“Be careful there,” Sean warned. “The mother of the woman in public relations is one of the medical librarians.”
“I’ll be careful,” Janet said. She eyed Sean warily before going on. She was learning what a mistake it was to push him to any conclusions before he was ready to make them. But she just had to know. “So this means you’re still game?” she asked. “You’ll stay? Even if it means doing that bit of work with the protein, even if it is for the Japanese?”
Sean leaned forward with his head down, elbows on his knees, and rubbed the back of his head. “I don’t know,” he said. “This whole situation is absurd. What a way to do science!” He looked up at Janet. “I wonder if anybody in Washington had any idea what limiting research funding would do to our research establishments. It’s all happening just when the country needs research more than ever.”
“All the more reason for us to try to do something,” Janet said.
“You’re serious about this?” Sean asked.
“Absolutely,” Janet said.
“You know we’ll have to be resourceful,” Sean said.
“I know.”
“We’ll have to break a few rules,” he added. “Are you sure you can handle that?”
“I think so,” Janet said.
“And once we start, there’s no turning back,” Sean said.
Janet started to answer but the ringing of the phone on the desk startled them both.
“Who the hell could that be?” Sean wondered. He let it ring.
“Aren’t you going to answer it?” Janet asked.
“I’m thinking,” Sean said. What he didn’t say was that he was afraid it might be Sarah Mason. She’d called him that afternoon, and despite a temptation to aggravate Harris, Sean did not want any association with the woman whatsoever.
“I think you should answer it,” Janet said.
“You answer it,” Sean suggested.
Janet jumped to her feet and snatched up the receiver. Sean watched her expression as she asked who was calling. She showed no strong reaction as she extended the phone to him.
“It’s your brother,” she said.
“What the hell?” Sean mumbled as he pulled himself out of the couch. It wasn’t like his brother to call. They didn’t have that type of relationship, and they had just seen each other Friday night.
Sean took the phone. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I was about to ask you the same question,” Brian said.
“You want an honest answer or platitudes?” Sean asked.
“I think you’d better tell me straight,” Brian said.
“This place is bizarre,” Sean said. “I’m not so sure I want to stay. It might be a complete waste of time.” Sean glanced over at Janet, who rolled her eyes in exasperation.
“Something weird’s going on up here too,” Brian said. He told Sean about the two men who’d visited their mother, asking about Immunotherapy.
“Immunotherapy is history,” Sean said. “What did Mom say?”
“Not much,” Brian said. “At least according to her. But she got a bit flustered. All she said was that you and some friends started it.”
“She didn’t say we sold out?”
“Evidently not.”
“What about Oncogen?”
“She said she didn’t mention it because we’d told her not to discuss it with anyone.”
“Good for her,” Sean said.
“Why would these people be up here talking to Mom?” Brian asked. “The Rombauer guy told her he represented the Forbes Cancer Center. He said that they routinely look into their employees for security reasons. Have you done anything to suggest you’re a security risk?”
“Hell, I’ve only been here for a little over twenty-four hours,” Sean said.
“You and I know of your penchant to provoke discord. Your blarney would try the patience of Job.”
“My blarney is nothing compared to your blather, brother,” Sean teased. “Hell, you’ve made an institution of it by becoming a lawyer.”
“Since I’m in a good mood, I’ll let that slam slide,” Brian said. “But seriously, what do you think is going on?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea,” Sean said. “Maybe it’s like the man said: routine.”
“But neither guy seemed to know about the other,” Brian said. “That doesn’t sound routine to me. And the first man left his card. I have it right here. It says: Tanaka Yamaguchi, Industrial Consultant.”
“Industrial consultant could mean anything,” Sean said. “I wonder if his involvement is somehow related to the fact that a Japanese electronics giant called Sushita Industries has invested heavily in Forbes. They’re obviously looking for some lucrative patents.”
“Why can’t they stick to cameras, electronics, and cars?” Brian said. “They’re already screwing up the world’s economy.”
“They’re too smart for that,” Sean said. “They are looking toward the long term. But why they would be interested in my association with piss-ant Immunotherapy, I haven’t the foggiest.”
“Well, I thought you should know,” Brian said. “It’s still a little hard for me to believe you’re not stirring things up down there, knowing you.”
“You’ll hurt my feelings talking like that,” Sean said.
“I’ll be in touch as soon as the Franklin Bank comes through for Oncogen,” Brian said. “Try to stay out of trouble.”
“Who, me?” Sean asked innocently.
Sean dropped the receiver into the cradle as soon as Brian said goodbye.
“Have you changed your mind again?” Janet asked with obvious frustration.
“What are you talking about?” Sean questioned.
“You told your brother that you weren’t sure you wanted to stay,” Janet said. “I thought we’d decided to go for it.”
“We had,” Sean said. “But I didn’t want to tell Brian about the plan. He’d worry himself sick. Besides, he’d probably tell my mother and who knows what would happen then.”
“That was very nice indeed,” Sterling told the masseuse. She was a handsome, healthy Scandinavian from Finland, dressed in what could have passed for a tennis outfit. He gave her an extra five-dollar tip; when he’d made the arrangements for the massage through the Ritz’s concierge, he’d already included an adequate tip in the charge added to his account, but he’d noticed she’d gone over the allotted time.
While the masseuse folded her table and gathered her oils, Sterling pulled on a thick white terrycloth robe and slipped off the towel cinched around his waist. Dropping into the club chair near the window he lifted his feet onto the ottoman and poured a glass of the complimentary champagne. Sterling was a regular visitor at Boston’s Ritz Carlton.
The masseuse called a goodbye from the door, and Sterling thanked her again. He decided he’d ask for her by name the next time. A regular massage was one of the expenses Sterling’s clients had learned to expect. They’d complain on occasion, but Sterling would merely say that they could accept his terms or hire someone else. Invariably they’d agree because Sterling was extremely effectively at the service he performed: industrial espionage.
There were other, more sanitized, descriptions for Sterling’s work such as trade counsel or business consultant, but Sterling preferred the honesty of industrial espionage, although for propriety’s sake, he left it off his business card. His card merely read: consultant. It didn’t read “industrial consultant” as did the card he’d seen earlier that day. He felt the word “industrial” suggested a limitation to manufacturing. Sterling was interested in all business.