When the Wind Blows - James Patterson [107]
“We’ll get help for them,” Kit whispered at my side. “Let’s go, Frannie.”
“We’ll bring help. I promise,” I told the women. There was no way we could bring them with us now.
Michael was pulling me forward, toward another steel door in the rear. “We’ll come back for you,” I promised a pregnant woman who couldn’t have been more than eighteen.
“I think I’m going into labor,” she said fearfully.
Human experiments.
Chapter 115
MOST HUMANS are like stones along the ground, useless to themselves and others, waiting for the next sixty seconds to reveal itself,” Gillian said in soft, confident tones. “Fortunately, that depressing description doesn’t fit any of us. Welcome to all of you. This small, very select group is incredibly important to mankind. We are ushering in a new era today. I promise you that, and I shall deliver on the promise.”
Gillian and Dr. Anthony Peyser stared out at the audience from a long work table positioned at the front of the conference room.
Dr. Peyser spoke without rising from his chair. “It’s just eight o’clock in the morning, and everything is proceeding on schedule. Everything is going just about perfectly, I would have to say. Clearly, what we have assembled here are the shining stars of genetic engineering.
“As you can see, news of my departure from our planet is a bit premature. As you can also see from my ‘tremble,’ I had a stroke. I’m healthy now. Actually, I’ve found a way to add ten, maybe even a dozen years to my miserable life span. More on that later in the proceedings. Believe me, it’s a mere footnote compared to what else we have in store for you this morning.”
There were nods and faint smiles from the seventeen men and women who had been invited to the inspections and now… the most important auction of all time.
An auction.
Each of the seventeen represented a major biotech company, or, in some cases, a country. One wealthy individual had come prepared to finance a major new corporation, based on the morning’s results. These “stars of genetic engineering” seemed reluctant to look into each other’s eyes. They were there to bid competitively on the most spectacular scientific discoveries in history and appeared afraid or ashamed to reveal their common lust. Truman Capote had once called J. Edgar Hoover and Roy Cohn “killer fruit.” If so, these were “killer nerds.”
Dr. Peyser continued to address the group. “You’ve all read the dossiers and previewed the lots. Each experiment, each miraculous child is unique and valuable beyond measure. All the documents and data relating to the ‘provenance of the lots’ will be provided to the actual buyers. We have established a reserve or minimum figure at which we will sell each lot. This is also known as an ‘upset price,’ probably because we will be upset if we have to sell at it. Anyway—if there are no further questions, we’ll start the bidding process now.”
Gillian rose from her seat. She offered a polite smile, then placed a sheaf of papers before her on the table. She adjusted the wire-rimmed glasses that helped give her the look of a successful woman CEO. The world was changing, after all. Oh yes, the world was changing faster than any of these self-important executives could ever guess.
She finally announced, “The auction is officially begun. From this moment, no one else will be allowed to enter the bidding. There will be no telephone bids, no sealed bids. The winner shall be indicated by the simple fall of the gavel.”
One of the competitors, a slope-shouldered, balding man in a dark pinstriped suit, leaned forward. He had a sharp, upturned nose and a pugnacious lower lip. He was from New Jersey, a wealthy suburb near AT&T headquarters. “Can we take possession of the lots right away?” he asked. “And the scientific papers?”
“Yes, of course you can. Do you wish to open the bidding, Dr. Warner?”
“What about the increments?” came another voice, an impressive-looking man with a