Eric was trying to work the next morning, holed up in the lab, but instead he just found himself puttering, pretending to look at results, watching person after person being escorted by black suited guards, not the lab's local security, to some kind of interrogation, he suspected. So that just left him alone with only his growing anticipation to focus on. They'd replaced the sequencer with an older, slower model, and it would probably be tomorrow morning before the samples he'd placed in there were ready.. He would have been beyond shocked if they'd been able to replace the top-of-the-line sequencer as quickly as they seemed to have replaced anything else. 

He was a couple hours into doing nothing when the access pad outside his door beeped and a team of black suited commandos swept in, running scanners and asking him to back away from his computer. He did so, hands in the air, uncertain about exactly what he was supposed to do, though they made it very clear what not to do. One of the black clad soldiers hit the emergency stop on the sequencer, and Eric yelled in protest, which made one of the soldiers get up close and personal. Eric raised his hands up again and backed off while they completely emptied his specimen tray. He was almost grateful when Dr. J walked in.

"Hey, what's going on with this?"

Dr. J waved his concerns away. "Oh, nothing to worry about. But I'm going to have to relocate you for a little while. You should be just fine in your office, but the team here is going to need the sequencer. Hopefully that won't slow down your work too much, but the high-uppity ups at Central want everyone's blood to be scanned. Thanks to your report, we're able to test for the wolf gene. I think it's pretty unlikely that anyone could have infiltrated us..." Eric tried to match Dr. J's laugh as they left the lab. "But better safe than sorry, right?" Dr. J clapped Eric on his back when they reached his office. "Don't worry, Dr. V, this will all be cleared up soon enough. Just stop by conference room B to let the vamps take a little blood sometime today."

Eric slipped into his office, trying not to freak out. He'd had a bad feeling about giving that information over, and now it had come back to screw him. Thankfully, with the older sequencer, it would take a day or two, minimum, for them to rat him out, a week at the most. Maybe he could buy some time by "forgetting" to swing by the blood sample room, but sooner or later, he'd have to go in.

Eric wished there was a better way to contact his pack. He needed to let them know that their timeline had just been accelerated, but he would have to do the hole pizza thing again tonight. He turned his computer on and stared at the screen after he'd logged in, not quite sure what to do. There was no way he'd be handing over any other information to the lab... but he could use the information to gather as much information for himself as possible... He wouldn't be able to take any files. Anything he emailed would be scanned, stored, and alert security. If he used a jump drive, it would alert security. Anything he took with him would have to be tucked away in his brain.

So Dr. J wanted to splice the human and wolf shifter genomes together... manufacture wolf shifters. Eric pulled out a sheet of paper and started brainstorming. If they wanted to add or turn on the gene, once they figured that out, they could turn on the gene. But there was more to it than that. Once the gene was turned on, you had to shift fairly regularly to stay healthy. [Add Eric having issues because of having not shifted for a while?] Everyone's tolerance for how long they could go without negative side effects was different. That had to be a different set of genes. Was that connected to genes in common with pure humans, or were they a different set of genes entirely?

It could be connected to metabolism, or be a similar functionality. A lot of that was thyroids. Eric had to assume Dr. J was planning on experimenting with embryos first. Science hadn't yet figured out how to alter the entire genetic code of full-grown humans. At least, as far as he knew. Who knew what other "advances" Gecko Labs was making in different areas. They clearly didn't care about moral lines when it came to experimenting on living beings.

Eric was lost in his mind maps and questions, and before he realized it, the day had actually passed. Dr. J poked his head in and said his name, making Eric jump.

"Excellent. I was hoping the loss of your lab for a few days wouldn't slow you down."

Eric looked down at the piles of papers scattered over his desk. He'd been careful to not write down anything he thought Gecko Labs could make use of, he simply followed the tracks of ideas and implementations they might be considering.

"It isn't often I am able to simply play with ideas," Eric answered non-commitally. 

Dr. J stood with the door open. "Which is too bad. I believe most of the keys to scientific breakthroughs come when we're able to slip into that almost subconscious state of thought, letting the ideas and thought trails come to us instead of chasing after them. Now, don't get me wrong, we wouldn't have the data for the subconscious to use if we didn't pursue it, but we have to let our body and mind work in harmony."

Why did Dr. J have to be so hell-bent on this path? He was exactly the kind of boss Eric had always hoped to work for--if he wasn't so amoral and apathetic about the damage he was doing to individuals, let alone shifters as a whole. 

"Are you headed home?" Dr. J asked.

Eric looked at the clock. It was painful to think of leaving the building, of leaving Victor without his protection, as little enough as that was. "I suppose it's that time."

"Can't have you working yourself to death," Dr. J agreed. "Why don't we stop over and get our blood drawn before you head out? I haven't done mine yet, and no exceptions!"

Eric tried to appear as neutral as possible. "It's as good a time as any." Which meant it was just as bad as any other time.

All Eric could think of as he watched the tech fill a vial with his blood was that the clock was ticking now. He had to inform the pack that they needed to pull him ASAP. But he wouldn't go without Victor. So they better have a plan and be ready to move on it soon.