The Proteus Cure Read online

  All because he, Gerald Kaplan, M-freaking-D, Ph-goddamn-D, had developed the stem-cell therapy that had cured her. All by himself. No help from anyone, thank you very much. His own stinkin’ lab. Those were the days. A private lab, employees, a wife … things had been pretty damn good for Jerry Kaplan. Yeah, he’d been Jerry back then. Pulled out all the stops. Big house, a Porsche … he researched so many hours that his wife “had to seek out affection.” He banged down his glass. Fuck her. Seek out affection. Hah!

  “I’ve been living just fine without affection since you left, Loretta!”

  Whoa, he’d made himself dizzy.

  The therapy. He’d found venture capital and then he was even richer. But then the shit hit the fan. Loretta left him, then the disturbing side effects in the KB26 clinical trials. Similar to the side effects Tanesha Green was experiencing. He ran test after test. Conclusion: Yes it cured the incurable but it could be devastating to the human genome.

  So he pulled it from trials. Then the money dried up and next thing he was working in a city clinic. But he had picked himself up over the years, got into a group practice. He’d thought his therapy dead, gone, erased from the face of the Earth. No harm done.

  Obviously not.

  Someone had stolen it, looted it.

  He didn’t know who that someone was, but he was pretty damn sure of the middlemen.

  Had their number. Thank God he’d looked it up earlier. No way he could have found it in his present state.

  He was going to call them. Goddamn call the scheming, no-conscience bastards right now and tell them that the chickens are coming home to roost and that the inevitable global opprobrium and financial ruin to follow will be but a fraction of what they deserve.

  He reached for the phone but his hand stopped halfway.

  Those same chickens would roost on him too. Yeah, he’d abandoned the therapy as soon as he knew its side effects, but he’d been the innovator. His name was on the patent.

  No.

  He withdrew his hand. No call.

  The gun he kept in the closet for emergencies—maybe that was his best way out. Turn them in, then blow his brains out. But he felt too woozy to haul himself off the couch.

  Scared too. Too scared to kill himself or turn anyone in.

  Best to keep his head down, and make plans to leave, disappear. Maybe even pray … pray that he wouldn’t be dragged into the coming shit storm.

  Gerald sobbed.

  If only they’d left it alone, no one ever would have known.

  He grieved for the poor, poor woman who had no idea what lay ahead of her.

  ABRA

  Abra watched Billy drive away. He was tipsy but it was only a quarter of a mile home. Still, she wished he hadn’t drunk so much. Abra sighed. She wished a lot of things.

  Like this problem with the VG723 swap. Kelly Slade’s symptoms might well bring Tethys tumbling down despite what Billy had said. “Under control,” he’d insisted, but she knew he sometimes skewed the truth to protect her. Heart of gold. Such a good boy.

  She remembered how bleak life had been before he was born. So lonely. The broken bones and the pain, those she could handle—but the loneliness … sitting on piles of pillows with her dolls … never allowed to play with other kids. She was like a China doll, Mama said, and if she ever played rough she’d smash like a teacup.

  Someone might fall on you and you might die. Then we won’t have a little girl anymore.

  A long, painful, lonely childhood until, when she was eleven, dear Billy was born.

  She squinted into the distance until she saw his car pull safely into his driveway and his garage. He’d made it home safe and now she could relax.

  SHEILA

  Sheila was used to long work days but this had been a doozy. The great news about Sean, the terrible news about Kelly, Bill’s mood, the “date” with Paul, Coogan getting hit … and then the ER and Paul’s fit about his paternity.

  God, what a day.

  She managed to wash her face, brush her teeth, and stumble toward her bed. She stripped off her clothes, threw them on the floor, then donned one of Dek’s old sweatshirts. Within minutes she felt sleep pulling her into its embrace …

  What was that?

  She popped her eyes open and looked around. Nothing. The moon shone bright through the skylight and lit up the room. Empty. The noise had come from downstairs … a soft sound, but one that didn’t belong, something that had set off her internal alarm and roused her.

