Beyond Control

by Lawrence Verigin

  “A little tact, please,” Carlo raised his voice.

  Günter stayed inside the doorway, quiet.

  “So what’s the procedure?” Carlo asked.

  “It’s all in my doctor’s and Smith’s hands,” Davis said.

  “What about your wife and children?” Carlo asked. “Have you told them?”

  “No, not yet.”

  “How much time is there?” Carlo kept the questions going.

  “I’m devoting all my efforts and resources to help Davis.” The doctor didn’t look up. “This food that you’ve created should be banned. If people don’t stop eating it, there’s going to be an epidemic of this strain of colon cancer.”

  Hendrick, Carlo, and Davis looked at each other. The doctor hadn’t been filled in about what was really going on and the big picture.

  “I want to speak with Dr. Smith,” Carlo said.

  “He should be in the lab.” Hendrick turned to leave the room. “I’ll show you.”

  They went out into the heat and walked back across to the building that housed the offices and lab, but this time to an entrance nearer the main gate of the compound.

  Carlo was conflicted inside. It was one thing to have the masses that he didn’t know or couldn’t put a face to dying from disease of their design, but to see Davis suffering the same fate changed things. What if someone in his own family or any of his true friends suffered? What if he ended up getting the cancer?

  They entered the sterilized coolness of the lab. There were at least ten people in white lab coats working at different stations. They proceeded toward the back where they saw Dr. Smith.

  Dr. Smith was reading a chart and looked up. “Mr. Da Silva. I didn’t know you were coming to visit us.”

  Carlo noticed that the skin around Dr. Smith’s right eye was black and his cheek swollen with a bandage over a cut. “Dr. Smith. What happened to you?”

  Dr. Smith looked from Otto to Hendrick. “I had an accident.”

  Carlo knew he was lying from the way he looked at the two men and from his tone. Why would they be harming the man they needed most? He’d bring it up with Hendrick later. “What’s the latest with the cancer cure?”

  “I think we’ve had breakthroughs on both sides in the last few days.” When Dr. Smith twisted to place the papers in his hand on the stainless-steel table, he cringed as if protecting his ribs.

  Carlo noted that as well. “Tell me.”

  “The immune-suppressive drugs were not extending patients’ lives for more than six months after we removed their colons. The cancer would almost always breach the colon walls and spread into the peritoneum. The patients would be permanently hospitalized, incapacitated, and likely need multiple surgeries.”

  “Not the results we wanted,” Hendrick said. “That’s too hard on the medical systems and not enough profit for us.”

  “With the addition of a new formula of chemotherapy that we’ve redeveloped, it seems we can substantially slow the cancer spread,” Dr. Smith continued, “therefore giving people a better quality of life for I’m hoping our target of three years.”

  “It would slow the spread by that much?” Carlo wished he knew more about science and medicine.

  “I’m pretty sure this could be it,” Dr. Smith said. “We’re beginning the human trials tomorrow. We’ll skip the rodent tests. We have ten people here that have the cancer, and we’ve removed their colons. I should know how well it’s working within two months.”

  “What about Davis?” Carlo asked.

  Dr. Smith leaned against the work bench. “He wouldn’t last two months if we were to wait until the initial testing was done.”

  Carlo took a step toward Dr. Smith. “You’re saying if we give him the chemotherapy now, he may survive longer? Perhaps long enough for you to figure out the permanent cure?”

  “We’ve had progress with the immune-enhancing drugs as well.” Dr. Smith looked optimistic. “Initially we were using synthetic and genetically engineered properties to boost immune systems. We’ve switched to an identical natural organic formula, save one herb. The results in mice changed dramatically, within a day, to the point of tumors shrinking. My theory is within time they will disappear. That’s the route I propose with Mr. Lovemark and five other patients we have here at similar stages.”

  “That sounds better.” Carlo looked at Hendrick. “Then why did you say you were experiencing challenges when you convinced me to come here?”

