Away From You Read online

  David made it no secret that he believed in genetic medicine customized to an individual’s DNA.

  It was the start of his illness.

  Yes but our investigators found evidence that he was also creating toxins that would target a vital organ. Not for the purposes of his health.

  Who’s then? Yours? The others?

  Yes. Some of us had health condition and genetic tendencies.

  What he was developing was a way for us to look like we died suddenly or slowly of natural causes. For those who were healthy, he was funding research that would trigger an illness dormant in our DNA to express itself.

  How could he have coerced the various lab researchers to go along with this? Physicians still take the Hippocratic Oath seriously or at least prefer to stay out of jail. First degree murder is a life sentence or death. No reasonable person would put themselves in that position.

  David at his peak was a master of language and manipulation. None of the medical researchers were aware that they have unwittingly been coerced into helping him commit criminal activity.

  Why should I believe any of this? It sounds like a script for a TV show on corporate intrigue. Spy thrillers are fun but hardly realistic.

  If you don’t believe me then perhaps Agent Hennessey can convince you. We didn’t contact the FBI about the sabotage to our vehicles and devices. We did contact them about the financing directed to the various medical research lbs. When David fell ill,. Agent Hennessey and his team put the file on reserve, in the event David ever resumed his activities. When David r

  9 HALFWAY BACK

  The preliminary brain scans indicate that his pre-frontal cortex is intact. However, the memory center of the brain are impaired based on these little black spots. He is operating at about 80% of his optimal memory. He has managed to get by in most of his work and daily life because his brain has overcompensated for the deficiency by increasing neural activity in the empathy centers. His acute ability to read the emotional temperature and nuances in the expressions of other people in situations are filling in the gap. He can deflect or change the tone in the room. Its remarkable that only a few people in his inner circle notice the cognitive decline he has been afflicted with. People perceive him as more intuitive and precise. So his EQ dominates his decisions.

  Any other regions that show less than optimal functioning?

  Apart from the memory areas, the region that governs language and logic are slightly reduced. He used to be fluent in English and German. Now he needs to listen to a refresher to remind himself of certain words or phrases. His vocabulary is diminished and he has to consciously translate the words in his brain. Before, he could think in the other language like a native and easily switched back and forth. When he speaks English he may sound like a New Yorker but his conversational English is direct and blunt, almost harsh if not for the EQ. He talks like a diplomat rather than a smooth persuasive manipulator his critics used to call him. Paradoxically, his condition made his friends and family want to be around him more.

  So he was more manipulative? Isn’t that a job requirement to be hired on Wall Street anyway?

  You can say that but it’s an understatement how dramatic the effect his behavior changes have been on his closest relationships. His teenage daughter called him a borderline pathological liar. If he hadn’t developed his condition, the SEC may have begun investigating him for fraud.

  Good timing.

  Very perfect timing.

  He had the luck of the Devil his whole career. This is just more of the same.

  Your earning potential has increased exponentially Dr. Hallowell. If you went on the speaker circuit, published a book, a 7-figure income is not unrealistic. You’d then be free from the control of Stanford University and their academic bureaucracy. In fact, Dean Winters and the Administration would probably double your teaching salary and reduce their labor demands. Now that my math abilities are back, I created this spreadsheet with calculations to forecast how much monetization is possible. I thought it would also help you update my patient chart on the progress so far.

  David handed her a color print on expensive manila paper. Penelope looked at the formulas and diagrams on the document. He was right. This was leading to something she didn’t want to hear.

  Projection are tempting but it’s premature to be counting revenue streams.

  I know but it’s not the best way to encourage you to not lose faith in this medical experiment with me being your willing guinea pig.

  I don’t understand David.

  Yes you do indeed Dr. Halloway. Our confidential agreement stipulates that I can exercise adjustments during the course of treatment. Under the financial terms of my very generous grant, you must comply or else I pull the funding and force Stanford to repay the money that has already been donated and spent. Dean Winters won’t be terribly happy. Your only exit as a physician is if it poses a health risk or obviously is illegal and deemed criminal activity. Then you could refuse but would still risk a financial hemorrhage for your project and Stanford. Neither have been breached.

