FanStory.com - The Devil Fights Back

Recap of Chapter 15: The good mathematician Dana knows is none other than Abby Payne, her friend who she used to bully in grade school but has since reconciled with. Fran, Dana, and Brian call her and persuade her to come for an interview after a brief description of their needs without providing any real details. Abby agrees to fly down to Charlotte ASAP.

She makes flight arrangements to come the next day, and Brian volunteers that she can stay overnight at his house. She will be here for only one day, and if they agree to work together, she will come down again for an extended stay near Christmas time.

Chapter 16

Fran

Abby was waiting at the curb in the arrivals area at Charlotte Airport when we pulled up to meet her at 8:30 AM. God, what a knockout for someone her age. Like Dana, she was in her late 50s but looked terrific with that long, wavy red hair.

Dana, who’d been sitting in the front seat of my Honda CRV, got out and gave her a hug. I opened the liftgate so she could throw in her carry-on bag, and the two of them sat in the rear seat together.

Dana introduced us, then started right in on Abby. “So, Miss Perfect, still whipping everyone’s asses at Kettle Creek Country Club, or is the weather too crummy now in November to play any more this year?”

Abby laughed. “I’ve put the clubs away for the year. I do miss whipping your ass, though, since you moved to Philly.”

“Hey, I used to whip yours too occasionally.”

“Yes, when I was having a bad day and you were having a good one.”

“Yeah, you never had too many bad days. I think you were probably wearing that suit half the time.”

“Well, there’s the pot calling the kettle black!”

The two of them laughed, and Dana said, “I told Fran that story, so she knows what we’re talking about.”

“You two do seem to have patched things up since that time,” I said. “So, what sort of things have you invented, Abby, besides that golfing suit, and how is it you went from being an actuary to an inventor?”

“I started getting a little bored after 15 years of being an actuary. There is only so much creativity you can bring to the field. I’ve always loved science as well as math, and I minored in mechanical engineering in college. I like making things. One project I had in my junior year was to design and construct miniature surgical tools to use in robotic-assisted surgery that was quite new at that time. I’ve gotten back into that, and most of my inventions have involved surgical robotics. Designing the golf suit helped me understand human biomechanics, which has served me well in most of my inventions.”

“Smarty-pants,” said Dana, and I saw Abby punch her playfully in the arm in the rearview mirror. “I used to call her that in elementary school.”

Abby said, “So, how did you and Fran meet?”

“We met in a hotel bar a couple of weeks ago and had some drinks together. Then we had dinner the following night.”

“So, you’ve been down here for a couple of weeks? Are you and Steve here in Charlotte on vacation?”

I caught Dana’s eye in the rearview mirror. She probably wasn’t quite sure what she could say to Abby in answer to this, so I stepped in. “Dana and I will be working together on another project indirectly related to the current one, but she’s not at liberty to say much about it right now. After we do your background check, she’ll be allowed to discuss certain things with you. I assume you’re aware that we need to do a background check on you, Abby?”

“Of course. I would expect nothing less. Besides this other project, I gather from the call yesterday that Dana will be part of this mission too then?”

“We’ll discuss that when we get to my brother Brian’s house. Sorry to be so circumspect, but that’s the way of the FBI.”

“Fair enough,” said Abby.

“While we’re driving to Brian’s house, I’ll give both of you some background information about the mission. We’ve got a 45-minute drive ahead of us.”

Dana had heard this already, but I gave Abby the history of Dipraxa’s invention by Brian, how addictive it proved to be at a high dose, and how it had gotten out to the general population. I withheld specific details about catching the perpetrator. By the time we arrived at Brian’s house, they both had a pretty good idea of the seriousness of the problem and the necessity of a quick solution.

Brian greeted us at the door, and I introduced him to Abby. He was alone in the house, as Julia, Marie, and Johnny had gone into Charlotte to do some shopping and would be home later.

Brian led us down to his lab, where he spent at least half an hour discussing his equipment with Abby, who had some very intelligent and perceptive questions for him. The science was way beyond Dana and me, but it was fascinating hearing Brian and Abby discuss things.

After a while, I turned to Dana and said, “They certainly are a couple of smarty-pantses, aren’t they?”

Dana just rolled her eyes.

I then addressed Abby and Brian, “Okay, you two eggheads. I’m sure you could go on about all this for a few more hours, but why don’t we get down to the reason we’re all here now? I waited until I had their undivided attention.

“Obviously, Brian, you’ve come up with an idea of how to stop Dipraxa in its tracks. I’ve already filled Abby and Dana in on the problem. Do you think you could share your potential solution with us now, and let’s see if Abby can help you with it?”

“Sure. Fran probably already discussed with you the difficulties with interrupting the distribution network. That approach is probably a no-go. Is it okay if I tell them that the problem originates in China, Fran?”

We all cracked up at that. “No. They’re not authorized to hear that yet.”

“Okay, then I won’t tell ‘em. You FBI folks are so damn secretive,” he said, frowning at me and shaking his head in mock frustration.

