CHAPTER 32
As soon as she neared the Houston city limits, Kat called Kevin on his burner phone. “Kevin, we need to meet as soon as possible . . . the entire group.”
“Okay, how about at Sheila’s apartment?”
“No, we need someplace very secure. I know—let’s meet at that new steak house on Bellaire Boulevard that’s not too far from your apartment, the Longhorn Steak House, I believe is its name.”
“Okay . . . but wait a minute. Where are you?”
“Just pulling into the city limits.”
“How did you get here? I drove the Honda home and you didn’t have a car when I left Conroe.”
“I took a taxi to downtown Conroe and rented a car, but don’t worry, I used Jordan’s driver’s license. It was expired, but the rental guy didn’t notice. Good thing Jordan can be either a male or female name, huh?”
“What about the picture?”
Kat laughed. “Kept my thumb over it while the man copied down the license number.”
“What are you gonna do about Sheila and Burton? Their cars both have GPS monitors on them.”
“I’ll arrange to pick them up at the Methodist hospital parking garage. It’s so busy that there is no way anyone could follow them in and see them get in my car without being obvious about it. Besides, the detectives will just think it’s normal for them to be going to Methodist hospital in the middle of the day.”
* * *
Nicholas Fowler woke with a crick in his neck due to falling asleep in a chair while trying to keep track of what J.P. Ashby was doing. Damn, for one of the richest men in the world, he leads a damn boring life, Fowler thought as he keyed up the videos and tapes to watch what he’d missed while asleep. Of course, being partially paralyzed and bedridden limits his choices for fun, Fowler mused while chuckling to himself.
He suddenly sat straight up in the chair when he saw Ashby’s doctor, Tom Alexander, enter the bedroom.
After twenty minutes of watching the same video Ashby was perusing, Fowler muttered, “Holy shit!”
So that’s what all of the excitement concerning the doctors and scientists was all about, he thought. These damn people had discovered a veritable fountain of youth, if the video Ashby was watching was legitimate. What am I thinking? Fowler realized. Who in their right mind would try to con a man as powerful and dangerous as J.P. Ashby was. Hell, they’d never live to enjoy any money they extorted out of him if the formula didn’t work.
When the doctor finally left, Fowler shut down the video, went into the bathroom of the safe house, and began to scrub his face and prepare to shave and shower. He needed to wake up and gather all of his wits about him if he was to figure out some way to profit from what he had just found out. He no longer had any thoughts of busting Ashby and bringing him to justice; the formula was simply too valuable of a commodity for that.
He realized that if he could get even a piece of what the formula was worth, he’d be set for life, assuming he could do it without making a mortal enemy of Ashby—that kind of trouble he definitely didn’t need. Nope, he figured his best chance was to somehow get the formula from the scientists and then make a deal with Ashby to cut him in on the profits, even a small percentage of which would be worth millions, if not billions.
* * *
Since it was still mid-afternoon, the group requested a booth in the rear of the Longhorn where they could talk without fear of being overheard
“Okay, Kat, you requested this meeting, so get down to it,” Burton said crossly.
“Yes, please do,” Sheila added, “I left an office full of patients who aren’t going to be too happy to have to wait for my return.”
Kevin merely nodded.
“All right,” Kat said. And then she proceeded to tell them what she and Stone had talked about, especially his ideas about how impossible it would be to market or use the formula as it now stood. She emphasized his point that they would never be able to keep total control of such a valuable formula, especially when people began to realize there was a fountain of youth in existence.
“I agree with Jordan about this,” Kat said. “Everyone—and I mean, everyone—from Ashby to the government will want to control this breakthrough, and there will simply be no way to limit its use to those who really need it.”
Burton slowly nodded. “I do believe she has a very valid point. In our excitement about the formula proving successful, we didn’t stop to think through all of the implications of its eventual use.”
Sheila shook her head. “They are correct. The formula works too well to ever be kept a secret. Even if we only used it on the truly needy, the ones with neurological or renal diseases who would not survive without it, there is simply no way to hide the rejuvenation and intelligence-enhancing effects from their friends and families.”
