Authors: Dominick Fencer,Baibin Nighthawk
86
"Good morning David, how’s the situation?" asked Mark as he entered Marshall’s office on Monday morning at 7:45.
"Hello Mark, you’ve arrived with perfect timing, I was just about to call Fred Baker to hear if he has any news."
"Then I’ll sit down, let's hear from him, afterwards I'm going to visit some patients with your staff, and then I’ll disappear with a high fever before Bain and Harris arrive.
“Remember,” said Mark, “that we have hospitalized all the patients for five consecutive days with the excuse of the usual annual check-up, which is more in depth and broader in scope this year."
"You did well to remember that,” remarked David. “Last year we put them under screening for only two days, if I remember correctly. Have they asked for clarification, are they worried?"
"No, absolutely not, instead they feel more secure and, using the hospitalization as an excuse, today we gave them the latest generation device; as you can imagine, no one has objected."
"Was that your idea?" asked David.
"Yes, I did request new tablets from Biosketch Technologies Inc,” replied Mark. “I asked Dr. Leroy to contact Ransley Bain directly, and he didn’t bat an eyelid and sent the devices with the software already installed, ready to be used, by courier. They wanted the outdated ones back, and we returned them by the same courier."
"Davis was right about you, I’ll call Baker now. I know he’s always an early riser."
Marshall dialed the number of the accredited center in California.
"Hello? Good morning, this is David Marshall. I’d like to talk to Frank Baker please, thank you."
"Frank? How are you? This is David Marshall. Any news?"
"Hello, David. I can finally breathe a sigh of relief, the phenomenon is regressing and the brain waves are almost back to normal."
"Do you have any idea about the cause that may have triggered the prolonged peak in brain waves?"
"I was talking to Ransley Bain yesterday, a batch of the Neuroxenia drug had higher doses of the active ingredient than normal."
"But it's made and produced by Biosketch Technologies Inc."
"Yes, that’s why they should have noticed it right away."
"Well, if so, I expect to see an improvement in the patients over the next few days. This morning Bain will come here with Harris, who is the investigator. According to the Adverse Drug Reaction procedure, I guess they will tell me something about this."
"Surely, today they sent me a new batch, and they are recalling the defective products. I'm sure they will do the same with you."
"Well, you have given me good news, although it is not nice to learn about the error in the amount of the active ingredient, at least we now know that it is the lesser evil. Thanks, Frank. Goodbye…and if you have any news, don’t hesitate to call me."
"Goodbye David, of course. See you soon."
David Marshall looked at Mark, who was thoughtful.
"You don’t look at all convinced," said David.
"I’ve gotta tell you, not at all,” replied Mark. “Really! Do you believe that answer about the wrong dosage of a drug that is actually produced by the same corporation that is running the trial. Would they release that information so easily in just a couple of days?"
"I guess not," agreed David.
"It seems like an excuse to me, David. I want to get to the bottom of this; now I’ll go visit our patients. What time are the cat and the fox arriving?"
"At 11:00 am, so you'd better get your ass in gear, if you want to visit any patients."
"Sure boss, right away boss. And considering that you sent me on vacation, I’ll analyze the qualitative and quantitative data at home today," said Mark winking at him before getting up and leaving the room.
As he climbed the stairs to the ward, Mark wrote a message to Pavel, who wasn’t online, asking him to see if Ransley Bain worked for the CIA.
87
At 11:00 o'clock, Ransley Bain and Jack Harris were in Marshall’s office.
"Like I said," Jack Harris spoke first, "I have also noticed a regression of the phenomenon in my patients since yesterday, and today we have replaced the drug packages with the new ones sent by Biosketch Technologies Inc.. Here is the list of the faulty products you should still have in stock. If you agree, we can immediately see to the replacement, and then proceed with the audit."
"Of course, I call one of my co-workers."
Marshall gave instructions to the hospital’s pharmacy warehouse over the phone and then he turned to Ransley Bain.
"Please tell me, Dr. Bain, what happened? How could such a thing happen?"
