Seizure (11 page)

Daniel looked up and blinked. His eyes were red, as if he'd been rubbing them, and his face was paler than usual. “Yeah, I'm okay,” he said, as if exhausted. His earlier ebullience had fled.

“What's going on?”

Daniel shook his head as his eyes wandered around his littered desk. He sighed. “Running this organization is like keeping a leaky boat afloat with a thimble for bailing. The venture capital people are refusing to release the second round financing until I tell them why I'm so sure Butler's bill won't come out of the subcommittee. But I can't tell them, because if I do, it will invariably be leaked, and Butler would most
likely renege about keeping his bill under wraps. Then all bets are off.”

“What kind of money do we have left?”

“Almost nothing,” Daniel moaned. “This time next month, we'll be dipping into our line of credit just to meet payroll.”

“That gives us the month we need to treat Butler,” Stephanie said.

“What a lucky break that is,” Daniel snapped sarcastically. “It irritates me to death that we have to stop our research and deal with the likes of Butler and possibly those infertility clowns down in Nassau. It's a goddamn crime that medical research has become politicized in this country. Our founding fathers who insisted on separation of church and state are probably turning over in their graves with these relatively few politicians using their supposed religious beliefs to hold up what will undoubtedly be the biggest advance in medical treatment.”

“Well, we all know what's really behind this current Luddite bioscience movement,” Stephanie said.

“What are you talking about?”

“It's really abortion politics in disguise,” Stephanie said. “The real issue is that these demagogues want a zygote to be declared a human being with full constitutional rights no matter how the zygote was formed and no matter what the zygote's future holds. It's a ridiculous stance, but nonetheless if it happened,
Roe versus Wade
would have to be thrown out.”

“You're probably right,” Daniel admitted. He exhaled like the sound of air coming out of a tire. “What an absurd situation. History is going to wonder what kind of people we were that allowed a personal issue like abortion to handicap a society for years on end. We took a lot of our ideas about individual rights, government, and certainly our common law from England. Why couldn't we have followed England's lead in how best to deal with the ethics of reproductive bioscience?”

“That's a good question, but it's not going to do us any good to worry over the answer at the moment. What happened to your enthusiasm about treating Butler? Let's get it done! Once he's treated, he's not going to renege on our deal even if there is a leak to the media, because we'll have his release. I
mean, once he's been cured he can deal with the media by just denying any accusations as being politically motivated. What he wouldn't be able to deny is a signed release.”

“You have a point,” Daniel admitted.

“What about Butler's money?” Stephanie asked. “It seems to me that's the key question at the moment. Has there been any communication about that?”

“I haven't even thought to check.” Daniel turned to his computer and, after a few strokes, looked at his special email inbox. “Here's a message that must be from Butler. It has an encrypted attachment, which is encouraging.”

Daniel opened the attachment. Stephanie stepped around the desk to look over his shoulder.

“I'd say it looks very encouraging,” Stephanie said. “He's given us an account number for a Bahamian bank, and it appears as if we both can draw from it.”

“It's got a link to the bank's website,” Daniel said. “Let's see if we can find out the balance in the account. That will tell us how serious Butler is about all this.”

A few clicks later, Daniel tilted back in his chair. He looked up at Stephanie, and she returned his stare. Both were taken aback.

“I'd say he's very serious!” Stephanie remarked. “And eager!”

“I'm flabbergasted!” Daniel said. “I expected ten or twenty thousand, tops. I never expected a hundred. Where could he have gotten that kind of money so quickly?”

“I told you, he has a string of political action committees that are fund-raising workhorses. What I wonder is if any of the people who contributed this money could have ever imagined how the money was going to be spent. There's a hell of a lot of irony here if they are as conservative as I imagine they are.”

“That's not our concern,” Daniel said. “Besides, we'll never spend a hundred thousand dollars. At the same time, it's good to know it's there just in case. Let's get busy!”

