The Last Enemy - A history of the present future - 1934-2084

by Luca Luchesini

  “And how about the distribution? Will that scale up as well?”

  “The Italian guy - I think his name is Paolo - openly praised the system, and those types do not give credit easily. In the two inspections that the shipments incurred, the customs officers simply thought that Telomerax was part of the chocolate found inside, as it does not react positively to any known drug test.

  That way, every country is receiving his share of chocolate via Dubai but customs officers would not be immediately able to correlate to our chocolate factory in Switzerland.

  And we are just sending unmarked chocolates to our Dubai trading partner, with a clear agreement that they can repackage and resell them to whoever they want. As for the quantity, I do not think we have a problem, I read in the in-flight magazine that Emirates is upgrading the Zurich daily flight to an Airbus Superjumbo. We can send two tons of chocolate per day.”

  “Louis, am I wrong or do you seem quite happy about this? I mean, despite your thoughts on how ‘Prosperity’ intends to use Telomerax…”

  “You are right, the system is working. We are starting to spread the drug, in a way we did not imagine but nevertheless it is moving forward. Most importantly, I felt Mr. Lee respects me and he won’t try to screw us over, or at least he will do it in the most honorable way if he is forced to.”

  “And how about Helena and George? How are they doing? We have not met since that meeting in Abu Dhabi, when all of this got started.”

  “Oh, they look great. George is perfectly integrated in the Hong Kong life. Aside from coordinating Telomerax distribution with Mr. Lee, he is also trying to start up new ventures with the Chinese.

  As for Helena, I do not know if it was a new makeup trick or if she also had a bit of a facelift, but she looks a bit more Asian. Last, I almost forgot to mention that, she is three-weeks pregnant. Please, keep that for yourself and do not tell Tarek or Valerio.”

  Dora stopped with her spoon of raspberry yogurt in midair and stared at Louis intensely, forcing him to continue,

  “I know what you are going to say. I also thought about it during the whole journey back from China. I think it is a risk now. I do not know if there might be side effects with Telomerax. For some reason, Helena really wanted this. You know her, she does not stop at anything. Let’s first wait to see how it goes, please.”

  Dora nodded, trying to conceal the envy she was starting to feel for Helena.

  Chapter 17

  While Louis and Dora were celebrating Louis’ seventy-ninth birthday, Rasim was sailing on a motorboat in the seas of Istanbul, heading toward a yacht moored about one mile off the coast.

  There were two motorboats following him, one held three Arab Emirates agents on board and the other belonged to the Turkish secret service.

  He climbed the rope stairs and boarded the yacht, which proudly waved a Grand Cayman flag. As soon as he set foot on the deck, he was greeted by Irina and her new boss, who introduced himself as Alexey Petrenko.

  He resisted the temptation of hugging Irina, wondering if it was the same for her, and formally shook hands with both of his guests.

  They moved down to the living room and Alexey asked Rasim where he would like the ship to go. The meeting was expected to last a few hours, they could squeeze in some sightseeing before.

  “Oh, well if you already have the transit permit, I would definitely love a ride across the Bosphorus Strait.”

  “Of course we have got the permit,” chuckled back Alexey. “When we ask our Turkish friends for the means to properly host our guests, they always think of everything that might be needed. And they don’t ask any questions afterwards. Of course, both of us will have to return the favor somehow, but the world affairs in our region always give plenty of opportunity to pay off debt.”

  During the first hours, the meeting dealt with exchanging of intelligence about Chechnian and Arab foreign fighters in Northern Syria.

  Irina had been promoted and was now sitting at the table as the official ‘rezident’ of the FSB in the United Arab Emirates. Since this was confidential business, her public duty was to manage the cultural and scientific matters of the Russian Embassy.

  Alexey was in charge of the Middle East Section of the Foreign Directorate of the FSB. He was used to sitting in meetings with Vladimir Putin every so often.

  By the time they reached the final point of their agenda, the yacht was starting to enter the Bosphorus. They decided to take a break, left the living room, and went out on the deck to breathe some fresh air.

  Rasim and Irina recognized the Topkapi Palace, which was the residence of the Ottoman Sultans and, before them, of the Byzantine Emperors. As they sailed along the Strait, they could spot the Palace lodge situated right at the end of the Golden Horn peninsula.

  From those huge arched windows, Byzantine emperors and Turkish sultans had overlooked for centuries the trade between Europe and Asia.

  Now the ancient kingdoms were gone, replaced by the Turkish republic. Hagia Sophia had been turned into a museum, and the Blue Mosque was more of a tourist attraction than a place of worship. Only trade continued steadily along the Bosphorus. Irina and Rasim exchanged a look, knowing they were also part of that trade.

  “Have you ever read the Koran, Irina?” asked Rasim suddenly. Irina had been caught off guard.

  “The Koran? Rasim, I was brought up in the last years of the Soviet Union. I barely know some verses from the Bible, save for the one that says tax collectors and prostitutes will be the first to enter the Kingdom of God. Obviously I have a clear, vested interest in that,” she said with a subtle smile, regaining control.