"Logistics, we use this experimental drug in two trials at the same time and for three accredited reference centers: Texas, California and Colorado. The packages were sent to the wrong destinations; it’s simply that those who received a lower dose haven’t suffered at all."
"How can you be so sure? Have you analyzed the product?"
"Look," replied Bain, pulling a folder out of his bag. "This is the result of the products sent to California and Colorado, analyzed by our laboratories."
Marshall read the report and nodded.
"I see, I’d say that there is no doubt, but why haven’t you asked for the same samples from my center since Texas was also involved in the mistake?"
"David, has it not occurred to you that the drug could probably be a cause? They had this suspicion and so they have sent me samples spontaneously and on their own initiative."
Marshall looked down at the ground, he felt like an idiot and wasn’t able to reply, and then he regained control of himself and said:
"Do you want to start your tour of the patients to assess the situation and perform the audit? I’ll call the neurologists on my team."
Soon afterwards the specialists arrived and they demonstrated and described the symptoms and behavior of the patients.
"Dr Marshall, but wasn’t there also a psychiatrist on your staff?" Harris asked curiously.
"Sure," David said," he had to go home with a high fever a couple of hours ago."
"Okay, let's start. Are you coming with us Doctor?"
"I’ll accompany you to the ward, but then I’ll leave you to your work. I'll see you when you have finished."
Ransley Bain and Jack Harris visited the patients and then they went into the storeroom to see for themselves that the defective products had been replaced with those with the right dosage and afterwards returned to Marshall’s office without the neurologists.
"Would you like a cup of coffee?" Marshall asked them when he saw them enter.
"Yes, thank you. We’re ready to discuss the status of the situation," replied Harris, and Bain also nodded his head.
"Well David,” said Harris, “these are the evaluations that we’ll write in our internal report: we have found that products with the wrong dosage were also delivered to the Dallas center. These products have caused a change in the frequency and intensity of the brain waves in all transplant patients except to 15-year old Brad Foster; who, however, is on antidepressants that counteract the effects of Neuroxenia.
“The products were all replaced today, therefore over the next few days the phenomenon will diminish until it disappears completely.
“We visited the patients today and we don’t see a further increase in the frequency of brain waves, let alone an increase in their intensity. The behavior fits the normal pattern, as do the psychomotor functions.
“Dr. Marshall, would you like to go on with the ADR procedure?" said Bain asking the routine question.
"I would say that at this point it is useless to create a fuss, I’ll leave the internal report to you and close the alarm procedure as you are constantly monitoring the situation and therefore there’s no possibility that new deviations won’t be picked up. Can you confirm this?"
"Certainly. Well, I’d say that we have completed our task. We can leave now, but don’t hesitate to call me for anything...even at night, you have my direct number."
Bain and Harris stood up, said goodbye to David Marshall, and went to the airport convinced the problem had been resolved definitively.
88
"Digitrevenant69, QRV?" Pavel was on line.
"QRV How are you? Are you back from the conference? Interesting?" asked Mark.
"Very interesting. I also met Jànos Kozma, a Hungarian biophysicist very active in the field of software applied to biotechnology. We may also get together again and work on a European community project. And how are you? How’s life in Dallas?"
"Fine, but something strange is going on here. I'll tell you about it in more detail once I’m more certain and with the data in hand. I think Colonel Reed is losing control of the project," replied Mark.
"I can confirm that Bain is working for the CIA, and I also checked all the directors of the accredited "Transtem 1.1" Operations and Business Units. They all, and I mean all, belong to the Department of Defense, except Jack Harris, Colorado, who works for the CIA," Pavel said.
"I figured that they weren’t ordinary professionals, but I didn’t think they all belonged to the two institutions, and that makes me even more suspicious. Coincidentally, Harris was the investigator for the procedure opened by Marshall today," replied Mark, who was even more convinced that Colonel Reed was hiding something very important.
"But why are almost all of them working for the Department of Defense if "Transtem 1.1" is a public project, defined as a social project by the media? At this point, I don’t think the Department of Defense is a mere shareholder of Biosketch Technologies Inc., taking into account the men they have involved and put in the field. They must be directly involved in the project!"
