and Jankowiak had shared a mutual understanding for the competitive development of CI technology that Pawluk had continued with Ryan CI's founder's death. It prohibited intellectual piracy.
“No,” He responded at length. Robb was an unknown.
“I called about an hour ago.”
“Are you continuing Dr. Pawluk's research?” Ryan ignored the assertion.
“No,” Robb replied. “We have moved onto different avenues. I'm simply cleaning up a few loose ends.”
That statement made a convenient sense to Ryan. The anomalies were recent in appearance. To support his suspicion he asked, “When did Dr. Pawluk retire?”
“Three months ago.”
The timing of Pawluk's retirement overlapped with Lambert's accusations.
“You have jurisdiction over Dr. Pawluk's research?” Ryan continued his interrogation.
“Yes, I own the program,” Robb repeated.
“Then perhaps you'll tell me what has changed in the program,” Ryan challenged.
“Changed?”
“You know I helped set it up.”
Robb was silent.
Ryan waited but as the dead time awkwardly stretched over a minute in length he wondered if he'd been too belligerent.
When Robb spoke his voice was low and his tone was guarded. It wasn't a stand-off.
“Would you like to meet in person?” Robb offered.
“The sooner the better,” Ryan pressed.
“I agree.”
Threats
Lambert's byline ran the following Saturday as a human interest piece. As he'd threatened, it was an interview with the mother of a CI clinical participant.
As human interest, the story caught the eye of the casual weekend reader. Within hours it had sparked numerous comments and by virtue of its increasing traffic it was picked up by business-copy editors. Later in the day, when Lambert posted a video transcript, it went viral.
Corrupted Intelligence – by John Lambert
“My daughter, Tori, has a genetic disorder that causes premature aging. She was first diagnosed when she was two—her hair had begun to thin and her skin was showing signs of wrinkles. For the past five years she has been taking CI's RD-969. Now she is nearly ten years old.”
“Why did you agree to participate in CI's clinical trials?”
“Tori agreed.”
“You let her a five year old choose?”
“Facing death had made her very mature.”
“But you really had the final say?”
“I suppose so. Of course.”
“Why did you agree?”
“There were many reasons. Her father and I wanted the best for our daughter. Her diagnosis had denied her a normal life. There is no treatment or cure—no alternative.”
“How did you get into the program?”
“We were recommended by Tori's pediatrician. She was incredible—very supportive and sympathetic—fully up-to-date on the latest in medicine. Her colleague once worked with CI personnel at a government lab. We read up on the company and we were impressed. We respected Dr. Jankowiak's credentials. So we applied to the program and we interviewed.“
“You met Dr. Jankowiak?”
“Yes. He convinced us that he wanted to help. He thought he might have a solution that could prolong her life. We were impressed by his honesty and humility. My husband, Tori and I agreed to participate. Like I said earlier, there was no other alternative.”
“Did you have any concerns at the time?”
“Of course. Being part of an 'experiment' is frightening. When it's your child its terrifying. But Tori was monitored closely by doctors and scientists. There was never any side effects that we could see.”
“How long has Tori participated in the experiment?”
“For five years.”
“Can you describe her condition?”
“She is ten years old. She has continued to age but now it's at a normal pace. Some things seem to have reversed.”
“What do you mean?”
“She now plays like any ten year old now except she looks very different.”
“How is that?”
“Her appearance is aged.”
“How aged?”
“More than my own.”
“Very powerful treatment,” Lambert summarized. “How concerned are you?”
“I'm a mother. I'm heartbroken. You accept it but you never get used to it.”
“How has that affected you and your husband?”
“We have been afraid to have another child.”
“Why is that? Aren't the odds of having a second child with an aging disorder astronomically small?”
“It wasn't the odds, it was the risk. You can't just disconnect from the reality that we are all part of the experiment. Tori used an inhaler and we both helped her with it when she was too young to administer it herself. Inhalers are better for children than daily injections and I was grateful for that. But the room always smelled funny after she took her dose.”
“Did you mention these concerns to anyone?”