  “You should do it, especially now that you are in charge of cultural affairs for your Rodina in a Muslim country. Anyway, this place reminded me of the quote by Orhan Pamuk, a Turkish writer, to the verses in the Surah of the Limb that describe why Satan was kicked out of heaven. The account is slightly different from the one of the Bible. According to the Koran, Satan was driven out of heaven because he refused to obey the order of God to adore Adam, the last creation. Adam was made out of clay while Satan, like all other angels, had been made out of fire. And since fire is superior to clay, the request was a bit inconsistent.”

  “I see,” commented Irina. “It was not plain rebellion. He actually tried to outsmart God.”

  “Yes, I think the Bible has a similar concept too. But at the beginning of mankind, God decided to have man worshipped by creatures that are superior to him. Therefore, taking this into account, it is completely natural that people develop a sense of vanity, envy, rivalry and greed. This is actually the will of God, not the pollution of Satan. You can imagine how this interpretation created a huge problem with Pamuk and the Muslim clergy, but there is more merit in it. Don’t you think?”

  “Why are you telling me this now, Rasim? I do not see the connection.”

  “I do not know, it just popped up in my mind. Maybe I am just trying to find a reason for what we are doing here.”

  One of the sailors quietly approached them, and motioned for them to re-enter the living room. Inside, protected by the darkened windows, Alexey had finished his cigarette and was waiting for them to restart the meeting.

  Alexey had switched off the projector and distributed some printouts. They contained the full report of the Biochemistry Analysis lab of the Academy of Science of the Russian Federation, in both English and Russian. Alexey started going into the last topic of the agenda.

  “We do not have to go through all of this, you can read it afterwards. To sum it up, our best scientists have confirmed the conclusion of your experts. This drug is extremely difficult to deformulate, despite the many samples you have provided for us. All they could find is that it is based on the telomerase enzyme, plus an additional set of active molecules that make it interfere with dopamine and cocaine. The effects are those that you have described, you can slash cocaine consumption and keep the people addicted with less side effects. I suppose you do not want to tell us who is prod
ucing this stuff and how, so why are we talking about it?”

  “Because I have a deal to propose to you,” Rasim answered, “We do not control the production of this pill, but we have access to an unlimited quantity of it. We are a trading country, after all. I know that consumption is spreading with huge returns for the drug dealers. What if you also entered this business? We can supply you with as much of this drug as you need, I mean several thousands per month, and this would easily finance your covert operations. Every pill is sold on average at $50,000 on the European and North American markets, and the markets in Africa and large parts of Asia have still to be developed.”

  Alexey weighed the proposal. Black funds financing secret operations were always of paramount importance for any secret service. The CIA had come up with the brilliant idea to print fake dollars in North Korea, but with the price of keeping the FSB and China quiet, it was never enough.

  Additionally, the FSB had fewer issues with Congress and Parliament control than their cousins in the West.

  “Let’s assume we are interested. You understand that we do not want to pay cash and I do not think you are interested in oil or gas from us, right?”

  “Absolutely not. You know, looking at how things are developing in our region, my government is seeking ways to secure its status and security among its turbulent, ambitious and sometimes utterly chaotic neighbors. Our assessment is that the Iranians will sooner or later develop weapons of mass destruction.

  This last episode of the nerve gas crisis in Syria, that your President skillfully defused, is yet another demonstration that WMDs do help to stabilize governments, especially in our area. Everyone remembers that Saddam was attacked by the Americans even when they knew he had no WMDs, despite the false public evidence denying it.”

  Alexey raised his hand and interrupted Rasim.

  “Alright. Message received. I cannot give you an answer now, however I can tell you that nuclear weapons will most likely be out of the question. We need a few weeks to decide.”

  He stood up and the trio shook hands. As they all went out on the deck, a motorboat pulled up next to the yacht, allowing Rasim to board. He gave one last wave to Irina, then the motorboat sped down the Bosphorus Strait towards a pier near the Dolmabahce Palace, built in perfect European style, that once served as the home of the great Ottoman admirals.

  Chapter 18

  Sally Goldberg, the assistant of Charles Daniels, announced the arrival of Dinesh Kheradpir. He had arrived perfectly on time, so she invited him to enter the executive office of Charles on the top floor of the Manhattan skyscraper of the Pfizer headquarters.

  Despite a glorious July day and the gorgeous view of Midtown, Charles was discouraged. Just the day before, the FDA, the Food and Drug Administration, had made it clear that they would not test the South Korean antitumoral drug until they perform another round of trials that would last months. In addition the South Koreans were threatening to sell all the research to Novartis, the European competitor of Pfizer.

  He hoped that Dinesh, the chief researcher for advanced cancer products based in Cambridge, Massachusetts would make his day better. Strangely enough, Dinesh, a holder of multiple PhDs from the Indian Institute of Technology of Mumbai and Harvard, had refused to hold a the videoconference and insisted on meeting Charles personally for the analysis of the pills.

  “Hi, Dinesh,” yawned Charles, as soon as his guest entered the room, not bothering to raise his eyes from the screen of his Macbook. “Please sit down, let me just send this email and I am with you.”

