by Sean Adelman
“Did the mice without trisomy have better immune systems?” asked Anne.
“Yes, they did.”
“Can you give this to humans?”
Judy heard the angst in Anne’s voice as she pleaded to Jason for help.
“Technically, yes,” Jason answered, “but we haven’t even applied for human trials yet. We need to do a bigger animal safety study, then apply. It’ll take us a year or two to get to that point, even with our convincing data.”
Gerald spoke. “Jason, Ed, we didn’t want to tell you this, and especially didn’t want Lily to know. Jerry isn’t t going to last much longer. He has a lymphoma that’s growing quickly, likely due to his immune problems. He simply can’t fend all of this off. It may be weeks or months, but not a year.”
Anne began to openly weep in Judy’s arms.
Jason said, “Oh my, Anne, I’m so sorry. I need to think about how to answer that. We’ve never tried this with humans. The vector we are using for the mice has been used in humans though. I would never forgive myself if I did something to hurt Jerry.”
Anne pulled away from Judy and said, “Jason, if we don’t do something, he’ll be gone.”
Jason met Judy’s gaze and told Anne, “I promise you I will do everything in my power to help. I honestly don’t know...but you have to believe me, we won’t give up.”
“I know Jason, it’s just that...”
Judy hugged Anne. “We know. You don’t even have to say it.”
After a few moments, Anne excused herself and walked out of the room.
After standing there for a few awkward moments, Jason and Judy excused themselves as well and headed back to their condo. As they walked, Judy snuck her hand down just as she had seen Lily do so many times and held Jason’s fingers.
Jason kept his eyes forward but spoke quietly. “I don’t know, Judy. I’m not God. What should I do? What she’s asking of me isn’t science, at least not the science I’m used to. I’m sorry; I know that doesn’t make sense.”
“I think I understand. I think you first have to be honest with yourself and ask if you think you can really do it. If the answer is no, then you’re done. As a vet or a physician we live by two principles. One is, ‘Do no harm.’ I will never knowingly put a patient in harm’s way. It’s always a balance of gain for risk: doing a procedure with a low risk and a high gain. The second is, ‘If I have something to offer that may benefit my patient, it is my duty to make it available to them.’ Knowing that Jerry’s going to do die… Well, it’s harder to do more harm than that. The second part is up to you.”
Judy saw the tear rolling down his cheek as he gave her hand a squeeze.
“Jason, I have to ask. This is Lily’s genetic code already. What would it do to her? If it’s just unlocking what’s already in her genome why do you think it wasn’t unlocked?”
Jason wiped the tear from his cheek. “I don’t know, Judy. Based on what we are seeing, it seems we are changing enzyme levels in her brain that improve function, but the empathy gene, as we have been calling it, is somewhere else. The treated mice seemed to have all of the things we know about empathy. There are also other things our treatment doesn’t seem to change about trisomy 21. I just, just...” Jason’s voice began to quiver.
Judy knew to give Jason an exit from the conversation. “We have about an hour before we need to pick up Lily. Let’s go home and relax and think.”
Debbie moved the nightstand away from the wall in her bedroom to pick up her cell that she had hidden there. She opened up her favorites list and made the call. After ringing several times, the voice mail picked up and Debbie left her message. “Jason, it’s Debbie. I just wanted to let you know I love you and Lily. I’m going to pull the data off the internal server today so there is no going back. No matter what happens, I know Judy will take care of you.”
Debbie ended her call and hid the phone back behind her nightstand and walked back toward the bathroom. Once again, the mirror beckoned her as she walked by. Staring back at her was the visage of Rachel. We are gonna do this for you and Nate. She blew a kiss toward her reflection, turned around, and went on with her day.
The entrance to the administration building was busier than normal so Debbie found herself waiting behind several people to get through security. The line moved quickly, so she found herself moving toward the stairwell to the downstairs server room before long. The entrance to the server room was right next to the stairway where a young man was sitting at the security window. He was dressed professionally, but looked to be about fourteen years old. Debbie gave him her identification and waited as he pulled up her credentials. After what seemed to take forever, he hit the button under his desk to let her in. Once inside, she was greeted by a computers security employee.
“Ms. Sydney, follow me. We have your usual terminal ready. You have exactly one hour.”
“An hour? I usually get two.”
“Sorry ma’am, we have limited server time today. We’re doing our monthly backup this afternoon.”
Debbie tried not to let the quiver she felt in her voice come through. “Okay, thanks.”
Debbie was led to her terminal where she sat down and immediately got to work. The previous week she used her security update as a cover to look for incriminating data. She was very careful not to leave a trail from her search. Nothing had been downloaded yet, just the hunt so far. Today that was going to change. Today, she was going to gather the data so she could destroy them. I planned for two hours, how can I get everything I need in an hour? Debbie watched the security guard from the corner of her eye.
Ten minutes to log in and find her first target. Searching, searching, her fingers were flying over the keyboard as she tried to keep from dripping sweat onto her hands. Debbie had planned everything to the minute, left nothing to chance. Now, she had half the time. Her access to the serve would be over after today, it would look suspicious if she asked for more time. All of her preparation this week had paid off so getting what she needed was going fast.
