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Vasco Borden,forty-nine, tugged at the lapels of his suit and straightened his tie as he walked down the plush carpeted hallway He wasn&039;t used to wearing a suit, though he had had this one, in navy, specially tailored to , six-four, two-forty, an ex�Cfootball player orked as a private investigator and fugitive-recovery specialist And right now, Vasco was following his itive froht for the e 2006 Conference, enthusiastically entitled "Make It Happen Noas being held at the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas The two thousand attendees represented all sorts of biotech workers, including investors, HR officers who hired scientists, technology transfer officers, CEOs, and intellectual property attorneys In one way or another, nearly every biotech company in America was represented here
It was the perfect place for the fugitive to itive looked like a dink; he had an innocent face and a little soul patch on his chin; he slouched when he walked and gave the impression of timidity and ineptitude But the fact was, he&039;d enic dewar and transported them across country to this conference, where he intended to turn the for
It wouldn&039;t be the first ti on salary Or the last
The fugitive went over to the check-in table to get his conference card to drape around his neck Vasco hung by the entrance, slipping his own card over his head He&039;d come prepared for this He pretended to look at the event roster
The big speeches were all in the main ballroom Seminars were scheduled for such topics as "Fine-Tune Your Recruiting Process," and "Winning Strategies to Keep Research Talent," "Executive and Equity Compensation," "Corporate Governance and the SEC," "Patent Office Trends," and "Investor Angels: Boon or Curse?" and, finally, "Trade Secrets Piracy: Protect Yourself Now!"
Much of Vasco&039;s work involved high-tech firms He had been to these conferences before Either they were about science or business This one was business
The fugitive, whose name was Eddie Tolman, walked past him into the ballroom Vasco followed Tolman went down a fes and dropped into a seat with no one nearby Vasco slipped into the row behind and sat a little to one side The Toles, then seemed to relax, and looked up to listen to the speech
Vasco wondered why
The manat the podium was one of the h-tech investe on the screen behind hinified to fill the roo fifty-two, and assiduously cultivated his reputation as a capitalist with a conscience That appellation had carried hih a succession of ruthless business deals: all the media ever shoere his appearances at charter schools, or handing out scholarships for underprivileged kids
But in this roo would be foremost in everyone&039;s h to acquire a dozen transgenic embryos by illicit means He probably was
However, at theWe are poised to see the greatest growth of any industry since coen, in Los Angeles, erants to universities exceed four billion a year on campuses from New York to San Francisco, Boston to Miami Venture capitalists invest in biotech conificent cures made possible by stehtest talent to the field And with a global population growing older by the hter than ever And that&039;s not all!
"We&039;ve reached the point where we can stick it to Big Pharma - and ill Those massive, bloated coenes, they need technology They&039;re the past We&039;re the future We&039;re where the e applause Vasco shifted his bulk in his seat The audience was applauding, even though they knew that this son of a bitch would cut their company to pieces in a second if it suited his bottoress Some people - however well intentioned theythink they are - choose to stand in the way of human betterment They don&039;t want the paralyzed to walk, the cancer patient to thrive, the sick child to live and play These people have their reasons for objecting Religious, ethical, or even &039;practical&039; But whatever their reasons, they are on the side of death And they will not triuitive, Tol for aimpatiently
Did that mean the contact was late?
That was sure to make Tolman nervous Because somewhere, Vasco knew, this kid had stashed a stainless steel theren that held the embryos It wasn&039;t in the kid&039;s room Vasco had already searched it And five days had passed since Tole The coolant wouldn&039;t last forever And if the embryos thawed, they would be worthless So unless Tolman had a way to top up hisLN 2, by now he must be anxious to retrieve his container, and hand it over to his buyer
It had to happen soon
Within an hour, Vasco was sure of it
"Of course,people will try to obstruct progress," Watson said, from the podium "Even our best companies find theation One of ht now because souy named Burnet thinks he doesn&039;t need to honor the contracts he hied his ress unless we pay hi the case for hi it in the family" Watson sress cannot be stopped!"