  “These breakthroughs have only been discovered within the last few days,” Hendrick said.

  Günter was a few feet behind the other men. “Then isn’t it too soon to declare them breakthroughs?”

  “Normally we would conduct another, larger test on mice before we went to human testing, but time is of the essence, especially in Mr. Lovemark’s case,” Dr. Smith said. “We’ll remove his colon and the colons of two others. With the other three subjects, we will leave their colons intact. Then all will receive the same intravenous formula. I feel it will work or be close, and then we can make adjustments.”

  “But if it doesn’t work, it’ll be too late for Davis?” Carlo wasn’t satisfied.

  “I feel at worst it could slow the cancer spread enough to keep him alive until we make further adjustments.” Dr. Smith still sounded optimistic.

  “So …” Carlo pieced it together. “What you’re trying to accomplish is to boost the immune system to the point that the body kills the cancer on its own, right?”

  “That’s correct,” Dr. Smith said.

  “It’s the only chance Davis has,” Hendrick repeated.

  That was enlightening for Carlo. “Wouldn’t that mean that this could potentially cure all types of diseases?”

  Dr. Smith smiled. “Yes.”

  Carlo looked at Hendrick V. He knew that Hendrick IV hadn’t intended on developing such a cure, but it could really help the survivors of the population control plan with all kinds of illnesses. He’d have to make sure Hendrick V saw it that way, and when Günter was ready, that he continued the project. “Good. Hendrick, let’s go back to your office.”

  As they walked down the hall, Hendrick said to Otto, “Why don’t you show Günter the cafeteria in the executive quarters.” He glanced at Günter. “I’m sure you’re hungry and thirsty.”

  Carlo was all right with that and nodded his consent.

  Once in Hendrick’s office, he ushered Carlo to a brown couch in the corner. A sweating pitcher of water with glasses sat on the coffee table.

  Hendrick opened a small fridge. “Would you like water or a light beer? Beer seems to be the only thing that quenches your thirst out here.”

  “Water is fine.” Carlo sat.

  Hendrick took out a beer. “Tell me more about what you’re doing regarding the Internet and your progress. I haven’t been briefed on that.”

  Carlo couldn’t believe how little Hendrick knew about his work with multiple web layering. That’s not what Carlo had come to discuss but liked to take every opportunity to brag about his accomplishments. “To be brief, we’ve almost completed beta testing with great success on a search-data-gathering engine that works behind regular search engines. For everyone who is on the grid, we can collect all types of information, like where they live, what they do, spending habits, health, money, passwords, et cetera—everything about everyone. We’ll have internal access to all computers.”

  “Is the information meant for sale, to generate money?”

  “Information is ultimate power. It’s meant for our own affiliate companies, and we’ll decide who to share it with.” Carlo didn’t think Hendrick really got it but didn’t much care because it wasn’t his forte and he wouldn’t be helping in any way.

  “So as you can see, we’re making progress again with the cancer drugs.” Hendrick changed the subject.

  “Yes, how things change within only a few short days.” Carlo poured himself a glass of water. He preferred it at room temperature.

  “These breakthroughs show w
e’ve been on the right track for some time.” Hendrick sat on the opposite side of the leather couch.

  Carlo sensed he wasn’t telling the whole truth but couldn’t pinpoint the missing part yet. He turned to look at Hendrick straight on. “My main concern is that Davis has the strain of cancer, which means that our safeguards aren’t effective, even so early on. Any one of us could suffer the same fate.”

  Perspiration was forming above Hendrick’s upper lip. “Yes, it seems so.”

  Carlo waited a moment to see if Hendrick would expand his response. That didn’t happen, so he said, “I did some investigating before I came, after my own fields were polluted.”

  “What do you mean about your own fields?”

  “Somehow, either intentionally or by some force of nature, two outer rows of grapes next to my high perimeter fence had been poisoned by glyphosate. Also, Naintosa’s genetically engineered wheat had been found in my ancient grain field.”

