Judas: Chapter 16
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DISCLAIMER: Most of these characters are not mine at all, but they are memorable. Thank you, Mr. Marlowe. The others? Yeah, they're mine
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7:17 p.m. West Coast Time on Thursday, April 26, 2012, at Chinatown Hospital in Chinatown, San Francisco
Chandra Jain sits calmly, meditating in the conference room adjacent to the office of the Chief of Staff for the hospital. She has been sitting here for almost ten minutes now, placed here by an administrative assistant, who was following instructions from Dr. Teresa Argento. Once Chandra showed up, explaining who she was and who she wanted to meet, she was taken upstairs.
Chandra awakens momentarily, taking a sip of water from the water bottle graciously offered by her host, then resumes her meditation mindset.
As she waits, Dr. Argento sits in the adjacent office, on the telephone with one Sam Carlos. As soon as Chandra – a developer of the RSX3 drug – came to the hospital asking for her, Argento knew this was something Carlos would want to know about. Immediately.
"This is an interesting development," Sam Carlos tells her.
"I thought you would want to know," Argento replies, her head back, staring up at the ceiling.
The last time she had a conversation with this man, it brought her hospital into turmoil, what with resurrected bodies, breakout fights between security teams, a punched employee . . . and as if those other events were not enough, an appearance by ninjas. She is not looking forward to a repeat of anything that has to do with RSX3, Richard Castle or NuGenetix.
"She is there now with you?" Carlos asks.
"In the conference room next door," Dr. Argento responds. "I had Susan put her there before I meet with her, and I wanted to speak with you before meeting with her."
"Good, good, I am glad you did," he replies. "I find it both good and bad that she is there with you," he continues. "It tells me that Andrew still does not have an antidote, but it also tells me that his team is looking at a different approach."
"A different approach tells me that they still have a way to go," Teresa Argento comments soberly.
"A different approach tells me that they are finally accepting the fact that they have a way to go," Carlos corrects her. "Moreover, the fact that it is not Andrew who is visiting you, but what appears to be one of his team leaders is – to me – very good news."
The Chief of Staff nods her head in agreement, although Carlos cannot see her reaction.
"What I want to know, Teresa," he continues, "is whether or not Andrew knows she is there. Is this an action taken on his orders or is this an employee who is making a decision on her own."
"Why does that matter?" Argento asks aloud.
"It matters because I have use of someone who takes initiative," he replies, "and I have little use for someone who is just taking orders."
"Which do you think Miss Jain is?" she asks.
"That is what I want you to find out," Carlos replies. "In fact, let's go see what Miss Jain wants."
"Excuse me?" Argento replies, the confusion evident in her voice.
"Now," Carlos tells her. "Put me on speakerphone, but do not let her know I am there. I will mute the conversation from my end. But I want to listen in, and hear – first-hand – what my friend down in the valley is or is not up to."
With that, Dr. Argento stands, brushing imaginary lint from her black skirt, and rearranges her doctor's coat as she walks toward the door to the adjoining conference room, phone in hand.
Through the door, Chandra immediately sees the woman entering, and stands to greet her, hand extended.
"Dr. Argento?" she asks, questioningly.
"Yes," Teresa Argento replies affably, shaking the hand of the NuGenetix lead developer. Quickly, the doctor takes her place behind her desk, inviting her visitor to sit in front of the desk in one of two chairs placed there. Dr. Argento nonchalantly places her phone on the side of her desk, screensaver on to mask the live call.
"What can I do for you, Miss . . . Jain is it?" Argento asks.
"Yes, Chandra Jain," the NuGenetix employee answers. "And to answer your question, I am not sure where exactly to begin, to be honest."
"Best to always begin at the beginning," the Chief of Staff smiles. Unknown to her, Sam Carlos smiles on the other end of the phone call still in effect.
"That's my problem," Jain replies. "I am not really sure where the beginning is. I know that sounds crazy, so I may stop and restart a few times."
Again, unbeknownst to Chandra Jain, Carlos is smiling once again on the other end of the phone call.
"Very good, Miss Jain," he thinks to himself. "The first mistake you could make is assuming you know where all of this began. That you have not done so is encouraging."
"Let me tell you what I know," Jain states, then corrects herself.
"Correction – let me tell you why I am here, and then I will get to what I do and do not know," Jain continues.
"I am here because my boss . . . no, scratch that. I am here because the wife of my boss informed me that the puzzle I am trying to solve can be best solved here. Or at least there may be data here that I am not aware of that can help me."
"The wife of your boss?" Argento questions, eyebrows raised.
"Yes," Jain replies. "Her name is Cassandra Klein. My boss is Andrew Klein. He is the owner and CEO of –"
"NuGenetix," Argento completes her sentence. "I know . . . of the man. And the company. Please continue."
