Eric rose before dawn and looked out his bedroom window. Naked in the morning air, he freed himself of sleep's last tug. He saw his light hair and round face reflected in the pane and smiled. He looked at the CCTV. It cycled through views of the cellar, the front porch and the backyard, all barely visible. He wanted to get infrared cameras and hook it up for sound too, but that would have to wait. Angela mumbled something in her sleep as he left the room.
Thirty minutes later, shaved, showered and dressed, he descended into the cellar. His lab sprawled behind the laundry room with a customary pile of National Geographics. He turned on the lights and his PC. The rabbits began to stir, wiggling their noses and taking tiny hops within their clear plastic homes.
On the PC screen an image appeared, a string of letters connected by dashes: "A-A-A-G-C-A-A-T-C" and so on. He pressed a few buttons and the image vanished. A graph with several curves and some data points took its place. The vertical side of the chart read "Frontal lobe cc", while the horizontal read "QR Clusters". He pushed some more buttons and another graph formed. He continued this until Angela came down with two cups of coffee, her long black hair shining in the stark light.
"Anything new?" She asked setting down the cups next to the computer.
"No, I still can't figure out why there's a plateau." He grabbed a cup still staring into the screen. "Thanks."
"No problem." She responded rubbing his broad bare shoulders. "Maybe we've been working too hard. We both need a good rest."
"I'm afraid to stop now. You know what this means." He waved his hands without looking up. "We're too close to stop – even for a day."
"We could try another interbreeding."
"Yeah, but the last time they" – he pointed at the rabbits – "reverted to wild varieties."
She turned to the rabbit cages. A few seconds later she said, "Hey there are only two dozen. Where are the other three?"
"What!?!" He spun out of his chair almost spilling his coffee. "Last night all twenty-seven were here." He recounted with his eyes. "You're right! One cage is open."
"Quick, close everything up down here! I'll do upstairs."
After doing so, they searched the entire house hoping to find the missing trio. They looked in every corner and felt under every piece of furniture. Around noon they gave up.
"Damn! It's my fault. I should've checked all the locks last night." Eric let out a sigh. He sat next to her on the couch.
She didn't look at him with her green eyes. "Two pregnant females and a male. Wait until MS finds out." She said.
"Let's hope nobody else does until we're finished." He said as he looked at her. He knew his mistake and couldn't deny her anger.
* * * * *
A few miles away three unlikely travellers crossed a small brook ever alert for all the dangers they can think of and imagine. They stayed as near to the road as they can without being seen. One was constantly ahead of the other two. This was their first time in the wild.
* * * * *
"Why don't you run another simulation of interbreeding?" Angela asked Eric.
"Why?"
"Because I have an idea."
"What?" He mumbled too worried about the escapees to be a good conversationalist.
"Perhaps the effect can skip a few generations. We're looking for a gene complex–"
"Yes, I know. I've already run simulations for a hundred generations without any change."
"Eric, please listen!" She pleaded.
"All right, I'm sorry. Go ahead."
"This time run the simulation with a mixed population, experimental and wild varieties."
"You know, you could have something there, but it'll probably give worse results."
"We won't know until you try."
"It'll take time."
"Good, get started now!" She laughed as she patted him.
* * * * *
By three o'clock, he had run the simulation. It showed an unexpected result – at least one he wouldn't have expected except through desperation. Angela, he thought, where would I be without you. Somehow the brain size and complexity had increased in just the right proportions. All other things being equal, he thought, I should be able to boost their intelligence.
"Any luck?" She asked as he came up the steps. She was looking over some local maps.
"Luck!?! Luck is for rabbits!" He nearly shouted with a smile almost wider than his face. "I don't know what made you think of it, but here are the results."
He handed her hardcopies of the graphs the simulation produced.
"Somehow the effect is self-limiting, which we already knew, and it's like a genetic disease, which we didn't know." He pointed out.
"That's good and bad." She grinned then frowned.
"Bad? Now we understand why we've been stumbling around. What could be bad about that?"
"If the three 'fugitives' mate with the native wild rabbits the effect will spread."
"So!" He said. "Ultimately, that is our goal. Isn't it?"
She looked away from him and answered. "Yes, it is, but this is not exactly what we wanted. Those rabbits were only supposed to be a test, not the real thing."