“And trying to get them to all form new identities just wouldn’t be practical. Few would be willing to cut off all contact with their friends and family, even if the alternative was death,” Kevin added.
“And we are forgetting the most important person in all of this,” Kat said, looking from one to the other. “J.P. Ashby is not a man to let something this valuable escape his control, no matter what he promises Kevin’s uncle. He is bound to come after us with a vengeance once he sees what the formula is capable of.”
Kevin shook his head. “And it will be damn near impossible to hide from a man with several billion dollars to spend to try to find us.” He looked around the table. “I am afraid Jordan was right. We’ve made a deal with the devil.”
Burton slammed his hand down on the table, drawing a reproving glance from their waiter across the room. “Well, hell. What if we forget about all of our do-gooder ideas and just tell Ashby we are going to give him the formula for the half billion dollars, then go on our way? Then he would have no reason to come after us and we’d at least be safe, and with more money than we could ever spend to boot.”
Sheila gave him a dirty look and was about to object, when Kevin shook his head and interrupted. “It’s no good, Burton. Even with that offer, Ashby would just consider us loose ends that had to be dealt with. There is no way a man like him would ever let us live, knowing what we know about the formula. It would be too big of a risk that we’d reconsider and let the secret out of the bag, ruining his chance to make yet another fortune from selling the formula to the rich and powerful.”
Sheila turned to look at Kat. “Assuming we can figure out some way to deal with Ashby, do you think Jordan is right that with his new intelligence he will be able to separate the formula’s effects and make it to where it just cures the neurological and renal diseases alone without the rejuvenating effects?”
“But the man has no knowledge of biochemistry, let alone medicine,” Burton objected.
Kevin shrugged and pointed to a duffel bag on the chair next to him. “That’s why he requested that I bring him all available books on the subjects in question. He figures he can learn enough from the books and from our notes on the formula to at least make some progress along those lines.”
“Bullshit,” Burton blurted. “No one can learn all that in the time we have left before we have to put up or shut up with Ashby.”
“Perhaps not by himself, but what if we all worked together?” Kat asked. “After all, we have a fully equipped lab in the safe house, along with some very powerful computers that Kevin provided us. Heck, we’ll never know if we don’t try, and it does seem the only way that the formula will ever be used for good instead of greed.”
As the others all began to talk at once, Kevin held up his hand. “Just a minute, folks. While we cogitate on those questions, I have some news I’d like to bring before the group.”
When he had their undivided attention, he brought forth his legal pad from his backpack. He set it on the table in front of them and began to go over the four things they needed to do to get the formula to Ashby and still remain safe.
Once he’d gone over all of the objectives, he said, “I’ve managed a way to do the first. I told my uncle that we would include a chemical in the syringe that would destroy the formula if it was subjected to air. That way they couldn’t risk trying to have the components of the formula analyzed for the purpose of making their own.”
“That’s brilliant, Kevin,” Kat said. “What chemical did you come up with for us to use?”
He shrugged. “I haven’t the faintest idea. I was hoping you geniuses would be able to figure something out, but if not, perhaps the bluff alone would be sufficient. I don’t see Ashby risking his rejuvenation on the chance that we might be bluffing.”
“That’s something else that we could put our heads together to try to figure out while working with Jordan,” Burton said, a look of approval on his face at Kevin’s ingenuity.
“I have also made some progress on the second issue, getting the money into our hands in a manner secret from both Ashby and the government.”
He went on to explain the anonymous banking website and how he’d signed them all up for it. “I also took the liberty of adding Jordan’s name to the list. I hope that meets with your approval.”
“What?” Burton exclaimed. “Why, the man had nothing to do with developing the formula. Why should he get a share? Isn’t saving his life and making him younger and smarter enough?”
Sheila put her hand over Burton’s. “Dear, even with Jordan getting a full share, you’ll still come out with a hundred million dollars instead of one hundred and twenty-five million. Don’t you really think that is enough money?”
Burton had the grace to blush. “Well, sweetheart, when you put it that way, I guess so.”
