out his specimens.
He picked one up and was immediately bitten. He had never been bitten this hard by one before, and could not believe the chunk of skin it had taken out from his finger. He dropped it back in its cage. "Oh, you little bastard! That hurt! Good Lord!"
He stumbled back out of the room, wrapping his hand with a handkerchief from his back pocket, and went to the first aid center. He doused it with a disinfectant foam and rinsed it with hot water. He examined it, thinking about that rat. He was actually glad to think he had been bitten. Only a few days ago the rat could barely lift its head to eat, let alone run up and take a giant bite out of his damn hand. He thought to himself it must have worked and he must be on the right path. He hurried to bandage it and create the fake reports proving that all of the necessary results had been submitted properly and filed with the Federal Board of Drug Approvals.
As he was finishing up the last of the data, falling in love with the idea of X-74 and the little tweak that he had added to it, his cell phone rang. "Hello, this is Rogers."
"Rogers, this is Frank. I need you to come to the lab. Are you available tonight?"
Rogers got a little nervous. "Well, I am available. You do realize it's after one in the morning, right? Actually, I'm already at the lab. I couldn't wait to check the results and I have to tell you that the strain we tested on the fifteen rats is working impressively! I've done blood work ups and the data research on them. There is massive improvement!"
Frank said nothing and stopped his truck on the side of the road. He wanted to call Karen and tell her. He wanted to tell Shaun he had succeeded. He wanted to kiss Rogers. He wanted his body to stop trembling so that he could relax from the adrenaline rush that his body was going through. "I'll be there in twenty minutes, Rogers! Do we have any samples of it left?"
"I do have two batches left. Did you want me to see if I can get a giant batch made so we could mass test the drug on a group of a hundred rats, or are you going to distribute the drug to the cancer society you're dealing with? I am sure if someone is terminally ill, they wouldn't feel that they have too much to lose, right?"
Frank smiled thinking the terminally ill person was Karen and she would no longer be dying.
He was going to be the reason she lived.
They could finally move on with their lives. They could get married ... move in together ... do everything that a couple in love wanted to do. There would be mornings and nights spent together with nothing but peaceful slumber--the worries of the last four months put behind them. Frank snapped back to reality. "Simple question, Rogers! Do you have more of my drug, or do we need to create one? If we need to make one, I will take care of ordering it myself!"
Rogers cringed a bit thinking he would be finished at the plant if Frank saw what was in it. "Don't worry about it. I already ordered a batch of ten to further distribute it for your project."
"Pack one of the kits into a vapor container, and get it locked in a cooling locker so that we can package it to be shipped, they are going to want this right away."
Rogers smiled with relief, wiping his wrinkled brow. "Okay."
Hanging up the phone, he ignored the direct order. Punching the enter key on his keyboard, he ordered a batch large enough to take care of every Knicks fan at a sold out arena. The sister company in Chicago would receive the drug ingredients after the Adel branch made the initial batch. Rogers smiled, thinking of all the good he was doing. He thought if the patients Frank was trying to help had any short term results, such as the cancer treated rats, then millions of people would get a new lease on life.
Frank arrived at the laboratory shortly after speaking to Rogers. It had took everything in him to not sprint into the building at this time in the morning. He did not want to cause any commotion or make the security guards think anything might be wrong. He walked briskly in past Chuck and nodded. "Anything good coming out on the market, Chuck?"
Chuck laughed knowing that Fox was ex-military--he had the posture of a trained soldier. "Yeah, they have some new forty-fives, but good luck getting anything to shoot out of 'em."
Frank never stopped walking he smiled. "Better to have the guns and be ready when bullets are in stock, then be able to buy ammo and not have something to put it in."
Chuck nodded. "Amen to that! Have a good night, Dr. Fox."
Frank did a two finger salute to Chuck, with the correct hand, and went to the elevators.
Rogers was waiting for Frank when he arrived. "Can you believe we did it Frank? I mean, Dr. Fox? Isn't it incredible, after all these months, all the failures?"
Frank nodded, squeezing Rogers's shoulder, and trying to hold it together. "We are going to save a lot of people unnecessary heartache. This is God in a bottle, do you know that?"
