“You wanted me to come here because of some messages about me, didn’t you?”
“You are clever, after all.” Dorian welcomed with his first, slight smile that Louis had caught onto the point. He took a small tablet out of his pocket and handed it over to Louis. “Just click on the first video, the one with the title Dubai 2024”
Louis grabbed the tablet and clicked on the video, Dorian noticed that he paled before the video started. The video was showing the interior of an apartment, and had been recorded by a hidden surveillance camera. Nonetheless, it was possible to recognize Louis, Helena, Valerio and Tarek, lively arguing among themselves. Then Tarek left, followed by Valerio. Louis stopped the video.
“It turns out that Helena and you took full advantage of Valerio’s penthouse that night, dad,” Dorian commented. “I wonder if you had the same level of passion with mom. Maybe during your honeymoon? Time and marriage are known to kill passion, I have experienced that with Camilla as well.”
“What do you want me to say?” It took Louis several minutes to answer, “Do you want to know exactly when it started? How long it lasted? Would that change anything about what you are now thinking about me?”
“Not at all, Louis.” Dorian switched to his father’s first name. He thought that it was maybe the first time he did so in his life. “I do not want any explanation or repentance. There is just one thing I need to know. Was mom aware of all this? Did she bear with it or did she die in happy ignorance?”
They reached the cafeteria. Louis looked inside for the most private table, just to discover that the place was completely empty, except for the bartender.
“They are all gone now,” Dorian commented as soon as he detected the slight surprise on his father’s face, “I asked the staff to extend the opening hours a bit for us to have a cup of tea without too many people around.” Dorian started to remove his jacket, followed by his scarf and the hat. Louis did the same, while he kept his eyes on the floor, as shame and a sense of relief were fighting inside him. He followed Dorian to one of the tables and sat. He ordered a cup of hot chocolate, then turned his sight back to the candle that was in the middle of the table, avoiding to look at Dorian.
“I think she was not aware,” Louis said, “At least, she never asked me anything. I would not have had the courage to lie in that case. But she might have realized otherwise….it lasted several months, then Helena and I realized we were making a big mistake and broke up.”
“Women always realize when there is something going on with their men.” Dorian then started to vent, “Maybe this helped develop the cancer that killed her.”
“No!” Louis turned up his head and got close to Dorian, looking at him straight in the eyes, “You cannot blame this on me. You are not my judge. By the time mom developed the first symptoms, my love affair had been over for two years.”
Suddenly, Louis felt a punch in the stomach, as if something started moving up to his mouth. He bent over in pain, and fell off the chair. He heard Dorian stand up to reach for him, so he tried to turn towards him.
“I have something in my throat, it’s coming up…and my left eye, I see a black spot getting bigger…”
He was overwhelmed by a sense of nausea and pain, and fainted.
Chapter 15
When Louis opened his eyes, he could still feel pain in his throat. It felt like he had just gotten over a horrible flu, except that he was missing all the other symptoms of a cold. He slowly looked around, he was laying in a very neat, albeit windowless, hospital room. He remembered that, just before falling unconscious, he was losing sightcin his left eye. Luckily, both his eyes seemed tobe ok now.
He then started to check if his arms and legs were responsive to his commands. All seemed to work fine, thank God. Just the right arm was connected to what seemed to be the usual set of tubes for hydration and life parameters’ monitors. He was almost done with his check, when a nurse entered his room and started talking in Swedish above his head. She then looked at him, smiled, and switched to English.
“Dr. Picard, you are out of life danger now. Just lay down and do not make any unnecessary movement. You are going to receive visits today.”
She had just finished the sentence, when the door opened again, and three people in dark, blue uniforms entered and moved close to his bed. The trio was led by a tall, red-headed woman with long, wavy hair, who took place to the right of Louis and quickly turned her eyes around to make sure the rest of her team was in place before starting to speak. The woman eventually set her eyes straight on Louis, who summoned all his energy to sustain her glance and managed to sit upn the bed.
“Good morning, Dr. Picard. My name is Erika Fryjansdottir, and I am the Chief Inspector of Stockholm’s criminal police,” the woman talked to him in a soft, yet very assertive tone, in flawless French, “I regret to inform you that you are under arrest, because you are suspected to be part of the plot that led to the assassination of our Welfare Minister, your son, Dorian Picard.”
Louis gaped in astonishment. Dorian killed? When? It must have been after he felt sick. And how? Why was he a suspect?
“My son…Dorian…killed? How is it possible? He was perfectly alive, in front of me…” Louis was overwhelmed by disbelief. Erika quickly put it together, and her tone became more gentle.
“Dr. Picard, you have been a victim of an Implanted Self-assemblying Attack Nanodrone, or ISAN, as it is called now. It is a microscopic electro-organic device that gets implanted in a host body, and then uses the host to build up in size until the victim reaches the target. Once the host is close enough to the objective, the nanodrone ejects itself out of the body and attacks the victim, usually with a lethal toxin.” Erika paused to make sure Louis understood her explanation. “This is what happened to you. The ISAN you were carrying bit and killed Dorian, and left you alive, which is quite an exception, as in all known cases so far, ISANs also kill the host.”
