Mark of the Beast by Adolphus A. Anekwe Page A

some distance away from the hotel. She wondered if they were man-made.
    Meeting schedules were handed out to all attendees at the registration desk. There were so many attendees, registration continued all afternoon and well into the night.
    The meeting’s opening remarks were delivered by the president of the American Academy of Immunology. He expressed his gratitude to all the attendees, and then systematically went into the day-to-day activities planned for the next three days.
    After the welcome speech and few housekeeping items, Dr. Georgia Chambers, the immediate past president, rose to introduce the keynote speaker, Dr. David Abramhoff, who was received with warm applause. Dr. Abramhoff, dressed in an immaculately tailored blue suit, started lecturing, in his usual methodical fashion, about his belief in the concept of predestination. “It now appears,” stated Abramhoff, “that science is about ready to bear that out.”
    He elaborated his study methods, the protocol, and also the support the governor of Illinois had pledged at the state level, especially for his research at the Joliet Correctional Center and the Shapiro Developmental Center.
    So far, his focus had been to establish a connection between an HLA antigen and criminality. The preliminary report concluded that among hard-core criminals there was a fuzzy alignment on the B Locus of the HLA. He was not sure what to make of it, but he hoped that the next presenter, Dr. Dickerson, from the University of La Jolla in San Diego, would shed some light on it.
    After an hour and a half presentation, and then a fifteen-minute break, Dr. Dickerson was introduced as the next speaker. Dr. Dickerson gracefully, and with a much clearer understanding, elaborated on Dr. Abramhoff’s presentation. In a step-wise yet studious fashion, she illustrated how the HLA of certain criminals had come to rest on the B locus at position 66. This was achieved using a much-improved chromatographic method.
    â€œWe were able to carry out our own studies first at our local police station,” Dr. Dickerson stated. “We initially tested all processed offenders and found that the HLA B66 positives were mostly concentrated on hard-core criminals. Armed with that, we solicited the help of the officials at the notorious San Diego Correctional Facility. We selected one hundred maximum-security inmates who had committed heinous crimes and, to our greatest surprise, ninety-two of them tested positive for HLA B66.”
    â€œI will predict that, with further investigation and more elaborate research, this association may have a ninety-eight-percent sensitivity and specificity, and in the right environment we might even find a one-hundred-percent predictive value.”
    During the question-and-answer session, just before lunch break, Dr. Abramhoff and Dr. Dickerson inadvertently presented a united front, answering endless questions about the technical and social implications of their research. While most of the journalists were very impressed with the scientific findings of both researchers, several had some concerns. One question kept coming up: “What troubles me is this: how exactly will this finding ultimately be used?”
    At the break-out afternoon sessions, Dr. Abramhoff’s and Dr. Dickerson’s small group meetings were standing room only, and the questions continued endlessly.
    *   *   *
    â€œThere will be a formal dinner at the Florida and Everglade Ballrooms. We will start serving promptly at six p.m.,” it was announced at the conclusion of the formal sessions.
    Drs. Dickerson and Abramhoff, however, had previously agreed to an informal dinner at the outdoor café overlooking the beautiful swimming pool at the back of the hotel.
    â€œThat’s a spectacular view,” Dickerson noted. “I didn’t like this place at first.”
    The sun was just beginning to set. In a slow-motion dance, the evening sun,