"Yes.... We're going to be known by everyone worldwide when this comes out."
Frank asked for the research papers and documentation, and started combing through them.
"Well," Rogers started nervously, "if you don't need any help on this, I think I'm going to get going, I'm not really feeling all that well tonight. I think I've been burning the candle at both ends for too long. Just think--we can finally get some sleep! I think I’m going to take a short nap in the break room I’m to damn tired to drive."
Frank already was looking at blood samples under a microscope, absolutely amazed at what he was seeing. He waived at Rogers to go. He was speechless. The rat's blood he thought he was looking at with his own drug in it was the one that Rogers had injected with the modified X-74 gene. The rat was cured of cancer. What he didn't know was it was now a monster.
Frank murmured lightly under his breath, "The TBC count is through the roof. No cancer." He turned around as Rogers was leaving and shouted, "Where did you put the working formulas at, Rogers!?"
Rogers turned and pointed to the freezer as he was walking out. "It's on the top shelf labeled 'Working' in red ink. There's a vapor injector next to it. When are we going to talk to the CEO?"
Frank shrugged. "I hadn't really thought about mass distribution and how to best go about it. We're going to have a hell of a lot of explaining to do--how a couple vitamin biochemists came up with the cure for cancer. Once we have some proven results to show, all will be forgiven."
"If not, I think that 'Rogers and Fox Enterprises' has a wonderful tone to it...!"
"Have a good night, Rogers. I'll see you on Monday. Enjoy Sunday--take the day off, you earned it!"
Frank double and triple checked everything the other doctor had entered for dates, times, and information, not realizing the forgeries. He was still shocked this was really happening, but feeling an absolute unbeatable high that he was about to save the woman he loved.
He packed the case with one of the ten vials and a vapor injection kit. He was going to need a vacation to get back to his normal self after this was all said and done. He saved everything in his data research box and noticed that it was already six in the morning. He thought it would be good to get breakfast and head over to Karen's. He felt the day was going to be as stressful as possible, and some food with would not hurt anything.
****
Frank stopped by a gas station picking up doughnuts and coffee. He smiled at the greeter who told him to have a good day. Frank nodded, unworried about that being an issue. Reaching Karen's, he pulled into the quiet driveway. He walked into the living room, setting his spare key down on the table, and walked around taking stock of the house. He saw Ellie's room was open, and heard a faint sound from some television show. He laughed thinking how Shaun always fell asleep with the television on as well.
He checked the kitchen. It was left clean from the night before when he'd stopped a little early for rest and a nice dinner with the girls. He set the doughnuts down and poured himself a cup of coffee. He wanted to run in screaming to Karen, but didn't want to give the poor woman a heart attack after finally achieving his goal. He went to her bedroom to crawl into bed and wake her with the news that was about to happen.
He was in shock at what he saw.
Frank was met with an empty room, but this room was filled with all the signs of an emergency. The blankets had all been thrown from the bed. There were unused strips of medical tape hanging from the nightstand. He walked to the bed looking for something that would make this scene make a little more sense to him. He'd only been gone five hours. He wondered what could have happened in such a short time.
A crackling noise made him notice the plastic beneath his right boot. He bent down looking at a familiar bag with the word 'laryngoscope' on it--medical personnel used it for intubation. It cleared the airway so the patient could breathe with the assistance of a machine or a pump attached to it.
Frank dropped the bag and ran to Ellie's room, bursting in without knocking. No one was there. He yelled Karen's and Ellie's names, praying for a response. He was in an empty, quiet house ... alone. His heart was pounding and his breathing was getting short. For a moment he was worried that he was about to have a heart attack. He sat down for a second and took a few deep breaths, knowing if he didn't calm down he wasn't going to do anyone any good. He knew when bad things were happening, he had to stay calm.
He thought for a moment finding it more difficult than normal to keep his head on straight. He reached for his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He hit the power button realizing it had most likely been dead for hours. He plugged it in and saw Karen's matching model on the counter. She was the one who had made him buy the smartphone in the first place, trying to help him get with the times.