Absolute Zero Read online

  Absolute Zero

  A Novel

  By Anlyn Hansell

  © 2015 Anlyn Hansell

  All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of the Author.

  This novel is a work of fiction. Any similarities to actual people or events are purely coincidental.

  Cover: Vikncharlie

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  Prologue

  Absolute Zero:

  “The lowest possible temperature, at which all molecules have the least possible amount of kinetic energy. At temperatures approaching absolute zero, the physical characteristics of some substances change significantly.”

  In other words:

  The moment I hit rock bottom.

  Again.

  *****

  “We’re really sorry.”

  You’re sorry? What does that mean? Her eyes darted between the faces staring at her from across the wide expanse of the gleaming lacquered conference table. Four sets of eyes fixed on her, a lone figure seated on the opposite side. If the orientation of their seating arrangement was meant to send a subliminal message of intimidation, they chose well. It was all too surreal.

  It made no sense.

  “I didn’t do that,” she muttered for what must have been at least the fifth time during this bizarre conversation. Of course, the tone of her voice each time she said it seemed to grow weaker. Her strong denials were turning to desperate pleas on a voice that was becoming shaky at best, so completely foreign to her as she tried desperately to make sense of what the man seated across from her was saying.

  Hold it together. Don’t lose it…

  The paper in front of Dr. Frenelli caught her attention once again. The signature was clearly hers and yet, she never signed it. Of that, she was positive. And yet, there it was.

  Why is this happening to me?

  “We will not be offering any type of severance,” Frenelli stated, his mouth set in a grim line.

  “And we’d like to keep this quiet for obvious reasons.”

  She shifted her attention to the right of the middle aged doctor and settled her eyes on the handsome face of the man that finally spoke up.

  When she first arrived in the room minutes earlier, her eyes had implored him to look at her, give her some kind of encouragement or sympathy. Maybe some form of emotion, but there was nothing. In fact, he wouldn’t even look at her. This was the first time their eyes actually met and to say they were cold was an understatement. He was gracing her with a frosty stare.

  “I…this is impossible. If you could just…” her lips were moving but her words were stammered. She just couldn’t get her brain and her mouth to work in sync. Clearly she was still in shock.

  “Dr. Bennett, anything you say is pointless. The evidence is clear…” Frenelli added before she interrupted him.

  “Have the handwriting analyzed. Give me a lie detector test. I can prove I had nothing to do with this.” Finally her rational mind was functioning as a surge of anger overtook her. She was clearly being set up by someone.

  “And the phone call? The call was traced back to your phone, Dr. Bennett.”

  “Someone grabbed my phone and made that call. I leave my purse in my desk drawer. Anyone could have gotten to it!” She exclaimed before calming her breathing and forcing her body to relax against the chair back. Losing her cool in front of the four men seated before her would be a mistake. Emotion was not a strong personality trait in anyone occupying the room, including her. Emotional outbursts would only be deemed as defensive reactions.

  “Let me spell this out for you. You clearly signed off on the release; you called in the test, sent the sample without the required approval from the FDA. You put this organization’s reputation in jeopardy. We have you on tape, we have the signed release and we have your phone records which coincide with the test order. There’s nothing to argue. You’re fired. You’ll probably want to look into another line of work, because no lab will ever hire you. We’ll make sure of that.” The man seated to the left of Dr. Frenelli spoke up. Some VP of…something. She had never met him before.

  Blacklisted.

  Because of something she knew she didn’t do.

  Why is this happening to me?

  “This conversation is over. Security is waiting for you. You’ll grab your things and leave. You will not speak to anyone about this, if you do, the consequences will be far worse than they are right now. Do you understand?” he asked.

  An unfamiliar burning sensation assaulted the backs of her eyes as the enormity of the situation came bearing down on her. Her career was over. Her gaze wandered from face to face. No emotion, no empathy, just…faces staring passively from across the table.

  She needed to leave, that much was obvious. Her arms lifted and attempted to push back from the table. They were weak, just like the rest of her body. Her eyes rested again on the face of the man she thought she knew so well. The man that knew her. The man that should know she would never do something like this.

  He was looking down. His eyes were firmly attached to the table top once again.

  She pushed back again and stood on shaky legs. Her lips moved yet no sound was forthcoming. What can I say? What can I do? She continued to stare at David’s averted eyes, imploring him to look at her, hoping he would tell her something, anything that would help make sense of this situation. When it became apparent it wouldn’t happen, she swept a glance over the men still seated at the table.

  Their faces were still frozen in looks of bland disapproval. Apparently they all truly believed this was her doing.

  Breathing was becoming difficult as if her lungs were constricting from the crushing weight on her chest.

  Get out. Walk to the door, don’t look back.

  *****

  “Anne! You look like you’re going to cry,” Beth stated in wonder as she looked at her friend.