“I already started the fibroblast culture with the skin biopsy.”

“Excellent,” Daniel said, as his exuberance of that morning
began to return. Even his skin color improved. “I'll get cracking and find out what I can about the Wingate Clinic.”

“Sounds good!” Stephanie said. She started for the door. “I'll be back in about an hour.”

“Where are you going?”

“The bookstore downtown,” Stephanie called over her shoulder. She hesitated at the threshold. “They are holding a book for me. After I got the tissue culture started, I began looking into the Shroud of Turin issue. I have to say, I lucked out in our division of labor. The shroud is turning out to be much more interesting than I imagined.”

“What did you find out?”

“Just enough to hook me, but I'll give you a full report in about twenty-four hours.”

Daniel smiled, flashed Stephanie a thumbs-up, and turned back to his computer screen. He used a search engine to bring up a list of infertility clinics and found the Wingate Clinic's website. A few clicks later, he was connected.

He scrolled through the first few pages. As expected, it was composed of laudatory material to entice would-be clients. Under a section labeled MEET OUR STAFF, he made a brief side trip to read the professional resumes of the principals, which included the founder and CEO, Dr. Spencer Wingate; the head of Research and Laboratory Services, Dr. Paul Saunders; and the head of Clinical Services, Dr. Sheila Donaldson. The resumes were as glowing as the descriptions of the clinic itself, although in Daniel's opinion, all three individuals had attended second-tier or even third-tier schools and training programs.

At the bottom of the page, he found what he wanted: a phone number. There was also an email address, but Daniel wanted to talk directly with one of the principals, either Wingate or Saunders. Picking up the phone, Daniel dialed the number. The call was answered quickly by a pleasant-sounding operator who launched into a short, rote eulogy of the clinic before asking with whom Daniel wished to be connected.

“Dr. Wingate,” Daniel said. He decided he might as well start at the top.

There was another short pause before Daniel was
connected to an equally pleasant-sounding woman. She politely asked for Daniel's name before committing whether Dr. Wingate was available. When Daniel mentioned his name, the response was immediate.

“Is this Dr. Daniel Lowell of Harvard University?”

Daniel paused momentarily, as he tried to decide how to respond. “I have been at Harvard, although at the moment I am with my own firm.”

“I'll get Dr. Wingate for you,” the secretary said. “I know he's been waiting to talk with you.”

After a sustained blink of disbelief, Daniel pulled the phone from his ear and stared at it momentarily, as if it could explain the secretary's unexpected response. How could Spencer Wingate be waiting to talk with him? Daniel shook his head.

“Good afternoon, Dr. Lowell!” a voice responded with a clipped New England accent a full octave higher than Daniel would have expected. “I'm Spencer Wingate, and I'm pleased to hear from you. We expected your call last week, but no matter. Would you mind waiting momentarily while I get Dr. Saunders on the line? It will take a minute, but we might as well make this a conference call, since I know Dr. Saunders is as eager to talk with you as I.”

“Fine,” Daniel said agreeably, although his bewilderment was deepening. He leaned back in his chair, lifted his feet onto his desk, and switched the phone to his left hand so he could use his right to drum a pencil on his desk. He'd been caught totally unawares by Spencer Wingate's response to his call and felt a twinge of anxiety. He kept hearing Stephanie's admonitions about getting involved with these infamous infertility mavericks.

A minute dragged on to five. Just when Daniel had recovered his equilibrium enough to question if he'd been inadvertently disconnected, Spencer popped back on the line. He was slightly out of breath. “Okay, I'm back! How about you, Paul? Are you on?”

“I'm here,” Paul said, apparently using an extension in another room. In contrast to Spencer's voice, Paul's was rather deep, with a distinct Midwestern nasal twang. “I'm pleased to talk with you, Daniel, if I may call you that.”

“If you wish,” Daniel said. “Whatever suits you.”

