The tenth-storey room smelt of furniture polish, freshly brewed coffee and importance. The surface of the long oval, walnut table shone brilliantly, not a smudge or speck in sight. An ornate silver tray with five tall glasses and a pitcher of iced water, was positioned in the centre of the table. The air was artificially warm, a note-able contrast to bitterly cold day outside and the winter light filtered weakly through the lowered blinds. A large screen mounted on the wall, gave off a feint hum while on standby. Having swept the room for bugging devices and found there to be none, he checked his watch. It was just before seven o'clock and satisfied everything was in order, he waited by the door, as the filter coffee machines competed its job.

Scott had been up for two hours already, one of which, he spent in the gym and thrashed his cardio-vascular system to near exhaustion. Once showered, he had eaten a light breakfast of oats and fruit, and then set off for work, enjoying the quiet in the deserted office block. Today's meeting had been hastily arranged after Briggs had received an important call late the previous night.

At bang on seven, Briggs entered.

"Morning, sir, would you like some coffee?" Scott asked.

Briggs grunted his acceptance, walked towards the table and pulled out one of the heavy chairs and sat down.

Scott fixed Briggs' coffee- thick, dark with a splash of cream and a level spoonful of sugar, as always. He picked up the fine bone china cup and saucer carried it over to the table for Briggs and then returned to his position by the door.

Scott was used to the heavy brooding silences of Briggs and knew better than to interrupt him, especially this early in the morning. Three short knocks came from the door.

"Come in," Briggs instructed, gruffly.

Scott opened the door to three men, each attired in an ill-fitting suit, wearing equally ill-fitting, nervous expressions on their faces. Scott recognised the one in the middle- Professor Clairbourne, Head of Screening and Genetics. The other two were unfamiliar. They bumbled into the room at speed and Clairbourne rushed to offer Briggs his hand. Briggs ignored the gesture and the disgruntled Professor skulked off to sit in the chair at the opposite end of the table. The other two men followed his example and sat down either side of him. Clearly experienced in the meeting protocol with Briggs, they knew not to talk first and so for him in silence. Clairbourne fidgeted in his seat, as the other two men began to read through some of the paperwork they had brought in with them. Scott found the whole situation highly amusing knowing that Briggs was deliberately making them wait.

After several minutes of silence Briggs spoke.

"So what have you got for me?" he asked, still not looking up from the file he was reading.

Clairbourne went to speak and then looked over to where Scott stood and clammed up. Briggs looked up at Clairbourne, over to Scott and back again.

"Clairbourne, this is Agent Scott, he will be joining this meeting. Scott is leading the reintegration of the ten. You may speak freely."

Surprise registered not only on Clairbourne's face, but also Scott's. He had just been about to ask Briggs if he could be excused from the room to run guard on the external door as per the usual standard operating procedures.

"But, General Briggs, this is against protocol. I can't say I am comfortable ...."

"Scott, sit down," Briggs interrupted the professor. "Clairbourne, since I dictate protocol then I can assure you that Scott's presence in this room is approved at the highest level."

The Professor swallowed tightly. "Very well, sir," he replied.

Scott moved over to the table and sat to the left of Briggs.

"So, come on, out with it," Briggs asked again.

"Well, sir, testing has been somewhat challenging. We have only been able to obtain material from the Placenta. Unfortunately we have not been able to recover anything from the Umbilical cord as it didn't survive the banking procedures well enough."

"Yes, yes, but what does that mean exactly?" Briggs said irritably.

Briggs had little time for most people, but those of the scientific persuasion irritated him the most. Briggs was used to being in control, holding all of the cards. However he wasn't an academic, more a brute force kind of guy. He was intelligent and could strategize with the best minds out there. In fact, many a fool had underestimated Briggs and lived to regret it, however he was not a Scientist and he was in the unfortunate position of being at the mercy of this idiot's sizeable intelligence. Scott was also at a loss. He hadn't a clue what they were talking about and more importantly why on earth he had being invited to the meeting at all?

"So far testing and computer modelling have been successful and I believe we are just a matter of weeks away from live trials. Early indications are that we have seen a 22% improvement in cell quality."

"Good, good" Briggs said. "So what do you need now?"

"Well sir, I would like to collect some fresh material from candidate number one, as well as the other nine."

"That shouldn't be an issue. You can take your samples at their SPR appraisals which begin next week."

Briggs although unwilling to show any reaction to Clairbourne's update was quietly pleased. The girl was a most excellent find. Using her stem cells and a little genetic engineering, they could possibly reverse the decline in Top-5's numbers. This year alone the number of babies being graded at above ninety-five had dropped by 7% on the previous year. This wasn't a one-off situation, but a decline observed over the last five years.

"Sir, there is one further matter I need to bring to your attention, something... unexpected."

Briggs had up until this point looked largely disinterested, however the word, unexpected was like a red rag to a bull. Briggs didn't like the unexpected.

"We have noticed an anomaly in our data. At first I thought it was an error due to contaminated sampling procedures or data entry, but after further investigation it appears not."

"Spit it out man!" Briggs' limited patience had evaporated.

"All ten candidates have a familial link. In other words, all ten of them share some genetic material."

Scott thought he witnessed a fleeting glimmer of smugness pass over Clairbourne's face.

"What does that mean?" Briggs asked.

"Well, as you know twenty years ago we started the External Screening and Conception Program. All ten sets of parents went through the process; however it appears that whilst the eggs of each of the mothers were used, the father's sperm was not. In fact all ten candidates share the same biological father."

Briggs sat upright.

This has Eastman's finger prints all over it, thought Scott. First the damn man meddles with the SPR rating of twenty babies for god knows what reason. Then spends the next seventeen years doing nothing at all of note, but upon discovery, stabs him through the eye, ruining any chance of being able to retrieve data from his brain.

"So, let me get this straight. The embryos implanted back into each mother were all fathered by the same man. Is that correct?"

"Yes, sir."

Briggs sat quietly for a minute trying to comprehend what he had just learnt.

"Are we able to tell who the father is?

"Err... yes, sir, we can," Clairbourne began to fidget in his chair again.

"It's not that damn fool, Eastman, is it?"

"No, sir, it is not."

"Well who the bloody hell is it then? Briggs asked, his temper getting the better of him.

"Well, sir, we have repeatedly checked our findings against our database and it appears that... you are the biological father of these children."

Until this a couple of minutes ago, Scott had been disinterested in the meeting. He was a field man and enjoyed the thrill of the chase. Scientific meetings bored him rigid. For a second, he didn't think he had heard Clairbourne correctly, but the look now present on Briggs face told him he had. For the very first time Briggs appeared shaken, out of control and about to explode.

Jumping up from his chair, Briggs screamed "Get out!"

The three men sat immobile, their mouths gaping at Briggs' ferocious outburst.

"I said get out, all of you. Now!"

Scott and the three men reacted this time and made a hasty retreat from the room.

As the door slowly closed behind him, Scott saw Briggs pick up the heavy chair in front of him and threw it at the screen behind him. Smoky-grey glass exploded around him and the frame of the screen fell to the floor.

"You bastard," he heard Briggs scream, the other side of the door, "I knew I should have killed you when I had the chance."