  “S…so?” she struggled to form the word with almost quivering lips.

  “I…you’ve…I have never seen you cry,” Beth stated and it was true. In the twenty years she had known Anne, she had never witnessed even the slightest amount of moisture gather in her eyes.

  “What’s the matter? Oh Anne, look at you! What happened? Did you break up with David?”

  Anne stood motionless on the front porch before arms reached out and tugged her toward the front door.

  Beth pulled her into a hug. She tried desperately to hold her body straight, her façade somewhat cool and collected even though her nerves were absolutely shot.

  Beth was still asking questions that were impossible to answer considering the fact that she couldn’t even breathe like a proper human being.

  “Let’s get you in here. Come on.” She finally broke the contact and tugged her arm, leading her to a fluffy couch situated on the far side of the room before gently pushing her down.

  “Be right back. I’ll
get some tissue,” she stated as Anne’s hands found their way to her face, feeling for moisture and finding nothing. Good. She tried to calm her breathing enough to at least give an explanation.

  What explanation? There wasn’t one. This whole situation was so…unbelievable.

  A box of tissue was thrust in front of her face and her hand immediately grabbed it and placed it on the table in front of her. She wouldn’t need them.

  “So, was it David? You know, call it intuition, but I always thought he was kind of a jerk,” she stated smugly.

  “No! I mean…no, it wasn’t him, but…he was there,” she stated.

  “He was where?”

  “In the conference room,” she answered.

  “Ok?” Beth probed softly.

  “I was fired. They fired me! They said I did something that I didn’t do, Beth. They showed me a paper with my signature that I know I never signed. They said I made a phone call that I know I didn’t make. What am I supposed to do?”

  “Wait. What? Honey, what are you talking about?”

  “I don’t know! I…it’s all so…I don’t understand.” Anne shook her head sadly, her eyes squeezing shut.

  “Start at the beginning.” Beth prompted before holding up a hand. “Wait, just relax for a second. I’ll be right back.” She quickly unfolded her lean frame from the couch and disappeared only to resurface a minutes later with two glasses of white wine.

  “Here.” She held out one to Anne receiving a bland look from her friend.

  “I don’t think getting shitfaced is the answer.” Anne stated as she looked from the glass to Beth.

  “It’ll help relax you, Anne. I’ve never seen you like this, here.”

  Her hand immediately lifted and grabbed the offered glass, taking a sip before setting it on the coffee table.

  “Thanks. I’m ah…really sorry for this,” she waved her hand erratically around her head as her voice calmed. Her rational mind was taking over once again.

  “No problem. You know, we’ve been through so much – you especially. We’re all allowed to break down every once in a while, Anne. It’s what humans do.”

  “Not this human,” Anne mumbled absently.

  “Yes, even you,” she replied to her friend as she patted her shoulder gently. “So tell me what you know. Maybe I can help?”

  “There isn’t much to tell. They called me in the conference room today, showed me a Release for Test paper with my signature, told me they traced the call to authorize testing from my cell phone, said they had me on tape – whatever that means. I know I don’t tell you much about what I do because…well, you know…”

  “It bores the shit out of me?” Beth quickly finished for her.

  That caused one side of her mouth to curve up involuntarily. “Yes. Anyway, I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I trust you’ll keep this to yourself.” She gazed at her friend whose only response was a severely arched brow. “I know,” she breathed out before continuing. “I was working on a psychotropic drug that would inhibit violent behavior in the most aggressive subjects.”

  “Like Ritalin for psychos?” Beth supplied.

  “Beth!”

  “Sorry, just trying to put it into terms I can relate to. So…was it?”

  “In a way, yes. I mean, the calming part, yes. Not the focus though. Aggressive people tend to be focused already, so I…sort of dulled that. Or at least I thought that was what was going to happen.”

  “But it didn’t…”

  “I don’t know. I mean, during pre-clinicals it worked, it just wasn’t ready for human testing yet. Too many unanswered questions about side effects …” she trailed off.

  After a moment’s hesitation, Anne’s eyes wandered away from her friend and settled on a spot on the wall across the room.

  “I swear someone went out of their way to sabotage me. I feel so helpless right now and I don’t know what to do. Beth, if they went through with the testing and the person wasn’t a good fit, they could have died…”

  “For real? You give this person a pill and they could just die? What kind of …?” Beth asked.

  “No. See, that’s the thing,” Anne interrupted her. “This drug…it’s not a pill. It has to be directly administered.” Anne stated simply.

  “Um…like a shot?”

  “Sort of,” Anne shifted in her seat uncomfortably.

  “Ok, you’re kind of freaking me out here, Anne. I can read you better than anyone. What aren’t you telling me?”

  “It’ll gross you out. Just leave it at that.” Anne stated seriously.

  “No way! I can handle it.” Beth promised as she fixed her friend with an intense stare.