"Pavel, this is precisely the point. There is a missing piece to this puzzle, not the final piece, but the first one without which we can understand nothing. Now I'm going to analyze the data of the 35 patients who are hospitalized, then I’ll compare them with those of Brad Foster. Foster, despite being treated exactly as the others, is inexplicably not having any problems."
"I tried to look into the data of Biosketch Technologies Inc.," Pavel began again.
"What have you done?" demanded Mark.
"Obviously I tried, but do you know who is in charge of the whole information and communication system? Jago C. Green, one of the greatest hackers in the world. Apparently, he got caught with his fingers in the cookie jar a few years ago by Colonel Reed. I identified his signature on a hash function in the firewall, I recognize it. Green is a case study of mine, his fame is international."
"You also have an international reputation as a Professor. Does he know you?" asked Mark.
"No, I’ve never had the opportunity to communicate with him. I never keep the same user name for more than a couple of hours and I camouflage the IP address, changing it every time I change my alias.
“Anyway, this time I pulled back Mark. Green should only be tackled if necessary and after careful preparation: strategy and tactics must go hand in hand and they must be perfect, the risk is too high."
"A biotech company protected by the best hackers in the world, led by the number three person in the CIA, funded by the CIA itself and by the Department of Defense, which has men of the Department of Defense as its scientific directors. Do you think this is a charitable foundation?"
"I would have to say no..." answered Pavel.
"I'll call you as soon as I have a clearer idea and some data that can give us some leads, Pavel."
"You have to hide, Mark. Don’t go jumping from the frying pan into the fire."
“If we can catch Reed and stop him, I’ll be a free man again. I have no choice again Pavel, Anaïs Degann is always lurking and it won’t take long for her to get to Dallas. No one can avoid all the cameras in the world…not even me."
"I’ll wait to hear from you, my friend. Talk soon."
"Anna?"
"I'll see her later. Tonight I'm going to cook for her at her home."
"If you weren't a man, I'd ask you to marry me. Bye!"
Mark, after having put the device on the table, looked at the clock. It was one o’clock in the afternoon. He hadn’t eaten yet and he had to start working on the clinical and behavioral data.
He decided to order a pizza and not to call Marshall to learn anything about the outcome of Bain and Harris’ visit; he would speak to him directly at the office as soon as possible.
89
"So?" roared Walton I. Reed on seeing Ransley Bain enter his office.
"They swallowed it whole. It was brilliant of you Colonel to come up with the story of defective products. Now we have a few days to understand what is really happening, without anyone busting our balls, and most importantly there will be no security leaks."
"That seems the least you could have done with all the resources that we’re investing, damn it, and what do the other centers say?"
"They know that we're working on the issue and that we have the situation under control. I see no problem. They are all men connected to the Department of Defense who have a rather substantial interest in the success of the project, and they just are waiting for our instructions."
"But if we don’t find a solution, Marshall will return to the fray and undoubtedly he will do that when the phenomenon doesn’t regress," said Walton I. Reed.
"We'll figure out something else plausible if we don’t find a solution before then. We don’t know at the moment how long it will take to understand the reasons behind this phenomenon," replied Bain, putting the minutes of the audit performed in Texas on the table.
"But this time you’ll be directly responsible for inventing something, damn it! Because it is not only the Defense Department that has a substantial MBO, or am I wrong? You are a CIA agent, a non-operational one, but still a CIA agent. So get your ass in gear and arrange for an utterly believable disaster recovery plan. If you can’t do it, you know very well what the consequences will be. See you tomorrow for a briefing on the situation, Ransley. Remember that you are the best researcher we have in the USA."
"See you tomorrow Colonel," Ransley Bain straightened the neck of his polo shirt a little embarrassed and went back to the lab.
As soon as Bain left the office, Reed dialed the number of Jago C. Green’s cell phone.
"Hello, Jago. This is Reed, can you come to my office please? Thank you."
Jago C. Green knew that when Colonel Reed called, everything else could wait, even Ellen, with whom he had just started a relationship.
