The Return of the Watchers (Armageddon Rising Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

                            Dantanian continued, “I am aware that he had some issues of conscience with the company. However, that doesn’t quite explain his rapid departure and abandonment of his research. Also, the data he left was incomplete and appeared to have sections removed. Why would he do that?”  Yuki was processing the information and was about to offer a speculative response when he continued.                                                                       “To a corporate attorney, his actions could be construed as those of someone who made an important discovery and possibly took that discovery to a competitor, earning enough to drop out and start up again in academia.” He stopped himself and held out his hand as if to answer a retort to that statement.                                                                                    
                  “Yes, I am aware he signed non-compete and non-disclosure agreements, but with good lawyers they can be circumvented,” he added, examining her facial expression to see what allegiance she had towards Dr. Lystad. The answer became obvious as her eyes narrowed with a sour look on her face. She knew Dorian enough to know that he was an honorable man, not motivated by making money or by grabbing glory and attention for himself; he was quite the opposite of that in her eyes.                            “There is much more to the story than that, however. According to my contact, Dr. Lystad was very surreptitious, drawing suspicion from some of the other researchers. Despite his lofty position, the senior management issued a directive to monitor his activity as a result of his odd behavior. As you can imagine, the situation was rather delicate; Lystad was a Nobel Prize winner with friends in high places within the company. They didn’t want to accuse him of wrongdoing without evidence, and yet they couldn’t easily search through his work without alerting him and others not privy to the situation. There was also a concern they might have a bio-terrorist on their hands,” he added, watching her closely.                            Yuki thought to herself how absurd that statement sounded, but she kept her cool.                                                                                                                  “Shortly thereafter, under video surveillance, he was observed placing some vials into a restricted refrigeration unit. The concerned party obtained access to the refrigerator and discreetly removed a bit of what it contained. It seems their suspicions were justified based on what they found.”                                                                                                                               Yuki felt a bit of shock, as if she was going to be told the man she knew and trusted was involved in something nefarious; the restaurant became a vacuum, devoid of all sound save the voice of Dantanian.               “It turned out to be a blood sample unlike any found here on earth. In fact, we’re not even sure if it’s human.”                                                                       “What do you mean?” she asked.                                                                      “It had 49 chromosomes with three pairs on the 7 th and a whole new 24 th chromosome pair,” he said, glancing at April's