Justin
Life gets weird sometimes. You don't know why or how, but then all of a sudden, it hits you from left field. The trip from Steiner's to MedGen for example. Two days ago I had been fully expecting to go to MedGen with Steiner. We were going to meet with people and discuss the situation. So now, I was going there to meet with someone to discuss the situation. Except it was now the middle of the night and we were going to be talking about killers and poison rather than patents and money. Life gets weird.
My uncle's partner was waiting for us at a side door, and let us in as soon as we drove up. He was exactly as he was in Steiner's office except that he was wearing a lab coat this time. I could understand his sweating this time though. He had damn good reason to be worried, and not just that his life might be in danger. If one of his bosses saw us there, then he would probably be fired on the spot. We were in a lawsuit after all.
"Thank you for meeting us," Steiner said in a low voice, shaking Winston's hand after quick introductions were made. He discreetly wiped off the excess moisture from Winston's sweaty palms onto his pant leg. "I know this is a difficult position for you, but this is a rather extraordinary situation."
"Yes, it would seem to be," Winston replied, leading us down a hall and deeper into the building. "What led you to these conclusions?" The closer to the labs that we got, the more balanced Winston seemed to be getting. It was like another person was taking over him and he was becoming a scientist rather than a confused CPA.
Steiner looked back at me. "Actually, it's from some investigating that I did," I spoke up. We all got on an elevator, and Winston looked at me expectantly. "Last night, someone broke into my hotel room and tried to kill me. I thought it had to be MedGen, but then I got some information that led me to believe otherwise. Basically, I got my hands on some sensitive documents from BioTech, and Jhon figured out the formulas, and we put the rest together." Amazing how easily that all summed up.
He blinked. "You're positive someone was after you?"
I snorted. "Them shooting up my hotel room gave it away."
The elevator stopped and we all got out. "And who exactly are you?" he asked Jhondie.
"I'm pre-med," she explained. "I read a lot of medical journals and I have a photographic memory. Those formulas were published last month in the AMA Journal. It wasn't hard to figure out how else it can be used when there's millions of dollars at stake."
Winston sighed. "I just can't believe he was murdered over that," he said as he led us down the hall. He stopped in front of a door and ran a card through the key slot. The lights flicked to green and he opened it. "It was making money, yes, but the research we were doing was going to be much more valuable. It's not close to marketable yet, but the preliminary results are extremely encouraging."
He took the water from Steiner and began setting up some test tubes and getting some chemicals from other parts of the lab. I looked around. It was such an odd feeling because the room still had my uncle's personality deeply stamped on it. It was the place of a serious professional, but a few small posters and that clock that ran backwards showed just a little spark of humor. Something to help tired scientists get through another hour of slaving away over the microscope.
"Uncle Justin mentioned that he was still working with immune systems and having the body fight diseases without needing medicine," I commented. Justin had also told me that Winston loved their work and loved talking about it. Justin wouldn't give me a lot of specifics on what he was doing, claiming it was confidential information, but I had a feeling that Winston would run his mouth without thinking about it.
Winston smiled as he mixed two substances together in a test tube and then lit a burner, heating the goo over a flame. "It's more than that," he replied. "See, Justin was only thinking about the immunology end. But with the genetic manipulation, I know we can forced the body to… malfunction if you will, and produce stem cells to repair damaged organs from an illness. We're both working the same problems, just from different sides." He finished heating the tube, and dumped it into a petri dish, adding something else and stirring carefully with a glass rod.
"Justin always had a thing for the body healing itself," I said with a small smile. "He was always telling me about herbal supplements to use instead of antibiotics."
"Nature," Winston said, quoting my uncle "has a cure for every disease that she throws out upon the face of the planet. Our job is to give her a little help in letting the world know what they are."
"Exactly," I replied. Jhondie gave me a little smile behind Winston's back. She knew exactly what I was doing with the guy. "Are you going to continue on like he asked?"
Winston paused for a moment, thinking about it. "I was never as encouraged as he was about the transgenic projects. It just seems wrong to use animal DNA to block human diseases. It almost seems a step back in evolution."
Jhondie's eyes met mine sharply and her cute little smile collapsed. There was now a very serious soldier standing behind Winston, and she did not like what she was hearing. He didn't notice, just casually dumped in the suspect water into a tube along with whatever he had been mixing. The mix turned bright pink.
"I read something about that," Jhondie said as Winston took the pink substance over to another table. "Something about creating a super-person like out of a science fiction story. They were doubting that it would ever be possible to handle the DNA cross-wiring." Her tone was that of someone that was academically curious, but her eyes were dead serious.
"Well, we're not nearly that far along," Winston replied with a small smile. "We just know that there are many diseases that humans get that animals do not. So, we're pulling out those genes and splicing them into human cells. We're getting close to keeping the cells stable enough to make intensive gene therapy possible." They talked for another minute, with her asking some more questions, but I had no idea what they were saying about compounds and mitosis rates and things that ordinary human beings were never meant to know. Winston seemed to enjoy the conversation though. Jhondie seemed like she was, but I knew her too well. She did not like what she was hearing.