"Can I come in?"
"Jago, come in and close the door, please."
Green sat down in front of the Colonel waiting for him to start talking.
"‘Brainexe’? Have you noticed exactly the same phenomenon and the behavior found in ‘Transtem 1.1’? Do I have to call Michael Mitchell at the Department of Defense in the Pentagon?"
"Sir, you can call him if you want, the situation is exactly the same. The aggressive behavior is compounded by the fact that they are soldiers. The director of the "Brainexe" project, Edward Ross, is in the H.Q. with us this week. He has been summoned together with his team by Bain to find a solution to the problem."
"Well then, I’ll invite him to my office and ask him if Bain is waiting for a stroke of fucking luck or is actually working hard. In any case, Ransley was able to buy time in Dallas, Marshall took the bait for the story about the bad batch."
"Marshall would believe a story about a flying pig, if you told him."
"Jago, you're right. But Marshall is far from stupid, he’s just totally in love with the project and has become deaf and blind to problems that may block it. That's all. What the hell! Ross’ number is still busy!"
"I’ll go and look for him and I'll get back to you."
"Thanks Jago, who knows who the fuck that guy is talking to?!"
The two came back together after about ten minutes and they sat facing Reed’s desk.
"Edward, Jago told me that "Brainexe" has the same deviations as "Transtem 1.1". Have you by chance talked with Mitchell about it?"
"No sir, because, as you certainly can imagine, no matter how disturbing the issue of these brain waves, it's incredibly exciting: the soldiers are more aggressive, ruthless. They can undergo grueling workouts and have lost their inhibitions. At this point we should transplant the entire Army and Navy!"
Ross’s joke made the three men burst into laughter.
"We have to wait to find the key to this mess; but frankly, if the waves are stabilized at this intensity and frequency, and I hope so, we could fail to bring them back to a normal pattern. In fact, I would say it’s a great success," Ross said.
"I agree with you," replied Reed. "Also because there is still room for increasing the frequency before they are destructive to the subject. If you have any news, call me. The first one of you to understand the problem this week will get a 10% increase on his fixed salary as an extra bonus. Oh! I forgot. Is Bain working or is he scratching his rocks and waiting for his co-workers to pull a rabbit out of the hat?"
"He works like a madman, practically doesn’t sleep. And is he aware of the bonus?"
"Not yet, I’m only telling you right now, so work your asses off to find a solution, like Bain does, and maybe you’ll get the 10%. If he gets there ahead of you, you'll be the first to know since he’ll pocket good money instead of you. This week Ross, and no longer!"
"Affirmative Colonel, Goodbye. Are you staying, Jago?"
"Yes, Edward. I have to finish discussing a few issues with the Colonel."
As Ross closed the door to Reed’s office behind him, Green’s cell phone rang.
"Honey, how are you? I really miss you. You don’t miss me at all? Why not? The other night was fireworks between me and you….Yes, he’s here with me. How did you guess? Because I always talk bullshit in front of the Colonel. Ah! Is that so? Colonel, Anaïs wants to talk to you."
Green handed the phone to Reed, who was laughing at the comedy played out in front of him. "Hello Skylinep92. Sorry, I turned off the phone’s sound, and forgot to activate the ringtone."
"Hi, Colonel. I'm in Little Rock. I’ve scoured the city, the hospitals, the doctor’s offices, there are no signs of Mark Savannah and no signs of life from the informants. Do you want me to come back to decide on another strategy, sir?"
"I would say that the best thing for us to do at the moment is to have you continue following the bus routes you've identified. I think there’s no other choice."
"Okay, sir, tomorrow I'll go on to Fort Smith. I’ll call you in the evening. Goodbye."
"See you soon, Anaïs," replied Reed. He hung up and handed the phone back to Green.
"All we need is Anaïs here during this mess. I don’t want her to know anything about what is happening, Jago. So keep her away until the situation is resolved. In any case, she must find Savannah, so she has to stay out of the way."
"Yes, sir."
"Thanks Jago, you can go. See you tomorrow."