The Killing Gene Page #2

This lab is the only place

within a hundred miles

to keep stocks of Austixamine.

Could you tell us

what you use it for?

lt's all legal,

just the way you guys like it.

Listen, if you want me to take you in

for being an a**hole,

well, l got a license to do that.

What animals would you use it on?

l used to keep a couple of crocs.

that's all.

Are you aware of any Austixamine going

missing in the last three months?

No.

Who else has access

to your stocks of tranquilizer?

Nobody.

Any lab assistants?

Money's tight.

What kind of science do you do?

Ethology. Animal behavior.

l'm gonna need this opened, please.

Yeah, sure.

Here you go.

This is quite a collection

of drugs you got here.

l'm gonna need to see your records.

What do you do exactly?

Graft elephant ears on a monkey?

My work concerns

how species respond to predators,

how they warn each other,

if they warn each other.

How far they go to protect each other,

if they protect each other.

Like, you throw a croc into a cage of

monkeys and see how they deal with it?

Not always with a real crocodile.

You see, monkeys are expensive.

Eddie.

F***!

Sh*t!

Eddie!

Sh*t!

Oh f***!

F***! Eddie!

Sh*t!

F***!

Don't move!

Sh*t! Sh*t! Sh*t!

Shut your f***ing mouth!

Explain it to me.

'W Delta Z"- what does it mean?

The Price equation?

W is fitness, the ability

to reproduce across generations.

Z is a particular trait.

Delta...

- That's technical.

l don't understand.

Humor us!

The selfish gene.

Go on.

You think a bird will

sacrifice itself for the flock

or a bee will sting a predator

and die for the hive?

How noble. How heroic.

And it isn't true?

- No, it isn't true.

Suppose you put a snake in the cage

and one of the monkeys is a hero,

yeah, lures it away...

that it should eat him?

But it's not heroism.

It's not selflessness.

Forget the bees.

Forget the monkeys.

F*** the monkey!

The monkey's nothing.

Just think what the monkey's made of.

What's that?

Genes!

The monkey is just the gene's way

of making copies of itself.

All these monkeys,

they're all related.

They all share their genes.

So the monkey dies -

what do the genes care?

That's what Price proved.

There's no altruism in nature.

lt's just genes

Iooking after themselves.

How many dead monkeys so far?

Would you mind

not smoking in here, please?

Just imagine a hero

without a genetic motive.

Not a relative,

not a potential mate.

Now, that would be interesting,

wouldn't it?

When did you graduate to people?

What do you mean?

Why did you run?

Ketamine...

l though that's why...

l've been dealing ketamine.

lt's a bunch of college kids.

lf you want,

l can give you their names.

l've been so low on funding

l've just had to improvise.

We have four dead bodies, Dr. Gelb,

knocked out with your animal tranq.

Two of them with your equation

carved into their flesh.

l didn't kill anyone!

Somebody's carving the Price equation

into people's bodies?

F***!

F***!

l'm sure l didn't kill anyone.

He's got the animal tranqs.

He's got the theory,

which is a pretty freaky coincidence.

And he's nuts.

Well, the killer wants us

to work it out, right?

Why scratch your message

into the corpses?

lt's a tough code to crack.

We need help,

so he sends us to Dr. Gelb.

Gelb's had a message from God.

Tell the world!

Repent its selfishness or burn!

lt's not Dr. Gelb!

Until last night he was at

a conference at State University.

Whoever it is, is running

an experiment like Dr. Gelb.

And this whack-job actually thinks

we're gonna learn f***in' algebra!

lt says love is bullshit.

Deep down, it's just genes and

genes don't give a damn about love.

But human beings,

what's our love worth?

Our guardian genome?

The mother of your children,

your twin brother.

How much pain will it take

before you kill someone you love?

So, l'm all wired

up to Eddie, right...

l flip the switch, he's toast.

Before that he tortures you,

cuts you open,

cuts off your dick if he has to.

Love you, Eddie, but l am gonna

flip the f***in' switch, man!

l don't think our guy is gonna stop

till he gets to the end

of the equation.

l need a sandwich.

Like that thing, man.

One day...

you gots nobody.

Danny...

l think it's her.

l think it's Jean Lerner.

F***in' Pierre, man.

Yo, what's up?

Alright.

Eddie!

Gotta show you something.

Gelb's only had three assistants

in four years

and one of them's on our database.

What for?

- Victim. In a rape and murder case.

Jean Lerner.

Yeah. It was my case.

Wesley Smith and Jamal Osman

were part of that gang, right?

Raped her and murdered her mother.

Those two plus Pierre Jackson,

Daniel Leone and a woman,

Elly Carpenter.

Elly Carpenter, the girl

with the kid in the crack house.

Taking on guys like that,

she'd have to be f***ing Wonder Woman.

So, what happened, Eddie?

All of them walking free...

What the f*** happened with forensics?

Contaminated.

All of it?

All of it!

But you did get a confession

from Jamal Osman.

Corelli beat the crap out of him

to get it, so it was useless.

Those a**holes!

What they did to those women

you can't believe.

Eddie, we should get a warrant!

She's still living here.

She drew illustrations

for children's books.

She was living here

to take care of her mother.

Those bastards!

They didn't even steal a thing.

No point, just for kicks.

Cut her.

Snapped some fingers.

Raped her with a bottle.

A broken bottle.

Tortured her for four hours.

Then they did her a deal.

They'd stop and leave her in peace

if she'd just tell 'em

to shoot her mother.

Eddie, look at this.

Yeah?

Hi. Eddie?

lt's weird isn't it?

To talk again?

Jean?

l've been thinking a Iot

about what l'd say.

Well, l guess Gelb

explained some of it.

There is a species of wasp

who lays her eggs

in a living caterpillar.

The Iarvae eat the caterpiIIar

from the inside out.

Organ by organ.

Who's next, Jean?

Who're you gonna test next?

Can you imagine the agony

the caterpillar is in?

But the wasp doesn't care.

Maybe that's almost beautiful.

lt's motherhood.

Call Corelli.

Tell him to send patrol cars

to Elly Carpenter's.

And l want 24-hour uniforms

on Jackson and Leone

and the tapes from these cameras!

Yeah, l need Forensics

at 4970 Richmond...

Danny, it's me. Where are you?

l'm still on the block.

Go straight home. Lock your door.

Don't open it to anybody but me.

l was right.

It's about the Lerner woman.

Who'd you call?

- What?

You called someone.

l warned Daniel Leone.

They don't all deserve to die.

Where's the f***ing backup?

Elly?

l should call.

Can't a person sleep?

ls your little boy here?

He's in bed.

What the f*** is it to you?

You wanna f*** me? Is that it?

Tight ass b*tch!

Dominic is not in his bed.

Elly. Where's Dominic?

Where is he?

- He's sleepin'.

Elly!

- What?

He's not in there! Where is he?

Where is he?

F***, no...

he's still playing out in the hall.

You got a problem? Huh?

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