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

by Luca Luchesini

  Louis worried that the pregnancy of Helena would not go smoothly and asked her to stop taking Telomerax at least until the birth of the baby. He also asked her to come to Switzerland. It was the only place where he could manage excellent healthcare and absolute privacy at the same time.

  Initially Helena balked at his requests, but the first signs of nausea and the persistence of George made her change her mind. She arrived to Zurich in October of 2013, during her fourth month of pregnancy.

  For a while she stayed at Louis’ house, a villa with a charming garden located on the peaceful street of Eichhaldenweg. However her health kept worsening so on November 29th she was moved to the Hirslanden Klinik, within the posh Seventh District, close to where Louis and Dora were living.

  George landed in Zurich two days later, and Louis picked him up at the airport. George noticed that Louis had not used his new SUV, but a modest Toyota. Since he was expecting bad news, he chose to start the conversation with an irrelevant subject.

  “Hey Louis! You look great! What happened to your shiny, blue X5? You are going to need it now, in the Swiss winters. It's not time to drive around with an environmentally friendly Prius.”

  “I changed it on purpose this morning before picking you up. The SUV might be bugged and I do not want anyone overhearing what I have to tell you. I asked one of my colleagues at the Swiss Federal University, where I work as a part time chemistry lecturer, to swap cars for the weekend because I was curious to try his hybrid model. He was more than happy to lend it to me, and I did not have to go through a rental car company that could be tracked.”

  George was forced to accept that his attempt to lighten the conversation failed. If Louis was giving up his usually long introduction and instead resorting to the direct style of Helena, there was a lot of reason to be worried.

  “Ok, what is wrong with Helena? How bad is it?”

  Louis paused then said, “I received the lab analysis yesterday evening. It is cancer. The bad news is that it is of an unknown type, something between a lymphoma and leukemia, so the doctors do not have a clue on how to cure it. The good news is that it is progressing very slowly, for now.”

  “An unknown type...do you think is it linked to Telomerax?” asked George, anxiously.

  “Yes, I am quite sure about it. It is very similar to how Telomerax works. The main molecule, the one that enters the cells and produces the enzyme so that DNA replication can be perfect, actually spreads into the body like a virus, entering every single cell.

  The viral behavior is in turn controlled by the set of molecules that form the casing of the main active element. Initially, they attack a few cells along the stomach and the rest of the digestive tract and use them to replicate the component, which then spreads and infects the rest of the body. It is the small sacrifice of a few cells, which together do not even equal a hundredth of a square millimeter of skin, to keep the rest immortal.”

  “And that explains why after taking the pill sometimes you suffer from a light fever.”

  “Exactly. The diffusion around the body is indeed a small viral infection, and the immune system reacts in the same way. But it is a short-lived one, because the active element disappears quickly into each cell and what is left behind is immediately wiped out by the antibodies. The initial multiplication phase is also very fast. That is why Telomerax is so difficult to deformulate. If you analyze it statically, the set of molecules simply looks too intricate. If you look at it when it works in the body, there is too much interaction in too short a time. Now, the problem with Helena lies precisely in these drug dynamics. I should have realized it before.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Two out of the eleven tumor cases I had in the clinical trial phase, thirty years ago, were pregnant women. The problem is, they were all the pregnant women I was testing on. I did not notice, or maybe I did not want to notice at the time. As much as the external molecules interact with dopamine, they also interact with a variety of other molecules, namely hormones. I recognized this a long time ago, and that is why I ruled children out from Telomerax. However, also pregnant women are huge hormone producers. And this mix seems to trigger the cancer that Helena has got now.”

  “But she stopped taking it right after she took the pregnancy test,” objected George.

  “George, she has been taking it for almost twenty years. I kept studying the six of us over the last several years, we all have in different degrees some residual active molecules that keep floating in our bodies. It is as if our immune system has found a symbiotic balance with Telomerax and no longer attacks it.”

  “You mean we can stop taking the drug? We are definitely immortal?” George’s thoughts ran wildly.

  “Not yet, this is what could happen several years from now. But we have to focus on Helena now. And the baby as well,” added Louis.

  The last statement silenced George until they arrived at the clinic and entered the room where Helena was resting.

  She woke up immediately, her eyes racing around the room like when she was watching out for threats in the streets of the Mexico City slums. She saw George, she attempted to smile and waited for his kiss. George and Louis sat next to her bed.

  “Where is Dora?” Louis asked.

  “She just left,” Helena responded with fatigue. “I am afraid she is not strong enough for this type of news,” she thought to herself. “So, what is it that I have, Louis? It is pretty serious, right? At least it feels that way.”

  Louis went through the explanation again, and this time he continued to the end.

  “Basically, Helena, you and George must decide whether you want to try to cure yourself and undergo chemotherapy or continue the pregnancy. It's either one or the other.”

  “Hang on. The fetus is almost five months old. Look at the sonogram. She has a face, her face...”

  “Helena, this is a private Swiss clinic for the rich,” interrupted George. “I mean, I do not want to imply we should decide based off of this, but it is clear that laws here..”

