Searching for Swimmers–Chapter 15

Reese knocked on the open door of Dr. Radkin’s office before entering. She handed him some paperwork. Dr. Radkin looked it over. “Reese, be a dear and take care of this specimen termination for me.”

            “Really? Are you sure I should be doing that? I’m just an admin assistant.”

            “You know the procedure, right?”

            “Well, yes. I’ve seen you and John, I mean, Dr. Callen, do it many times.”

            “Then be a sweetheart and handle it. I’ve got a full load today.” He leaned back in his chair and laughed. “Get it? Full load.”

            “Uh, yes sir. Quite funny.”

            He cleared his throat and returned to his usual stern decorum. “No, in all seriousness, the lab tech called in sick today and I have too much to do. Oh, and shut the door on your way out.”

            Reese didn’t mind helping out Dr. Radkin but was unsure whether or not she was qualified to terminate a specimen. She’d never been trained to do such a procedure and thought it more appropriate for a lab technician to perform it. I’ll just try my best, she concluded.

            Reese ticked through the labeled vials in the specimen freezer until she found the one she was looking for—Jason Purdue. She ripped the label off and tossed the vial into one trashcan and the label into another.

            “There, done,” she said to herself.

            Reese then walked over to the computer containing the inventory for all of the specimens and was shocked to discover that her password actually allowed her into the system. With a few keystrokes she was poised to remove Jason Purdue from the database, all the while thinking, this technician stuff wasn’t so hard, until she saw something that made her stomach sink.

            “Oh, fuck.”