  After a deep breath, her eyes wandered back to Beth’s face. “You have to…drill a hole in the skull and inject it into the frontal lobe of the brain.” She stated quickly and received the reaction she expected.

  “Eww. You really are a mad scientist…” she muttered with a grimace.

  “I am not. See? This is why I didn’t want to tell you…”

  “Sorry. That’s just…well, that is gross. I have to get that out of my mind.” Beth shook her head before continuing, “What is it you’re…injecting, exactly?” She asked after a moment’s hesitation.

  “Serotonin. The brain produces it naturally, but I developed a synthetic version. It’s also produced in the gastrointestinal tract but that doesn’t reach the brain. Only the Serotonin produced in the brain can be used by the brain, that’s why it has to be injected.”

  “Sure. Ok…what is Serotonin?” Beth asked with a look of complete confusion on her face.

  “A mixture of Tryptophan and Tryptophan Hydroxylase or better known as 5-HT – it’s a chemical or some people consider it a hormone, that’s still debatable. Anyway, it works as a neurotransmitter.”

  “Wow. That…um, means nothing to me…” Beth shook her head and shrugged.

  “Turkey. Ever hear the myth that turkey makes you sleepy?” Anne asked.

  “Yeah?”

  “That’s tryptophan. Poultry and fish are high in tryptophan, but you have to mix them with carbs to get a serotonin boost. Unfortunately, very little of this Serotonin makes it past the blood brain barrier. It’s a myth, really. Turkey alone doesn’t make you sleepy.”

  “Ok. I think I get you now…so, you’re trying to make them…sleepy?”

  Anne shook her head, casting her friend a strange look. “Decreased levels of Serotonin can lead to depression, anxiety, aggression. By injecting Serotonin directly into the brain, I was hoping to immediately influence mood and behavior. It actually worked. At least the testing in the lab was successful. My other problem was sustaining or rather boosting the production of Serotonin naturally so the injections wouldn’t have to continue. I hadn’t figured out what I could add to maintain that production without repeated injections. I just wanted to prove that it could be done, but there was still that missing piece. I would have never released it, Beth.”

  “But someone did.”

  “Apparently, yes.” The burning behind her eyes was back.

  “Kyle should be home anytime now. Let’s ask him what to do.”

  “Your husband is an estate lawyer, Beth.” She replied deadpan.

  “So? He went to Law School, he might not specialize in this, but he would at least know what to do, Anne.” She replied sternly.

  *****

  “So?”

  “It’s circumstantial, yes. But…you could be sued or at the very worst, charged with gross negligence.”

  “But…”

  “I know, Anne. I know you. I know you didn’t do it, but whoever did, made damn sure you look guilty as all get out. I don’t know what else I can tell you. You could sue for wrongful termination but if you do, well…you run the risk of losing that case and opening up this can of worms.” Kyle stated.

  “They pretty much said that the consequences would be much worse if I talked to anyone about this,” she stated softly. “They also implied that I was
blacklisted. I’m screwed.” She added dejectedly.

  “Blacklisted?” Kyle asked with a raised brow.

  “They didn’t come right out and say it, but word gets around. They said they would make sure no other lab would hire me. I’ve heard of it happening to other scientists, I just never thought it would happen to me. What do I do?”

  “I don’t know what to tell you, Anne. I honestly don’t,” he replied gently. Beth’s hand was rubbing her back soothingly. The combination of that and two glasses of wine lulled her into a state of false relaxation.

  “Let’s sleep on it, Anne. You’ll stay here tonight. Tomorrow morning we’ll think about it, OK?” Beth supplied before standing up.

  Anne’s only response was a small nod.

  *****

  This is crazy. She thought as she drove through the darkness. At least her mind was able to focus. Her intended destination finally loomed in front of her as she pulled into the driveway before quickly cutting the headlights. It was two a.m. and the neighborhood was eerily silent as she stepped from her vehicle. She had snuck out of Beth’s house, completely awake, her brain refusing to shut down.

  The date on the test release nagged at her. The recent history on her phone indicated the same date. There was definitely a call placed from it to a number that she knew well, although most of those calls were made from her office phone, not her cell. If that date was correct, she might have an alibi. Only one person would be able to attest to that. Unfortunately, he was also one of the four men in the conference room earlier that day…

  Her finger pressed the lit doorbell.

  She waited impatiently, her balance shifting from one foot to the other after a minute. She pressed the button again.

  Maybe he wasn’t home? Maybe…

  She could hear footsteps beyond the closed door and the deadbolt disengaging.

  Deep breath.

  The door opened revealing David in nothing but pajama pants, his hair disheveled but in a sexy way. There was nothing sexy about the scowl on his face, though.

  “Anne. You can’t be here. What the hell are you doing?” He looked beyond her, his eyes swiveling from right to left before settling on her once again.