CHAPTER 27
FBI special agent in charge Nicholas Fowler’s administrative assistant stuck her head in his office door and said, “Got a phone call holding for you, boss. Line one.”
“Who is it, Betty?”
“It’s from the surveillance team you’ve got assigned to that rich oil man, J.P. Ashby.”
“Okay, I’ll take it.”
He grabbed his phone and punched line one. “Yeah, Fowler.”
“Hey, boss,” special agent David Butler said. “Got a couple of interesting sound recordings and videos we think you should hear.”
“Interesting how?”
“Well, to begin with, this is not about Ashby’s usual tricks of bribing low-level employees of Exxon or Mobil to give him advance notice of oil field acquisitions or paying labor union officials so he can overwork his oil field employees. It’s something completely out of the ordinary for him, so I thought you ought to take a look sooner rather than later.”
“So, Ashby is branching out and learning new ways to break federal laws?”
“Uh, I’m not sure yet, boss, but I am sure that this is something weird and strange and completely out of character for the way Ashby’s been operating for the past six months that we’ve been listening to him.”
Fowler threw his pen down on the desk, leaned back, and put his feet up on the corner. “Give me a brief overview before I listen to the tapes.”
“A couple of weeks ago, he hired this private eye to put surveillance on a team of doctors and scientists who were working over at the BioTech Research Facility near the medical center. This was right after he’d been visited by his own personal physician, Dr. Alexander.”
“And, of course, we don’t know what, if anything, Alexander’s visit had to do with that, do we?”
“No, ’cause, as you know, our warrant allowing the surveillance of his house specifically excludes us from being able to listen to his personal doctor or lawyer visits.”
“Goddamn judges,” Fowler exclaimed. “Okay, so Ashby hires a couple of private dicks to follow some doctors. So what?”
“Last night the detectives checked in, and it seems that two of the docs went to Monterrey, Mexico, and came back with human fetal brain tissue in a thermos. Then two other of the docs went down to the ship channel area, kidnapped a homeless wino, and took him back to their apartment.”
“Holy shit!” Fowler exclaimed, dropping his feet off his desk and sitting straight up in his chair. “Send me those tapes and videos right now.”
“You want us to drop a bug in the local law’s ears about the kidnapping?”
“Hell, no, not until we know what’s going on. Besides, if we act on any of this Ashby is liable to figure out that we’ve got eyes on him.”
“Okay, I’ll send the digital files to your desktop computer as soon as we hang up.”
“And, Butler, no one else in the Bureau hears about any of this until I say so.”
“You got it, boss.”
Fowler hung up and buzzed his assistant. “Betty, no calls or interruptions for a while.”
* * *
After watching and listening to the videos, Fowler leaned back in his chair, put his hands behind his head, and stared at the ceiling, thinking. He couldn’t tell from the tapes just what in the hell this serum or formula or whatever it was was going to be used for, but if Ashby was spending this much time and effort on it, it had to be worth a shitload of money. In any event, this was the first thing they’d caught on tape that had any potential of profit for him, so he’d better take advantage of it right now.
He was coming up on his sixty-fifth birthday, and that meant mandatory retirement from the FBI. He was a little under six feet in height, weighed almost two hundred and fifty pounds, and suffered from hypertension and acid reflux. In fact, the only reason the FBI doctor had passed him on his last physical was that he was due for retirement in several months.
Special agent in charge of the Houston FBI office was a plum assignment, but he should have been a deputy director by now, and the fact that he’d been passed over his last two promotion dates rankled him. It had evidently rankled his wife, too, because the last time he’d been passed over, she had said enough, packed her bags, and left him for her Pilates instructor.
In short, he only had a few months in which to make a major bust or he was going to be retired into ignominy. This was his last chance for a big score. He figured his only two options were either to catch Ashby in a huge crime, bust him, and become famous, or to catch him in something nefarious that he could use to blackmail Ashby into hiring him as head of his security forces. God knew he had no other skills other than what he’d learned in thirty years as an investigator for the FBI.
