Chp 10

They arrived in Rome on a warm, sunny day. From there they caught a bus out to the suburbs. Pale stucco houses the colours of white and salmon passed by the window as Juliet stared out of it.

"I hope Sergio can help us," Jack said.

"So do I Jack," she said and squeezed his hand. He yawned and rested his head against her shoulder.

"I'm just tired of all the mystery," he said breathing in the scent of her herbal shampoo, "I only want it to end."

"I know Jack," she said and ran her fingers through the crop of his hair, "I know love."

….

Juliet knocked on the door of the modest house of Sergio Rabinni. A tiny dog's bark could be heard and a woman's voice calming it down before the door was opened.

"Juliet?" the woman asked.

"Maria, how are you?" Juliet said.

"Oh my goodness, look at you," the woman laughed and immediately embraced her.

"Sergio, it's Juliet, she's arrived."

A grey haired man came to the door, a pipe in his hand.

"My word, Juliet how long has it been? Come in, come in," he said and ushered Jack and Juliet into the welcoming home of the Rabinni's.

They sat in the living room, catching up on old times as Maria served coffee and refreshments.

"So you said over the phone you had some papers you wanted me to look over," Sergio said.

"Yes, but it has to be in the strictest confidence," Juliet explained.

"I understand," the man said.

Juliet looked at Jack and he nodded. She pulled the papers out of her bag and handed them to her old professor. Putting his glasses on he took a moment to examine them, twirling his moustache in his fingers as he did so.

"Well, they are DNA sequences as you thought," he said looking at the two of them.

"Can you make anything of them Dr. Rabinni?" Jack asked.

"Please, it's Sergio hmm? The husband of my dear former student must not stand on ceremony," he said as his wife poured more coffee.

"Sergio," Jack said smiling.

"They're pairs," Sergio said.

"Pairs?" Juliet inquired.

"On each page you have a male and a female, each with the same dominant trait," Sergio explained.

"The same trait, I don't understand," Jack said.

"Take a look," Sergio said and spread the sheets across the coffee table, "See here," he said and pointed, "Here is the male and here is the female. They each have the same trait here."

Jack looked at where Sergio pointed with his finger.

"And look at this page, again a male and female, they too share a dominant trait."

"But not the same trait as the first pair?" Jack asked.

"No. They all have something different," Sergio said.

"Can you tell us what traits they are?" Juliet asked.

"Well it isn't any normal genetic trait you're used to Juliet. It isn't brown hair, blue eyes, that sort of thing," the Italian explained, "It's a fairly new and controversial genetic labeling."

"Controversial?" Jack asked.

"Yes, science has been trying to map personality traits. Some think they've managed to do it."

"Like these," Jack said and Sergio nodded.

"Do you know which traits then?" Juliet asked.

"I have a book in my medical library if you'll wait while I fetch it."

Juliet looked at Jack. They stared in silence at one another till Sergio came back.

"Here we are it'll take me a moment while I find the corresponding traits."

…..

Fifteen minutes later, Sergio had written down the personality traits that correspond to the pairs in front of them.

"Ready?" he asked his friends.

"Yes," Juliet said, "Tell us."

"Very well. Pair #1 carries the gene for leadership," he said as Jack looked at Juliet tensely, "Pair #2 is the manipulation gene, pair #3 the gene of insanity, pair #4 , the addiction trait, pair # 5 the trait of secretiveness and the last pair, the gene for the trait of communication."

"Six pairs, six traits," Jack whispered.

"Six digits," Juliet said back to him.

"Sorry? Does that mean something to you?" Sergio asked confused.

"Sergio," Juliet said, "Do those traits, do they have a sort of number attached to them for cataloguing them?"

"Well if you mean a genetic number to log them, of course. All genetic traits are given a DNA number."

"What are they?" she asked.

Sergio read them out, "Leadership is gene trait #4, manipulation #8, insanity is gene trait #15, addiction #16, secretiveness is gene trait #23 and the gene for communication is #42"

Juliet stared wide eyed as he read the familiar numbers out. Jack ran his hand over his head.

"Am I missing something?" Sergio asked.

"No," Jack said quickly before Juliet gave too much away, "Tell me Sergio what would you guess is the purpose of cataloguing a male and female with the same inherent trait?"

"That's obvious," he said, "Whoever matched the couples were clearly trying to see if they could produce a child with the inherited gene."

"You mean they meant for them to reproduce?" Juliet asked and her hand went subconsciously to her stomach. Jack reached over and pulled it away, taking her hand in his.

"Yes, to see if that child would grow up with the effects of that particular gene as active. Take #15; if you have a mother and father with the dominant gene for insanity, will their child inevitably go mad?" Sergio explained as he relit his pipe.

"Will you do us another favour?" Jack asked.

"If I can," Sergio said.

"Will you take blood samples from the two of us and tell us if we're one of those pairs?"

Sergio looked in amazement at them.

"What exactly is going on here?"

Juliet smiled nervously at her professor.

"It's a long story," she said and began to explain where she had been for the last three years.

"If I hadn't heard about the survivors of flight 815 on the news last week, I wouldn't have believed you," he said drawing blood first from Jack then Juliet.

'It's crazy I know," Juliet said holding the band aid to her arm, "But now you understand the need for secrecy."

"Yes," Sergio said.

Jack was talking on his cell phone before turning his attention back onto Juliet and Sergio.

"Sawyer and Kate agreed they're sending their blood samples express to the lab's address to Sergio's attention. It should get there in a few hours," he told them.

"Good, then I'll take these to the lab and run the tests myself. I'll be back as soon as I can," Sergio said getting up from his seat.

"Thank you," Jack said walking him to the door, "I know it's asking a lot from you."

"You're lucky Juliet was my favorite student," he said smiling before leaving the lab.

"Now we wait," Juliet said wrapping her arms around Jack's waist and leaning into him from behind.

He grabbed her arms tightly, "Now we wait."