“I was hoping that would be the case,” David said. “It’s why I was intent on getting you out of where you were being held.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t be asking this,” Jack said, “but if you hadn’t shown up as a liberator, what do you think would have happened to me?”
“My father would have delegated your fate to one of his many underlings,” David said. “He wouldn’t have given it much thought. He is good at compartmentalizing.”
“I was afraid of that,” Jack said.
“You had impressed my father with the efforts you had made investigating Carol Stewart,” David said. “Kang-Dae told me he was intent on convincing you to join the team. He thought that you would be a terrific asset in dealing with the problems that he expects he’ll be facing from the usual regulatory agencies. I’m somewhat surprised you were able to resist, as he can be very convincing.”
“I was never tempted,” Jack said.
As they sped toward the city, Jack felt himself progressively relax the farther they got from the Farm Institute and its slaughterhouse. The traffic was light, even as they neared the George Washington Bridge, the world’s busiest.
“Your father said something reassuring,” Jack said, breaking the silence. “He said that thanks to CRISPR/CAS9, GeneRx engineers had already developed a rapid test for determining the presence of the new gammaretroviral disease and also how to cure it. Is that correct, as far as you know?”
“It is,” David said. “It is another tribute to the power of this revolutionary gene-editing technology.”
“That’s terrific,” Jack said. “That should make the elimination of the mini-pandemic this episode has caused rather easy.”
“No doubt,” David said.
Jack glanced around at the impressive interior of the sports car, with its sumptuous leather seats and swank-appearing dash. “Nice wheels,” he said, trying to sound contemporary like Warren.
“It’s not bad,” David said offhandedly.
“It’s the most impressive car I’ve been in,” Jack said. “What model is it?”
“It’s a Lexus LC 500 coupe,” David said. “I’d asked for a Lamborghini but had to settle for this. As usual, my father didn’t even ask for my opinion. That’s the way it has always been.”
Jack didn’t respond. He guessed it would be difficult not to be spoiled growing up with a billionaire father. He felt immensely grateful for having been rescued from a potentially lethal predicament, even if it was due to a feud between an overindulged child and a megalomaniacal father. The real victims of the whole ordeal were those who had died and those who might still die from this new retroviral disease.
Once they had crossed the George Washington Bridge to Manhattan, David exited onto the West Side Highway, heading south.
“You seem to know where you are going,” Jack commented. He hadn’t given David the address.
“I’ve been living in the city for five years,” David said. “I know my way around. And I know you live at Sixty-three West 106th Street. Kang-Dae sent me a copy of the dossier my father had ordered on you.”
With some difficulty, Jack suppressed his knee-jerk irritation at the violation of his personal space that Wei Zhao’s investigation represented, but the thought reminded him of the bizarre shooting incident the night before. He mentioned it to David and then questioned, “Is that something you know anything at all about?”
“I heard it was a close call,” David said, suggesting he knew a great deal more than that.
“How so?” Jack asked, but it seemed as if his worst fears were being confirmed. If it was a close call, then Jack had been involved.
“Let me put it this way,” David said. “Our group became aware of a possible plot to have you taken care of. We weren’t entirely certain what that meant, so we decided it best to provide you with protection from a possible assassination attempt if that is what it meant. We were committed to not let anything to happen to you. We felt strongly that you were our best hope that my father and his minions wouldn’t be able to sweep the current problems with Carol Stewart under the carpet. Unfortunately, it turned out that we were right, and it was a good thing we had some people there.”
“I see,” Jack said, trying to maintain his composure. It was now obvious he had come within a hairsbreadth of being shot.
“Come what may, my father fully intends to dominate what is going to turn out to be an extraordinarily lucrative porcine transplant business,” David continued. “In that light, it might be wise for you to look to your own security over the next few days. Our group can continue to help, but realistically speaking, we are amateurs in comparison with what my father and his team are capable of marshaling. He’s motivated. From his point of view, he thinks the societal good that will result in terms of lives saved and quality of life improved justifies everything he is doing.”
A chill passed down Jack’s spine and his pulse quickened as he began to truly contemplate the extent of the risks he had been so blithely assuming. He hadn’t appreciated the extent that his actions and behavior had been propelled by a combination of his own inner demons and stresses both personal and domestic.
David turned off the West Side Highway at 96th Street. They rode in silence all the way to Central Park West and then onto 106th Street. Only when Jack’s brownstone was in sight did Jack begin to truly relax.
David pulled over to the curb. Jack reached for the door handle, feeling extraordinarily lucky. He opened the door, got out, but then leaned back inside.
“I want to thank you for rescuing me,” Jack said. “It truly was a rescue. I was in a hell of a lot more danger than I was willing to acknowledge. Thank you.”
“You are welcome,” David said. “And I want to thank you for your perseverance, as I think it will prove to be key in helping us thwart my father’s exit from China.”