He sat forward and transferred the videos and tapes to a thumb drive, then erased them from his computer. He was going to have to play this very carefully until he found out exactly what Ashby was up to. That meant he needed to get rid of any other witnesses to Ashby’s activities if he was going to be able to take full advantage of it without any interference from the FBI.
He picked up his phone and called Special Agent Butler’s cell phone.
When he answered, Fowler said, “Hey, David. I’ve got some bad news. I passed on what you sent me to the deputy director, and he said that since we stumbled upon a possible kidnapping and international smuggling operation, he wants to send in a special operations crew to take over the Ashby surveillance.”
“But, boss”—Butler started to say.
“Hey, I know, it pisses me off, too, David. But I’m being cut out of the loop, too, so just pack up your personal gear and report to me tomorrow for another assignment.”
Butler agreed sullenly and Fowler hung up the phone, a smile on his face. This meant that he’d have to review all of the surveillance tapes himself every night after he left the office, but what the hell—with his wife gone, he had nothing else to do.
He just hoped the prize was worth the aggravation.
* * *
Kevin and Kat, with Angus in tow, all arrived at Sheila’s apartment exactly at eight o’clock in the morning as they’d agreed the night before. Sheila had drawn a battery of blood tests from Stone, and she’d said she wanted to get the results before proceeding with the injection of the Phoenix Formula, as they’d begun to call it.
While Kevin fixed her and him some coffee in the kitchen, Kat took Angus and went directly to the bedroom where Stone was staying.
“Hey, big fella,” Stone called when he saw Angus.
Angus barked once, then immediately hopped up in the bed next to Stone, his tail wagging furiously and his tongue lathering Stone’s face.
“I know, I know, I’m glad to see you, too, big guy,” Stone said happily as he rubbed Angus’s ears vigorously.
“I think you have made a new friend, Jordan,” Kat said, sitting in the chair next to his bed.
Stone smiled and switched to rubbing Angus’s flanks. “I hope I have made more than one, Miss Kat.”
Kevin entered and handed one of the two coffee mugs he was carrying to Kat. “I know of at least four more, Jordan,” he said, and raised his mug to him in a toast.
Before he could reply, Sheila and Burton Ramsey entered the room. Sheila was holding a sheaf of lab reports and was studying them intently, a pair of half glasses perched on her nose.
“Is that good news, Doc Sheila, or am I to be thrown back on the mean streets of the ship channel?”
Sheila looked up as she removed her glasses and chuckled. “I swear, Jordan, I don’t know how you do it. You live on a diet of nothing but raw carbohydrates contained in cheap wine, and yet you still manage to come back from the dead each time you leave the hospital.” She held up the lab reports. “Your test results, while not even close to normal, are still remarkable considering all you have done to try to kill yourself.”
“It’s me pure heart that keeps me goin’, lass,” Stone said in a terrible attempt at an Irish accent.
Bur
ton snorted and smiled. “More like the luck of the Irish,” he said.
In a normal accent, Stone said, “While it is true that I am of Irish descent, I regret to say that I am only half Irish, on my father’s side.”
“The half that is full of blarney, no doubt,” Kat said with a grin.
Stone laughed. “It is true that I have been accused of bending the truth on occasion, but only in jest and never to harm.”
Sheila walked around the bed and sat in a chair opposite from Kat’s. “Jordan, it is time for us to talk seriously.”
Stone nodded and watched her intently.
“From your tests, it is clear that you have advanced cirrhosis of the liver, at least one gastric ulcer that is bleeding and keeping you very anemic, and your heart is in mid-stage heart failure.”
“In short, I should not endeavor to buy anything on time payments?” he asked, the corners of his lips curled in a slight smile.
When Sheila started to respond, he held up his hand. “That is quite all right, dear Dr. Sheila. While I have no formal education in medicine, nevertheless I am, as you say, quick of mind. I have realized for some time that my poor body could not much longer endure the torture through which I was putting it. In fact, due to a rather long-standing melancholy, I have been looking forward to shuffling off this mortal coil and joining my dear wife and children in the afterlife.”