  Was someone in the house? She sat up in bed and tried to catch her breath. Listening.

  But then no more sounds. No footsteps, no creaking floors. A full five minutes went by. Still nothing.

  Did she imagine the whole thing?

  She lay back and stared at the ceiling, listening. Nothing. Only her rapid heartbeat.

  Slam!

  The kitchen door shut. No mistaking that noise. She grabbed the cordless phone to call 9-1-1 but stopped. Tethys security would be quicker. They patrolled all night and could be here within seconds.

  She dialed the main number, hit 4 for security, then 1 for emergency.

  Shen Li, the chief of security for Tethys, answered.

  “Thank God you’re there, Mr. Li. This is Sheila Takamura from the gardener’s house. I heard someone in my house. I think he left but I don’t know. Please come over.”

  “I am nearby, Doctor Takamura. Making rounds. I will be right there. No more sounds?”

  “I don’t know. No sounds, but maybe he’s hiding. I’m afraid to leave my room.”

  “I am approaching front of your house now. I hang up and call you back after I search outside. You stay in room.”

  Sheila already felt better and held the cordless to her like a security blanket.

  Minutes later Li called back. “All clear outside. I will search inside. Kitchen door is unlocked. Am coming in.”

  Unlocked? Then someone had been here. Could still be here. Sheila huddled deeper under her blankets.

  “All clear down here, Doctor,” he called up to her. “May this one come up for search?”

  “Well, I didn’t hear anyone come up the stairs.”

  “He could go up while you asleep. Maybe he very quiet. I come up?”

  God, he was right. The burgular could be hiding anywhere. Right in this room, even. She fished her jeans off the floor and turned on the light.

  “Come on up.”

  Shen Li appeared in her doorway. He nodded hello but said nothing. He had a strange presence. His manner was humble and deferential, though his compact frame was thickly muscled. And his eyes … his onyx eyes were arresting in the most literal sense: They stopped people in their tracks.

  Li checked all the upstairs bedrooms and closets in minutes.

  “All safe here too. No prowler. No danger here tonight.”

  “Thank you. I guess I was just being paranoid.”

  “No, someone was here. Door unlocked, branches in bush broken. Not paranoid. But he gone now. Anything missing?”

  She walked downstairs and started looking around. “My laptop. Oh, no. All my stuff was on that.”

  Well, at least they’d left the PC. She scanned the rest of her home office, then walked into the kitchen.

  “My purse! Oh damn, it was right here on the table.”

  “You have lot of cash in wallet?”

  “I think about fifty dollars. But my camera was in it. I need that camera. I had pictures on it I can’t get back.”

  “Life you cannot get back. Camera is replaceable, no?”

  “You’re right, of course.” He had a wonderful way of putting things in perspective. “Thank you.”

  “Most likely man who want money for drugs take your things but I will call police and take care of this. They investigate. What was value of items?”

  “I guess about $2500. I can file a claim with my house insurance.”

  He nodded. “Good night then. I bring police papers to you tomorrow for signing. You rest now, D
octor Sheila. This one will keep eye on your house, make sure no one comes back.”

  “Thank you again.”

  She led him out, turned the deadbolt and went upstairs. She turned on her bedroom light, took off her jeans, and stared at the ceiling, listening.

  “ ‘You rest now, Doctor Sheila,’ ” she said in Li’s accent. “ ‘This one will keep eye on your house.’ ”

  She smiled and suddenly her exhaustion outweighed her fear.

  TWO

  SHEILA

  Sheila awoke early and downed two cups of coffee before she headed to her office.

  When she got in she called her bank and all the credit card companies. She walked over to get a new Photo ID. Luckily her image was stored in they system. The way she looked today her photo would have been a mess.

  The business done, she called Abra to see if she was free for lunch.

  The phone rattled as Abra said she was doing some work in her clinic today and couldn’t get away.

  “How about dinner?” Abra offered. Rattle, rattle.