It was becoming clear that there was no way she could get everything in the plan, so she had to mentally triage the most damaging info. The one thing she had to get was the immunization data. Debbie wasn’t certain beyond a scientific doubt that Gibson was responsible for what happened to Rachel, but every fiber of her being told her it was so. Move, move. She willed herself to keep going knowing that time was her enemy. Her third batch of data was now compiled. She originally wanted five, but the clock would not allow five. Debbie looked up. Oh my, I have ten minutes. I have to copy.
Debbie had a thumb drive hidden in her watch band which allowed her to palm it without being seen. The USB port on the monitor was below her desktop. She had practiced palming the drive and inserting it into the port over and over again. The security would alert if any data was copied so Debbie had created a software bug that told the computer her drive was an internal hard drive so it wouldn’t alert anyone. Eight minutes now. Debbie looked to make sure the security guard wasn’t looking before she palmed her thumb drive and plugged it in. The computer immediately recognized her drive allowing her to double click on the icon from her drive. It immediately began to upload her program. She was going to run out of time. It would take a few minutes to fool the server. Six minutes and counting. She needed to stop watching the clock and finish.
“Ms. Sydney, you have five minutes left.”
I don’t have time. Debbie made a split decision. She moved the files directly into her drive before her program finished. “Thirty seconds, twenty seconds, five seconds. Download complete.”
“Ms. Sydney, what are you doing?”
The alarm had notified him. Debbie carefully watched as the security guard moved toward her. He was the only other person here. The young guard at the window was not in her direct line of sight. Debbie quickly removed her drive. The guard moved in closer.
“Ms. Sydney, I will need you to give me that drive and come with me!”
Debbie bowed her
head as she turned with her hand held out gesturing toward the guard as if she was going to give him the drive. The guard reached to take it when Debbie seized his hand pulling him forward and allowing his momentum to increase the force as her opposite elbow collided with his temple. The guard was dazed but not out, so before he could alert anyone, she put him in a sleeper hold until he was out completely. Debbie quickly slid him under the table and moved toward the door. The guard in the window must not have heard anything as indicated by his curt nod. She returned his gesture and took great care not to run as she went toward the stairs. Patience. Don’t attract attention. Debbie left the stairwell carefully walking past the administration building security. The lines from the morning were gone so the guards acknowledged her. She turned and smiled while pushing on the door just as the alarm went off. Debbie ran with all her might away from the security gate at the road entrance. Running behind the building as the alarm got louder and louder, Debbie pulled out her phone.
“Agent Davis, come get me.”
Jason and Judy walked into the condo and made a beeline for the couch. Out of habit, Jason turned on the television.
“Breaking story! Gibson’s investors are in an uproar as their stock has plummeted since the leak this morning about Gibson’s Labs’ involvement in the flu vaccine that resulted in thousands of deaths all over the world. In the biggest scandal in biotech history, authorities are conducting an investigation which promises to bring into question the entire regulatory process.”
Jason heard Judy gasp and felt like doing a little gasping of his own. Instead, he picked up his phone to call Debbie and noticed that he had a message from her.
29
DENVER—2015
Jason rolled out of bed feeling like he weighed twice what he had the day before. Research for Jason had always meant plodding along bit by bit with the hope that one day he would have something meaningful to share with the world. He had envisioned that when he did find that “meaningful thing,” his role would remain that of discoverer and other people would take over. Now, Jason had the discovery of a lifetime at his fingertips and the life of his friend’s son hung directly in the balance.
Jason and Judy had debated late into the evening what he should do as they watched the news of Gibson Labs unfold. At some point during his conversation with Judy, the dark place that Jason kept shut tight opened up just a little. A flash of the labor and delivery unit came to Jason. The part of his brain that was always working had figured it out. Rachel had the flu vaccine when her dad died. Gibson had to be responsible for Rachel’s death! The world spun around him. The greatest discovery of his life was coming on the heels of tragedy, greed, and deception. He has looked over at Judy and knew that now was not the time to focus on his loss. After he figured out how he could help with Jerry, he would have to revisit his personal hell.
Jason wasn’t sure how much he had slept last night, but he was happy that it was Saturday.
It was late enough in the morning that the ambient light was beginning to fill the room. Jason slowly swung his legs off the side of his bed and looked over to check on Lily. Lily had a small twin bed that she slept in over by the far wall in the master bedroom. Occasionally she would sleep with Judy in her room, but last night he had tucked her in her own bed. Maybe she decided to snuggle with Judy last night? Jason wandered out of the room into the kitchen and turned on the coffee machine, still moving like a robot with his mind on the events of last night. Jason was looking through the fridge for milk waiting for the coffee machine when he heard Judy get up.
“Morning Jason. Gosh, we’re moving a little late. You okay?”
“I guess that depends on what you mean by okay. Physically I’m fine. Just still torturing myself about what to do about Jerry. What you said last night made sense, it’s just that...”
Judy interrupted him. “Let’s just start with some breakfast, okay? By the way, I’m surprised Lily isn’t up.”
