No one complained, so she put the car in gear and pulled out. Ten minutes later, we parked in the McDonald’s parking lot and walked inside. This one was too bright, too warm, and smelled of fries that had given up on being crispy sometime earlier in the day. A few people lingered over coffee and a pair of teenagers hovered near the soda dispenser. The rest of the place was empty, which fit our purposes perfectly, because we could spread out a bit and get to work.
Basia bought a cheeseburger, fries, and hot chocolate while the rest of us just got coffee or tea. We claimed a corner and pushed together some tables near the window before sitting down.
Gray kept her back to the wall, eyes tracking the parking lot. Gwen started swiping on her phone, muttering variations of Al-Rashid under her breath, trying to decide the best way to spell it for a Google search. Barbie pulled out her folder and began searching through her papers.
Steam rose from my coffee as I took a moment to clutch the cup in my cold hands. I needed to push the image of Ginger being dragged back into the lab out of my mind before I could focus.
Finally, I took a sip of the coffee and opened my laptop. I connected to the internet using my personal hotspot and set up my equipment for a few minutes before sitting back in my chair.
“Okay, guys, let’s put our heads together,” I said. “We know something big is happening tomorrow morning. This Al-Rashid person is supposedly important enough that the scientists were threatening Ginger, telling her to be on her best behavior for her ‘debut.’ We need to find out who he—or she—is and how they’re connected to Tango Bio. Unfortunately, Al-Rashid is officially un-Googleable. It’s like searching for ‘Smith’ without any parameters, including country of origin and accurate spelling.”
Gwen frowned. “True. The best I could find is the name, in its many iterations, is of Middle Eastern origin. There are dozens of spellings and multiple princes, government officials, subsidiaries, and companies with this name. It’s a family tree with a million branches.”
“Still, this whole situation feels like a potential client inspection to me,” Gray mused. “And clients pay money to get what they want. Especially if they’ve been funding the activities for quite a while.”
I nodded. “It’s always a good bet to start with money.”
“The name seems familiar to me, but I don’t know why,” Barbie said. “Based on what the skinny guy in the yard said, this sounds like a make-or-break meeting. My guess, if this demonstration, or whatever it is, fails tomorrow, there won’t be any more funding, and they’re done.” She looked up from her papers, gauging my reaction.
“Well, you can count me among those who wouldn’t be disappointed,” Gwen said with a definite edge in her voice.
I linked my fingers behind my neck and blew out a breath. “I think you’re right, Barbie. Someone is funding results. Paying for whatever Ginger is. And they must have made a sizable investment.”
“It’s clear they’ve been funding this research for many years, even when they had failures early on,” Gwen said. “That means they had a long-term goal and lots of money to commit to it. They’re expecting a big payoff.”
“But this type of advancement wouldn’t have happened overnight,” Gray pointed out. “And I still don’t get what their endgame is. There can’t be a market for smart dog spies sufficient to generate a return on their investment.”
“Well, what if they wanted to apply the technology elsewhere? Could they use it to try and augment a human?” Barbie asked.
I shrugged. “It is hard to speculate on that without knowing their techniques. A human might be a lot more resistant to any psychological pressure or conditioning. Still, you could be right.”
We all looked at each other for a minute, thinking of the significant implications of that statement.
“Or maybe the investor is not the end user of the technology,” Gray mused. “Maybe their intent is to develop and acquire the technology and then selectively sell it to the highest bidders. If this is some kind of breakthrough technology, cornering the market on it early might yield dozens of applications we can’t think of right now that could be extremely profitable.”
“Any of that would take quite a vision and very deep pockets,” Barbie said. “I could certainly see someone from the one of the oil states in the Middle East being involved.”
“Guys, wait,” Gwen said excitedly. “I searched one variation of the name of Al-Rashid and added the term biotech research. I got a hit.”
Gwen handed me her phone. “There’s a company called Al-Nadir Nexus Technologies. I think they’re a Saudi or possibly Omani company. I’m not really sure. But they have a US subsidiary registered in Delaware since 1995. Here is the exciting part: The director of US operations is a guy by the name of Yahir Al-Rashid.”
“Al-Rashid. Could he be our guy?” Gray mused.
“I’m not sure about that Yahir guy, but I do know that Al-Nadir Nexus is the largest tech conglomerate in Saudi Arabia,” Barbie said. “They’re into lots of different projects, including desalination plants, genetically modified agriculture, and green energy. If I remember correctly, they were funding several long-shot agriculture research projects in Iowa designed to develop a strain of wheat that would use eighty percent less water. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were one of the financial backers for Vision Zone back in the day.”
I felt a chill slide down my spine. “That doesn’t feel like venture capitalism to me. That feels like targeted funding to produce a marketable outcome.”
“Their website lists standard biomedical research as a core competency, but no animal testing of any kind,” Gray said, peering at her screen.
“Did Al-Nadir Nexus have any connection with the CIA that led them to sponsor Vision Zone’s original research?” Gray wondered aloud.
“We might be able to find out, but it probably isn’t important right now,” I said. “What we need to find is a connection between Tango Bio and Al-Nadir Nexus Technology. Then, by extension, Yahir Al-Rashid.”
“I can definitely confirm that Al-Nadir Nexus announced several years ago that they invested over sixteen million dollars in biotech research in the US,” Barbie said. “But I don’t know the names of those biotech companies.”
“What if that investment was for legitimate biomedical research?” Gwen asked. “Even if we could link Tango Bio and Al-Nadir Nexus, how can we tell the difference in terms of research?”
Barbie shrugged. “I don’t think we can. From what I can extrapolate at this point, it doesn’t appear that Al-Nadir Nexus has any current contracts with anyone for selling or reselling biomedical research.”