  Hendrick took a sip of his beer. “Could it have been from a neighbor’s farm?”

  “There are no neighboring farms,” Carlo said. “So I contacted a cross-section of the operations put aside to grow food for the surviving people; the ones that are meant to stay pure and organic. After they tested, four have had genetically engineered seed contamination and three had abnormally high amounts of glyphosate in their ground water.”

  “I didn’t know that.”

  “How could you not know that Naintosa’s genetically engineered seed is out of control?” Carlo didn’t bother trying to hide his frustration. “Not to mention that glyphosate is showing up in ground water many miles away from where it’s being used. It’s your fucking company now! That wasn’t supposed to happen!”

  “I can’t fucking know everything that’s going on, and this was happening before I took over.” Hendrick sat up straight and pointed his finger at Carlo. “You all knew about seed drift and how its spread cannot be controlled. And glyphosate is a cancer-causing herbicide that of course gets into the ground water around where it’s sprayed and spreads. You can’t be surprised about any of that. You’re one of the people who planned it.”

  “But it’s out of control!” Carlo had to take a deep breath, and it felt like the air conditioner had stopped working. “You have to find a way to get it in check, or we’re all going to get cancer of the ass and die! That surely is not what we’d planned.” Carlo had trusted that Hendrick IV knew what he was doing. Now he realized that he should’ve asked more questions and learned about the process himself. But he wasn’t a scientist.

  “How am I supposed to do that?” Hendrick threw his arms up, spilling his beer. “Is that why you brought my brother here? You really want him to take over? He has even less experience than I do.”

  “I’m hoping he’ll be able to help you when he’s ready. It’s going to take more than just you to get this sorted out.” Carlo was lying. He wanted this little prick gone as soon as possible. “It would’ve been helpful to have your father here.” But you killed him.

  “I never doubted my father’s ability.” Hendrick placed the bottle on the coffee table. “But he created this mess. And now I see that you and Davis had no clue what was happening.”

  “We trusted your father.”

  “And look where that’s gotten us.”

  Carlo took another deep breath. Hendrick was right, but that didn’t change anything now. He decided to move onto another subject. “What really happened to Dr. Smith?”

  Hendrick looked relieved that they were going to talk about something else. “What do you mean?”

  “His face was beat up and his ribs damaged.”

  Hendrick paused as if trying to figure out what to say.

  “The truth.”

  “We’ve discovered that Nick Barnes and Dr. Ivan Popov are in Florencia, and that Dr. Smith met with them. So we had to beat his loyalty back into him.”

  “Hmm. Do you think it worked?”

  “Yes, but we aren’t letting him out of our sight.”

  “Do you know what information he gave them?”

  “He admitted it was about the seed, glyphosate, and neonicotinoids’ uncontrolled spread.”

  “So you did know how bad it was?”

  “Not at the levels you told me about. We didn’t know that our safe farms have been contaminated.” Hendrick chose his words carefully. “It’s worse than the data we have.”

  Carlo’s strong jaw was clenched. “Anything else?”

  “We are continuing to have difficulty with the Plycite gene in corn.”

  What a fucking mess. “What do we do about Barnes and Popov? How long ago did they meet?”

  “Six days ago.”

  Carlo wasn’t normally impulsive, he was more calculating. But in light of what was happening to his friend Davis and the challenges with the plan, he had an urge to lash out at someone. He’d been more tolerant of Barnes and his group than the others; however, now it was time to finally get rid of them. What a better place to disappear people than the Colombian jungle? “Do you know where they are?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Do you know how they communicated?”

  “There’s a place in Florencia where they leave notes for each other.”

  “Was there supposed to be another meeting?”

  “Yes, Dr. Smith was going to give them information on the cancer drugs.”

  Carlo rubbed his chin and thought. “Well then, let’s set up that meeting.”

  CHAPTER 34

  May 30, 2003

  Moving as quietly as I could, so as not to disturb Sue, I sat up and propped my back against the wall. During our meditations since we’d arrived in Florencia, the energy seemed awkward and we’d had trouble getting calm and clearing our minds. I wanted to try on my own.

