Chapter 28
Now that he had Jabu’s decryption key, Luyanda could access the computers in the genetics building. As soon as he got home, he plugged his pad into the university network, and navigated his way to the genetics department server and database.
“Please scan your decryption key into your client access point.”
Luyanda scanned his duplicate decryption key over his pad.
“Welcome back, Jabu. What would you like to do today?”
Luyanda wasn’t sure what exactly he was looking for.
“I want to view my outputs from experiments, please.”
“Files not found.”
Luyanda frowned.
“Okay. Show me the outputs from all the experiments done on the equipment I’ve used recently.”
“Processing. One minute, please.”
A list of files appeared on his Pop Up Display. He navigated his way to the set of records under “J”, and searched for files or folders named “Jabu.” He didn’t find anything. He searched for files and folders under the names of all the other museum volunteers, including himself. Nothing. He leaned back and frowned. Then it occurred to him. It was so obvious, that he wondered why he hadn’t realised that to begin with. Uru and Jabu would have used aliases or codenames for each experiment in order to cover their tracks. He thought back to the events of the previous weeks. The potions were prepared before the thirty first of December. That meant that all the experiments must have happened shortly before then.
Luyanda scanned through the records again, this time paying close attention to the dates. Sure enough, on the dates leading up to the thirty first, there was a marked increase in machine readings taken. But each one of them was filed under a different name: Alice, Liam, Kevin, Emily, Brian, Ursula, Nick. Luyanda wrote them out and stared at them for a moment. Like a puzzle unravelling before his eyes, he saw it in a flash. The first letter of each name formed a word: “ALKEBULAN”. Luyanda punched the air in triumph. He’d got it. There was was the evidence that he had been looking for. He opened up each folder, and perused their contents. Each folder contained several files with tables listing chromosomes in the human body, names of chemicals and descriptions of the results on the chromosomes. Even though it was all gibberish to him, he was certain that he had enough to work with. There was no way that a first year genetics student was authorised to carry out experiments on humans. And once Jabu was questioned, or so Luyanda hoped, he would crack and spill the beans about Uru.
+++
The following morning, he hurried straight to Keita’s office and presented him with his findings. Luyanda was careful not to mention anything about the decryption key, but it was almost as if Keita read his mind.
“How did you get Jabu’s key off of him?”
Luyanda bit his lip.
“I sort of borrowed it.”
“Borrowed?” Keita asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Okay, I stole it temporarily, made a copy and then put it back.”
Keita frowned.
“Do you realise how many laws you broke in one day?”
“So what if I broke a couple of laws?” Luyanda retorted. “We finally have the proof that Uru’s been carrying out illegal experiments.”
“Okay, so we have the proof. Then what?”
“Then we launch an investigation, or a hearing, or something. I dunno.”
“We will do no such thing, do you understand?”
“What?” Luyanda shot to his feet. “But it’s crazy not to!”
“Do you not see the bigger picture here, Luyanda? Uru is far more dangerous than he looks. I have been taking precautions -”
“What precautions?”
Keita folded his arms.
“You do not need to know about them yet. But when the-”
“Yes, you’ve said that before. I don’t know why you still don’t trust me. I think I’ve proven myself.”
“This has nothing to do with trust.”
“Fine. That’s just fine. I don’t need to know and I don’t care about your bigger picture and your bigger plan. Uru is a killer, and I’m going to stop him before he harms anyone else. With or without your help.”
He spun around and headed for the door.
“You’re making a big mistake, Luyanda. You’re doing something that you’re going to regret.”
Luyanda paused.
“That man killed Ma Selina because of me. Do you have any idea what it’s like to be responsible for someone’s death?”
Keita’s face fell. “Perhaps I am,” he replied.
“Then you’ll understand what I’m going through, and why I have to do this.”
“So what exactly is your plan?”
“I’m going to see the dean and tell him everything I know. And you’re not going to stop me.”
Keita stared at Luyanda intently for a long, quiet minute.
“Okay,” he said, finally. “I can see that you’re set in your ways, and nothing that I do or say will stop you. All I am going to ask you for is a little more time.”
“How much more?”
“Twenty four hours.”
“What are you going to do in twenty four hours?”
“Just give me twenty four hours first, then you can go ahead with whatever you want to do. Is that a deal?”
Luyanda paused for a second.
“Deal,” he said. He nodded, turned around and stomped out of the office.
Luyanda could barely sleep that night. Daybreak provided much needed relief. It afforded him the opportunity to do something about the thoughts running through his mind. As soon as he got to university, he made a beeline for Keita’s office. The twenty-four hours had expired, and he wanted to inform Keita that he was going to take matters into his own hands. When he got there and knocked on the door, he got no response. He waited a few seconds, then knocked again. Nothing. Luyanda scratched his head. He felt his resolution falter. Was he willing to go ahead with his plan, without at least informing Keita?
“Msiza,” he said, “Call Keita.”
“He’s not available.”
“Damnit.” He smashed his fist into Keita’s door, “I tried.”
He spun around, and headed straight to Dean Musa’s office.
The greying, hook-nosed secretary looked up at him.
“Can I see the Dean please?”
“I’m sorry, but do you have an appointment?”
“It’s urgent, ma’am. I want to lodge a complaint against one of the lecturers.’
“Have you lodged it online?”
“It’s very sensitive,” Luyanda replied. “It’s not the kind of thing that the Dean would want anyone else to find out about before he does.”
“Is it sexual harassment?”
“No,” Luyanda shook his head. “Worse.”
The secretary’s eyes widened in surprise.
“One minute, please.” She stood up. The door to the adjoining office was slightly ajar, and she went straight in without knocking. A moment later, she stepped out again.
“The dean will see you now.”
Luyanda nodded his thanks and stepped into Dean Musa’s office.
Dean Musa was a balding, clean shaven man, with grey whiskers and bushy eyebrows. He looked up at Luyanda expectantly. Luyanda cleared his throat, suddenly nervous.
“Michaels, right?”
“Yes, Dean.”
“So? What’s all this about?” He pointed at the empty seat opposite his desk. Luyanda lowered himself onto it.
“One of your lecturers has been carrying out illegal experiments on the students.”
The dean stared at him blankly.
“What makes you believe that?”
“I have evidence.”
“What evidence?”
“Test records. From the genetics lab.”
The dean pushed his chair back.
‘These are no small accusations,” he said gravely.
“I know.”
“These records. Where are they?”
Luyanda tapped open his pad and navigated to the folder where he had saved the records. There was nothing there. All the files and folders were gone. He gulped.
“Well?”
“Just a minute. I must have forgotten where I saved them. Msiza,” he commanded, “please show me the files I added in the last two days.”
“You deleted all of them.”
“What? That’s impossible. When? What time?”
“This morning at 02:25 am.”
Luyanda’s head reeled.
“But I wasn’t even awake at that time! Can you get them back?”
“No. You deleted them permanently.”
Luyanda’s heart sunk to the pit of his tummy. He turned to Dean Musa, a pleading note in his voice.
“Someone hacked into my pad and deleted the information. Please believe me.”
“You’ve wasted my time,” the Dean said. He stood up, stalked to the door and held it open.
“Please,” Luyanda begged.
The dean levelled him with a steely glare. Luyanda swore under his breath, grabbed his backpack and trudged out of the office. The dean slammed the door shut behind him. The secretary regarded him with a nasty stare as he slinked into the passage. Luyanda wished the ground could open up and swallow him whole.