"Yes," Chandra replies. "Anyway, you had a patient here a month or so ago, I think. His name was Richard Castle."
Chandra waits for some recognition from Dr. Argento. Finding none, she frowns, but continues.
"Mr. Castle was inflicted with a drug from my company," Chandra continues. "A drug that my team created. A drug that I created. I was not aware that this drug found its way out of our building, but it did. And this drug – as I am sure you know – has some nasty side effects that we have been working on.
"I know all of what you are telling me," Argento tells the developer. "Please continue."
"So, ever since Mr. Castle was inflicted, my team and I have been working on an antidote. We did not know that someone was inflicted. We simply thought that an antidote should accompany the drug. That only makes sense. But we did not know why this antidote became so important all of the sudden. However, in the past week, Mr. Klein began sharing some of this back history with me. The problem is somehow, some guy infected Mrs. Klein with this drug as well."
Dr. Argento cannot suppress the chuckle at this, and unbeknownst to either woman, Sam Carlos – on mute – is laughing out loud at the thought that someone in this city refers to him as 'some guy'.
"This guy was supposedly friends with both Mr. and Mrs. Klein . . . yet he still did that to her. I'm not sure what kind of a friend a man like that actually is."
The chuckle quickly passes, as Dr. Argento understands the not-so-subtle slight that has just been passed over the phone to Sam Carlos. Carlos, however, still on mute, continues to laugh out loud.
"I like this Chandra Jain," he thinks to himself.
"Anyway, so Mrs. Klein is now infected, and the same side effects and symptoms you saw with Mr. Castle are now happening to Mrs. Klein. And all of this is happening while my team is looking for an antidote. I think that covers it all. Now, to why I am here talking to you."
Chandra Jain takes a deep breath, closing her eyes, rubbing the bridge of her nose. A few more seconds pass, and when she opens her eyes, Dr. Argento sees a different person. There are tears glistening in Chandra's eyes, but there is also a fire there now. Teresa Argento makes a mental note to pass this on to Carlos, who cannot see what is happening.
"This morning, we tried a new antidote on Mrs. Klein. It didn't work. As a result, Mr. Klein took a needle and infected Martin with it. Martin is on my development team. He handles the quality assurance – the testing – of our projects. Evidently Mr. Klein was not satisfied with our progress – or lack thereof – and decided to give me – as he put it – added incentive to find an antidote faster."
On the other end of the phone call, Sam Carlos is smiling, with a raised eyebrow.
"Andy, Andy, I didn't think you had this in you," he speaks out loud. "This is excellent. Just excellent."
Meanwhile, Chandra Jain continues with her story.
"Mrs. Klein – who is now in the same predicament as Martin – was not too happy with Andrew doing this. And so, she suggested – strongly – that I come here, come to you, to gather more data."
"And why would she suggest this?" Argento asks, although suspecting the answer. In truth, she is asking the question for the man on the phone who cannot ask.
"Because right now, we are getting closer. We are eliminating options, eliminating variables. I have multiple white boards in my office, each with varying options and variables – and right now it is just a process of elimination."
Chandra quickly stands, and begins pacing the room as she continues.
"But at the same time, I am kind of shooting in the dark as to this process of elimination. Mrs. Klein believes that you may have some information, some data for me, that can make this process of elimination less of a guessing game. I am hoping that she is right."
Dr. Argento waits for a moment, eyes staring off in the distance. She stands, moving from around her desk, grabbing the phone from the desk as she approaches Chandra Jain.
"I think we may be of some assistance to you," Argento tells the developer. "As you can imagine, when Mr. Castle came in here – dead, as far as we knew – and then suddenly resurrected himself . . . well, again, as I said, you can imagine we ran a battery of tests and bloodwork on the man. We can share those results with you. That could be a start. Additionally, it is my understanding that when he was afflicted, another drug was added to your little concoction."
"For what purpose?" Chandra asks, genuinely curious. "And what drug? Why was I not informed of this? Knowing this could –"
"I was told – by a friend – that it was added in order to delay the results of your drug," Argento responds, interrupting the developer. "Perhaps knowing this might assist you in . . . how did you say it . . . eliminating variables and options."
"Perhaps," Chandra agrees, as they walk from Dr. Argento's office to the adjacent office where her administrative assistant sits, eyes glued to her monitor as she types on a keyboard.
"Susan," Dr. Argento calls out to the woman at the desk. "Please escort Miss Jain downstairs to the lab on the first floor. I will call ahead to make arrangements."
Turning back to Chandra Jain, Dr. Argento continues.
"You are in good hands, and I shall be down there shortly, with a few technicians and one of our doctors who dealt directly with Mr. Castle," Argento tells her. The woman immediately performs an about-face, walking back into her office. She sits, leaning back, then speaks into her phone.
"So, I am guessing you heard all of that," she tells Sam Carlos. "What do you think?"