This book is a work of fiction. All characters portrayed in this novel are entirely fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is entirely co-incidental.
Dedications
This book is dedicated to Caroline, John, Gordon, Cordula, Laura, Dera and Emma.
PROLOGUE
Lehman leaned over his beautiful wife as she lay sleeping and gently kissed her on the forehead.
‘See you tomorrow, mein Liebling’, he whispered before slipping silently out of the room.
It was another red-eye special for Professor Karl Lehman that morning, the fourth in a month. A world-renowned Epidemiologist, he was on his way to the Meditech conference in Germany to present his latest research paper on Respiratory diseases.
He looked at his watch. It was 04:30. The drive to Zurich International to catch a 07:30 flight to Frankfurt should take no more than ninety minutes. He would make that in good time he reckoned as the automatic doors opened at the front of the double garage.
Getting in to his car, he noticed a side entrance door was ajar.
‘That’s strange,’ muttered Lehman and thought nothing more about it as he sat in.
The BMW burst into life on the first touch of the button. Driving out of the garage he checked his rear-view mirror and saw the automatic doors closing behind him as he started down the winding driveway. He slowed to a stop while the electronic gates gently swung open before him. He quickly popped open his briefcase resting on the front passenger seat for one final check of his conference papers and memory stick.
‘All present and correct,’ noted the Professor exiting his country residence and heading straight for Zurich airport.
Traffic was light at that time of the morning and the sun had not yet appeared above the horizon. The BMW sped along, enveloped in the muted darkness of the south Zurich countryside. Two kilometers from the Gotthard road tunnel, he glanced in his rear-view mirror and saw a motorcycle approaching rapidly from behind, the machine’s twin headlamps on full beam. Lehman continued towards the tunnel, becoming increasingly distracted by the glare. He could make-out a rider and what he thought might be a pillion passenger clad in black leathers, their faces covered by tinted visors. The bike remained behind the car as it entered the tunnel. Lehman felt a certain unease as he stared through the rear-view mirror at the dark sinister machine he instinctively knew was following him. Seeing an empty carriageway in front of him, Lehman gunned the BMW through the tunnel before resetting the cruise control.
Three hundred meters further along, the rider pressed a red button on a small console mounted on his handle-bars. Lehman never heard the gentle hiss of carbon monoxide starting to escape from a small cylinder secretly concealed earlier beneath his seat. The car quickly filled with the gas, a silent killer, no smell, no taste, just lethal.
He started to feel dizzy and light headed. Black spots formed in front of his eyes while he fought to keep control of the car.
The Professor became confused but knew instinctively he had to try and do something quickly like open a window or put his foot on the brake. His life started to flash before his eyes as he struggled to stay conscious. He quickly became immobilized, finally losing all sense of awareness.
He slumped back in his seat while the BMW’s cruise control kept the vehicle at a constant speed.
The car veered gently to the right before bouncing up on the curb and glancing off the tunnel wall. A loud scraping noise filled the air while sparks flew out in all directions from the metal in contact with the wall.
Two hundred meters further-on lay a wide, deep Service recess.
‘I can’t find the window button. They’re trying to kill me,’ he yelled silently in his mind.
Now slumped motionless, his stagnant countenance no longer mirroring his inner turmoil. ‘Oh my God! Nicole! Will it all end like this?’
The car careered on before veering to the right and smashing head-long into a reinforced concrete siding, the front of the car disintegrating on impact.
Like a crash test dummy, Lehman’s limp body was propelled forwards and downwards. His face smashed against the steering assembly, inflicting fatal blunt force injuries. Lehman’s world quickly went black.
The pair on the motorcycle rapidly came to a stop behind the crumpled smoking wreck.
The pillion rider sprang from his seat, ran to the car and forced open the driver’s door.
An eye witnesses would later report a benevolent motorcyclist rushing to the aid of the stricken driver immediately after the collision.
He scanned the mangled and bloodied interior before removing a device from underneath the Professor’s seat.
The leather clad figure, clasping the gadget in one hand, quickly clambered back onto the motorcycle before the two sped away from the scene in the direction of Zurich.
1
Harry Parker was running down a dark narrow passage, lit by small flaming torches, evil clinging to every inch of the granite walls. Ghoulish faces appeared in front of him like a dark ride at a carnival park, death-like in the flickering torch light. He raced along in fear of his life before the narrow passage veered sharply to the right. He found himself on a pathway leading to a river bank. The water was black, eerie and fast flowing. The wind shrilled while the rain beat against his face.
A car floating in the torrent bobbed up and down precariously close to the bank. Trapped in her seat, a blond-haired woman desperately struggled to free herself in the faint morbid light of the passenger compartment, the only thing visible in a sea of blackness that threatened to engulf her.