Jason was confused. “She wasn’t in my room when I got up. I thought she was with you.”
“Not that I know of.”
Jason began walking around the condo. “Lily, where are you, silly bean? Let’s have some breakfast.”
When no answer came, Judy and Jason proceeded to look throughout the remainder of the condo. As it was a fairly small place their search didn’t take long. Jason became more and more agitated as it became clear that she wasn’t home. Lily had never run away or even attempted to run away. She was a rule follower just like her dad.
Jason realized getting upset was not going to help, but he couldn’t help himself. Take a deep breath. “Hey Judy, what do you think? I honestly don’t know what’s up. She’s never done anything like this before.”
Judy answered, “It’s been incredibly stressful for her too, Jason. The only thing I can think of is a small place in the park.”
“Do you mean the swings? She loves the swings.”
Jason latched onto the idea of the park. He grabbed his coat. It’s chilly out. Did Lily take a coat? Trying to maintain his composure, but becoming more frantic by the moment, he led Judy out of the condo and headed toward the park. The sun was high enough that he could see well with only a few shadows. Jason was fixated on the swings and walked so quickly that it took him a minute to realize that Judy had to run to keep up with him. Jason was sure that Lily was at the swings. She loved the swings. He was so focused on getting there he almost stumbled over the small barrier that surrounded the swings. No one! This area is completely empty.
Jason fretted, “She’s not here! Did someone take her?”
Judy responded, “No, I don’t think so.” He heard the gentleness in her voice and was surprised that he had the wherewithal to appreciate it. “Jason, She wouldn’t run away just to go to the swings. She’s upset, and there is no place in our condo that she can hide or escape. There’s a small fort—well, she calls it a fort. It’s really a hole in some trees she likes to explore sometimes after school.”
“Why don’t I know about this?”
“She is a girl, Jason, and growing up. She wants some privacy or maybe she just hasn’t had a reason to show you yet. We just discovered it a few weeks ago. You’ve been so busy and we’ve been spending more time together.”
Jason knew she was right: he had been so focused on the project that he had lost track of his time with Lily. Before when he had been busy, Lily would demand his time, maybe not in as many words, but he always knew. Now, Judy had slowly, unwittingly filled those little holes in their lives. It had happened so subtly that Jason had not realized it until this exact moment. Judy knows things about Lily that I don’t.
Jason had zoned out deep in thought, but was brought back by a gentle squeeze of his hand. “Jason, let’s go find Lily.”
Judy led Jason directly to Lily’s “fort.” It was a small stand of fir trees whose lower branches crossed making a small space at the base in the middle. It was far enough off the paved trail that Jason had never noticed it before. The lowest branches were all thick enough that once inside, a person could climb up a few levels like a ladder. The trees were small enough that after a few levels the branches became too small to effectively climb. Jason looked at the strand of trees and could see why Lily saw this as a refuge.
Jason could hear the tiny sounds of a child whimpering. It was too dark to see where it was coming from. “Lily, are you there, sweetie?”
A small voice returned, “Go away. You don’t want to help Jerry.”
Judy gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Go talk to her.”
Jason climbed his way in a little farther into the fort. “Lily, come out so we can talk. You know I would do anything I could to help Jerry. Please come with me.”
“I heard you last night. You were talking to Judy. We can’t let anything happen to Jerry. Daddy, please!”
Jason could now see Lily. She was sitting on a branch just a few feet from the ground. The light had filtered through the branches just enough to see Lily’s silh
ouette. She looked so tiny, just like a bird sitting on a branch. Jason climbed his way over to his little girl and picked her up. She had stopped crying, but was still shivering. Jason pulled Lily as close as he could without hurting her and just held her until the shivering slowed. Jason pulled Lily’s head to his face and kissed the top of her head, breathing deeply her smell. Jason could feel the tears filling up his own eyes as he looked up at Judy standing at the entrance. She gave Jason a knowing glance. At that exact moment Jason knew what he had to do. No matter what, he had to try.
Jason bent his head toward Lily’s ear. “I promise I will try to help Jerry. As soon as we get home, I’ll call his mom.”
Lily looked up to face Jason’s eyes. “Okay, can we have breakfast then?”
“I think we can do that.”
Jason stood up and carefully carried Lily out of the fort. Lily hugged Jason’s shoulder as they walked back toward home. Judy silently fell in step with Jason holding Lily as he walked. Jason didn’t turn to acknowledge her presence but knew that she was with him. He carefully searched the air at his side to find Judy’s hand. It seemed the most normal thing in the world: holding Judy’s hand as he carried his precious daughter. Jason had learned a great deal about himself and his daughter already this morning. For the first time in many years, Jason realized he wasn’t lonely.
30
ANN ARBOR—2015
The phone rang. As expected, it was Gibson. Debbie knew what he wanted. They’d already spoken once today. He was ruined, and it had only taken a year. Well, really two if you counted the planning. Once she had access, it was easy. The security officer who had been watching her had no idea what she was doing until the end. A week of research on the server culminated with a download that almost backfired into disaster. After just a week, she had patched all of Gibson’s security leaks and amassed enough info to ruin him in one fell swoop.