Blockbuster

by Lisa von Biela

  “Well it didn’t, and that’s what matters. Get started on the next project. I want another blockbuster—even better than this one. We can talk about timing considerations after we review the new pathogen’s profile. So stop the excuses and get busy, Vince.” Dan sat down and waved his arm in a dismissive gesture. Then he leaned over to snort up another line of Stardust.

  Vince stood and left the room without another word. He didn’t dare utter what he really wanted to say to Dan.

  CHAPTER 25

  Sylvia cleared the dishes from the dinner table, then went to join Todd in the living room. A nice, quiet evening and an early bedtime would suit her just fine.

  “What are you in the mood for tonight?” Todd picked up the remote, powered up the entertainment center, and accessed the scrolling list of movie choices.

  Sylvia let out a muffled groan when she saw the listing for the latest thriller movie: Outbreak III. Way too close to home.

  “Not into watching a movie tonight? Are you okay?”

  Sylvia waved her hand. “No, I’m fine. Just trying to get work out of my mind.”

  Todd set down the control and turned to her. “Sylvia, what’s going on? Last time we talked about it, you were worried about your project—and about Horton. Are things getting better, or not?”

  She tucked her legs up, wrapped her arms around them, and rested her chin on her knees. “The bet-the-farm project—the first one—ended some weeks ago. We didn’t succeed.”

  “What’s Horton going to do?”

  “Well, that was the first bet-the-farm project.”

  “There’s more?”

  Sylvia hesitated as she struggled with how much to reveal. She’d been sworn to secrecy on the competition with Denali because of the president’s involvement, but she hadn’t specifically been told to maintain that level of secrecy on the new project. She presumed she shouldn’t talk about it casually, but Todd was a lawyer. He knew how to keep confidences. And he was her husband now.

  “Yeah, I’m working on a new project with Jerry. If it works as we’re hoping, it could save Horton Drugs.”

  “Sounds important. What is it?” Todd smiled. “Or can you explain it so a mere layman like me can understand?”

  “It’s confidential, so you can’t breathe a word of it to anyone else.”

  Todd held up his hand, Boy Scout-style. “Okay.”

  “We’re coming up with a new drug.” She paused, then decided to trust Todd with the whole truth. “And the pathogen it will act on.”

  A frown creased Todd’s face as he grasped the implications of what she’d said. “What?”

  “Phil says Horton can’t remain operational for much longer—the finances are that bad. So we need to come up with a blockbuster drug. Quickly.” Sensing Todd’s building anger, she stared down at her knees before continuing. “We can’t wait for a new disease to arise and then try to find a cure for it.”

  “So you’re designing your own?” Todd’s jaw hung open as he awaited her answer.

  “’Fraid so.” She squared her shoulders and looked him in the eye. “There’s been scuttlebutt for years that the more successful BigPharma companies have already engaged in this sort of business model, at least once in a while. I don’t know if it’s true.” She shrugged one shoulder. “I have to wonder about Denali Labs, though. They’ve risen way too fast. I especially wonder about Lucracillin and the MRSA-II bacterium.” She gazed across the room as she thought about it some more, then spoke softly, as if to herself. “No, that would have been too risky.”

  Todd put his hand on her shoulder. “Do you hear what you’re saying? Even if other companies have done this, how can you defend the ethics, even to save Horton?”

  “Well…I…can’t, entirely. But we’re being very careful to develop something that isn’t dangerous, just readily transmitted and annoying enough to create a high enough demand for the curing drug to get Horton back on its feet.”

  “How the hell are you managing to do that?”

  Sylvia glanced at Todd and did not like the look on his face. It made her feel like some sort of criminal.

  “Look, it’s not like we don’t understand pathogens and how to analyze them. We wouldn’t release something dangerous. We have equipment that accurately models everything we need to know. We selected a bacteria that was sensitive to a drug we already developed, and we spliced its genes into the MRSA-II organism. According to the models, we got exactly what we wanted: a pathogen with the ready transmission of MRSA-II, with non-life-threatening symptoms, that is readily cured by the compound we already developed—with only the mildest of side effects.”

  “It’s that easy, and nothing can go wrong?” Todd folded his arms and sat back, physically distancing himself from her.

  “Our equipment’s modeling functionality has never been inaccurate.”

  Todd held up his right hand, palm toward her. “Okay, I’m not a scientist. I don’t have your training. I’ll admit that. But this makes me terribly nervous that something will go wrong. Not only that, it’s so deceptive and, frankly, unethical to create demand for your product by developing a pathogen. That is just not right.”

  “What am I supposed to do, Todd? Horton has to stay competitive, or it will close down. In all likelihood, we’re just doing what others have already done, only we’re taking pains to minimize the risk to the public by developing such a benign pathogen.”

  “A benign pathogen? How did you just say that with a straight face?”

  “Quit twisting things. You know what I mean.”

  “I heard you. I just can’t believe you would participate in something like this.” Todd stood. “I’m going to take a shower. I need to get in early tomorrow for a meeting. I can’t quite wrap my head around all this right now.” He turned his back to her and headed upstairs.

