The Dolomite Solution (11 page)

Toni watched the rearview mirror. An ambulance was approaching swiftly with its lights flashing but no siren. She held the steering wheel with both hands as the ambulance flew by, sending her car sideways in the vortex.

“This thing you've discovered in Passo di Villa,” Toni started. “This wonder. Is making a lot of medical professionals question whether they'll have a job in a few years. There's no need to do all those heart bypasses and other expensive procedures if people can keep their arteries clear of plaque with a simple pill.”

He looked horrified, as if he'd seen his own death ahead. He started to say something, and stopped.

“You didn't think I knew about that? I also know about the independent research you and Leonhard did conduct at the University of Milan when you came down out of the Dolomites. You found the answer to the mystery of Passo di Villa sooner than your superiors at the university knew, and before your sponsor at Tirol Genetics knew. But you wanted to make absolutely sure that you were correct. So you tested the solution on rats in Milan and that research confirmed your beliefs. The next step was humans.” She paused and glanced for a reaction, which was unmistakable disbelief.

“How could you know this?”

“Let's just say I'm good at what I do.” That sounded a bit arrogant. Yet, she suspected he was equally so, or he would have never reached the position he had. Narcissism was a trait of nearly every great mind.

“So you know of our human testing?”

“Yes. That wasn't too difficult to find out, really. Europe has more liberal standards when it comes to bringing drugs to market, but to really make a huge impact, and for Tirol Genetics to make a huge profit, was to get U.S. FDA approval. After all, Americans drop dead faster than any other class of people from heart disease. Now I'm sure that the FDA go-ahead is years away, considering how slow those bureaucrats are. However, with the international patent pending on the solution, Tirol Genetics stands to make big bucks in Europe and the rest of the world for a few years before American dollars start really flowing in. My guess is that there would be a hell of a bootleg market for the stuff in the interim.”

He looked horrified at that thought. “You're wrong about one thing, though.”

“What's that?”

“It won't be a pill.”

She checked her mirrors again. There was only one car way back behind them. “What would it be then?”

The professor turned sideways on the seat. “We had thought of a pill because that's what people would expect,” he said. “But we had a problem keeping the DNA alive in a pill production, based on our data, and then with stomach acid. The acid would have killed it for sure.”

Toni was confused. “I'm sorry. I don't understand.”

The professor was like a true teacher now, using his hands as much as his words. “We used recombinant techniques, splicing the isolated gene that we discovered and attaching it to a minor virus. Then we injected the virus into the host, in our case our human volunteers, and the virus spread throughout the person's system, along with the new DNA strand. Our biggest hurdle was finding a virus that was innocuous enough to not hurt the human, and yet one that would stick around within the body long enough for the new gene to take hold.”

It finally hit her. “You're talking about gene splicing here?”

The professor laughed. “My God. Don't look at me like that. I'm not Dr. Frankenstein. Gene therapy is used every day safely.”

That might be true, she thought. But she still wasn't sure if she wanted it done on her. “You said injected. Wouldn't a lot of people be afraid of getting a shot?”

“Perhaps. But if it meant living longer without the fear of heart disease they will do it. Besides, we've come up with a better way. Nasal spray.”

“Really?”

“Really. Most viruses enter the human body through the nasal passages. We simply combine the relatively inert virus with the gene and squirt it up. The body's white blood cells work to kill off the virus, while the gene interacts and changes the person's genetic makeup. The entire process takes only about three days. The recipient puts up with a little discomfort for a virtual guarantee of increased longevity.”

“Virtual guarantee?” she asked.

The scientist shrugged. “We still haven't discovered the cure for cancer, war, famine, and hundreds of other life-threatening illnesses. Not to mention car accidents.” He turned away, thinking about his colleague Leonhard Aldo.