When Angus sensed Stone’s mood, he whined and leaned in to lick Stone’s face. Stone smiled and patted his head. “That is, until recently. After meeting you good people, and especially Angus here, I have decided that helping you in your quest to help others like me would give my life some meaning that it is otherwise lacking. In short, if I am a suitable candidate, bring on the Phoenix Formula and let us see what transpires.”
Sheila looked around at Kat and Burton and shrugged. “I am afraid Jordan is as healthy as he is going to get without a liver and heart transplant, and I think the formula is his only chance of living even a relatively normal life.”
Burton put his hand on her shoulder. “So, dear, you are okay with us going ahead with the formula?”
She nodded, staring into Stone’s eyes. “It is truly your only chance, Jordan, or I would never agree to its use.”
He reached over and patted her hand. “I know, dear lady.” Looking up at Kat and Burton, he asked, “Now, just what might I expect to happen after the injection?”
Burton moved to stand at the foot of the bed, where he could talk directly to Stone. “We don’t know . . . exactly. In Angus’s case, for a couple of days he had a high fever due to an increased metabolic rate, he burned off a few pounds of excess fat, and all of his hair fell out and was then replaced with darker, younger-looking hair.”
Stone patted his distended belly and then rubbed his few sparse hairs. “Well, at least the fat and the old hair I will not miss.”
“Due to your greater size and less healthy status,” Kat said, “I expect the transformation to take longer than it did with Angus, who was healthy except for severe arthritis. Perhaps as long as a week or more.”
“During that time, will I be in pain?”
Burton shook his head. “No, at least Angus didn’t seem to have any discomfort. In fact, for most of the transformation, Angus slept through it.”
Stone pursed his lips. “Perhaps, just for your protection, I should sign some sort of disclaimer, stating that I have been fully informed of all risks and that I accept full responsibility for whatever might happen?”
Sheila smiled grimly and shook her head. “Not necessary, Jordan, and, in fact, it would do no good. What we are doing is completely illegal, and if it goes badly there is nothing that will protect us from facing the consequences of our actions.”
“And yet you are willing to go ahead anyway?”
“Yes, because if it works, this formula may be the cure for any number of horrible diseases that at present have no suitable treatment.”
Stone laid his head back on the pillow and said, “Then let us carry on posthaste.”
Kat and Burton had already figured out the doses of each of their formulas and had them mixed in a syringe, which she handed to Sheila. “Would you do the honors, Dr. Goodman?” she asked.
Sheila took the syringe, fixed a rubber tourniquet on Stone’s left arm, found a nice vein, and injected the formula.
Burton took out a small notepad and made a note of the time.
“What now?” Kevin asked.
“Now, we wait, and we pray,” Kat said.
Angus barked once and lay down with his head on Stone’s stomach, his brown eyes looking up into Stone’s.
Stone laid his hand on Angus’s neck and closed his eyes, content to see what tomorrow would bring.
After the group had filed out of the bedroom, Burton noticed Sheila looking pensive.
“What is going on in that marvelous mind of yours, dear?”
She shook her head. “I think we’re making a mistake, trying to treat Jordan here.”
“Why?” Kat asked. “After all, we’re near the medical center in case things start to go wrong.”
“Yes, there is that,” Sheila conceded, “but my neighbors are bound to notice all of you coming and going, and this apartment has to be known to Ashby’s men. What is to keep them from coming in here, taking Jordan, and using him to force us to give them the formula?”
“Damn, you’re right!” Burton exclaimed.
“I agree,” Kevin said. “It would be much safer all around to take Jordan to the lab house in Conroe and watch him there, where Ashby and his minions will have no idea where he is.”
“And Conroe does have a first-rate hospital in case of a medical emergency,” Burton added.