“Fran asked me if there might be a scientific way of incapacitating the drug. I wondered how Fran might have thought I’d be able to do that to a drug being manufactured in, ahem, but that’s what she suggested to me the other day. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But my sister is an outside-the-box thinker, and the idea isn’t as crazy as it sounds. There is actually an approach to consider.

“What I did was to analyze the chemical compounds I used to create Dipraxa. Without going into too much detail at this point, Dipraxa uses a method of pain relief similar to what the dentist uses when he injects lidocaine into your mouth to numb a tooth. This is a different method from opioids and doesn’t create the associated euphoria that makes opioids so addictive. However, at too high a dose of Dipraxa, which I accidentally discovered, this no longer holds, but I’ll get into the details of that some other time. Suffice it to say for now that it’s that high dose of Dipraxa that turned it into a super addictive drug.

“Drugs like lidocaine are made synthetically, but I needed a stronger analgesic than lidocaine, so I incorporated into Dipraxa a compound extracted from a plant similar to the coca plant, which produces a numbing effect. You’re probably familiar with the coca plant because it’s what cocaine is made from. The plant I used is called Balanga, and the only known place it grows is a small, uninhabited island in the Philippines called Gunagua Island. There are many plants botanists have discovered that grow only in one place, and this appears to be one of them.

“Gunagua Island is not known for anything, even the Balanga plant. To my knowledge, it isn’t used in the manufacture of any product either, but some obscure botanist one time discovered it growing there and had it analyzed, and the chemical analysis was stored in a database. One of its enzymes had the exact chemical profile I needed for Dipraxa, so I made a trip to Gunagua Island and harvested some. I also managed to smuggle in some live plants for propagating it so I wouldn’t have to keep making trips there to obtain it. Pretend you didn’t hear that, Fran.”

“Hear what?”

“Shall I go on,” he said, “or am I boring you all to tears?”

Dana piped up, “Even I’m interested, and I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, Brian. Please keep going.”

Abby and I nodded in agreement.

Brian shrugged and continued, “I’ll try to wrap this up quickly. Now, the Chin—excuse me—the manufacturer knows about this plant and its provenance, thanks to that FBI mole, because I had to document it in the patent information, which they now have. My great hope, though, is that they haven’t figured out yet that it only grows in this one spot and haven’t done what I did and stolen some to grow my own. If they have, we may be screwed, but if they are continuing to get it from Gunagua Island, then we have a unique opportunity to sabotage the only known supply besides what my former company, Detry Pharmaceutical, is now growing in greenhouses. I have a licensing agreement with them to manufacture Glyptophan, and currently, they are the ones producing what is used in the human trials.

“This is why we need to hurry before the Ch— before the manufacturer wises up and figures this out.”

“Brian,” I asked, “why speak of sabotaging it? Why not just napalm it out of existence now that we’re growing our own supply here for Glyptophan?”

Abby said, “I think I can guess the reason for that.”

Brian signaled to her that she had the floor.

“Plants have a way of regenerating themselves after a fire. Forests eventually regrow after forest fires. What we need to do is somehow chemically change the plant enzyme that Brian’s been using.”

“Correct. And do you know how that can be accomplished, Abby?” asked Brian.

“I imagine through genetic engineering.”

“Smarty-pants,” said Dana, poking Abby in the ribs with her elbow.

Brian continued, “Exactly right. In essence, we have to change the structure of one or more genes in the plant, which will then strip Dipraxa’s ability to cause that terrific high. And, to put the icing on the cake, if we can modify it so that not only does it no longer produce that high, but in fact makes you sick as a dog with nausea or diarrhea, no one will ever want to use it again.

“Sounds good, right? But here’s the problem, and here’s why I need an outstanding mathematician and probably a top-notch programmer too: The math involved in modeling the possible genetic pathways that could be altered and predicting how changes to the plant's genes might affect its enzyme production is beyond my capabilities without a great deal of further study and time, which we have very little of, presumably. So, I guess what we need to know, Abby, is do you think you would have the required expertise to help me?”

She spoke right up. “As an actuary, my job was to analyze data and to create models and simulations, varying a number of factors. I used known statistical methods and even developed many of my own algorithms in this modeling. Also, in the design of the golf suit Dana may have told you about, I worked very closely with a computer expert to model human biomechanics and develop algorithms needed to program the suit to guide the wearer into a proper golf swing. I don’t know much biochemistry, but with your help in that, Brian, I believe I could help you with the necessary modeling. But we would need a very competent programmer as well. The computer expert I spoke of who helped me with the golf suit is a good friend, who I’m sure could help us, but unfortunately, he just retired and is currently on vacation in Europe with his wife.”

“No worries there,” I said. “I know an extraordinary computer expert who I’ve worked with many times in the past. You know her too, Brian—Patty Mattson. Alright then, Abby. I’d like to talk to my brother upstairs for a few minutes if you don’t mind. We won’t be long.”

“That’s fine, Fran. Dana and I can catch up together in the meantime.”

“See you back in a few.”