  I focused on my breathing and yawned. I was still sleepy. Breath going in, breath coming out, in and out …

  Jack went down flat on his face. I ran up to him through the sandy leaf-strewn soil. His Rottweiler, Moose, sniffed Jack’s lower leg and whimpered.

  There was someone beside me; it was Morgan.

  She took his right shoulder, I took his left, and we pulled him up.

  “Can you move?” I asked.

  “It’s my ankle.” Jack cringed.

  “They’re right behind us,” Morgan said. “I can hear them.”

  We wrapped Jack’s arms around us and pulled him forward.

  “Don’t think about it, just run,” Morgan said with a grunt.

  Moose stayed right beside us.

  We pushed forward from the beach to the jungle, where there was shade from the burning heat. Fatigue ran through all of us. Jack looked like he was on the verge of passing out.

  All of a sudden it was Morgan in the middle, and Jack and I supporting her. Progress was slow through the dense foliage. Sharp branches and plants were scraping at our exposed arms and legs, stinging and bloodying them. We couldn’t stop.

  We stumbled into a clearing where there was a barbed-wire fence around dilapidated buildings. Sue was inside the enclosure, holding a crying baby wrapped in a white cloth. She was staring at us with fear in her eyes. We couldn’t see a way in.

  My right foot caught on a root, and I flipped into a ravine that appeared out of nowhere. I kept rolling until I hit the bottom and stopped.

  Gunshots rang out.

  Jack crumpled to the ground.

  Morgan fell backward over the edge and landed in my arms, dead!

  Thud.

  I felt pain in my left shoulder and head as I landed on something hard and cool. I forced my eyes open. I was on the floor. Had I fallen asleep and dreamed, or was that a meditative vision?

  Sue looked over the edge of the bed. “What happened?”

  “I had a nightmare, fucking awful one.” I was shaking.

  “What was it about?”

  I explained every vivid detail.

  “I don’t know what to say,” Sue said after I’d finished. “That’s pretty screwed
up.”

  “I know.”

  Sue got out of bed. “It’s like the past coming to haunt you … mixed with some possible future.”

  Everyone was to meet in the living room.

  Lee and I were the first ones there.

  “How are you doing?” I took a seat on a thick-cushioned chair.

  He was looking out the window and turned to me. “You saw that I’m still having trouble moving. I should’ve waited until I was of more use before I came.”

  “Well, I don’t think you’re ready to go out into the jungle,” I said. “But it’s good that you’re here. You can still help.”

  He nodded.

  Ivan came into the room and sat down in another chair. “Lee, is everything in order with Jack’s estate?”

  With tentative steps, Lee went to a chair and took a seat. “It’ll still take a while for everything to be sorted out, but there don’t seem to be any real problems. I’m hoping the funds will be released within a few months. I’m still surprised that no one in the Carter family is contesting that you all are benefiting.”

  “They have enough of their own money,” Ivan said.

  Sue was going to the couch. “The rich always want more.”

  “As we thought, Tom Crane is trying to buy Moile R&D,” Lee said.

  “He wanted it while Jack was alive,” I said. “Now that he’s passed …”

  “He has to have an ulterior motive,” Sue said.

  “Or he just wants to shut it down because of his oil and gas interests,” Lee said.

  “Maybe he wants to use it to test water for extraction,” Ivan said. “We all know that clean water is becoming more valuable than oil.”

  I’d thought of that business use as well, earlier, and had wanted to talk to Jack about it when this was all over.

  The rest of the group entered the living room.

  I remembered a question I’d forgotten to ask. “Lorraine, did you ever find out who Furyk and Stenson really worked for?”

  Lorraine was wearing a thin white sleeveless cotton dress that looked very feminine. “It’s confirmed that they are both CIA counterintelligence officers.”

  “Were you able to find out who was giving them orders?” Jorge asked.