  Sylvia remained on the couch, stung by Todd’s anger. She was uncomfortable with the project herself and expected it would concern Todd as well, but she hadn’t expected such a vehement response. She put her head in her hands and sat like that until it sounded like Todd had turned in before she went upstairs to bed.

  CHAPTER 26

  “Let’s check everything over one more time before we go see Phil, okay?” Jerry used their meeting later that morning as an excuse for yet another compulsive check of the test results. Deep in his heart, he feared they had missed something crucial, something that would come back to haunt them at some later date.

  Sylvia let out an impatient sigh. “We’ve already checked and rechecked. The results haven’t changed. But if it will make you feel better…” She tapped a few control icons to display all the test results as they huddled in her ResearchStation pod.

  Jerry peered over her shoulder, hoping that two sets of eyes would be absolutely certain to miss nothing, not even the smallest detail. No amount of checking could possibly suffice for what they were trying to do.

  She scooted her chair aside to give him a better view of the display. “See? Same as before. Flu-like effects, GI distress, and possibly minor skin lesions that would last five to seven days. Just enough to disrupt work and personal lives and create demand for a fast-acting cure, but not enough to cause hospitalizations and major complications—even for vulnerable individuals. See, the drug will be 99.999% effective at the dosage the computer determined, with a .01% chance of mild diarrhea as the only side effect. And the disease will be plenty contagious.” She sat back in her chair and folded her arms. “It’s everything you could ask for—and the report hasn’t changed since the last time you wanted to check.”

  “Very funny.”

  “I wasn’t trying to be funny. I know you’re not comfortable with this. But we’ve done everything possible to minimize risk and still achieve the goal.”

  “I guess. I just can’t believe Horton Drugs has had to stoop to something this low to stay in business. It’s just not how things are done here.”

  Sylvia whirled in her chair to face him. “Get over it! Sometimes I g
et really tired of hearing about the good old days, all right? The world is the way it is now. Our competition has likely been doing this for some time—and probably with much riskier pathogens than we’re planning to use. It’s a matter of survival, and Horton has to change with the times, or just fucking die.”

  Jerry sat silent, wounded by Sylvia’s words. She had never spoken to him like that before. He had thought she at least respected him for his lengthy experience, even if she would probably never find him attractive or return his feelings for her. Instead she seemed to think he was just some old guy who lived in the past and couldn’t keep up. He decided it best to say nothing further about it.

  Maybe he should retire and leave this all behind, if she was right about the new rules of survival. This was not a world he wanted to be a part of.

  * * *

  Phil Horton fidgeted at his desk, hoping Jerry and Sylvia would bring him good news today. He’d had no news of the welcome variety in quite some time. Just yesterday he’d learned of a major unexpected expense he could ill afford. One of the buildings on campus had developed a roof leak that had led to an expensive mess in one of the production areas. What a joy it was to try to run a large company that was already in trouble when he took the reins. Not something he’d ever aspired to, that’s for sure.

  They arrived at the scheduled time, both looking tight-lipped and tense as they took their seats. He prepared himself for some more bad news. “Well, how is the project going?”

  Sylvia spoke without so much as a glance at Jerry. “We’ve created a new pathogen and its curing drug that meet all your requirements.” She proceeded to provide additional detail. “We’ve checked the results multiple times. Looks solid.”

  Phil sat back in his chair, ran a hand through his hair, and let out a long breath. He felt like at least some of the weight had been taken from his shoulders, and that there might just be a hope of saving Horton after all. “Great work. Thank you. This sounds like precisely what we need. Jerry, you’ve been uncharacteristically quiet. Do you have anything to add?”

  He stared at the floor as he answered. “No. I don’t. Sylvia summed it all up just fine.”

  “All right. I’ll make sure we’ll be ready to manufacture and distribute the drug when the time comes. However, given the situation, the sequence of steps to production is going to be, well, unusual. First, we need to figure out how to release the pathogen into the population so the disease becomes emergent. Once it becomes an identified disease, then we must decide how long to make it appear that we’re working on a cure. Then we present it to the FDA for fast-track approval and start marketing, manufacturing and distribution.” He stared at his desktop for a moment. “Sure feels strange to do it this way.”

  Both Sylvia and Jerry remained silent. Jerry appeared to be shaking his head ever so slightly.

  “So—how to get it out there. Any thoughts?”

  “We hadn’t worked that part out yet. I’ll take the lead.”

  “Thank you, Sylvia. Let me know when you have a plan and we can discuss it.”

  “Certainly.”

  “Thanks again, both of you.” Phil couldn’t help but notice the apparent tension between Sylvia and Jerry. He wondered what the problem might be, then decided he had enough to worry about. They could work it out themselves, whatever it was.

  THE RELEASE

  CHAPTER 27

  Sylvia sat alone in the lab and worked on her plan all afternoon. Jerry had been avoiding her since their argument after meeting with Phil last week. She’d never encountered such behavior in a professional environment, and wasn’t quite sure how to react to it. On the one hand, she could really use his expertise in vetting ideas. But on the other hand, he seemed to think he had the market cornered on ethics, and any interaction with him would be fraught with tension and antagonism that she didn’t need right now.