  “Yeah, the law won't be a problem,” Helena completed the sentence. “As usual, law won't be a problem for us - for the rich, the immortals. I won't decide according to the law. I never decide based on laws.”

  The discussion was turning way too emotional, and Louis jumped in.

  “Helena, let's stay on the known facts. The tumor is quite slow, so if we cure it now I think - and the doctors agree with me - that you have a very good chance of making it. In the meantime I am sure I will find a way to fix Telomerax so this does not happen again. As for the shock of losing the baby, if it happens, Dora has had many patients that went through similar sad circumstances. She will do her best to comfort you. You will heal from all this pain.”

  Helena sprang up from the bed, her arms struggling to keep her upright. George moved towards her to try to help her up but the look he received from Helena kept him away.

  “You two assholes really do not get the point. Maybe that is because you have never had the pleasure like I did of watching the gruesome death of someone that you hated deep within your heart. You come up with all this wisdom and knowledge that do nothing but mask the sacrifice of an innocent victim for a good cause.

  All sacrifices are carried out for good causes and in good faith. So good, that in the best case also the victim agrees! Well, I don't agree. First we, or rather I, am getting my girl into the world. Then, you cure me. Do not try any tricks. I would realize it sooner or later anyway and you know what revenge does to me.”

  “But Helena, what if the tumor gets out of control in the following months?” sighed George.

  “It will be your problem to raise a little girl alone, my dear. I do not think it would be too difficult, with almost half a billion dollars in the bank. I just could not live with that on my conscious forever.”

  Her muscles gave out and she fell back on the bed. George and Louis looked at each other. They were searching for a response, when they realized Helena had fallen as
leep. They left the room and drove to Louis' house on the shore of the lake of Zurich.

  Aurora was born on March 15th, 2014.

  According to the record of the Swiss demographic office, she was the daughter of Helena Hernandez Avila, a Mexican citizen, and her British partner, Richard Stirner.

  Chapter 20

  Eyal was looking at the latest satellite pictures from the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli Defense Forces had been fighting against Hamas since the beginning of July 2014, in the so-called Operation Protective Edge. It was now the beginning of August, and his team was analyzing the evidence from the destruction of the tunnel system built by Hamas to smuggle militants and weapons into Israel.

  Together with the Army Chief of Staff, Shin Bet had to prepare a report for the government to evaluate if the conditions were suitable to declare an open-ended cease fire with Hamas. In other words, if the damage to Hamas’ infrastructure was serious enough to grant Israel several months or even a few years of tranquility before the next eruption happened.

  He was discussing the effects of the last airstrike with his team, when Yaakov slammed the door of Eyal’s office wide open and gave him an undecipherable glare.

  Eyal broke the silence that followed, to ask his team to leave them alone.

  As soon as the last person left his office, Eyal set the tone.

  “I hope this is urgent, as the Army Chief of Staff is waiting for our report in three hours to review it before the meeting of the Cabinet. You have half an hour maximum.”

  “More than enough for a run-through. You can go over the details tonight. I am sorry that you have to cancel your date with Ruth, but I bet you will find this more interesting,” responded Yaakov, placing a printout on the desk, between Eyal and himself.

  “Do you remember our old friend George McKilroy aka Sean Ewals? He is back, and we have identified the full gang.”

  “Where did he show up?”

  “It all started from a report from David Schneersohn, our resident in Bangkok, who is also covering the rest of South East Asia. Around one year ago, he detected the arrival of a new type of drug in the Thai jet-set. He started to investigate and he found out that it was spreading all across the region.

  The thing that caught his attention is that this one was not based on heroin, as usual, but rather on a mix of cocaine and a synthetic component. He found it strange, so he did some research, and it turned out that the new stuff was being distributed by the same organizations that controlled heroin, which were now pushing the market to this new drug. David then got in touch with his contacts in Hong Kong, who confirmed that the Chinese gangs had decided to move away from classic drugs on the high end market, thanks to a deal they struck with the Europeans. With some patience, he was also able to have one of his agents take a picture of one of the emissaries, just a few days ago. And here he is.”

  The picture left no doubt, even if it was taken with a long telescope lens. It was the face of George McKilroy, hurrying out of the ICC Tower in West Kowloon and ducking into a limousine.

  “So we were right...there is big crime behind this guy,” whispered Eyal.

  “I wish it was that simple.” continued Yaakov. “In the meantime, David had managed to get some of the drug samples and sent them to us to analyze. I did not notify you, because it seemed ordinary procedure. One was just cocaine, not even top quality, while the synthetic one is impossible to figure out. Our best researchers at Technion are going crazy over it.

  Since we could not sort it out alone, we discreetly activated our sayanim among leading biochemists and pharmacologists around the world. And guess what we got? It seems that both the Russians and the Americans are dealing with the same issue.”

  “Why did they not report it right away?” burst Eyal. “We lost precious time!”

  “Eyal, that’s how it works with the sayanim. They normally do not take initiative unless they see a clear danger for Israel. Otherwise they stay dormant, waiting for our specific request. In addition to all of this exciting news, our friends in the Russian Academy of Science reported a rumor that the best minds of the biochemistry labs have been working for months to formulate a new drug based on samples they receive directly from the FSB. For reasons you can imagine, they excluded all Jewish researchers from the project.