Parker tried desperately to reach out to the woman while she clawed vainly on the inside of the wind shield. His right arm was fully extended over the rapidly flowing water while he clung-on to a wrought iron railing with the other. Clasping a small rock, the out-stretched limb felt weak and paralyzed. He desperately tried to smash the passenger window but strangely, he could not move his arm.
The woman became still and stopped trashing about. She stared back through the windshield at the figure reaching out to her. A sinister half smile spreading across her face, she beckoned him towards her with sluggish hooked fingers while the car slowly sank and disappeared into the black abyss.
A strange buzzing sound completely encircled Parker while he stared at the spot where the car had just gone down………. He awoke with a start. The radio alarm in his hotel room had sounded and the buzzing noise soon stopped.
A DJ’s voice jabbered ‘Good morning! It’s 7:00 a.m. Time to rise and shine in this wonderful city of ours……’
Doctor Harry Parker gathered his thoughts as he stared up at the ceiling, spread eagled in his king-sized bed. The conference organizers insisted on the opulence of five-star accommodation, the best that Las Vegas could offer; the Hotel Cosmopolitan on Las Vegas Boulevard. He was there to present a research paper on his latest developments in coronary stent technology.
‘Fuck that,’ he muttered before he got out of bed and went into the bathroom. It was the third time in a month he had this recurring nightmare.
While he stood under the shower his heart was still pounding from the disturbing image of the drowning woman still on his mind. He finished with a blast of cold water to bring himself around before grabbing a towel.
When finished dressing, he retrieved the morning newspaper from the Landing floor outside his door.
A glossy conference brochure lying beside the newspaper caught his eye: International symposium on ‘Occupational Stress and CHD’ (Coronary Heart Disease). He opened the cover and saw himself smiling back from a glossy inside page. He read the editorial profile with a bemused expression on his face.
Dr. Harry Parker, a Cardiologist by profession i
s also an accomplished entrepreneur, adventurer and businessman. Educated at a Public school in Oxford, England, he attended Cambridge University to study medicine specializing in Cardiology. After graduating and following a successful internship at a leading Cardiothoracic Hospital, north of London, he became a qualified heart surgeon and worked successfully in this role for ten years, the last two years spent working at a field hospital in Angola, South West Africa. He returned to London and devoted his time to medical research and his many business interests. He owns international patents on certain medical devices including an artificial heart valve and the latest Stent Technology. Recently he was appointed an official medical Advisor to the British Government and regularly advises Government sub committees on medical issues concerning public health.
‘If the conference organizers only knew the half of it,’ reflected Parker as he placed the brochure on the table beside the bed.
He checked his mobile phone for any messages. Nothing urgent! One from the conference organizers about a small schedule change to the afternoon session, one from Delta about his return flight to London the next day, the rest were junk mails.
Following a light continental breakfast, he headed to the conference area where he was to give the opening keynote address at the start of proceedings and later that afternoon, present his paper.
The hotel’s two guest towers were situated directly above the three floors of convention space and meeting rooms; strategically-placed elevators and escalators allowed for quick and convenient transition from leisure time to meeting time.
The large conference room quickly filled up and the buzz and chatter of delegates, some twelve hundred strong, filled the room.
At precisely 8:30 a.m. the conference began. The Chairman stood up, addressed his audience and welcomed all to the venue.
He paused momentarily and in a somber tone he continued. ‘It is with great sadness that the conference organizers learned of the premature death of our esteemed colleague Professor Karl Lehman who died in a road traffic accident four week ago today, near Zurich, Switzerland.’
There were loud gasps of surprise in the Auditorium.
‘He was a prime mover in cardiovascular medicine and more recently he carried out pioneering work in the field of Epidemiology where he was developing the next generation of antibiotics to counteract superbugs like MRSA. Professor Lehman was a pillar of the medical profession. He would surely have been here with us today but for his tragic death. His loss will be deeply felt by all who were associated with him. The conference committee has sent a letter extending the committee’s deepest sympathies to his wife, Nicole. He was a magnificent ambassador for his profession and commanded global respect for his handling of many complex global issues, giving direction and leadership in research initiatives targeted at finding solutions to a range of human diseases. He presented countless research papers on new and innovative procedures to address the onset of Endocarditis following artificial heart valve insertions. We know he was on the cusp of a major break-through in this field of study. We would now ask you all to stand and observe a minute’s silence in his honor.’
Parker was gutted. He had totally missed reports of Lehman’s death.
He had been away in Australia on what he told people was an adventure holiday with some buddies; a four-week survival course with no technology, total black out, a boot camp that tested him to his limit. This was the one time in the year when he reconnected with his old ‘Angolan Comrades’ and felt most alive when living on the edge.
He knew Lehman professionally and had sat at the top table with him, co-chairing many international conferences over the last number of years. They had spent many nights together sitting in hotel lounges over a glass of cognac, discussing developments in coronary care and swopping war stories from the global medical world.