“So, we’re agreed?” Sheila asked. “We should move him to Conroe?”
The other three all nodded, and it was decided.
CHAPTER 28
The decision to move Stone having been made, the group trooped back into the bedroom.
Stone opened his eyes and watched as Sheila sat in the chair next to the bed, reached over, and pulled the IV needle out of his arm. Then she stuck a bandage on the wound and began to pack up the other medical paraphernalia in the bedroom.
Angus sat up and looked at Kat, wondering what was going on.
Stone glanced down at the bandage and then up at Sheila. “I take it from the way you are cleaning house that I am to be moved to another location?”
“Yes, Jordan. It is too dangerous to keep you here any longer. Sooner or later my neighbors would notice the extra number of visitors coming and going and would begin to ask questions, which we definitely don’t need.”
“Are you sure we’ll have time to transport him before the formula takes effect?” Kevin asked.
“Pretty sure,” Sheila answered. “Angus didn’t begin to show changes for at least twelve hours, and I believe for a human, it will take even longer due to their greater size.”
Burton interjected, “Yeah, and the trip to Conroe should only take about two hours at this time of day.”
Stone plucked at the hospital gown he was wearing. “I assume I will not be walking down the halls of your apartment building in this stylish but immodest garment, with its rear air-conditioning. Have the clothes I was wearing when you brought me here been cleaned?”
“Uh . . . about that, Jordan,” Burton said hesitantly, “your clothes were beyond cleaning, and so after I put you in the hospital gown that Sheila borrowed from Ben Taub, I put them out in the apartment incinerator.”
Stone actually blushed. “I am truly sorry that you had to deal with my . . . uh . . . unfortunate lack of personal hygiene, Burton. It is a fact of life on the street that cleanliness is difficult if not impossible to maintain without access to proper bathroom or shower facilities.”
“Don’t worry about it, Jordan. Kevin stopped at a Walmart on the way here from the airport and picked up some sweatpants and a shirt for you. They will have to do until we can get you better supplied after th
e formula has done its work.”
“Oh?”
“Yes,” Kat answered. “Remember, we told you that Angus burned off several pounds under the increased metabolic rate induced by the formula. We expect you will do the same, and so we won’t know what size clothes to get you until then.”
Kevin stepped over and laid the sweat clothes on the edge of the bed, “We’ll step out and let you change.”
* * *
When they arrived at the Honda sedan parked in Sheila’s garage, Kat opened the rear door and said, “If you wouldn’t mind, Jordan, I am afraid we’re going to have to ask you to lie down on the backseat out of sight.”
“What?”
“Yeah,” Kevin said. “We’ll explain on the way, but for now, that’s the way we have to proceed.”
Stone chuckled. “Well, as they say, in for a penny, in for a pound. I feel like I am in a spy movie.”
After he was situated lying on the backseat with Angus cradled in his arms, Kevin covered the two of them with a blanket. While he was doing that, Kat donned the blond wig and sunglasses kept in the car. Finally, ready to travel, Kevin sat in the front passenger seat and slumped down as far as he could get.
When they were out of downtown Houston traffic and on the highway headed to Conroe, Kat pulled the car over at a roadside rest stop. Stone was able to sit up and Kat removed her disguise, while Kevin stood watch to make sure they weren’t being followed.
When Kat pulled back onto the highway, Kevin turned around in his seat and told Stone the entire story about J.P. Ashby, how they were using him to finance their experiments with the formula, and about how he had hired private investigators to follow them in hopes of stealing the formula for himself.
“It seems you have made a deal with the devil to advance your cause,” Stone said, a disapproving expression on his face.
Kevin nodded. “Yes, we did, Jordan. But only out of necessity. None of us, not even Sheila, had the financial resources to fund the development of the formula.”
Kat said over her shoulder, “And if we had depended on the lab we were working at to develop the formula, chances are it would have taken years and years and then the government would have gotten involved and who knows what a bunch of Washington bureaucrats would have done with something this valuable.”
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