Louis recalled having read about ISANs as one of the latest frontiers in weapons engineering, a few months back. He was carrying the weapon who killed his son. He was the weapon. He laid back on the bed, to stare at the ceiling, trying to process things and most importantly, trying to resist breaking down into tears. As soon as he thought he had gained back control, he turned his eyes toward the Chief Inspector.
“Alright, Inspector, I understand I am on the suspect list,” Louis managed to be as calm as possible, “You just cannot rule out the possibility that a father might willingly help to kill of his son, can you?”
“Well, not only that, Dr. Picard,” Erika jumped in, her tone becoming softer and softer, as she perceived the pain of Louis, “You are also a precious link, the most precious I would dare saying, to find out more about who and what is behind the death of your son. That’s mainly why you are under arrest, as a precautionary measure for now.”
“To hell with precautions,” Louis snapped back, rage replacing sorrow. “This is still supposed to be a civilized and democratic country, otherwise my son would not have bet his life on it. I want to see a lawyer, and contact my relatives. I will get out of here, rest assured.”
Erika seemed to like Louis’ reaction, and answered with the closest thing to a smile she had managed so far.
“Of course, Dr. Picard. We already informed your relatives, who rushed here in no time and hired the most famous Swedish attorney,” Erika said, without hiding her admiration for him taking immediate initiative, “They are just outside here. We will let them in right away, if you agree, of course. But I needed to be present at your awakening, that’s the procedure.”
“So much for the procedure, Inspector,” Louis replied impatiently, “you have done your damn good job, please let them in now.”
“One more thing, Dr. Picard,” the Chief Inspector continued, now unappreciative of Louis’ impatience, “You are not allowed to stay alone with them during the first meeting. That’s another part of the procedure. In any case, all conversations will be recorded. I have to warn you
.”
Louis was about to vent again, but noticed that Erika pressed a button next to the bed, so he stayed silent. A very long minute passed, then the door opened, and Helena entered the room, followed by a short, blond and extremely well-dressed guy.
“That must be the lawyer,” Louis thought, immediately standing up and trying to get off the bed to hug Helena, who walked slowly, while supporting her back with one hand. Louis realized that the birth was just a couple of weeks away when he had left for Sweden, and he did not know how long he had stayed unconscious. He resisted the temptation to hug Helena with all his might. He caressed her gently on the cheeks instead, and he asked her,
“Why did you come up here? You could have seen me through Holocall, and just send the lawyer….you risked delivering the baby while you were on the road.”
Helena kissed Louis and hissed, “You just stop the bullshit, the baby will be born where his father and mother need to be. Which happens to be, most probably, the medical ward of the maximum security prison of Stockholm, Sweden.” She then pulled herself away and started squaring off Erika and the two other policemen.
“I think this was supposed to be a private conversation, wasn’t it?” Helena said to Erika, who did not budge.
“Actually no, you have been informed that in the first meeting an officer from the Criminal branch would be present,” Erika remarked calmly, “But you do have a point, Madam.” She turned her eyes to the door and hinted to the two other policemen, who immediately left the room. Erika pulled away from the bed, and went to stand in the corner opposite of Helena. The two women exchanged glances. Helena eventually nodded her head to the right in a sign of appreciation, then she turned back to Louis.
“The gentleman next to me,” she said, while the man hurried to shake Louis’ hand, “is Mats Vestberg, one of the best Swedish criminal attorneys.” Helena paused and looked at Erika, who nodded. Helena continued.
“You have been unconscious for two days. We were notified immediately after the attack and flew over here,” Helena was rushing all she had learned in the last 48 hours. “This new shit they used, the ISANs, is very new. I mean, its deadly application. There are only six known cases, in the last two years, and you are the first one where the victim survives and claims to be innocent. So it’s normal these guys are overly suspicious.”
“Helena, it was not me,” Louis stopped her, to state with all the strength he had, “whoever it was, they managed to implant the drone seed in me.”
“That’s exactly what we have to prove to get you out of here, darling,” Helena commented, “but it will be awfully difficult. You are the first case of this kind on the planet.”
“Have you contacted Dinesh?” Louis asked, “His company is very active in nanodrones, I mean, legal ones. He might be able to help us.”
“Of course I did…as well as other people who might be knowledgeable about the, um…” Helena looked at Erika, who was eagerly listening, despite the conversation being recorded, “…more controversial applications of this technology.”
Louis laid back again, exhausted, and a moment of silence followed. The lawyer seized the opportunity to enter the conversation.
“Dr. Picard, I have to tell you what I told your wife as to why I willingly accepted your case. You are the key piece in the most important political crime in Sweden in decades, and a foreign national. This means you are an international case, and you have to prepare to accept strong restrictions to your freedom for several months to come. There is no easy bail out in cases like yours.”
Louis started to realize what all this meant. He looked at the lawyer and asked.
“Alright, Mr. Vestberg, let’s go step by step. Does that mean I won’t be able to attend the funeral of my son? Or assist to the birth of my new baby?”
The lawyer looked at Helena, who nodded and answered.
