The Genesis Code Read Online Free PDF

call wasn’t your idea.”
    “Christian, don’t be like that.”
    “Don’t be like that? Give me a break. We haven’t talked in weeks. And now you decide to call me and see how I’m feeling?”
    A diminutive twenty-something in wire-rimmed glasses strolled into Madison’s office, slurping from a can of Diet Coke. He looked like the young CEO of a dot-com start-up from the nineties. He wore pleated khaki pants and a black T-shirt. His dark brown hair was longish and stylishly unkempt.
    “Bad time?” asked Stefan “Quiz” Goertz, Triad Genomics’ systems engineer and resident computer guru.
    “No, I’m finished,” said Madison. He turned his attention back to the phone.
    “So, as I was saying, thanks for calling. Don’t be a stranger.”
    “Christian, wait—”
    Madison hung up the phone.
    “You’re late again,” said Quiz, deliberately ignoring the tension in the room.
    “Your point being?”
    Quiz smiled. “Big conference got you off your game?”
    “Piece of cake,” said Madison. “Dr. Ambergris is giving the big speech for Triad Genomics. I’ve just got the breakout session, a discussion group on the Ark Project.”
    “How many species are you up to?” asked Quiz.
    “Just over eleven thousand. Noah may have assembled two of every animal in the days before the Great Flood, but he had divine assistance.”
    Madison sighed and leaned back in his chair.
    Quiz pointed to a framed Time magazine cover on the wall. The cover story featured Triad Genomics, the first biotech company to sequence the entire human genome. Beneath a photo of Madison and his mentor, Dr. Joshua Ambergris, the title read, “The DNA Codebreakers.”
    “You and Dr. Ambergris. Always playing God.”
    “Beg your pardon?”
    “Mapping the human genome wasn’t enough,” said Quiz. “Now you want to play Darwin and reinvent the origin of species.”
    “We can’t all be genius computer gods like you,” replied Madison. “Besides, Ambergris hasn’t been involved in the Ark Project for at least six months. He’s keeping his current research all to himself.”
    “Yes, but—”
    “Look,” interrupted Madison. “I have no idea what he’s working on.”
    “You two used to be thick as thieves.”
    “Not anymore. Grace Nguyen is his new pet. She works with him on his new projects.”
    “And the Biogenetics Conference?”
    “He’s giving the keynote speech. The rumor mill has it that he plans to announce some new groundbreaking discovery.”
    “Ambergris is an odd bird,” said Quiz. “Great taste in assistants, though,” he said, reflecting for a moment on the attractive geneticist with whom Dr. Ambergris currently shared his secrets.
    “But enough about the enterprising, young Dr. Grace Nguyen,” said Madison, casting a disapproving look at Quiz as he turned toward his computer.
    Madison’s workstation loaded the documents and data he had been working on the previous day. On his computer monitor, a three-dimensional double helix revolved slowly in cyberspace.
    A synthesized chime alerted Madison to the presence of new e-mail messages. He clicked on the mail icon. The first entry on the list of unread e-mail was dated June 11, 4:40 A.M . The sender of the e-mail was identified as Dr. Joshua Ambergris.
    An e-mail from Dr. Ambergris.
    At 4:40 A.M .?
    Madison clicked open the e-mail. A puzzled look dashed across his face. Curious, Quiz leaned over the desk to view Madison’s computer monitor.
     
    <<<
    Priority: Urgent
    This message is not flagged]
    ----
    Date: Tue., 14 June 04:39:57 -0400(EDT)
    To: Dr. Christian Madison ([email protected])
    From: Dr. Joshua Ambergris ([email protected])
    Subject: [none]
----

    Beneath the grid was a single line of text: This is the beginning of the ancient word.
    “What’s that?” asked Quiz.
    “I have no idea.”

Eight
    34th Floor, Millennium Tower
Manhattan, New York
    Grace Nguyen stepped off the elevator into the thirty-fourth-floor lobby of Triad