“Of course. But the scientists from CI said it was normal. The... how did they put it... the carrier fluids needed to evaporate quickly to deliver the proper dose.”
“That's all they said?”
“No. They paid for for my husband and me to have genetic assays.”
“Who chose the lab?”
“We did.”
“Did CI recommend any lab in particular?”
“Several, but we didn't use any of those. We selected one independently.”
“Did the results tell you anything?”
“There was no issue with either of us.”
“And that was it?”
“Yes.”
“Were you treated any differently afterward?”
“No. We were relieved. I spoke with the company CEO... the one that replaced Jankowiak... I think his name was Ryan... but.... wait a moment, I forgot. The inhaler was replaced a few weeks later. The new one fits over the nose and mouth when you use it. You couldn't smell anything from this one.”
“So even though there's no problem they still changed the design?”
“They said it was a change in the industry standard.”
“Did they say why?”
“It had a 'better delivery system' is what I remember. It was battery powered.”
“Did you worry about your past exposure?”
“Not excessively. Inhaler vapors aren't teratogenic. They're commonly used for drug and insulin delivery. I didn't give it a second thought... until now.”
“Now you face a serious issue?”
“Yes.”
“Which is?”
“We recently decided to have another baby. We were so very reticent but our doctors assured us that we had little to fear.”
“So you became pregnant?”
“Yes.”
“How did you feel?”
“Excited. Scared. Exhilarated. Everything combined. I couldn't fully shake the feeling of impending tragedy, though.”
“Were there any issues?”
“The morning sickness was terrible, quite different from when I carried Tori. Other than that, no”
“How were your check-ups?”
“Routine. Except for the constant nausea, of course, the first trimester passed normally. Until sixteen weeks when I had my first ultrasound. That's when the pregnancy changed.”
On the video she stopped talking and stared, unseeingly, into the distance. She seemed to be trying to compose herself in advance.
“Go on, please.”
“I remember the technician's behavior. She was chattering about what we'd see and what vitals she'd record and then she put the image on the computer screen and she stopped talking. She just went silent. Even I could see that there was something... unusual... about the fetus. She shut the monitor off, excused herself and left to summon my gynecologist. I was stunned. I just lay there and worried, stuck to the chair. I couldn't ge
t up and I didn't know what was wrong. I was dressed in a hospital gown and... anyways, a few minutes later, my gynecologist came in and recommended an amniocentesis.”
“Did your gynecologist go over the ultrasound with you?”
“Not at all. She'd looked at it from her office.”
“When did you have the amniocentesis?”
“Immediately.”
“How long ago was that?”
“A month ago.”
“The baby wasn't fine?”
“No, there were... complications.”
“Did you know what?”
“Not at first. When the amnio results came in a week later I went back to see my gynecologist and had a follow-up ultrasound. It was devastating. The baby had died inside me.”
“I'm very sorry. Can you talk about it?”
“I'll try. It was a boy. He was severely deformed.” She cried. “My husband and I had taken genetic tests. We were okay. Why not him?”
“What happened next?”
“A few days later I had a procedure to pass the fetus. It was grueling and yet so easy. It was surreal. Afterward, I saw it—I reviewed the microscope images with my gynecologist...”
Her voice broke again.
“You don't have to continue.”
“No, I must. I want to say this. The vestigial tail was showing. That was abnormal.”
“We can move on if you like.”
“No, there's more. It's pharyngeal pouches were still prominent.”
“What are those?”
“They look like gill slits but they're not gills. Except his...”
She stopped. She looked confused.
“Except what?”
When she began again her voice was robotic.
“My gynecologist sent the images to a geneticist. We met a day later. He was puzzled. He explained that rather than being smoothed away the fetus' pharyngeal pouches seemed to be opening up.”
“Opening up?”
“He wasn't sure at the time. He asked if he could further test the fetus.”
“You agreed to have an aborted fetus tested?”
“Of course. Our involvement in Tori's clinical trial has left us somewhat jaded to the sanctity of the human