“Collin Smith is here to see you, sir; he says he’s been trying to reach you. He says it’s urgent. He’s pretty insistent,” the pretty but sterile-looking blonde-haired woman in the perfect skirt suit said to James Howe.
“Send him in,” Howe replied.
“Yes, sir,” the woman said, before exiting the large and opulent office of the Coalition Properties’ CEO, carefully closing the heavy oak door behind her.
Howe sat back in his chair, steepling his fingers in front of his face. Smith, the elder statesman of the Coalition board, had been seeking a one-on-one meeting with him ever since Lucas Parks had abducted Alex Luthecker, but Howe had put the old man off, wanting to get a status update from Lucas Parks first.
Howe had not been in contact with Parks since the gangster first touched down in Trans Dniester, but he hoped that Parks would reach out to him soon with news of Alex Luthecker’s execution. Howe would then spin the young man’s death to the board of directors as an unfortunate development and, that as CEO, he believed it was time for Coalition Properties to put the Alex Luthecker obsession behind them. He would explain that the future did not lie in the hands of some uncontrollable pattern-recognizing soothsayer whose most valuable purpose would be potentially shaving seconds off the soon-to-be-outdated time to profit ratio, but instead embrace the inevitable by boldly forging ahead and absorbing Lucas Parks’ organization, with its pure free market infrastructure that had virtually unlimited growth potential. The only true untapped market left in the world was the massive underground economy, and controlling it could double the market cap of what was already the world’s largest organization. In Howe’s mind, taking over Parks’ organization and expanding it represented the only path to complete and irreversible global dominance in an increasingly unregulated world. To Howe, it was only a matter of time before the line between legal and illegal commerce disappeared. And when that happened he wanted Coalition Properties to be the undisputed leader, the clear winner in what would be an all out war over the remaining resources of the world. Howe fully expected Coalition Properties to rise up and be the first and largest corporate state in the new world order. And in this new order, the time to profit ratio would cease to matter. That’s because Coalition Properties would own nearly everything. And Howe would be at the head of the table of the world’s first and only corporate superpower.
“Sorry I’ve been unavailable Collin,” Howe said as he got to his feet and stepped out from behind his desk. Howe watched as the elderly man with splotched skin and little in the way of hair hobbled through the door, leaning on a cane for balance. The old man carefully shut the office door and turned toward Howe, and that’s when Howe noticed that Collin Smith carried a file in his free hand.
“What’s the status?” Smith asked as the men shook hands.
“Lucas Parks has Luthecker in custody. As well as the girl,” Howe replied as he escorted Smith to a pair of plush leather chairs on either side of an antique coffee table.
“And where are they?”
“Trans Dniester.”
“The break off Republic of Moldova? Jesus Christ. What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking that this is perfect.”
“Trans Dniester is not an internationally recognized state. There is zero accountability there.”
“That’s kind of the point, Collin; zero accountability works both ways. We’re entering a truly free market world, and as I’ve told the board the situation is more containable offshore in a place where there are no rules.”
“And Luthecker; you’ve confirmed that he’s still alive?” Smith said as he sat down.
“I expect to hear from Lucas Parks soon. It’s all under control. Can I get you anything?”
Smith waved Howe off. “I’ve been trying to reach you for a reason.”
“Apologies. You know how things get around here.” Howe eyed the file Smith had in his hand. “Do you have something for me?”
“I’ve done some digging.”
“Into?”
“I’ve been around a long time, James. And I don’t believe in random events. Or behavior. From either you or your predecessor.”
“Richard Brown was a brilliant soldier. But a little too militant for civilian life, perhaps.”
“His tactics and motivations may have been different than yours, but I assure you, his ambitions were the same. He, too, was a man who valued secrets.”
“What are you trying to say, Collin?”
“That I know what you’re up to.”
Howe felt his skin get hot. He never liked Smith. The old man always kept his true thoughts to himself in the boardroom, staying in the background, choosing to go unnoticed until he felt you were at your most vulnerable. Then he would strike. Howe noticed the network of tiny veins in the old man’s face, visible through nearly translucent skin. “So tell me, what am I up to? Does it have to do with what you have in your hand?”
Smith looked down at the file in his hand like he almost forgot he was holding it. He held it out for Howe to take. “It’s the reason we need Luthecker alive.”
Howe took the file from Smith and opened it.
“Legally, we own him,” Smith said.
Howe looked up from the file. “Explain.”
“His birth parents sought treatment from a fertility center owned by Coalition Properties.”
“So? They’re deceased. Died in a car accident if I remember correctly. After that Luthecker became a ward of the state. Went off the grid at sixteen. Nothing new there, Collin.”
“Those two parents are dead, that is correct. However there is a third one. And I believe she may still be alive.” Smith watched Howe’s eyes, waiting for his words to register on the younger man. The eldest board member of Coalition Properties let out the faintest of smiles as he saw that the young board leader was completely thrown by this information.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Howe finally replied.