"O.K., O.K. Let's get the others in on this."
"I have. Frank should be here soon."
"Good, but you realize both females are nearing term?"
"Yes, and the male might plant his seed too!" She said frowning again.
* * * * *
About two miles away a man sat in a parked jeep listening to a radio set. Between spasms of static he snatched bits of a conversation about rabbits. He typed a few notes into his pocket computer then drove away. A few yards from where he was three rabbits scurried through the underbrush wondering what had made the noise.
* * * * *
Frank arrived late in evening. Eric had him park his car in the garage. It had been a few months since they'd last seen each other, so they feasted and drank a little. Eric showed off the lab and the rabbits. That impressed Frank.
"It must be fun." Frank said, a twinkle in his brown eyes. "You two have the best part of the operation."
Eric surveyed the lab proudly. "I know. How is your end coming?"
"Good. I should have the rest of those DNA analyses in about two weeks. We're so close, aren't we?"
"Yeah, we are. Just a few minor details and we can move on to dogs, apes, and–"
"Men." Angela said coming down the stairs with three cups of coffee.
"Is there anything you don't do?" Frank jeered at her. She laughed as he took a cup.
"On to business." Eric announced.
"Yes, you've had some losses." Frank said.
"Three. They escaped. It was my fault. I forgot to lock their cages."
"Very unusual. You were always thorough back at E and X."
"It's just dumb luck."
"Dumb or not, it could be a problem. An unsupervised release might bring the hounds on us."
"I know. We've got to come up with some kind of plan to null any publicity or we'll have another bio-incident on our hands." Eric said. He remembered the clampdown after the "Uplift Team" had been arrested. A mere three years ago, he thought.
"I hate to suggest poison, but–"
"We can't! Frank, we'd have to kill every rabbit in the area to be sure." Angela said. "There's still a good chance we can capture them."
"Dogs! We'll get a few good bloodhounds." Eric said.
"Where're we going to get them so soon?" Frank asked. Nobody answered. "If we spread some kind of poison – or rabies. That's it! Rabies. It'll keep people from examining the local fauna."
"I don't know. I can't see killing so many animals, even if it is to stay out of jail."
"We could try to capture them and, if that doesn't work..." Angela let her sentence trail off into silence.
"Yeah, I guess, we could try. But it's so damn risky." Frank said then gulped down the last of his coffee.
* * * * *
An owl swooped low. The three rabbits ran in different directions. They were too frightened to regroup. The fear lingered like the dampness from the rain. They could barely understand what scared them.
The male kept running not zigzagging at all. He came to the bank of a large stream and started to follow it not knowing whether the water was safe to be near. About mile on, he startled and was startled by a small duck floating on the stream. He dashed into some bushes and tried not to move. About fifteen minutes later he was on the move again.
One of the females stopped about ten yards from where she broke from her companions. She felt the pain of new life inside her, though she didn't know what it meant. She hid and waited.
The other female moved and then stopped, moved and then stopped again. She followed the edge of the road moving closer to the place she had escaped from.
* * * * *
Eric knew a local dog breeder-trainer. He took Frank's car to it by himself. Frank owned a station wagon, so, he thought, it would be much more practical then Angela's Honda. Meanwhile, Frank and Angela examined the surrounding wood for signs of the trio. The latter reasoned that since the rabbits were new to the outside, they might not wander too far and probably would double back once they were hungry enough. Frank disagreed. He thought that for the same reasons they would wander off and get lost very easily. He decided to test her hypothesis on the off chance he was wrong.
They scouted in the area forming a rough circle about the house. They even checked a neighbor's grounds. The neighbor was away on vacation in Europe, so they didn't arouse suspicion by doing so.
They found nothing. They put a few traps around the area just in case the rabbits should return. Angela almost kicked herself for not doing this earlier.
It started to rain again during the early morning hours. They went indoors. Angela prepared another pot of coffee and a few sandwiches. Frank tried to help her. He didn't like people fussing over his needs and couldn't see her, looking as tired and hungry as him, doing so. She had different ideas and, eventually, had to chase him out of the kitchen.
