A few moments later they were on the eighth floor, which was one of the floors devoted to laboratory space.

“How does the building function?” Jack asked. Though he’d toured the building before, he was curious about how the department handled the number of specimens they processed.

“Specimens are received on the fifth floor,” Naomi explained. “Then they work their way upstairs maintaining a chain of custody. First the samples are cleaned as a preparation for DNA extraction. The isolated DNA then heads up to the sixth floor for preampli fication. When that’s completed, it’s on to the seventh floor for postamplification and sequencing.”

“It’s a type of assembly-line approach.”

“Very definitely,” Naomi said. “Otherwise, we’d never be able to process the number of specimens we get.”

“We’re now on the eighth floor,” Jack said, peering into the lab space through closed but glazed doors as they walked east from the bank of elevators. Through floor-to-ceiling windows on his left he could see Bellevue Hospital. “What happens here?”

“The eighth floor is out of the assembly line,” Naomi explained. “These labs are mostly for training. But in this direction toward the river are labs specifically for research projects. The pace of change in DNA science is rapid, and we have to keep up. Here’s the lab the Daughtrys may use.”

Naomi used a key to open the door, then handed it to Jack.

The room was constructed of white laminate plastic with bright recessed fluorescent lighting, giving it a futuristic look. There was a large center table the size of a library table. Along the east wall was desk space with cabinets above and below. On the west wall were floor-to-ceiling lockers with keys in each lock.

“What do you think?” Naomi asked.

“It’s perfect!” Jack said. He peered through a glazed door on the south wall into a bio-vestibule for gowning and degowning to prevent DNA contamination. Through yet another door was the lab itself, with all the instruments necessary for extraction, amplification, and sequencing DNA. He was impressed. It was a totally self-contained laboratory.

“There are even lockers here if they’re particularly paranoid,” Naomi joked, pointing to the full-length cabinets. “But let them know our security in this building is very good. Which reminds me, they are going to need photo ID cards. Security downstairs can set them up tomorrow, as long as I give them the heads-up today. And they’ll also have to sign a comprehensive waiver from all liability. If they do want to start tomorrow, I’ll leave a copy here on the table, and I’ll ask you to be sure it gets signed.”

“I’ll be happy to do that,” Jack agreed.

“Okay, then. We’re set,” Naomi said. “Unless you have additional questions.”