  She set aside the conflict with Jerry and focused on the immediate problem of how to get the new pathogen out into the world. She knew she had to do it herself, not entrust it to someone who wasn’t in on the project. But how could she do it effectively and not get caught?

  The pathogen had to be released someplace where it would likely infect a core set of people who would in turn act as prolific, unknowing vectors for further distribution. That was the key. With its contagion profile, it should take off from there. Sylvia stared into space as she sat before the Pathosym console and ran through various ideas in her head. Then she slapped her hand down on the table. She knew what she needed to do.

  Sylvia went to the supply cabinet at the far end of the lab and looked inside. She selected a half dozen sealed sterile swabs and an equal number of resealable plastic transportation sheathes. The sheathes would allow her to transport the swabs once she loaded them with the pathogen.

  She returned to the Pathosym where she kept several colonies of the new pathogen incubating. With gloved hands, she removed one of the glass petri dishes. One by one, she opened a fresh swab, collected a sample, and then sealed the swab in its individual sheath, taking care not to contaminate the sheath’s outer surface. When she was done, she put the petri dish back in the Pathosym’s incubator chamber, let out a long breath, and flexed her shoulders to relieve the tension that had built up. She gazed down at the neat row of sealed swabs on the counter. Carried this way, they were completely safe. For now.

  CHAPTER 28

  “What are you doing?” Todd appeared in the door of Sylvia’s home office with a puzzled look on his face. He was dressed and ready to leave for school.

  “Oh, I was just checking the bus schedule.”

  “Why? You never take the bus.”

  “Well, I need to go downtown for a meeting today, and I didn’t want to hassle with parking.” She hoped Todd would buy her story and drop the subject. As if it wasn’t bad enough at work with the tension between her and Jerry, a distinct chill had settled into her home life since her argument with Todd about the project. She had too much on her mind this morning to risk rehashing the topic now.

  “Probably take you longer to figure out the schedules and stops when you’re not a regular rider than to just drive in and find parking.”

  “That may be, but I think I’ve figured out what I need now. I just hate that traffic downtown.”

  “All right, whatever.” Todd turned to go. “I’ll probably be a little late tonight. Faculty meeting.”

  “Okay.” Sylvia pretended to sort through her email until she heard the garage door close. Then she picked up her purse and looked inside. The little zipped cosmetic bag containing the swabs looked innocuous enough. And the weather was in her favor. A pair of light gloves would not look out of place—and would conceal the rubber surgical gloves beneath. She donned both pairs of gloves and left for the park and ride.

  * * *

  Sylvia stood at the crowded bus stop, both pleased and disturbed that her research had paid off. Metro Route 554 satisfied her needs in every important way. Judging from the mob of people trying to board, it was a popular rush-hour commuter route, so popular a 554 would arrive at this stop every fifteen minutes for the next two hours. She tried to ignore her pangs of guilt at being so damned clever at figuring out how to turn a pathogen loose on unsuspecting victims.

  The last of the crowd was boarding the bus. It was time to act now. She hesitated, knowing she could still walk away, and wondering if she should. But…they’d taken all possible precautions, hadn’t they? The pathogen wasn’t that potent. No one would die. And if she failed to follow through, Horton would certainly cease to exist.

  She palmed one of the sheathed swabs in her gloved hand and walked up to the bus. She stepped just inside, broke the seal, and trailed her hand along as many surfaces as possible as she approached the driver.

  “Does this bus stop at Spring and Walnut?”

  “No, ma’am. You’ll want the 214 for that. There should be one coming right after the next 554.”

  “Thank you.”

  She stepped ba
ck off the bus and watched it close its door and drive off. Then she turned and hurried to the nearby trash receptacle and disposed of the open swab. Alone now, she sat on the bench and waited for the next 554.

  So far, so good. She’d purposely asked about a stop she knew that bus didn’t make so she would have an excuse to hop right back off. And the bus stop had emptied out for the moment, so when she repeated her little act in fifteen minutes, no one would recognize her and wonder what she was doing.

  Yesterday afternoon, she’d weighed all the pros and cons of different approaches. At first, she’d thought she would stay on the bus and try to contaminate as many surfaces as possible during the ride. But she discarded that idea after playing it through in her mind. Too likely someone would notice her, plus there was the problem of disposal. She wouldn’t want to slip the opened sheath back into her purse, but she also wouldn’t want to be stuck holding it in her gloved hand for the duration of the ride.

  Sylvia figured her chosen approach would maximize the number of people potentially exposed, minimize her own exposure, and allow her to dispose of the swabs without being noticed. She could also contaminate the bus benches when she was done, to aid the spread that much more. And because she’d chosen to carry out her plan during rush hour, all these people would be on their way to work, where they would in turn contaminate surfaces and other people in their offices and help do her work for her. It wasn’t perfect, but it would probably get the job done.

  Soon, people started arriving at the stop for the next 554. Sylvia realized she hadn’t taken bus rider etiquette into account. Everyone appeared to assume she had simply arrived first for the bus and so they queued up behind her. She quickly tried to think if this affected her approach, and then decided it would be more awkward, but still possible, to do her fake inquiry of the bus driver. She took a deep breath to calm herself.