by V. K. ANANTH
THE FATAL MISTAKE
V.K.ANANTH
This is a work of fiction. Any names or characters, businesses or places, events or incidents, are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author.
Copyright © 2020 V.K. ANANTH
All rights reserved.
For my family and friends...my moral support
CHAPTER - 1
Paris, 2030
Paris had emerged as the genetic capital of continental Europe. The elite class flew in for a gene edit session to cure their existing diseases or gain immunity from recently discovered viruses. For some couples, gene edit was the way to create Designer Babies where one could select the gender, color of eyes and hair.
It was 11.a.m. and the dark rain clouds were building up over Louvre Pyramid. The beeline of tourists became anxious as a few drops descended on them, some reached for their umbrellas.
Few streets behind the Louvre, Jason Brown, parked his Mercedes in front of the Tranquil hospital that offered one of the best genetic care. He passed the automatic sliding doors at the entrance before pausing for a moment to catch a glimpse of the busy environment ahead of him. He said to himself, ‘Today’s gonna be my day’ before taking a right into the corridor.
The tranquil hospital was a state of the art facility made of glass and steel. Natural light entered from the transparent walls around as well as from the solar-paneled glass ceiling. The temperature-controlled environment was patient-centric, offering a host of safety features, more relaxation, and less noise.
The ultra-modern facility hosted a reception area, right opposite to the entrance with digital kiosks where the visitors were registering wirelessly with their smartphones or smartwatches. The norm of the day was to have an individual’s health data synchronized from their smart devices to the national health database. About thirty percent of visitors perceived healthy, but the smart health system had detected threshold violations for specific parameters. They received email reminders to schedule an appointment with their doctor. It was a part of predictive medical care to prevent something big happening.
Further behind the reception, was a small fountain at the center of a circular pool, where colorful fishes were moving around while few tortoises appeared stationary. Some children were gathered around it having fun.
There were rooms dedicated to triage, trauma, emergency, and genetics. The nurse pods provided the opportunity for close monitoring of the patients. The ultra-modern patient rooms had digital displays with vital patient data presented in real-time. Key areas had eight layered security, which also helped to contain infections.
Jason was in his early thirties with a clean-shaved square face, brown eyes, salt and pepper hair, and a mild aroma of Eau de Toilette on him. He radiated confidence as he walked through the long corridor illuminated by two-hundred-lumen ceiling lights placed at regular intervals. The sound of his footsteps diminished as he walked away from the reception while his ID swayed, which displayed his picture, name, and title, ‘Sr. Clinical Geneticist & Surgeon’
He paused and turned around as a familiar voice called. Jason smiled at Emmanuel de Souza, the hospital director.
‘Good Morning!’
‘Good Morning, and Congratulations! Jason,’ he stretched his arm. Jason had completed ten years at the hospital.
‘Thank you.’
‘I don’t wanna keep you waiting. There’s one Furioso, a high profile patient in for gene edit.’
‘Yes, I’m on it. It covers protection from recently discovered viruses like C27 and C29. I will keep you posted as usual.’
‘Talk to you later, mate.’
As Jason continued to walk, Vivienne Alphonse, his assistant, appeared from a door to his right, a few feet away ahead of him.
‘Good Morning & Congratulations!’
‘Good Morning, thank you so much, Vivienne.’
‘All arrangements have been made for the gene edit.’
‘Great. Thanks.’
Tranquil Hospital and Myrdal Labs had a collaborative working construct over the last two decades. There was a central data lake hosting nationwide patient health data analyzed by Artificial Intelligence in real-time. It led to the discovery of genetic code edits for existing and new diseases.
Furioso, the patient, had arrived a couple of hours earlier with his manager, Mario.
At 11.30 a.m., Jason arrived, donned in a medical scrub at the Genetics procedure room with the nurse, anesthesiologist, and Vivienne. Furioso was on the operating bed, clasped by a safety belt, and hooked to a monitor. It was already displaying stats related to his blood pressure, heart rate, breathing, and oxygen levels.
As a part of the safety checklist, Furioso had been asked a set of questions by different people at different times:
What’s your name?
José Antonio Furioso
What’s your birth date?
February 29th
What surgery are you about to undergo?
Gene Edit - Platinum
Do you have any allergies?
No
When did you last eat or drink?
6.00 a.m.
As the anesthesia entered the Intravenous tube (IV), Furioso lost consciousness. The nurse prepared the surgical area by scrubbing the skin, followed by cleaning the area with an antiseptic solution. She placed the steroid drapes over the area to prevent any further infection and also keep him warm.
At the master console of the robot-assisted surgery system, Jason was seated, controlling the levers as the robotic arms performed the surgery. At noon, he successfully delivered the modified gene into Furioso’s body. The entire procedure was completed by 12.30 p.m.
Jason instructed to move Furioso into the observation room, and the nurse stationed at the pods took over the monitoring. He gave further instructions and left. At 1.30 p.m., Furioso regained consciousness.
Jason turned away from his monitor as the phone rang. ‘Furioso has regained consciousness, and his vital stats are improving,’ said Vivienne at the other end of the line.