Smith adjusted himself in his chair, trying to find a way to get comfortable, before placing his cane across his lap. He cleared his throat before speaking. “In the mid-‘90s, Coalition Properties’ medical division began dabbling in genetics. It was a small program but I was aware of it because I was head of that division at the time. Our goal was to develop methods to identify and correct genetic defects through gene therapy, while the baby was still in the first trimester.”
“A eugenics program?”
“Good god, no. We’re capitalists, not Nazi’s. At the time we considered genetic defect correction a growth industry with tremendous upside potential, considering oncoming industrial pollutant and radiological concerns, particularly in third world countries and war torn regions of the globe.”
“You anticipated a lot of birth defects.”
“Correct. We still do…and at a much larger scale than we thought previously. Just look at the reports coming out of Iraq. We also anticipated then, and again still do now, that a great deal of profit can be made in fixing these defects at their earliest stages, on a genetic level. One of the most promising methods of gene therapy being tested at the time was something called a “DNA swap out.” If a defect in a fetus was determined to exist early in the first trimester, say, Down Syndrome or a cleft palate, we could potentially swap out the defective DNA with a matching donor. We discovered that up to twelve percent of the child’s DNA, originating from the birth parents, could successfully be swapped out with a third party whose DNA did not contain the defect—the donor effectively being a “third parent.” It was limited scope—it could only be done with the mother’s X-chromosome genetic strain, and thus the donor had to be another female. The process proved to be marginally effective before more successful and cost efficient methods shuttered the program. However, according to our records, there’s a strong possibility that Alex Luthecker was, in fact, a DNA swap out child, born under Coalition Properties’ medical facilities care.” Smith patiently waited for Howe to process what he had just heard.
“You’re saying that Alex Luthecker has two mothers?” Howe finally asked.
“I’m saying it’s a very strong possibility.”
“Why is this the first time I’m hearing of this?”
“As I said, it was a small program that was shut down. If it wasn’t for both yours and Richard Brown’s obsession with Alex Luthecker, I would have never even thought to check into it.”
“Well where is she? The second mother?”
“We’re looking. But more importantly, you must understand, Coalition Properties owns the patent on the process. And legally the product output as well.” Howe paused a moment, letting Smith’s words sink in.
“We own him.”
“Yes. More or less, according to new U.S. patent laws.”
“This DNA swap out. Is this why he can do…what he can do?”
“We’re not sure, but we think so.”
“Are there more like him?”
“We don’t know. Thus far, it appears to be an isolated incident.”
“We? Who else knows about this?”
“Just myself, the second mother, if she’s alive, and the doctor who swears he did the procedure on Alex when he was still in the womb. His name is Doctor Mark Kirby, and he’s still an employee of Coalition Properties. He firmly believes that the swap out had an impact on Luthecker’s ability to memorize and process data. It’s his theory that the DNA swap is a key component behind Luthecker’s abilities.”
“How so? And what defect was corrected?”
“It would be better if he explained it to you.”
“Then I want to meet him. Right away.”
Smith moved the cane off his lap, grimacing slightly as he used it to prop himself to his feet.
“Does Glen Turner know about this?” Howe asked, in reference to his Coalition Properties board rival.
“If he does, he didn’t hear it from me. The last thing I want is a proxy war for control of this company. The reason I’m telling you, and have been trying to tell you, is so you understand why Alex Luthecker is so valuable to the Coalition. And to prevent you from having him killed.” Smith steadied himself with both hands on his cane.“I know that’s what you want, James. Luthecker dead. I know that you fear what he can do, just like Richard Brown did. Unlike Brown, however, you’ve never viewed him as a potential asset—only a threat that needed to be eliminated. You believe that with him out of the way, your secrets are safe, and you and Lucas Parks can own the world, and over time you’ll get rid of Parks, leaving you all alone on the throne.” Smith pointed a bony finger at Howe.“You think you’re going to be the next Alexander the Great, but what you’re really doing is setting up the world for another Dark Ages, James.”
Smith put the cane on the floor, and rested his hand on the well-worn porcelain handle. Howe watched as the old man pushed off of the cane to take a step.“I may be an old man, but I’m still smart enough to see that Alex Luthecker is the future, not some ruthless drug dealer. And Luthecker’s far more powerful than you think. He’s hearts and minds. He has the power to unleash the untapped will of the people. We both know how dangerous that is. But in our hands, he’s control. He has the ability to align and steer those hearts and minds in ways we never could before. He is the key to removing the last of any human complications. And we own him.”
Smith turned toward the door and hobbled in its direction.
“Why are you telling me this now? What’s in this for you?”
Smith slowly turned back to Howe. “Right now? Self-preservation. Parks may be a thug and monster, but I understand why you admire him— he’s smarter than you. And I assure you, if he has Alex Luthecker, he hasn’t killed him. Not yet. And you better hope he doesn’t discover what I just told you and try to use Luthecker against us. Because if he does, we’re all fucked.”