“Two other quick points before we get to issue numbers three and four,” Kevin said. “I pushed my uncle for another fifty thousand dollars seed money. I thought we’d use it to set up the anonymous corporation for the offshore bank and to buy another couple of cars use to escape Ashby’s detectives. It is just too cumbersome to try to transport all of us in the Honda, especially as we get closer to the deal with Ashby. I do expect him to double up on the surveillance.”
Everyone glanced at one another and nodded. “Good idea, Kevin. Thank God you’re right on top of things,” Kat said, affection in her voice.
He frowned. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Kat, but I’m afraid I’m drawing a blank on the last two points—getting the formula to my uncle from a safe place where we can’t be trapped or taken, and disappearing afterward to someplace secure where we can’t be found.”
When everyone looked concerned and it was clear that no one else had any ideas, Kat said tentatively, “I may just know someone who could help us with those two problems.”
“Who is that, dear?” Sheila asked.
“My father used to tell me stories of a second cousin of mine who was a mercenary pilot and jack-of-all-trades who sort of lived on the edge of society and made his living by flying into and out of danger zones, transporting everything from arms to people to other questionable cargo. If I can locate him, it might just be that he could be the answer to these two problems.”
“How old is this jack-of-all-trades mercenary?” Burton asked skeptically.
Kat shrugged. “A little older than me, I think. He’d probably be in his early sixties by now.”
Kevin pulled his laptop from his backpack and opened it. “What is his name?”
“Jackson Dillard, but I doubt if he’s going to be easy to find, not with his background.”
Kevin opened up Google and typed in Dillard’s name. After a moment, his eyes flashed and he grinned. “Well, I’ll be damned. He has his own website.”
He made a few more clicks and then looked up at the group. “Seems he’s gone at least partly legitimate, Kat. It says here that he operates a flying service out of Galveston, Texas, flying freight and ‘sundries’ from Texas to Mexico and the Caribbean.”
“Legitimate, my ass,” Burton said, smiling. “Sounds suspiciously like a smuggler advertising right out in the open.”
Kat pulled a small notebook from her purse. “Give me that number, Kevin, and I’ll call him and set up a meeting. After we all get to know him a little, we can take a vote on whether we trust him enough to ask him to help us.”
“Even if he can’t help us, perhaps he can give us some ideas of how to proceed to solve our problems,” Sheila offered.
Burton scowled. “As long as we don’t give him too much information until we all agree he’s our man.”
Everyone agreed and they left the restaurant. Out in the parking lot, Kat got in her rental and the others piled into the Honda. After Kat dropped the rental car off at a Houston branch of the rental car company, she got in the Honda and Kevin drove them to a large used car lot on the 610 Freeway. There they bought two additional cars with cash, using fake names. Kat drove off in one, and Sheila and Burton took the other one.
Before they left, Kevin cautioned them to use care in parking the cars so that anyone trying to keep tabs on them would not see them.
They promised to talk the next day by their burner phones to find out what Kat had learned about Jackson Dillard. Sheila said she would see about getting coverage for her practice so she could work with all of them on separating out the effects of the formula.
As he was driving the safe car toward their apartment, Burton glanced over at her and said, “Dear, I hate to mention this, but it looks like from our discussion that we are all going to have to disappear for good once this is over. Perhaps you’d better think about either selling the practice or giving it to someone you trust who will take good care of your patients.” He shrugged. “Because we may have to move very fast when the time comes, and I know you’d not want to leave your patients in the lurch without coverage.”
She placed her hand on his arm. “Oh Jesus, Burton, you’re right. I guess I just didn’t want to face the fact that my career in medicine is soon to be over.”
“Well, maybe not over, sweetie. There may be some way you can still practice medicine wherever it is that we come to roost.”
She choked off a sob. “I don’t know if I would have agreed to all of this if I’d known all the changes it would mean in our lives.”
He took his hand off the steering wheel and put it on hers. “At least it has brought us back together, and for me that is worth any cost.”
She squeezed his hand and smiled through her tears. “Oh, it is for me, too, sweetheart.”