‘Very Good,’ said a proud Jason.
Jason notified Emmanuel that Furioso will need to be under observation for the next forty-eight hours and took off to Zurich for a doctor’s summit.
CHAPTER - 2
The Summit, Zurich
Zurich was bustling with tourists while Jason was onboard the taxi heading to the conference center. He looked ahead as the taxi stopped for a moment on the Münsterbrücke before rolling the window down as the sound of the gushing Limmat river underneath was amplified. He caught a glimpse at the horizon. It resembled a beautiful postcard view: the faraway bridge at the center, the river below, blue sky with passing clouds above and the historic buildings, restaurants, and churches dotted on either side of the river banks leading up to the bridge. Jason managed to click a quick pic before the traffic cleared.
Jason entered the conference center. The reception kiosks were busy with self registrations while some of them were engaged in deep conversations. The conference hall brimmed with people, and the audience put their phones into silent mode.
Jason ascended a few stairs and took a position behind the lighted dais, which had a logo facing the audience, ‘Genome Summit.’ He was relaxed and confident as the presentation came alive on to a sixty-forty foot digital screen behind him.
As time passed, the audience was engrossed in his speech. It was an immersive experience. No one bothered to peek at the notifications which quietly lit their screens. Jason
had been talking for forty-five minutes, flipping through the slides:
‘...A few decades back the book of life was revealed, we rewrote a few lines in the book. All this while, we have been using scientific methods with sophisticated modeling. We’ve been trying to simulate the behavior of gene edits for different diseases and increase immunity quickly.
With the power of Big Data and AI, we have been able to understand the diseases and respond well. While this is not yet affordable for everyone today, it’s not far away.
In ten months, we will be able to edit the portions of the genetic code that matter. We have more opportunities identified. Now is the right moment in the genetic revolution. We want to go disease free forever. We believe in responsibility, but need to be careful in where to draw the line. Let’s take a moment to thank our scientific community for what they have achieved.’
It was a standing ovation.
Twenty minutes later, Jason headed to the exit when a car pulled in. He boarded the car to head to the hotel. Jason gazed at the driver when he interrupted and turned back,
‘Sir, someone wanted me to hand over this envelope to you. He didn’t tell his name.’
‘No worries.’
Jason was about to check the contents when the phone rang. He quickly folded and slipped into his coat pocket and pulled out his phone. It was from his assistant, Vivienne.
‘Yes, we can speak.’
‘Furioso is not responding and has slipped into a coma...’
Jason went blank for a second. He discussed the situation, gave further instructions and said,
‘I will come directly to the hospital from the airport. Keep Emmanuel posted’ and hung the phone.
In the evening, Jason checked out of the hotel, boarded a taxi for the airport. When his phone rang again, he glanced at the screen, which displayed the caller ID, Sonya.
‘Go on, Sonya.’
‘Jason, we have confirmation on Project-X. Things are about to get worse, and we need to act fast. It’s time to invoke our mission. Are you ready?’
‘Um...Yes, I’m on the way, and I land close to midnight.’
A tense and nervous Jason arrived at Zurich airport.
CHAPTER - 3
The Problem, Paris
It was a bright, sunny day, and the sunlight bounced off the glasses of buildings nearby on to the Tranquil hospital. Furioso was still in a coma, and Dr. Jason had not returned to the hospital after his conference in Zurich. Mario, Furioso’s manager, used his influence to apply pressure, and a search order was issued. The press reporters assembled in a corner at the entrance, and everyone at home, work, or transit glued to the latest news on this case.
At 10.00 a.m., Emmanuel, stood outside the hospital, ready to greet the lead investigator. Emmanuel breathed deeply as he took in the tall woman approaching him, she must have been six foot and seemed ready for business in black work trousers and a white blouse. Rosita Jaimes, the lead investigator, said, ‘Emmanuel, Now you better fill me in on what’s going on here.’ Rosita could already taste success. She had an excellent track record with complex medical cases. They walked through the hospital corridor to intensive care. Before stepping in, Rosita paused for a moment and swiped at the vibrating phone,
‘Yes, this is Rosita...U33 is already here? Very Good, I will meet the team in a few.’
U33, the police convoy had arrived at the hospital. It had state of the art facilities inside, including advanced technologies that helped Rosita and her team solve cases in a few hours or days. It had access to all the security cameras in the country. An Artificial Intelligence enabled investigation room with Natural Language Processing (NLP), helped conduct and record investigations. It had supercomputers on board, overhead dish antenna, and six solar-powered drones.
After visiting the ICU, Rosita discussed the situation in the conference room with Emmanuel. He assured her that his staff would provide complete co-operation. She lowered the coffee cup and gazed at him, ‘Let’s proceed.’
Rosita was in U33 with her team. The hospital camera footage was assessed, indexing the IDs of everyone who visited the hospital over the last week. When compared with the criminal database, half a dozen IDs matched. Further, when matched with camera databases of streets, restaurants, supermarkets, railway stations, and airports, it revealed the individuals’ last recorded coordinates. Rosita nodded approvingly for the next level of the search when the drones took off to the identified coordinates and did real-time scans in the area, and in minutes all were located. The drones flashed their IDs to the nearest police vehicles who picked them and transported them back to U33. They were waiting for the interrogation with ‘Breda.’