“The funeral is taking place today. Camilla asked to have a totally private ceremony, I was not invited either.” Helena waited for a sign of surprise from Louis, which did not come. She then continued, “As for the birth of Hannah, I told you - I will deliver her here, in the prison medical ward, so you can be with me. There sometimes happen to be very nice people in the police.”
She looked at Erika, who smiled back.
Chapter 16
Yaakov entered the lounge of the executive office on the 106th floor of the New Trust Industries skyscraper, and enjoyed the amazing sight of Mumbai Bay. He could see that the Gate of India and the Taj Mahal hotel were basically all that was left of old Mumbai, the rest had been replaced by shiny new buildings built by the very same architects who had designed Dubai, and had then moved to India in the aftermath of the war. He was about to plunge into a rant about the twists of history, when one of the assistants, a gorgeous lady dressed in a magnificent red and gold sari, told him he could enter the office of Dinesh Kheradpir, the company’s chief executive.
As he entered the room, he noticed that Dinesh was not waiting for him next to the meeting table, but he waved to join him at the bar instead.
“Hi, Yaakov, and welcome to India,” he cheered, as he worked through the preparation of a cocktail, “If I recall it right, you are a fan of mojitos, right?”
“You are right, Dinesh,” Yaakov replied, “and a cup of tea as well, if I may. It’s still a bit early for mojitos, at five o’clock in the afternoon, but it will help us think, nonetheless.”
“Any more updates since the last time we talked, Yaakov?” Dinesh turned serious, “I mean, not about the baby. I know Helena had Hannah last week, and they are both fine. Louis sent me the pictures. I am so sorry he was in prison for the birth of his first daughter.”
“I was able to go through the analysis of the drone rests, that the Swedish police had to share with Louis, the defendant,” Yaakov said, “Helena sent it to me right away, to have the view from the ‘dark side’, as I like to call it.”
“And?” Dinesh said, pushing Yaakov to continue.
“It confirms my initial opinion,” Yaakov said, as he sipped his mojito, “the ISAN is undoubtedly based on your latest medical nanodrone, the Trust Industries MND-2, reprogrammed to bring a toxin payload instead of anti-cancer drugs. It is the only model on the market that is made of two separate modules, a drug-delivery unit and a nerve-system probe to measure simultaneously the body’s reaction to the treatment, with the two units communicating through the host’s nervous system of the body.”
“They modified the drug-delivery unit to carry the toxin and the nerve probe to connect to the visual system of Louis to make sure he was close to Dorian, right?” Dinesh asked.
“It looks so, but it’s not that important now,” Yaakov confirmed, “The good news is that only your company can build the basic kit, so we can go through all the buyers and check for any suspects. Most importantly, we can demonstrate to the Swedish court that the drone has been implanted into Louis’ body against his will. This will help get him out of jail big time.”
“How can you be so sure that no one else can build something like the MND-2?” Dinesh asked.
“I am not one-hundred percent sure, I just asked my friends at the Mossad,” Yaakov answered. “They told me that, if they wanted to organize an attack like the one on Dorian, the easiest and fastest way would be to re-program a MND-2, which you sell anyway with a developer’s kit for surgeons. Obviously, I cannot bring this testimony to court, but I do not need to. On the other hand, Helena might need to call some of your big experts to make the case that no one else can legally build that kind of drone.”
“This is already understood and agreed, I have all my marketing and R&D top brass ready to fly to Sweden on short notice,” Dinesh brushed Yaakov concerns aside, “However, who do you think implanted the drone into Louis? The prosecutors will be very interested in knowing that, and there are several ways to inject a drone seed into someone’s body. In the case of the MND-2 some are as easy as drinking a cocktail. The host would just mistake the seed for a small piece of ic
e.”
“Yep, we have to do the investigation job,” Yaakov continued, “Luckily, the seed cannot stay in the host’s body indefinitely before starting the development sequence, otherwise the risk of being recognized and destroyed by the immune system grows too much.”
“Correct,” Dinesh noted, pleasantly surprised by the competence Yaakov showed, “In the case of the MND-2, it is three months.”
“So, that’s exactly what Helena and I are doing. We are analyzing everything that Louis did, where he went, whom he met, in the three months that led up to the attack. Well, four months, just to be sure,” Yaakov said. “We need video footage of where he has been - anything we can find. Then, we will correlate this with the buyers’ data that we need from you.”
“You will have them, no doubt. I will make an exception to the company’s privacy code. That’s what you can afford when you are both the chief executive and the biggest shareholder,” Dinesh chuckled, “Anything else you need from me, to help Louis out of trouble?”
“Yes, Dinesh,” Yaakov said thankfully, “We need your experts view on the toxin analysis. According to the Swedes, it is a derivative of a chemical used by the Indian Army during the war, but they couldn’t come up with a lot more information. If this is the case, it shouldn’t be such a big issue for you to find someone..how can we say..knowledgeable, with the product.”
“Absolutely. Put all the stuff together and I will follow up with that personally,” Dinesh replied, while he collected the empty glass from Yaakov and started preparing the tea, “Now, if I can ask you something, Yaakov….”
The Last Enemy - A history of the present future - 1934-2084 Page 44