She kept her eyes on the road, but couldn't help thinking about what the scientist had just told her. Had science advanced that far? It was so far removed from the world she lived in. As an expatriate living in Rome for so long, she didn't even own a television. She didn't have time to watch it anyway, considering all the late hours she spent watching people, trying to bring some normalcy to a world that often was far removed from any semblance of uniformity. She was glad that Professor Scala had confided in her. He obviously trusted her now. She only hoped she wouldn't have to follow the orders she had been given.

Toni noticed the large blue sign for Innsbruck. They were still twenty kilometers away.

On a nice clear day Innsbruck's Hofgarten is a pleasant green park along a beautiful mountain river, with flowers compressed in long gardens, and curving walkways where lovers stroll hand-in-hand.

In the darkness, like it was now, the place took on a far more sinister appearance. In the winter and spring there were few lights along the paths, and those that were there did little to light the way.

Otto Bergen walked cautiously toward the heart of the park and stopped next to a small fountain that was not working. He lit a cigarette, the orange glow bouncing about the end of his mouth.

A moment later he heard movement to his left and he startled when the dark figure approached.

“A little jumpy, Otto?” Marcus Quinn said, moving uncomfortably close to the Austrian.

“Nobody comes to the Hofgarten at night this time of year,” Otto said, gazing nervously around him. He inhaled on his cigarette and then let it hang between his fingers at his side.

“I know. That's why we're meeting here.” The American nodded to his right. “It's amazing more people don't come here with polizei headquarters less than a block away.”

“What's the point of standing in darkness?”

“Otto...you have no sense of adventure.”

“What is it that you want?” Bergen asked, rather irritated.

Quinn pulled his gun and aimed the silenced barrel right at Bergen's mouth. “Don't get short with me, motherfucker. I'll show you terminal darkness.”

Bergen was scared. He'd never had a gun pointed at him, and he knew this man would just as soon pull the trigger as take another breath. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything.”

Quinn smiled and returned the gun to inside his jacket. “Relax, Otto. Jesus Christ, I was just giving you shit. You need to learn to settle down or you'll have a fuckin' coronary before you have a chance to take that damn solution of yours. Now that would be some God damn irony if you ask me. I can see the headlines now. ‘Company president dies before cure hits market.' Hell of a shame.”

Bergen wasn't sure where this was heading, but he had enough sense to keep his mouth shut. He flicked ashes to the wet grass and then stuck the cigarette into the side of his mouth.

Quinn's attitude changed quickly from jocularity to grave concern. “I went to the airport to shadow the Italian researcher of yours, Giovanni Scala. He never showed.”

“You're kidding.”

“I don't fuck around when it comes to work or money. He didn't show. The airline said he was a no-show in Milan.”

Bergen gazed off nervously and then settled on Quinn. “What about Leonhard Aldo's apartment. He only lives a few blocks from here. Let's see if he's there. Scala hates to fly. He might have decided to take a train.”

“Save your breath,” Quinn said. He hesitated, thinking things over carefully, knowing exactly what Aldo's apartment looked like. “I just came from there. Trust me. He wasn't there. While I was there I looked around for Aldo's research, but it wasn't there either. He must have had everything with him in Italy.”

Bergen thought about leaving, forgetting about this man he knew little about. Things had gotten far too complicated. Everything was out of his hands and he didn't like it a bit. He was used to controlling his own destiny, which is why he had started Tirol Genetics in the first place. He drew in the last of his smoke and then stamped out the butt in the grass. “We had a meeting in the morning,” Bergen finally muttered. “I expected Scala to present his findings to us. He must be there. Please. Do anything you can to get Scala to that meeting.”

Quinn looked surprised. “Anything?”

“Within reason.”

“If Scala is in this town I'll find him.”

Bergen checked his watch. “I've got to go. I have that dinner meeting.”

Quinn nodded and slipped back into the darkness. Bergen walked off toward his car.