  We even got information from a woman in the United States, who works as executive assistant at a very important pharma corporation, that her boss kept attending meetings with the head of drug research and someone unknown, who she believed was from the government secret service. We showed her some photos and she recognized Skip Ross, the new deputy operations director of the CIA.”

  “Skip Ross?” repeated Eyal in disbelief. “You mean the not-so-brilliant Homeland Security department guy who ruined Greg’s career with the negligence scandal four months ago, and got the much coveted DDO position for himself?”

  “In flesh and bones.” Yaakov continued, “We were just wondering what the scandal was, that undermined the career of Greg, who has been demoted to hell as head of the US Coast Guard. I sent Ben to talk to him three weeks ago.

  Ben told me that Greg is seething with resentment. He has good reason though, after going from master of the secret universe to boss of the baywatchers. So a bit out of revenge and a bit out of our friendship, he talked very openly and all the pieces came together. He also gave us the complete file that Skip had built around Sean Ewals.”

  “Great, are there any new facts I should know about?”

  “Well, now it is clear that Sean is not the boss. The drug is manufactured somewhere in Europe, by one of his friends. We are working on the connection graph created by the Homeland Security. We are closing down on dozens of subjects. The most important point is these guys have also made a deal with the Russians. Skip demonstrated that with the information he received from Pfizer, and used this to nail down Greg for his failure.

  Basically, Skip had found out everything but Greg blocked him and the result is that now Russians have their hands on it, or at least partially. Skip managed to find this out thanks to his idea of involving one of the top bosses of Pfizer into the game. Last fact is Skip genuinely dislikes us. Greg told us loud and clear that Skip is convinced we helped Greg frame him one year ago.”

  Eyal looked at the clock on the wall. Still five minutes to go.

  “Alright, the puzzle looks finished now. But why did you rush to tell me? After all, it is a story fully in your foreign jurisdiction. I do not see major implications for Israel’s security, apart from adding another row in the illegal substance list and another check to do at our borders.”

  “Because, there is this last bit. Up to now we worked on the assumption that this is mostly a narcotic story. It is not. The drug is actually a life extender - it is that powerful. And we got the information from a completely different source. It comes from our connections at the Vatican. Straight from the top.”

  “Yaakov, I am not aware of any secret calls from Pope Francis to Bibi Netanyahu. It would have gotten to me somehow, by now.”

  “Eyal, come on. You do not send this type of news by wire or letter. It has to go by trusted word of mouth that can be denied without evidence, if anything leaks. What day was last Friday?”

  “Um, August 15th, what about it?”

  “You should know that August 15th is an important Catholic solemnity. They celebrate the Ascension of the Virgin Mary to Heaven. Well, last Friday Cardinal Tim Dolan of New York City decided to celebrate the evening Mass in the parish of St. Matthews, in Brooklyn Crown Heights, right on the Eastern Parkway. And you must know what else is located on Brooklyn’s Eastern Parkway.”

  Eyal knew by heart. At 770 East Parkway were the world headquarters of the Lubavitch Chabad Hasidic Jews, one of the most orthodox and influential bodies of all Judaism.

  “So you mean the Cardinal went to the synagogue? Or the Rabbi went to the church?”

  “No, since Friday was also the eve of Shabbat, the Cardinal invited the Rabbi to a shor
t evening meeting in the Parish house, where he offered some kosher snacks and spent a few minutes alone with him in an obscure room that no one would think to enter.”

  “Is the information coming from the Cardinal or from Pope Francis directly?”

  “What the Rabbi told us, is known by Pope Francis alone and a few trusted Cardinals. However, there is no official document going around in the Vatican, I would even bet no document at all.”

  “And the content?”

  “The content verifies all we have been collecting so far. Basically, the drug is not a simple life extender. It makes people effectively immortal. It is controlled by a restricted group of people. One of the members is an Italian and he is most likely the source from the Vatican. But they have added five other people on the list, two of which are women. This is in line with what we know. This team is starting to feel increasingly insecure and has decided to start spreading the drug. And this is exactly what we are seeing.”

  Eyal looked at the clock. Five minutes past the half an hour he had available. He gathered the papers from the middle of the table.

  “Now I understand why you came to me. Over a short time, the news will spread worldwide. That means we have to be ready to activate Plan Lot. Why do you think the Vatican decided to tell us?”

  “The Rabbi asked the same question to Cardinal Dolan. He got a political answer. He said they are worried that something bad will happen to us when the news starts spreading and this way, we can prepare for the worst.”

  “Well,” said Eyal, “He certainly cannot say that he knew the Rabbi would somehow tell the Mossad. Do you plan to intercept and neutralize the group?”

  “Read the details in the file. It is evident that a mindless action would lead to a faster diffusion, which we do not want, but I agree we need to take some action with these guys. As soon as we have finished identifying them.”

  Chapter 21

  While the giant projector on the wall connected to his laptop, Louis thought about how he had never worked harder than he had been in the past eighteen months, after the birth of Aurora.