He took the mix over to another table, and hooked it up to some form of machine. "The chemical compound uses certain amino acids that react to radiation," he explained. He loaded the tube, and it entered into a box. "I'm going to irradiate it, and if there are glowing sparks in it, then we know it was there. This is going to take a few minutes."
"Hey, Jhon, let me show you something," I called out to her. "Remember that pen I was telling you about that I sent to Uncle Justin?"
She smiled. "I always did want to see that thing," she replied, and went with me into his office. It was lying on top of his desk. I'll be damned. He really did use it like he swore he did. The minute we were out of sight, her pleasant expression fell off.
"What the hell were you saying?" I asked. "Are they close?"
"Too damn close," she replied. "See, when you are crossing DNA, it's easy to get a heart to beat and a brain to function. They inherently want to, and the heart doesn't care what it's pumping, it just wants to pump. But an immune system is very tricky. It has to recognize self, and if it thinks it should be looking for human cells, then a muscle that is formed by using mostly cat DNA might be considered foreign, and the immune system is going to attack it. They're not all the way there, but it's very, very close."
I started putting things together. BioTech wanted this company. Bad enough to kill for it. The patents were just the ends to the means. The money was nice, but not needed. Bad press was what was needed to drive down the stock prices, and killing one of their researchers would do that. But there was someone else that was just as knowledgeable and could continue on with it.
"Why do I feel like this research was what BioTech was really after?" I muttered.
Jhondie thought for a second. "The last few companies that they took over. Did the boss have anything on what they were doing?"
"Everything was different," I replied, thinking about it. That would seem to be odd. Most companies would take over the people that would benefit them by doing something similar to eliminate the competition. "One was neurological research, the other focused on muscular and cardiovascular. The other one…" My words trailed off as the final pieces fell into the puzzle. The paperwork about Manticore. I had read it wrong.
"McGinnis," I muttered. She looked at me sharply, and it all made sense. "That paperwork about him and Manticore. It looked like contract negotiations, but we read it wrong. BioTech wasn't supplying. They were working with him to get information. All those companies. Each a different part of the body. BioTech can bring it together."
"Oh my God," she whispered, her eyes widening in realization. "They aren't vendors for Manticore at all."
"They're competitors."
Life gets weird sometimes. You don't know why or how, but then all of a sudden, it hits you from left field. The trip from Steiner's to MedGen for example. Two days ago I had been fully expecting to go to MedGen with Steiner. We were going to meet with people and discuss the situation. So now, I was going there to meet with someone to discuss the situation. Except it was now the middle of the night and we were going to be talking about killers and poison rather than patents and money. Life gets weird.
My uncle's partner was waiting for us at a side door, and let us in as soon as we drove up. He was exactly as he was in Steiner's office except that he was wearing a lab coat this time. I could understand his sweating this time though. He had damn good reason to be worried, and not just that his life might be in danger. If one of his bosses saw us there, then he would probably be fired on the spot. We were in a lawsuit after all.
"Thank you for meeting us," Steiner said in a low voice, shaking Winston's hand after quick introductions were made. He discreetly wiped off the excess moisture from Winston's sweaty palms onto his pant leg. "I know this is a difficult position for you, but this is a rather extraordinary situation."
"Yes, it would seem to be," Winston replied, leading us down a hall and deeper into the building. "What led you to these conclusions?" The closer to the labs that we got, the more balanced Winston seemed to be getting. It was like another person was taking over him and he was becoming a scientist rather than a confused CPA.
Steiner looked back at me. "Actually, it's from some investigating that I did," I spoke up. We all got on an elevator, and Winston looked at me expectantly. "Last night, someone broke into my hotel room and tried to kill me. I thought it had to be MedGen, but then I got some information that led me to believe otherwise. Basically, I got my hands on some sensitive documents from BioTech, and Jhon figured out the formulas, and we put the rest together." Amazing how easily that all summed up.
He blinked. "You're positive someone was after you?"
I snorted. "Them shooting up my hotel room gave it away."
The elevator stopped and we all got out. "And who exactly are you?" he asked Jhondie.
"I'm pre-med," she explained. "I read a lot of medical journals and I have a photographic memory. Those formulas were published last month in the AMA Journal. It wasn't hard to figure out how else it can be used when there's millions of dollars at stake."
Winston sighed. "I just can't believe he was murdered over that," he said as he led us down the hall. He stopped in front of a door and ran a card through the key slot. The lights flicked to green and he opened it. "It was making money, yes, but the research we were doing was going to be much more valuable. It's not close to marketable yet, but the preliminary results are extremely encouraging."
