Lethal Remedy by Richard Mabry

talk with. He needs someone to care about what he's going through. He needs an occasional hug, a human touch. He needs . . . Well, what he needs is a good friend, and that's what I intend to be. But I'm not going to let it get more serious." I can't. Not right now.

 

 

No one knew he was in New York. He'd used a false ID at airport security, paid cash for his ticket. He traveled from Kennedy Airport via public transportation, spent the night in a cheap hotel under yet another name, walked to this building today carrying his toiletries and dirty linen in an anonymous briefcase. Tonight he'd be back home. And he hoped he'd be much richer for the trip.

The only light in the room where he now waited was the faint flicker from a small black-and-white TV on the table in front of him. A secure feed led to that TV from the fish-eye lens of a camera concealed in the crown molding of the confer ence room one floor below. The camera let him see all twelve men gathered around the mahogany table, while a microphone transmitted sound from the room. The men fidgeted and whispered to each other, most of them ignoring coffee that grew cold in their cups. He could hear an occasional comment. "What's going on?" "Why all the secrecy?"

He reviewed the security measures on which he'd insisted. The room in which he sat was a vacant office well removed from where the board members of Darlington Pharmaceuticals were gathered. Both rooms had been swept for bugs only ninety minutes ago and pronounced clean. He'd been in place for an hour before the first man arrived. He wouldn't leave until an hour after the last one departed, but first he'd wipe down every surface he could have touched. He didn't think they'd try to identify him by fingerprints, but he wanted nothing left to chance. Tonight he'd leave New York, having never really been there.

There was no camera in his room, but even if there were, his face was shrouded in darkness. He fiddled with the small gadget attached to the microphone on the table in front of him. It would distort his voice, making it completely unidentifi able, even if someone chose to record it and try to match it to a voiceprint later. Ridiculous? He thought not. Just leaving nothing to chance.

One floor below him, the man at the head of the table, the CEO of Darlington Pharmaceuticals, stood and cleared his throat. Conversations died in midsentence. "Gentlemen, I'll get right to it. You all know that we have tried to acquire Jandra Pharmaceuticals. Even in their weakened cash position, they've turned down our offers. I believe we now have an opportunity to snatch up the company for even less money."

"Ridiculous. We have inside information that they're about to launch a new product that will revive the company." The speaker's hands were in constant motion, fiddling with the pencil in front of him, adjusting his tie, centering and recentering a legal pad. He looked around the room before returning his gaze to the CEO. "What's changed?"

"The man whose voice you're about to hear can put a stop to the success of that new product. Matter of fact, he guarantees it." The CEO took a sip of water. "Of course, there's a price. But I can assure you, it's worth it."

In the darkened room, the man leaned toward the microphone and spoke slowly and distinctly: "Gentlemen, Jandra is about to launch a new antibiotic, Jandramycin. It offers the only cure for the deadly epidemic of Staph luciferus that is sweeping the world, taking over two thousand lives so far. Jandramycin is, and will be touted as, a 'wonder drug.' However, it has shortcomings and faults. These have been purposefully hidden during the various phases of drug testing. I'm in a position to bring them to light. The result will sink Jandramycin and send Jandra stock plummeting."

He let the buzz around the room die down. Someone would ask the question, and it turned out to be the oldest man on the board, who asked three. "How can you do it, why are you doing it, and