  Sheila wanted to see her sooner. She needed to talk to someone and get this all off her chest.

  “What if I pick us up lunch from the caf and bring it to the clinic?”

  Abra thanked her and said she’d see her at twelve on the dot. Sheila didn’t need Abra’s order. She knew it by heart: a BLT with mayo on whole wheat bread, ruffled chips on the side, and a can of Sprite.

  Sheila loved going to the fertility clinic. Seeing those women, so anxious and depressed when they walked in and so happy when they left. Walls of pictures of their infants lined the halls. Each photo tangible proof of the ability of medicine, and specifically Tethys, to perform miracles.

  When she hung up, the phone rattled a little more. She shook it.

  What was that? A loose wire?

  The sound seemed to be coming from the mouthpiece. She unscrewed it and a little black disk fell out. Her first thought was that something had broken off. Then it occurred to her that it looked like an electronic bug. She smiled at the thought.

  Who’d want to bug me?

  Then she noticed the adhesive coating on the surface. She’d never seen one in real life but had watched enough detective shows to know that bugs were usually stuck in out-of-the-way places.

  Like inside a phone …

  Oh my God. The break in. And now a bug. Her chest tightened and she felt pressure behind her eyes. Her heart pounded. Who would want to bug me?

  She bolted from her chair and ran downstairs.

  BILL

  Bill pulled into the Tethys lot, smiling. Last night had gone down perfectly. Had to hand it to Shen, the man knew his stuff. Made enough noise to awaken Sheila but not terrify her. Alarm her just enough to call security. And he snagged her camera.

  Now they could drop the Kelly incident and move on. And who knew? The way things were going, maybe the other woman who received the errant VG723 would never surface.

  Yes, it was shaping up to be a great day.

  He walked into his office and was surprised to see Sheila. She was holding out her hand and looking angry.

  “Look at this!”

  He repressed a gasp when she dropped a bug into his hand. He had to fake looking puzzled, but no problem looking shocked. When he’d hired Sheila, he’d had her office wired for audio and visual surveillance. He’d needed to monitor her, make sure her husband hadn’t told her about his investigation of Tethys before Shen had silenced him. How the hell had she found it?

  “What is it?”

  “A bug—an electronic bug! In my phone! What’s going on, Bill?”

  He held it closer pretending to examine it.

  “Are you sure? I’ve never seen one.”

  “Me either until now. It was in the mouthpiece of my office phone.”

  “This is crazy!”

  He put the bug on his desk and hung up his coat.

  “Bill, it’s got me spooked. Who’d be listening in on me? And last night someone broke into my house.”

  “I heard about that. Shen called me first thing this morning. He said they took your purse and laptop.”

  “Along with my camera. So much for Kelly’s pictures.”

  “Are you all right? You weren’t hurt?”

  “It was while I was sleeping. They took my things and left. It was scary, Bill. I feel violated.”

  Such a typical female term.

  “Sheila, there’s no need to get dramatic. Robberies happen all the time. I’m sure it was random.”

  “A robbery where they take my laptop and camera, and the next day this?” She pointed to the bug. “It’s not random—that’s a pattern. But why me?”

  What to say? How to explain it? Next time Shen had better use a stronger adhesive.

  Then he had an idea.

  “I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts it was VecGen’s competition, GenEon. They’ve been snooping into VecGen’s secrets for years.”

  GenEon didn’t go near oncology but he had read an article about their being accused of corporate espionage. And they were in the stem cell field.

  “You think? And they’re watching me?”

  “I’ll bet they’ve bugged a lot of phones. Looking for corporate secrets. Did you have any patient files on your laptop?”

  “Yeah, some, but Dave Ellis in IT encrypted my hard drive so if anyone stole it they couldn’t access my files. It’s technology from the Navy. At least that’s what he told me.”

  Bill picked up the bug. “Look, I’ll call Shen and have him do a sweep of all the offices.”

  “Do you think they’ll come back?”

