True-Life Adventure

wrong.”
    “You mean the susceptibility to the disease?”
    He nodded again. Unbelievably sad. “Something went wrong. She should be a perfect specimen.”
    “But surely a susceptibility of leukemia isn’t in the genes.”
    “Officially, science doesn’t really know. But suppose it is? Then I’ve failed. Project Terry is a failure. She isn’t a genetically perfect child.”
    As I might have mentioned, reassuring people isn’t my greatest talent, but this posed a particular challenge. Here was a guy whose daughter was dying and the thing he seemed upset about was that her dying interfered with his pet theory. What in creation was I supposed to say?
    Before I could decide, Jacob started up again. “I have to fix her. That’s why it’s so important that I find her. Don’t you see that?”
    I was beginning to. “The work you’re doing that you mentioned. Is it a cure for leukemia?”
    “Yes, yes, of course. Of course it is. I’m the only one who can help her. The only one in the world.” This time the sad eyes overflowed and I was indeed stuck with a crying genius. I pretended it wasn’t happening.
    “Your cure is ready? I knew Kogene was working on something big, but I didn’t realize it was quite this far along.”
    “It’s there. The animal testing is done. We can’t market it until we do the human testing— but it works. Of course it works. I’d know, wouldn’t I? I’m Jacob Koehler. If I don’t know, who does? It works. It’s the answer— the smart bomb.”
    “I beg your pardon?”
    “That’s how it works— it’s a smart bomb.”
    “I’m afraid you’ve lost me.”
    He waved a hand. “It’s not important. I doubt you could follow it, anyway.”
    “You’re using it to treat Terry?”
    “Of course, Mcdonald, of course. You don’t think I’d deprive my own daughter, do you? The FDA can’t come right in a man’s home and tell him what to do about his daughter.”
    “Is she getting better?”
    “Certainly.” He smiled. “She really is, you know that?” And then he remembered what had happened. “I mean, she was. She’s missed two treatments already. That’s why you can help me. If I make this public plea and someone has seen her, then I can get her back. Do you see how important it is?”
    For such a handsome guy, he could really look pathetic sometimes. Could he really be so attached to an idea that he could get this miserable about it, or did he have some human feeling for his daughter, deep down? I didn’t figure now was the time to ask.
    “I’ll be glad to do what I can, Dr. Koehler. But tell me something. Did Lindsay know you were treating Terry?”
    “I haven’t seen Lindsay much lately. Usually Marilyn deals with her.”
    “You didn’t tell her about the treatments? After all, she is the child’s mother.”
    “We did talk about it. I remember. We talked about it the last time I saw her— when she brought Terry back.”
    “That was the first time you talked about it?”
    “I think so. Yes. Yes, it was. She asked me a lot of questions about it, as if she hadn’t heard of it before. I remember I was surprised I hadn’t told her.” He smiled again, for the second time in our interview. “I guess I’m a little absentminded.”
    “Did Terry’s doctor know about the treatments?”
    “I’m her doctor.”
    “I mean her pediatrician. She must have gone to one originally, when she first became ill.”
    “Oh, yes, of course she did. Dr. Morgan Rumler at the medical center. Good doctor.”
    “Did Dr. Rumler know about the treatments?”
    “Of course not. What would be the point?”
    “I was just wondering. Let’s talk about the news story a little. I presume everything we’ve said here today is off the record?”
    “Definitely. I just want to make an appeal.”
    “We’ll have to explain all about Lindsay and the kidnapping. You understand that, don’t you?”
    “Why? All we have to do is say if anybody’s seen Terry, they should bring her back.”
    I knew he was going to say that before he said it. I knew it partly because he was a genetic engineer and used to being the smartest guy around. But also because in the newspaper business everybody wants to tell you your job. Everyone knows exactly what should be in a story and what shouldn’t. The fact that you’ve written six or eight newspaper stories every day of your life for the past fifteen years and they’ve never written one cuts absolutely no ice. They also think that if a