A little later, Eric returned with David Barna, the dog breeder-trainer. David brought three of his best hounds, a dart gun and some tranquilizers. He had some experience with catching wild animals and wasn't about to turn do some, in his mind, fast cash. Eric offered a thousand dollars a head alive as long as it was one of his "prize" rabbits. A five-hundred dollar non- refundable down payment was enough to put David in motion and keep things confidential.
* * * * *
The male rabbit was moving again, though very warily. Night outside was an interesting phenomena, full of new sounds, smells and sights. He heard a bat race by, a gust of wind on its way to a grassy insect-ridden field. He saw the trees shake and sway in the moist breeze. He remembered his cage back at the lab, so warm and predictable. Food and water would be waiting there for him. He wondered where his companions were, though he didn't think of them in exactly those terms. But he did think.
He caught a strange scent in the wind, something familiar with a touch of the unknown. It was uncanny. His heart raced. His senses grew keener, more expectant. She appeared about five yards before him. She was brown and smelled untamed. He darted after her.
* * * * *
David had his dogs sniff the cage of the escapees. Frank, Eric, and him then went into the yard. Each carried a collapsible trap. The hounds nosed through the bushes.
"What about the rain?" Frank asked even though it had stopped.
"It might make things tougher." David said taking his hat off and putting it back on. He watched the canines run over a hill. The three men swiftly followed.
"It's one of the females!" Cried Eric pointing at the trap.
"How 'bout that!" David said calming the dogs. "Well, I can't honestly charge you for this one."
"Nothing doing. You'll get your money. She could have died of exposure." Eric said picking up the trap. He handed it to Frank. "Frank, take her back to Angela. She'll be thrilled."
Frank went off gleefully thinking of how easy it had been. If the other two are captured as swiftly I can get some sleep before sunup, he thought. Back in the house, Angela saw Frank approaching and opened the door.
"It's a girl!" He said smiling as he stepped inside.
"One out of three ain't bad." She countered smiling back, leading him down to the lab. He put the trap down on a table. Angela looked at the rabbit. It had two marks on its right ear and one on its left. Eric had used earmarks to inventory the rabbits. It organized things much more surely than tags, especially since more than one animal was in a cage.
"She's very close to term." She noted. Frank nodded.
"Good we caught her now and not after." Frank remarked staring at the other rabbits. "I better go and see if they've caught the others." He went out while Angela put the female into another cage and gave it some more food.
* * * * *
The hounds sniffed their way toward the road. David and Eric could barely keep up. In the East the sky started to lighten. Frank had nearly gotten lost looking for them when the dogs stopped. One pointed. The others agreed. David blew a dog whistle and the dogs froze.
"One's nearby." He said. "It shoulda' ran."
"It could be the other female. She was pregnant too." Eric said.
"Any luck?" Frank asked as he approached. David started aiming his gun, waiting for any sign of movement. He had an "owl eye" night vision scope.
"She's right there." He said breathlessly pulling the trigger.
The rabbit tried to bolt, but the tranquilizer acted too fast. Eric had collapsible cage ready. He picked up the rabbit gently noticing the ear marks and placed her in the cage. He then saw the litter. Gently, he took both of them up and put them with their mother.
"No extra charge! Now let's find the last bunny." David said smirking.
Again Frank took the captive back to the lab.
* * * * *
The sun peaked through the remaining clouds. Eric, Frank and David continued their search. By now, all three were extremely tired despite huge doses of caffeine and phenylalanine. The dogs were wearing down too. David knew this. He also knew he's made twenty-five hundred bucks for a night's work.
"Eric, I think we'd better cut our losses." Frank said, out of earshot of David. "He's probably long gone by now." Still Eric said nothing. "O.K. One more hour. Dave!" He called to David who was petting his dogs under an evergreen.
"Yes?" David looked up at Frank, the low sun shining in his eyes.
"One more hour then we call it quits."
"That's about all we" – he grabbed one of the dogs – "can take. I wish I could do more."
An hour later, the other rabbit hadn't turned up. Men and dogs found their tired way back to the house. Angela had breakfast ready, eggs, scrapple, toast and juice. After they ate, Eric took David home in Frank's car.
* * * * *
"Plan B." Frank said as soon as Eric was out the door.
"We'll discuss it when Eric returns." Angela insisted. Frank surrendered, too fatigued to argue the point.
"I'll get the other traps. Who knows? The male could be in one."
