| General Fiction posted December 14, 2024 | Chapters: |
...12 13 -14- 15... 
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Dana meets Brian and makes an important recommendation
A chapter in the book The Devil Fights Back
The Devil Fights Back - Ch. 14
by Jim Wile
| Background Three intrepid women team up to conquer medical challenges. |
Recap of Chapter 13: Dana learns from Leonard Merra, the vice president at her Big Pharma company, that Glyptophan, which they are trying to ruin, was invented by the same person who invented the highly addictive street drug, Dipraxa. Merra wants her to spread the word to her reps to say that Glyptophan is as addictive as Dipraxa and was invented by the same man.
This is enough to push Dana over the edge into becoming a whistleblower and a confidential informant (CI). She calls Fran with the news, and Fran reveals that she is an FBI agent, inviting Dana down to Charlotte to become a CI after a successful background check.
Fran picks her up at the airport and tells her she passed the background check, and tomorrow they will sign her up and train her to be a CI. They head to Fran's house where Dana will stay.
Chapter 14
Fran
After meeting Mike last night and having pie and ice cream, Dana said she was beat and went to bed.
Following breakfast at the house this morning, we drove to the FBI field office, where we began the process of making her a confidential informant.
I showed Dana to my office, where we hung up our coats. I then led her to a conference room and handed her a few papers I’d put together. “You’ve got a few papers to sign, which acknowledge that you understand what your responsibilities as a CI will be and what your legal protections are. There is a lot of information here, so I’m going to give you some time now to read it over before you sign anything. Sound good?”
“I’ll do that.”
“Great. I’ll leave you alone for a while. I’ll be in my office. Just come on back when you’re finished, and, if you’ve decided to sign, we can begin a few training tasks.”
Back in my office, I pulled together the necessary information regarding secure communication protocols. She would be reporting to me periodically, and we needed a secure way to transmit her findings.
I also pulled together training materials, which described a number of techniques for conducting surveillance, strategies for maintaining a low profile and other safety protocols, avoiding illegal activities, what to do if caught, etc. I put all these in a notebook for her.
She returned about an hour later and handed me the signed papers. “That’s great, Dana. Thank you. I’m going to give you this notebook with information on everything you need to know about the job of being a CI. I’m also going to give you a burner phone that has the necessary communication software we’ll both use. It has a secure messaging app installed on it that will encrypt our phone calls. For emails and text messages, we’ll use an app that encrypts these as well. Let me show you how to use the apps now.”
Dana is very bright and picked it all up quickly. I think she will make a great CI. We spent the rest of the morning performing some role-playing scenarios about what to do in various circumstances, for example, meeting with a target who can provide her with information and how to go about questioning the target. Dana seemed quick on her feet during these exercises. I think she’s a natural.
When we’d rehearsed different scenarios for a couple of hours, it was pushing 1:00 PM. I said to Dana, “You’re doing great, and I think you won’t have any problem with this. Your performances are very believable. I think we can wrap this up now. If you encounter a situation you’re unsure about, you know you can always call me.”
“I appreciate that, Fran.”
“My brother has invited us over to his house for lunch and to talk. I’d really like for you to meet him. You interested?”
“By all means.”
“Great. It’s a little bit of a drive out to his house, but I think you’ll enjoy the scenery. They just built a house out in the country in a little town about 45 minutes from here. I’ll text him and let him know we’re on the way.
We arrived at Brian’s house, and he greeted us at the door.
After I introduced them, Brian said, “I’m happy to meet you, Dana. My sister has told me a lot about you and said you’re interested in doing a little spying on your company.”
“That’s the plan. I figured you might appreciate some eyes and ears in the midst of Big Pharma. I’ve gotten pretty disgusted with my job and my company lately.”
“Well, I certainly appreciate any help you can offer.”
“That’s why I came down—to sign up for the task. Fran made me an official CI this morning.”
“Cool. Let me take your coats and introduce you to the rest of the family.”
After Brian hung our coats up, he led us into the family room where Julia and Johnny were playing on the floor, and, surprisingly, her mother was sitting on the couch, watching. I thought she would only be here for three days, and it’s been six now.
“Why, hello, Marie. I didn’t expect to see you here,” I said to her. “This is my friend, Dana Padgett. Dana, this is Julia’s mother, Dr. Marie Schmidt.”
They shook hands and exchanged greetings, after which Marie said, “Grandchildren have a way of wheedling their way into your heart. Getting to actually meet Johnny here for the first time and spend some time with him has made me extend my stay.”
“So, it’s Dr. Schmidt. What’s your specialty, Marie?” asked Dana.