At that, Watson threw both hands up in the air, waving to the audience as applause filled the rooht Is that what Watson was aiet elected Being rich was essential in American politics these days Pretty soon -
He looked over, and saw that the Tolress isour ress to vanquish disease! Progress to halt aging, banish dementia, extend life! A life free of disease, decay, pain, and fear! The great dream of humanity -He was heading down the roard the side aisle, scanning the exit doors A couple of people leaving, nobody looking like Tolotten away, there was -
He looked back just in ti slowly up the center aisle The kid was looking at his cell phone again
"Sixty billion this year Two hundred billion next year Five hundred billion in five years! That is the future of our industry, and that is the prospect we bring to allWatson a standing ovation, and for a er see Tol for the center exit Vasco turned away, slipping through the side door and out into the lobby, just as Tollanced at his watch and headed down the far corridor, past big glass s that looked out on the red brick campanile of San Marco, re-created by the Venetian hotel and lit brilliantly at night He was going toward the swiht those spaces would be crowded
Vasco stayed close
This was it, he thought
In the ballroo to the cheering crowd "Thank you, that&039;s very kind, thank you" ducking his head a little each tiht aust as he watched Diehl was backstage, taking it all in on a little black-and-white monitor Diehl was the thirty-four-year-old CEO of BioGen Research, a struggling startup in Los Angeles, and this performance by his most important outside investor filled him with unease Because Diehl knew that despite the cheerleading, and the press releases with s black kids, at the end of the day, Jack Watson was a true bastard As someone put it, "The best I can say about Watson is, he&039;s not a sadist He&039;s just a first-class son of a bitch"
Diehl had accepted funding froreatest reluctance He wished he didn&039;t need it Diehl&039;s ealthy, and he had started BioGen with her money His first venture as CEO had been to bid on a cell line being licensed by UCLA It was the so-called Burnet cell line, developed from a man na chemicals called cytokines
Diehl hadn&039;t really expected to land the license, but he did, and suddenly he faced the prospect of gearing up for FDA approval for clinical trials The cost of clinical trials started at a million dollars, and went rapidly to tendownstreaer rely solely on his wife&039;s
That hen he discovered just how risky venture capitalists considered cytokines to be Many cytokines, such as interleukins, had taken years to coerous, even deadly, to patients And then Frank Burnet had brought a lawsuit, casting doubt on BioGen&039;s ownership of the cell line Diehl had trouble getting investors to even , suntanned Jack Watson
But Watson, Diehl kneanted nothing less than to take over BioGen and throw Rick Diehl out on his ass
"Jack! Fantastic speech!Fantastic!" Rick extended his hand, as Watson cae at last
"Yeah Glad you liked it" Watson didn&039;t shake his hand Instead, he unclipped his wireless transmitter and dropped it in Diehl&039;s palm "Take care of this, Rick"
"Sure, Jack"
"Your wife here?"
"No, Karen couldn&039;twith the kids"
"I&039;m sorry she ets the DVD," Diehl said
"But we got the bad news out there," Watson said "That&039;s the point Everybody nos there&039;s a lawsuit, they know Burnet is a bad guy, and they knoe&039;re on top of it That&039;s the i The company&039;s now perfectly positioned"
Diehl said, "Isthat why you agreed to give the speech?"
Watson stared at hias? Christ" He unclipped the microphone, handed it to Diehl "Take care of this, too"
"Sure, Jack"
And Jack Watson turned and walked away from him without another word Rick Diehl shivered Thank God for Karen&039;s ht Because without it, he&039;d be dooe&039;s Palace, Vasco Borden itive, Eddie Tolhttime crowd He heard his earpiece crackle That would be his assistant, Dolly, in another part of the hotel He touched his ear "Go," he said
"Baldy boy Tolht?"
"That&039;s right, he - "
"Hold on," Vasco said "Just hold that thought"
Up ahead, he was seeing soht side of the courtyard, he saw Jack B Watson, acco with the crowd Watson was faeous women They all worked for hi
The woman didn&039;t surprise Vasco What surprised hi directly toward Eddie Tolitive Thata deal with Watson, the famous investor would never meet him face-to-face And certainly never in public But there they were, on a collision course in the crowded Venetian courtyard, right before his eyes
What the hell? He couldn&039;t believe it was going to happen
But then the slinky wo a short, skintight dress and heels She leaned on Watson&039;s shoulder, bent her knee, showing plenty of leg, and inspected her shoe She adjusted her heel strap, stood up again, and slanced away froone
But now Watson and the wo so close to him that he could s to her, and she squeezed his arm and put her head on his shoulder as they walked The romantic couple
Was all that an accident? Had it happened on purpose? Had they made him? He pressed his earpiece
"Dolly I lost hilanced up She was on the second floor, watching everything below "Was that Jack Watson that just walked by?"
"Yeah I thought ine Watson&039;s involved in this Not his style Ifor his room because he has an appointot soirl Apparently he only likes Russians Tall ones"
"Anybody we know?"
"No, but I have a little inforot cameras in his suite"
"How&039;d you do that?" He was s
"Let&039;s just say Venetian security isn&039;t what it used to be Cheaper, too"
Irina Katayeva,twenty-two, knocked on the door In her left hand she held a bottle of wine, encased in a velvet gift bag with drawstrings at the top A guy of about thirty answered the door, smiled He wasn&039;t attractive
"Are you Eddie?"
"That&039;s right Coht this for you, fro all this on his little handheld video ave it to him in the hallway Where it would be seen on the security monitor Why didn&039;t she wait until she was in the room?"
"Maybe she was told to do it that way," Dolly said
"She lish Four years in this country Studying at the university"
"Works at the hotel?"
"No"
"So, non-pro?" Vasco said
"This is Nevada," Dolly said
On the irl went into the roo dial on his video monitor, picked up one of the inside ca suite, close to two thousand square feet, done in the Venetian style The girl nodded and smiled
"Nice Nice room"
"Yeah So, you want a drink?"
She shook her head "I don&039;t really have time" She reached behind her back and unzipped the dress, left it hanging fro to be puzzled, allowing him to see her bare back all the way down to her buttocks "Which way is the bedroom?"
"This way, baby"
As they went into the bedrooain turned the dials He saw the bedroo about your business, and I don&039;t want to know Business isso boring" She let the dress fall She stepped out of it and lay down on the bed, naked now except for high heels She kicked them off "I don&039;t think you need a drink," she said "And I know I don&039;t"
Tolrunted and tried to s He reached for her hair, to caress her "Leave the hair alone," she said She twisted away "Just lie down," she said, "and letat the tiny screen "Do you believe that? He ain&039;t even a minuteman When a woman looks like that, you&039;d think - "
"Neverdressed now"
"So she is," he said "And rather hurriedly, too"