Parker once spent a weekend at Lehman’s country estate in Zurich a year after they became acquainted. He had been well entertained by his gracious host and his beautiful wife, Nicole.
He recalled feeling more than a little embarrassed at the time by the high praise Lehman expressed in front of Nicole for his ‘philanthropic’ work in Africa during the Angolan Civil War when a third outbreak of hostilities occurred there during the late nineties.
The intrepid Doctor had quickly become a close friend of Lehman and shared some deeply held secrets with him.
When he rose to his feet after a minute’s silence to deliver the keynote address, he expressed to the assembled delegates his profound personal shock having just received the dreadful news.
Now drained and mentally distracted, he felt his mouth going dry as he prepared to speak. He paused in front of his audience momentarily, took a drink of water while he gathered his thoughts and regained his composure. He looked up, ran his hand through his hair and with his innate self-confidence, delivered the opening keynote speech to this large gathering of medical professionals.
2
3 Months earlier - New York City, New York, USA
Stepping onto a Delta Airlines Boeing 787 bound for New York, Karl Lehman and his business partner Dr. Martin Philips were travelling to the Big Apple to meet an executive from law firm Westland-Fitzgerald.
The law firm whose clients were a medium sized investment company, recently contacted Lehman about his medical research, wanting to discuss a business proposal with him and his partner Dr. Philips. The law firm alluded to a generous sum their clients were willing to invest in Lehman and Philips SA.
Arriving at Westland-Fitzgerald, off Madison Avenue, they were escorted to a large meeting room. A Senior Vice President met them and introduced the visitors to three other people representing the law firm including a medical consultant.
‘Gentlemen,’ began the senior executive. ‘Our client is a medium to large-sized private equity company with a diverse portfolio of investments in many business sectors including considerable positions in various drug company stocks. The firm is concerned about media reports relating to your research into antibiotics and bacterial infections. They understand the outcome of your research will be a game changer in terms of how infectious diseases are treated, particularly hospital-acquired infections most notably MRSA. As with all major discoveries, there are winners and losers. My clients would suffer a significant drop in Market Cap when your research is made public. Our clients understand they cannot hold back the tide of progress indefinitely. They would like to negotiate a deal to buy time to reduce their exposure before you go public with your research. Of course, before any figures can be discussed we would need to see evidence of your research findings. These details will be treated highly confidentially. To move things forward we are willing to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) with you right now. In fact, we have a signed version right here on the table.’
The senior lawyer handed the document across to his visitors. Lehman was livid about a request to slow down or stop his research work. This development on the face of it appeared quite unethical and at the very least, irregular. He and Dr. Philips had accepted the all-expenses-paid invitation to travel to New York expecting they wanted to buy shares in Lehman & Philips SA, to bring management expertise into the organization, to bring about changes in company structures and shorten the time to market for an emerging drug product. Lehman decided to keep his powder dry for a while longer and see what might transpire. He perused the NDA and handed it to Dr. Philips who quickly scanned through it, running his finger along the document, line by line.
Philips glanced at Lehman. ‘This is a pretty standard NDA, Karl. It should give us adequate protection.’
Lehman signed the document before handing it back to the lawyer, so business could proceed.
The senior lawyer sat up straight in his chair. ‘Now what have you got to show us?’
Lehman removed a CD from his brief case and handed it across the table.
The other lawyer placed the CD in a laptop connected to an overhead projector. Lehman and Philips had produced an audio
-visual presentation of their work. All four Westland Fitzgerald executives listened to the presentation with growing interest and amazement.
After ten minutes, the senior lawyer raised his hand and the first lawyer clicked the stop button. ‘I have absolutely no medical background. However, what we have seen and heard this morning in your presentation is truly a ground-breaking development. While you have not been too specific about various details of your research for obvious reasons, we can certainly get a clear understanding of the significance of this medical breakthrough.’
‘Yes indeed, I concur. Quite remarkable,’ declared the medical consultant.
The senior lawyer stood up. ‘I will advise my client at once based on what we‘ve seen here this morning that they certainly do have much to discuss with Lehman & Philips SA. No question!’
He adjourned the meeting temporarily, left the room followed by the medical consultant and the other two lawyers for a private consultation with their client, leaving Lehman and Philips alone at the table.
Twenty minutes later, the two Westland-Fitzgerald lawyers returned.
The senior Vice President described the client company’s predicament and how they had come to hear of Professor Lehman’s work and how they had such respect for him as a world authority in epidemiology and infectious diseases.
‘My clients have read outline reports of your research in the New York Times.’
Looking directly at Lehman he continued. ‘They knew such reports coming from someone as celebrated as you would be taken on board at once and without question by all of your peers in the medical profession. I have been authorized to agree in principle an offer on their behalf if I am satisfied with the evidence that has been presented at this meeting. I am now able to make this offer based on what you have presented here today.’
Lehman remained stum and the silence in the room added drama to the proceedings.
The Karl Lehman Affair Page 1