●

Back at his hotel room, Quinn closed the door behind him and threw the plastic card key against the mirror. He could hear the shower going in the back, so he slumped into a chair and pulled out the photos he had of his old partner. He smiled at the wild eyes the girl made as Murdock was about to enter her. When he had first found the young woman at Aldo's apartment he had been surprised, and then he saw it as an opportunity. She spoke no English and very little German. All he understood, through hand gestures and the equipment she carried, was that she was Aldo's maid.

He flipped to another photo. The one where he had made Murdock ejaculate all over her breasts. She had been so frightened he had almost achieved an erection himself. A poor maid trying to make a new life after escaping a stagnating Rumania. That's all she had asked for. Death was so much easier.

The shower had shut down and the door opened. Ute came out naked, toweling herself off. She stopped briefly when she saw him in the chair, and then simply lifted the towel to concentrate on her long blonde hair. Her breasts bounced with each stroke, her nipples pointing rigidly toward Quinn.

“It's about time you got back,” she said. “You get to have all the fun while I'm back here bored to death.”

“They found the car. Adams...alerted the polizei about the bomb. I don't know how he knew.”

She sat down on the bed across from him, opening her legs to him. “He's smarter than you think?”

“Not as smart as he thinks. I've still got a few more surprises for him.” He ran his eyes across her body, where she was curling the hair away from her vagina. “Save yourself, Ute. I want you to connect with Adams again tonight.”

She smiled with the thought, running her finger inside herself. “Ummm. That could be interesting.”

“Perhaps. But here's what I want you to do....”

Jake had found a Gasthof in Hungerburg, nestled a short drive along a winding road up the mountain, with a panoramic view of Innsbruck below.

He glanced out the open window at the road below, where he could see any car approaching from a great distance. He felt a little paranoid at his own caution, but then it wasn't hard to remember the events of the last fifteen hours. He massaged the bump on the back of his head. The pain was still there, but seemed to be getting better each hour.

It was dark out now, the lights of the city shimmering off the river, as if diamonds were dancing across the water.

When he had made the decision to leave Oregon and take up residency in Innsbruck, he figured he deserved a slower pace, considering what had happened to him in Kurdistan. Thinking back on that experience, where he had stopped a plan by the Kurds to produce a new chemical weapon that could have changed the balance of power in the Middle East, and maybe even secure them an autonomous homeland, he wondered why he had risked his life for something he wasn't totally set against. He wouldn't have, either, if they hadn't kidnapped a good friend of his. And now that he thought about it, the hundred thousand dollar reward had made it possible for him to pull up stakes and move to Innsbruck.

If someone had wanted to kill him, they could have done it by now. Humans are the easiest of prey when they don't know it's coming. Man had lost almost all of his instincts with the invention of gunpowder. No, Jake was sure someone wanted to play with him for a while and make him squirm. But why? That's what he needed to find out.

He thought about the call he had gotten at his apartment as he was packing his bag to leave. He hadn't planned on taking any security cases or computer consulting jobs for at least a month, yet somehow Otto Bergen had convinced him to at least meet and hear him out. Jake still wasn't sure how the man had gotten his name and number, and that bothered him. Now that he knew Murdock had contacted Bergen, his choice to meet the man made even more sense. Somehow he knew Murdock's company and Tirol Genetics were related. If not by blood, then marriage.

He closed the window and retreated back into the room. He was wearing new black jeans and a gray T-shirt. He sat on the edge of the bed and laced on a pair of Nike hiking shoes. He slung a leather holster over his head and left arm and then withdrew his CZ-75 9mm automatic, checked to make sure the clip was full and there was no round in the chamber, and returned the gun to its case. Picking up his black leather jacket, he checked his inside pocket to make sure his spare clip was there. Then he put on his coat and headed out the door.

The Gasthof Alpen had six rooms and a bar and restaurant on the first floor that was only open after four p.m. From the sound echoing back from the bar, the place was a local hangout. Which suited Jake fine. The old couple who owned the place had not even asked his nationality when he checked in and paid his bill in Austrian Shillings.