Margin of Error – Part 1
Prologue
In my last post, I promised to give you a sample of my developing novel “Margin of Error.”
It will be from the prologue of the book that begins in Lomgawa, Africa. For purposes of this blog, I will need to break it down into several sections. Here’s the first…
PART 1: PROLOGUE
June 20th
Lomgawa, Africa
Helen O’Connor used the tip of an unmanicured fingernail to tease up the folded edge of tape holding the package wraps in place. Heat-sensitive stripes embedded in the tape had turned black, indicating contents inside the bundle were sterile and ready for use. The package still felt warm from the autoclave and smelled of steam, but Helen dared not waste time until it cooled. She stripped off the tape and set the package on a table for unwrapping, then cursed the latex gloves as they stuck to her fingers and palms, damp with nervous perspiration as she tried to stretch them into place. When the gloves were finally settled, she snapped them tight for a secure fit then wiped them free of powder using a disinfected towel. Sterile now, she removed a single instrument from the pack – a scalpel – and held it up for the others to see. Her hand was trembling. She hated that. She was a surgeon. Her hands seldom trembled.
“I say we don’t dare wait another moment and do it tonight,” Helen whispered to Sean Olson and Abraham Steinman, the two men huddled next to her. She put a finger to her lips, signaling the men to likewise speak softly. Even though they’d gathered in her personal lab, she sensed the space had been sabotaged with eyes and ears so even her private moments at work might be scrutinized.
“I’m ready,” sighed Sean, the good-looking blond standing to her right. He drew in a deep breath and tried to conceal the trembling in his own hands.
“I guess I am too,” murmured the dark-complexed Abraham, “but do you really think we need to go to these extremes?”
Helen scoffed. “We do if we want to preserve any proof,” she said. “After what I overheard a couple of days ago, and with the kind of money involved, I think we’ll be lucky to get away with our heads, let alone anything definitive if we don’t do it now.”
See you soon
Thomas J. Sims