"Get some rest. If he's caught, we can get him later."
Frank couldn't argue with her despite his fears. He was too far gone. His legs were numb. His eyes were starting to play tricks on him. He went upstairs to the guest room, fell onto the bed and slept in his clothes.
* * * * *
After his little frolic, the male rabbit felt very hungry. He looked for anything he thought could be food. Just as he started moving, he caught a familiar odor. Following the wind, he came to a plastic box with food, water and a piece of soft cloth inside. Timidly he advanced, sniffing, listening and looking about. When he was satisfied the "coast was clear" he went into it. The trap closed as he thought something along the lines of "I thought it was too good to be true." He tried to open the door by pushing against it with his head then his paws – the way he had originally broke out of the lab. He tried again and again at times varying the positioning of his paws. After about fifteen minutes he gave up and give in to the epicurean pleasures before him.
* * * * *
"Angela! Frank!" Eric shouted stepping into the house, his arms holding a caged rabbit. Angela, nearly asleep in the kitchen, shook herself then rose to meet him. "The last one!" He said grinning almost mad with joy.
She smiled almost unable to do much more.
"I'm sorry. You look tired. Where's Frank?" He asked putting the cage on the living room carpet.
"Sleeping in the guest room." She answered covering a yawn with her fist.
"Hey, that's contagious!" He yawned back. "Why don't you go to bed. I'll put this guy away."
"It's a deal." She said hugging him. She started up the stairs as he picked up the cage. She turned and said, "Make sure the cages are secure."
"Of course." He went down into the basement whistling. He placed the lone male back in its cage. He checked things over. Everything looked perfect. He decided to wait a few minutes then recheck things just to make sure. The computer was still running some genetics simulations he'd started earlier. He had wanted to check his previous results on a longer time scale over a larger population. It was only halfway finished. He let it run.
He looked at the rabbits again. This time, he thought, you won't escape. The rest of the house was also much more secure. There were no open windows or other less obvious avenues of escape.
Eric then went upstairs. He grabbed the last of the coffee, an awful black mess, mixed it with some cream and swallowed it. He didn't want to go to sleep just yet. Instead, he went outside and collected the other traps they placed all over the surrounding woods.
* * * * *
Just as he crossed over a low ridge, where a trap had been placed last night, three jeeps pulled up to his house. Eric, too far away to hear them and too occupied with his task, was unawares. Four men jumped out of the jeeps. Two others stayed behind making busy with communications. The four split up. One pair went around back while the other tried the front door. Finding it locked, they kicked it in. An alarm went off. The other two entered the house through the back. Inside the men again met then split up once more. Two went into the basement, while two went upstairs.
Angela was up as soon as the alarm sounded. She took a 9mm from under the mattress and quietly chambered a round. She wondered where Eric was. She vaguely remembered hearing a loud noise before the alarm was triggered. She peered out the window to see three jeeps parked in the driveway. Then she heard footsteps. She ducked behind the bed ready to shoot at whoever entered.
Eric didn't hear any of this until the shots were fired. He rushed to the top of the ridge to see the two tending the vehicles. He almost screamed "Angela!" but knew he couldn't help her now. It they were lucky it was the FBI. If not, he didn't want to think about it. There were a few more shots. The two men outside took cover. Eric continued watching. He saw Angela run out the back door, then he knew they had a chance. Where's Frank, he wondered.
Angela almost made it to the woods when the two men from the basement came out yelling "Freeze!" She stopped, then dropped to the ground. The men stepped out the kitchen door, while one from the vehicles circled around. The kitchen exploded throwing them forward. Eric felt the roar.
Angela got up and continued into the woods. "Where the hell is Frank!" Eric yelled inside. The guy circling around was busy trying to avoid debris and hadn't seen her escape.
The rest of the house was now burning. From the looks of it, Eric thought, the lab is gone, along with two years work and all the animals. He did have copies of some of his work hidden in storage, but it would be hard to start again. We should have let the escapees go, he thought.
He made his way toward Angela, knowing they might be captured but not wanting to be separated from her. She went deeper into the woods, wondering where he was. She knew he wasn't in the basement because there were men down there ransacking the lab. She'd seen it on the CCTV. She'd shot two men and Frank was dead. One of the men shot him as he rose from the bed. She wasn't sure who was raiding them or why. At first, she thought it must be the FBI, but it didn't look like their style. She saw a man walking her way. She ducked behind a bush.