“Thank you. And please call me Paul. No need for formalities between friends and colleagues. Let me say right off how much I am looking forward to working with you.”

“That's my sentiment as well,” Spencer declared. “Heck! The whole clinic is eager. How soon can we expect you?”

“Well, that's one of the reasons I'm calling,” Daniel said vaguely, struggling to be diplomatic, but intensely curious. “But first I'd like to ask how it is that you expected me to call?”

“From your scout or whatever his job title might be,” Spencer answered. “What was his name again, Paul?”

“Marlowe,” Paul said.

“Right! Bob Marlowe,” Spencer said. “After he finished checking out our facility, he said you'd be contacting us the following week. Needless to say, we were disappointed when we didn't hear from you. But that's water under the bridge now that you have called.”

“We're delighted you want to use our facility,” Paul said. “It will be an honor to work with you. Now I hope you don't mind me speculating about what you have in mind, because Bob Marlowe was vague, but I'm assuming you want to try your ingenious HTSR on a patient. I mean, why else would you want to forsake your own lab and those great hospitals you have in Boston. Am I correct in this assumption?”

“How do you know about HTSR?” Daniel asked. He wasn't sure he wanted to admit to his motivations so early in the conversation.

“We read your outstanding paper in
Nature
,” Paul said. “It was brilliant, simply brilliant. Its overall importance to bioscience reminded me of my own paper, “In Vitro Maturation of Human Oocytes.” Did you happen to read it?”

“Not yet,” Daniel responded, forcing himself to continue to be tactful. “What journal was it in?”

“
The Journal of Twenty-first Century Reproductive Technology
,” Spencer said.

“That's a journal I'm not familiar with,” Daniel responded. “Who publishes it?”

“We do,” Paul said proudly. “Right here at the Wingate Clinic. We're as committed to research as we are to clinical services.”

Daniel rolled his eyes. Lacking peer review, scientific self-publishing was an oxymoron, and he was impressed with the accuracy of Butler's capsule description of these two men.

“HTSR has never been used on a human,” Daniel said, still avoiding answering Paul's question.

“We understand that,” Spencer interjected. “And that's one of many reasons why we would be thrilled to have it done here first. Being on the cutting edge is precisely the kind of reputation Wingate Clinic is striving to establish.”

“The FDA would frown on performing an experimental procedure outside of an approved protocol,” Daniel said. “They would never give approval.”

“Of course they wouldn't approve,” Spencer agreed. “And we should know.” He laughed, and Paul chimed in as well. “But here in the Bahamas, there's no need for the FDA to know, since they have no jurisdiction.”

“If I were to do HTSR on a human, it would have to be in absolute secrecy,” Daniel said, finally indirectly acknowledging his plans. “It cannot be divulged and obviously could not be used for your promotional purposes.”

“We are fully aware of that,” Paul said. “Spencer was not implying we would use it right away.”

“Heavens, no!” Spencer chirped. “I was thinking of using it only after it became mainstream.”

“I would have to retain the right to determine when that might be,” Daniel said. “I will not even be using the episode to promote HTSR.”

“No?” Paul questioned. “Then why do you want to do it?”

“For purely personal reasons,” Daniel said. “I'm confident HTSR will work just as well with humans as it has with mice. But I need to prove it to myself with a patient to give me the fortitude to deal with the backlash I'm facing from the political right. I don't know if you are aware, but I'm fighting a potential congressional ban on my procedure.”

There was an awkward pause in the conversation. By demanding secrecy and taking away any potential advertising windfalls in the near future, Daniel was certain he'd negated one of the Wingate Clinic's reasons to be cooperative. Frantically, he tried to think of a way to cushion the disappointment, and just a moment before he spoke up and possibly made
things worse, Spencer broke the silence: “I suppose we can respect your need for secrecy. But if we were to get no promotional value from your collaboration with us in the near term, what kind of compensation do you have in mind for using our facility and services?”