  So you have an adjustment to your treatment that you are requesting. With all this preamble before making your request. Why?

  I prefer to provide context first. Otherwise it may seem unusual.

  So what are you asking for David? What do you want my clinical team to do?

  About two years ago I was informed by the woman who left me that summer that she was pregnant. Being Catholic, abortion was out of the question. She didn’t want money. She wanted me to sign away any parental rights before the child was born. I agreed as long as she allowed me to have the stem cells from the afterbirth. My b rain had been changing before she conceived my younger daughter. The pregnancy was inconvenient but it provided a fresh supply of stem cells that I already knew could be applied towards experimental treatment to create new brain tissue.

  Since you signed the Informed Consent and other legal waivers, using stem cells that legally belong to the patient, is not an issue.

  No, but getting more stem cells will be required. Dr. Halloway it’s not that I want my old brain back. I want a new young brain that is fully utilized. Don’t we humans use only a small percentage of our capacities.

  And you believe that there aren’t enough stem cells to create a new brain for you?

  No. I don’t.

  Like the legal agreement states, I can’t illegally obtain stem cells. It violates sound medical protocol.

  You could harvest more the same source.

  Unless you are expecting another child, I don’t see where there would be a genetic source.

  My youngest daughter’s mother, I am sure she will listen to another female, especially a research psychiatrist. She has a preference for experts.

  What exactly are you asking?

  Our daughter is barely two years old. Her blood and tissue samples can be harvested to create stem-cell like biological material. She is the ideal host given her age, blood type, and other genetic characteristics. Unfortunately her mother is refusing to help.

  I can understand without needing to be a mother.

  You are asking to subject a toddler to being used like a lab rat or human donor. There is rarely a chance to ask a mother to go against her protective instinct. If you are planning to bribe her with money, I want no knowledge of it or else I am mandated to report it as child abuse.

  Didn’t you tell me and Dr. Vidal that a side effect of our treatment plan is an increased risk for leukemia? My last labs showed increased white blood cell count. The last thing I want is to demand a bone marrow from a toddler.

  An elevated white blood cell count in a mild range for an adult man your age is not enough to diagnose leukemia. Maybe just an infection from a scrap on your knee.

  Her mother doesn’t need money. However, she has an outstanding loan on her ranch. A loan that can be called earlier than the initial terms. She will run to me for a financial infusion if that happens. I won’t do that yet unless you meet wi
th her and ask for her cooperation for my daughter’s blood and tissue samples, for the purpose of medical treatment, or else I won’t recover. She will need me at my highest income potential for a few years before the girl is ready for college.

  Medical blackmail at the expense of injury to a child?

  Toddlers recover fast. It would only take a short single procedure to obtain the biological supply we need.

  You need.

  As a matter of convenience, my older daughter, has found herself in an unfortunate position. He mother doesn’t know yet but she’s a pregnant college freshman.

  How soon can you start harvesting stem cells from her fetus?

  What does she want? I don’t think you have even talked to her about what you’re planning.

  She wants to keep the child just as her mother and I kept her. Without money she’ll have to go on public assistance, leave college, move back to New York since she can’t stay here in California. I don’t have room for her and a kid.

  Blackmailing both your children.

  The opportunity their choices have presented are just that.

  How did a bright streetwise 18 year old find herself dealing with an unplanned pregnancy? With all her plans for the future it makes no sense that she would be careless enough to get into this kind of dilemma halfway through her freshman year?

  10 THE TARASOFF STRATEGY

  The Hippocratic Oath vs Tarasoff. What a quandary you have here.

  He threatened to harm his ex-partner in Chicago. David has no intention of sharing the pot. I am going to have to contact the Feds because David is boarding a plan in a week for O’Hare with dangerous intentions.

  You are under obligation to report anything that falls under a Tarasoff warning.

  I have no idea of where he is meeting his former business partner. He could take him out of state.

  But you have a name and when David plans to leave for Chicago.

  That’s all.

  You don’t think the Feds could figure the rest out with all their advanced surveillance technology?

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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Charlotte Harcing-Soigne grew up near the Great Plains States and

  now lives in California.