Breda was the name of the Artificial intelligence-based robot in U33 that conducted investigations with possible suspects and provide probability-based reports. It was 98% accurate.
The investigation room in U33 was compact, which allowed one police personnel and the possible suspect to be present at the same time. The police personnel pointed a camera at the person, and Breda posed a series of questions. Their responses, lip movements, eyes, body language, were analyzed in real-time. In a couple of hours, the results were out, and Rosita let everyone go as there was nothing suspicious. The only missing person was Jason. The AI engine reported inconsistencies for his ID.
Rosita and her team reviewed the footage of Jason leaving the hospital on the day of gene edit, conference in Zurich, arrival at Paris CDG airport, and getting into a car. They did spot the car a couple of checkpoints ahead, but it didn’t have a license plate, and they lost the vehicle after that. Jason’s had his cell phone switched off and was untraceable.
Jason was declared a fugitive on the run, all the secret agencies in Europe were alerted, and real-time facial recognition was activated.
Later that day, Rosita listened to a recorded audio message, believed to be from Jason. She told herself, ‘Jason is abducted? That makes the case more interesting.’
CHAPTER - 4
One Week Before, Côte d'Azur
‘Mirrors don’t lie, do they?’ he asked, looking at his reflection, holding a gun pointed at the stranger kneeling to his right, ‘But you lied to me’ and pulled the trigger.
He threatened those around, ‘I want to hack and take control of the national genetic database. If you fail, you will face the same consequences. Remember that I’m invisible.’
‘The Raging Bull’ was considered a myth among many, but those who believed he was real, were afraid of him. He was the cause of several crimes in town but never traced. No one dared to say his name or talk about him publicly as the Bull had eyes and ears all over the town.
The Bull owned private jets, luxury yachts, and several sea-facing villas in exotic locations, including Santorini, Amalfi Coast, French Riviera, and Spain.
CHAPTER - 5
The Mission, Paris
Jason stepped out of the revolving doors at the exit of Paris-Charles De Gaulle airport (CDG). He headed towards the taxi stand, holding a folded newspaper over his head as it was drizzling. A black Tesla with dimmed headlights was spotted with its engines running while the windshield wipers were swaying. The window glasses rolled down as Jason approached it.
The trunk and rear passenger-doors unlocked. Jason popped the baggage into the trunk and shut it. He took in the blue-green eyed Sonya Lenoir wearing a sky-blue denim dress and caught sight of the unmistakable tattoo of DNA strand on her left arm. Jason shook hands with her as she settled into the back of the Tesla. The pair had a professional relationship, and she worked as a scientist for the Myrdal labs, having worked together over the last five years.
‘Are we sure we wanna do this? I’m going to commit a crime,’ asked Jason.
Sonya placed her hand over his palm and said, ‘Our mission is doing one bad thing for the greater good. We need to find evidence and stop illegal genetic crimes against humanity. I don’t think we have a choice. Do we?’
‘Agree, I’m in.’
She turne
d away from him and glanced at the dashboard ahead, ‘Drive to the destination One.’
‘Starting now,’ the car’s infotainment system announced, the door-locks clicked, and the wheels rolled. In a few seconds, the Tesla was cruising on the dark highway at 120km/hr.
She pulled out a tablet from the pouch and handed over.
Jason read out the contents, loudly:
‘TO WHOMSOEVER IT MAY CONCERN
I’m Jason Brown, Sr.Clinical Geneticist & Surgeon working at Tranquil hospital. I did the gene edit on José Antonio Furioso on March 29th, 2030, and I’m NOT the reason he is in a coma. If anything happens to him, I’m not taking responsibility. I’m abducted and held in an unknown location. I request the authorities to rescue me.’
Jason was restless as a notification popped up:
‘Recording and Upload complete.’
Jason switched off his cell phone and handed it to her.
Forty minutes later, Tesla entered the city of Paris and was cruising on Quai des Tuileries along the banks of Seine. Jason was gazing out of the window to his left as they passed the Pont Royal. Musee d’ Orsay and the glittering Eiffel Tower lighting up the night sky while the romantic river cruises were still in progress.
The car took a right and entered a residential area and was in front of a building. The garage door opened, as the car pulled in, the door closed and the infotainment system announced:
‘Arrived at the Destination’
A couple of hours later, Jason woke up in the bed of what resembled an operating theater with a pain in his head. His eyesight was still blurred while he was able to recognize Sonya, ‘The gene edit completed successfully,’ she said.
As he got up to walk to the car, he recognized the robot-assisted surgical system.
After a five kilometer ride, Tesla came to a halt in front of a three-storied apartment. Sonya entered a four-digit PIN on the security panel at the building entrance, a green LED lit, and the door unlocked. They rode the elevator, and moments later were inside the studio apartment on the third floor.