“My specialty is being an unforgiving, hard-hearted, pigheaded old woman who’s just had an attitude adjustment. I’m actually a doctor of music who plays the violin in the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.”
“Well, I can certainly identify with the idea of an attitude adjustment. Someday, maybe I’ll trade war stories with you. But I can definitely see how Johnny here has put things in a new light for you.”
Dana turned to Julia then and said, “He’s adorable, Julia. It’s nice to meet you and Johnny.”
“Welcome to our home, Dana,” said Julia. “I hope you enjoyed the ride out. We’re kind of in the middle of nowhere here, but we love it.”
“Your house is gorgeous too. I’m very pleased to be here and meet all of you. Fran has told me a lot about y’all. Or is it all y’all? I’m just an ignorant northerner.”
Marie laughed and said, “In New York, we’d say, all a youse.”
That was amusing. Who is this woman I’d heard so many bad things about and wasn’t overly impressed with the first time I’d met her the other day?
Julia said, “Is anyone hungry? Brian went out and bought a variety of sandwiches and chips from Jersey Mike’s. Yes, Mother. We actually have one of those in dinky Cherryville. I assume you know what Jersey Mike’s is?”
“Yes, Julia. I’m not a complete snob. I’ve had sandwiches from Jersey Mike’s before.” I saw her wink at Dana when she said this. She and Dana seem to be about the same age.
“Why don’t we all head into the kitchen and serve ourselves?” said Julia. “We can eat out in the Florida room where it’s nice and bright and there’s a picnic table.”
After we’d had our fill of lunch, Dana asked if she could see Brian’s basement laboratory. He was more than happy to show her, and the three of us headed downstairs together.
Brian described his major pieces of equipment to Dana and a little bit of how he’d developed Glyptophan.
“She knows about the precursor, Dipraxa,” I told him. “In fact, that’s some of the information she’s already given me. I’ll let her describe it to you.”
“That’s true, Brian,” said Dana. “My company, Newman-Price, has been researching you and did a patent search. That’s how they found out that you had invented both drugs. Now they’re planning to smear Glyptophan by saying that it’s just as addictive as Dipraxa, even though they have no idea if that’s true.”
“Bastards. I used to work in Little Pharma before setting out on my own, and I heard stories of this sort. I expected this kind of thing, but it does piss me off to actually hear about it. Glyptophan isn’t addicting. Yes, that was a problem with the original Dipraxa at an ultra-high dose, but I’ve modified Glyptophan to address that, and it’s no longer a problem. It has some side effects at the higher-than-normal doses, but addiction isn’t one of them. I appreciate your letting me know about this, though. Now maybe I can do something to get ahead of it and prepare people for when they undoubtedly find out. If you can let Fran and me know of anything else they might cook up to disparage or suppress this drug, that would be a big help.”
“I’ll do that. Do you have any specific things to keep an eye on or any special requests?”
He laughed and jokingly asked, “Yeah, you wouldn’t happen to know a brilliant mathematician, would you? Someone who’s strong in statistical analysis? I’ve got a very complex problem I’m investigating now that could maybe help prevent Dipraxa’s further spread. The mathematics of it is beyond me or anybody I know, though. I don’t know if you’d know anyone like that, but I just thought I’d ask.”
“Strangely enough, I do happen to know someone like that. Fran, do you remember that woman I told you about at the Omni Hotel? The one named Abby, who I used to bully when we were kids? She’s the one.”
 Recognized |
Fran Pekarsky: One of three narrators of the story. She is an FBI agent from the North Carolina field office in Charlotte.
Dana Padgett: One of three narrators of the story. She is the assistant marketing director for a Big Pharma company.
Brian Kendrick: Fran's younger brother. He is the inventor of Dipraxa and Glyptophan.
Julia Kendrick: Brian's wife.
Dr. Marie Schmidt: Julia's mother. She is the third narrator of the story.
Cedric (aka Cecil): The doorman at the apartment house where Marie lives.
Lou D'Onofrio: Fran's boss at the FBI.
Patty Mattson: A hacker friend of Fran's.
Abby Payne (nee St. Claire): A girl from Dana's past, who she used to bully but has befriended during their adulthood.
Mike Pekarsky: Fran's husband. He is a DHS agent.
Paul Rieke: Brian's former college professor and geneticist, who helped steer him into neuroscience. He has become a good friend.
Willy Stubblefield: The leader of Julia's bluegrass band.
Shannon Stubblefield: Willy's wife and the drummer in the bluegrass band.
Picture courtesy of Playground-v2.5
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