"Angela!" Eric yelled. "It's me."
* * * * *
Hours later after picking up a cache Eric had planted months ago as insurance against something like this happening, they huddled in a tent.
"All our work!" Eric said. "Gone up in smoke."
"I know. I wish I could've gotten a box of floppies or the notes." She said glancing away.
"I know we can't go back. I have about five hundred dollars on me."
"Who do you think it was?" She asked looking at him.
"The FBI..." He answered without confidence.
"Would they have shot Frank without a good reason?"
"I don't know. They can do what they like. The judges rarely pull their leash and uplifting isn't too popular these days."
"I know. I wish we hadn't recaptured the rabbits." She said getting up. "One of us should be awake at all times–"
"I'll take the first watch."
"No you won't. You've been awake for almost forty hours."
"And you had only two hours sleep!" He countered, but in the end she got her way.
* * * * *
"I think they all perished in the blaze." Jim Pallia said like a tv newsanchorman. "Eric Lifsen and Angela Phelidi both. We'll know for sure once we get a good look at the wreckage."
"What was it? Some kind of a bomb?" Adam Bassine asked putting a cup of coffee to his lips.
"I think so. It must have been in the lab." Jim replied getting up from his desk. "This should've been an easy job. Instead, we've lost two men, the suspects and all the evidence." He paced over to a state map on the wall glancing at it as if it would answer all questions.
"Lifsen wasn't the type to plant bombs. I read the files. He seemed just a typical scientific type. More interested in research than anything."
"My impression too, but his girlfriend's different. She was very thorough. Obviously, it was her doing."
"What now?"
Jim turned around. "It doesn't look like we'll get any other leads soon. I think Lifsen was the key player, but he had to have support. It looks like we've stopped him at least."
"Seems anticlimactic after the Uplift Team affair."
"We can't look for big conspiracies all over the place. We're underfunded, undermanned and overworked." Jim finished with the dull ring of cliche. "After the lab reports, wrap this one up. We don't need any bad publicity."
Adam picked up his briefcase and left the Federal Building in Newark.
* * * * *
After camping out for a few more days and listening to the radio Eric had stashed, they decided it was the FBI. The news reported the explosion as a fatal gas leak. This was, of course, partly true.
"I'm not sure what we should do." Eric said rubbing he for warmth. "We can't play boy scouts forever out here."
"You're not saying we should turn ourselves in, are you?" Angela said calmly thinking over the consequences.
"It's something we should discuss. We might get off without any jail time. All the evidence was destroyed except for the stuff I cached. We can get rid of that if need be. Reminds of that Waco thing back in the Nineties."
"Eric, the FBI didn't cause the explosion." She turned toward him and looked right into his eyes. "I did." He didn't know how to react. He got up and went out of the tent. She followed.
"How? Why!?!" He yelled his back to her.
"Eric." She said sternly grabbing his arm. He trembled under her grasp feeling revulsion.
"You killed them." He said.
"Yes, I did. I knew what I was doing. I blew out the pilots, turned on the stove, and set fire to the garbage can. I was lucky they came down when they did." She told him this as he stood there not trying to free himself from her grasp.
"They shot Frank. I saw them do it. I saw them ransack the lab on the closed circuit. What should I have done? Let them shoot me and find you? I'd rather kill them all than have that happen!" She finished.
"Angela." He said softly taking her in his arms. "I didn't know. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"I didn't want it on your mind." She said crying resting her head on his shoulder. "I only wish there was some chance I could have saved Frank."
"You're so tough, but you should trust me more. Why would they kill Frank?"
"I don't know. I saw them shoot him and didn't have the time to ask questions."
"I guess I would have tried something violent too. Hell, I can't lie! I'm not as resourceful as you are. Anyway, I'm not sure what to do now."
"We can use this to our advantage. If the FBI thinks we're dead and that the project has died with us–"
"We can continue our work!" Eric almost jumped from joy. It would take time to get reestablished somewhere far away and finish what they'd started, but it would only take time.
* * * * *
A few miles away a small brown rabbit scrambled through the scrub. She was pregnant with something that would surprise everyone in a few years.
The End