He took the water from Steiner and began setting up some test tubes and getting some chemicals from other parts of the lab. I looked around. It was such an odd feeling because the room still had my uncle's personality deeply stamped on it. It was the place of a serious professional, but a few small posters and that clock that ran backwards showed just a little spark of humor. Something to help tired scientists get through another hour of slaving away over the microscope.
"Uncle Justin mentioned that he was still working with immune systems and having the body fight diseases without needing medicine," I commented. Justin had also told me that Winston loved their work and loved talking about it. Justin wouldn't give me a lot of specifics on what he was doing, claiming it was confidential information, but I had a feeling that Winston would run his mouth without thinking about it.
Winston smiled as he mixed two substances together in a test tube and then lit a burner, heating the goo over a flame. "It's more than that," he replied. "See, Justin was only thinking about the immunology end. But with the genetic manipulation, I know we can forced the body to… malfunction if you will, and produce stem cells to repair damaged organs from an illness. We're both working the same problems, just from different sides." He finished heating the tube, and dumped it into a petri dish, adding something else and stirring carefully with a glass rod.
"Justin always had a thing for the body healing itself," I said with a small smile. "He was always telling me about herbal supplements to use instead of antibiotics."
"Nature," Winston said, quoting my uncle "has a cure for every disease that she throws out upon the face of the planet. Our job is to give her a little help in letting the world know what they are."
"Exactly," I replied. Jhondie gave me a little smile behind Winston's back. She knew exactly what I was doing with the guy. "Are you going to continue on like he asked?"
Winston paused for a moment, thinking about it. "I was never as encouraged as he was about the transgenic projects. It just seems wrong to use animal DNA to block human diseases. It almost seems a step back in evolution."
Jhondie's eyes met mine sharply and her cute little smile collapsed. There was now a very serious soldier standing behind Winston, and she did not like what she was hearing. He didn't notice, just casually dumped in the suspect water into a tube along with whatever he had been mixing. The mix turned bright pink.
"I read something about that," Jhondie said as Winston took the pink substance over to another table. "Something about creating a super-person like out of a science fiction story. They were doubting that it would ever be possible to handle the DNA cross-wiring." Her tone was that of someone that was academically curious, but her eyes were dead serious.
"Well, we're not nearly that far along," Winston replied with a small smile. "We just know that there are many diseases that humans get that animals do not. So, we're pulling out those genes and splicing them into human cells. We're getting close to keeping the cells stable enough to make intensive gene therapy possible." They talked for another minute, with her asking some more questions, but I had no idea what they were saying about compounds and mitosis rates and things that ordinary human beings were never meant to know. Winston seemed to enjoy the conversation though. Jhondie seemed like she was, but I knew her too well. She did not like what she was hearing.
He took the mix over to another table, and hooked it up to some form of machine. "The chemical compound uses certain amino acids that react to radiation," he explained. He loaded the tube, and it entered into a box. "I'm going to irradiate it, and if there are glowing sparks in it, then we know it was there. This is going to take a few minutes."
"Hey, Jhon, let me show you something," I called out to her. "Remember that pen I was telling you about that I sent to Uncle Justin?"
She smiled. "I always did want to see that thing," she replied, and went with me into his office. It was lying on top of his desk. I'll be damned. He really did use it like he swore he did. The minute we were out of sight, her pleasant expression fell off.
"What the hell were you saying?" I asked. "Are they close?"
"Too damn close," she replied. "See, when you are crossing DNA, it's easy to get a heart to beat and a brain to function. They inherently want to, and the heart doesn't care what it's pumping, it just wants to pump. But an immune system is very tricky. It has to recognize self, and if it thinks it should be looking for human cells, then a muscle that is formed by using mostly cat DNA might be considered foreign, and the immune system is going to attack it. They're not all the way there, but it's very, very close."
I started putting things together. BioTech wanted this company. Bad enough to kill for it. The patents were just the ends to the means. The money was nice, but not needed. Bad press was what was needed to drive down the stock prices, and killing one of their researchers would do that. But there was someone else that was just as knowledgeable and could continue on with it.
"Why do I feel like this research was what BioTech was really after?" I muttered.
Jhondie thought for a second. "The last few companies that they took over. Did the boss have anything on what they were doing?"
"Everything was different," I replied, thinking about it. That would seem to be odd. Most companies would take over the people that would benefit them by doing something similar to eliminate the competition. "One was neurological research, the other focused on muscular and cardiovascular. The other one…" My words trailed off as the final pieces fell into the puzzle. The paperwork about Manticore. I had read it wrong.
"McGinnis," I muttered. She looked at me sharply, and it all made sense. "That paperwork about him and Manticore. It looked like contract negotiations, but we read it wrong. BioTech wasn't supplying. They were working with him to get information. All those companies. Each a different part of the body. BioTech can bring it together."
"Oh my God," she whispered, her eyes widening in realization. "They aren't vendors for Manticore at all."
"They're competitors."