  Dinesh paid no mind to him and went straight to the meeting table, connecting his tablet to the projector.

  When Charles had finished, he found Dinesh standing next to the table, pointing to the slide projected on the wall that read:

  “Are you one-hundred-percent sure that no one is listening to us here? I would not appreciate to be sent back to India with charges of espionage. Just nod if it is the case, otherwise we can take a walk at the zoo in Central Park.”

  Half an hour later they were walking in front of the monkey cage, where it was loud enough to drown their conversation out. Dinesh started.

  “Alright, so you must know how difficult it has been to find out something about this drug. We broke the samples into four pieces and lost the first with the standard deformulation process.

  Then we tried non-destructive techniques on the second one just to find out that the main active element has something to do with the telomerase enzyme, which is quite strange, since no one is working on this right now. We tried to break down the crown of composites around the core, and we lost the second sample.

  With the third sample, I changed approach and wanted to see what would happen if I send it down a tube that simulates a person’s esophagus and stomach. I figured if I am not able to find out the function of the pill with static breakdown, I have a better chance of doing so by observing how it works as it goes through the body, but it was a dead end.

  I had only one sample left, and no idea on how to dissect it. So I decided to call Bill Bradley, who does my same work over at Merck. He is also puzzled, so it seems like your government contact effectively put us all in competition.

  Anyway, at Merck they are stuck as well even though they have a lot of connections with Europeans. I highly doubt that this stuff is coming out of Europe, Bill would have found out. Sure, he could have lied to me, but considering the fact that you get tested regularly for progress by your government guy, we came to the conclusion that no one is getting a hold of it. At least in Europe and in America.”

  “Alright, Dinesh, this I have known for weeks, why are you repeating it in front of the baboons?” yelled Charles. He was exasperated.

  “Just to recap and make sure we are on the same page. Now onto the big news. Out of desperation, I called Anatoly Vatutin, who is working in Moscow at the Biochemistry and Pharmacology Institute of the Russian Academy of Science and whom I have known for a while since he used to visit India..”

  Charles paled, but before he could speak Dinesh waved his hands to calm him down and continued,

  “....do not worry, I did not send him anything. The fact is, Anatoly is working a lot with the Chinese, so he is the only one that can lead us on the right track. It turns out that he knows something but cannot speak about it on the phone.”

  “So what?” Charles’ anxiety was growing.

  “There are congresses, luckily! Back in the days of the Cold War, the KGB had good reasons to spy on all the Soviet scientists that went abroad.

  Now, with more freedom to go abroad and less funds, the FSB control is far less strict so one month ago I met Anatoly at the annual Pharmacovigilance conference in London. We drove a good two hours to make sure no one followed us and then we went in a small pub almost forty miles outside of London, in the middle of the British countryside.”

  “There, he showed me a full bag of the pills. They were exactly like ours, also with the T stamped on top.

  I gaped in astonishment and before I could say a word he said he could not give me any of it, because they were counted and under the control of the secret service. He was already risking a lot in taking them with him to London, but we had something he was very interested in.”

  “And what was that?” snapped Charles immediately.

  “Oh, relatively minor stuff. He was interested in the molecular structure of our new anti-leukemia drug, of which we published some research after having secured the patents. With all the nuclear dumps they have in Russia, tumors are a big issue so this could help them a lot. And for us it is not a big risk, even if they develop an imitation similar to ours. No one will ever buy the Russian brand here in America. I said I had to check back with you, but he demanded an immediate decision. So I connected to our server, downloaded the files, and handed them over to him. I hope you won’t fire me, but I bet that you would have done the same.”

  “What did you get in exchange?” Charles bluntly asked. “As for your discharge
,” he thought to himself, “it depends on your answer”.

  “Well, three key hints. First, the Russians also failed in the deformulation process and it is not a Chinese product. Second, the pill works with cocaine to amplify the effects of dopamine and clean up the particles of cocaine at the same time. In retrospect, this explains some of the molecules present in the casing of the main active element. Third, Anatoly seems to have access to an endless supply of pills, but it is fully controlled by the FSB and he has no idea where they come from.”

  “Did he tell you anything about the life-extending properties the drug is supposed to have?”

  “Nope. If I look back at what we learned so far, this might be linked to the similarity of the main molecular structure with the telomerase enzyme. However, I kept these ideas to myself, obviously,” Dinesh lied, with his most serious face.

  Charles looked at the cup of coke he was holding in his hand. He had not been drinking this whole time, just listening carefully to Dinesh and thinking. The drink was now unpleasantly warm. He threw it in the trash bin, then turned to Dinesh.

  “Alright, it looks like this walk was well worth all the sweat and smells that it costed us. I think you made the right decision in passing on the leukemia drug to your friend. Poor Russian radioactive children won’t have to wait the patent expiration day to have a chance of survival,” Charles ended with a grin.

  Dinesh did not comment. He thought he had done the right thing in lying. It was not fair to leave the knowledge about this drug in the hands of people like Charles.

  Chapter 19