  “Doubt it—not with Shen keeping an eye out. We’ll get rid of all the bugs and whoever it was will go away.” Bill was thrilled she seemed to be buying this. “Do you need the day off? After last night you must be exhausted.”

  “No, I’m okay. I’ll turn in early tonight.”

  Good girl, he thought.

  “I’m meeting Abra for lunch. That’ll bolster my spirits.”

  Oh, hell. How was he going to explain the bug to Abra? Well, he’d give her the GenEon story too. She’d have no way to disprove it. Shen would do a sweep, pretend to find and remove half a dozen others, and that would be the end of it. And during the sweep he’d replace Sheila’s in a new location with a lot more glue.

  “It’s a stroke of luck you found this. Who knows how long it’s been going on? I’ll get Shen on it right away.”

  Sheila got up and walked out.

  So much for a calm, smooth, easy morning.

  TANESHA

  Tanesha Green looked around.

  Well, here she was again, back in an examining room. Second one in two days. Why did they all look alike? Did doctors all order their rooms from some catalog?

  They all had to order these dumb-ass paper capes from the same place.

  Tanesha dried her sweaty palms on the cape. Lordy she was nervous. That quack at the Penner clinic had her running scared. The way he’d washed his hands of her like … like Pontius Pilate. Did he think she was a lost cause?

  Worry wouldn’t go away and had kept her up all night. If she didn’t find an answer soon—

  The door opened and Tanesha almost puddled up and bawled as Dr. Takamura stepped in. At last, a friendly face.

  She remembered how gentle and caring she’d been back in the VG723 days, treating her like a real person, not some number. Everything here was numbers—numbered people getting numbered treatments. But Doc Takamura had been different.

  “Tanesha?” she said, frowning and knitting her brows as she looked down at the chart and up again. “You look …”

  “Different?” Tanesha bit back a sob. “I know. That’s why I’m here.”

  Dr. Takamura didn’t look any different though. Didn’t look a minute older than back when Tanesha was taking the cancer cure. Same reddish blond hair, same bright blue eyes and freckled nose, same slim body—Tanesha would kill for that body. Or would have before her skin and hair had star
ted changing. Now she’d keep the blubber—she’d love the blubber if she could just get back to her old self.

  “I … I …”

  The look on Dr. Takamura’s face made Tanesha’s heart stumble. Her expression reminded her of that Dr. Kaplan.

  “What’s wrong? Why you lookin’ me like that?”

  “Because …” She stepped closer and touched Tanesha’s hair, then her skin. “Your skin’s half a dozen tones lighter.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  “And your hair …”

  “Is coming in straight and light brown. I knows all that. What I don’t know is why. That’s what I needs to know.” She felt a tear roll down her cheek. “I’m scared, doc. Really scared. I don’t know what’s happening to me.”

  Now the locked-up sob broke free. Tanesha squeezed her eyes shut to hold off a complete meltdown. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Dr. Takamura staring into her eyes.

  “We’ll lick this, Tanesha,” she said, her voice soft but firm. “But first we have to find out what’s causing it. When we know that, we can start working on returning you to normal.”

  Tanesha grabbed her hand and squeezed. “I knew you’d help. What’s happening to me?”

  Dr. Takamura shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  That didn’t sound so good. Tanesha felt her faint hope fading.

  “Girl, you saying you ain’t never seen nothin’ like me before?”

  “As a matter of fact I have. Just recently.”

  Tanesha could’ve started bawling again. She wasn’t the only one.

  “What was wrong?”

  Dr. Takamura looked away. “I didn’t get a chance to work her up.”

  “But you gonna work me up, right?”

  She smiled. “Six ways from Sunday. We’ll start with blood tests, then I’m sending you to Doctor Haskins.”

  “Who’s he?”

  “A dermatologist.”

  “Hope he better than the one I been to.”

  “He’s tops. He’s going to look you over, then take a skin biopsy and do a hair analysis. First we find out what’s going wrong—the changes in the tissues that are making this happen. Then we find out why. Once we know the what and the why, we can start figuring out how to fix it.”