Nano

CHAPTER 4

The pleasant sense of calm that Zachary Berman had felt during the plane flight had dissipated completely. It wasn’t that there’d been any hitch in the arrival and delivery, and everything had run smoothly at the general aviation terminal at the airport. The dignitaries were driven in one of Nano’s Suburbans to company headquarters, where they would be set up in their accommodations. The involuntary guests were discreetly carted off the plane by means of a catering truck and were also at Nano, in less comfortable surroundings than their compatriots. Berman impatiently demanded that his driver get him to his office as soon as possible. Berman’s unofficial arrangement with the airport allowed him easy access to all areas, and his car was able to take him right off the tarmac and out onto the airport’s perimeter road.

With Whitney Jones trailing behind him in a separate limo, Berman entered the Nano facility through an unmarked private vehicular entrance. Once at the proper building, an inconspicuous outer door opened into a compact lobby, where two armed guards stood at an inner door, on either side of the iris scanner that everyone, Berman included, had to negotiate before gaining access to the core of the facility. Passing through the scanner and hustling along, Berman reached his office to find Mariel Spallek waiting for him.

“How was the flight?” asked Mariel.

“Who’s the guy with Pia?” Berman demanded, ignoring the question.

Mariel knew Zachary would latch on to that part of the email message she had sent as Berman drove in. He wouldn’t tell her about the status of the four new subjects; he would neglect to bring her up to date on the state of the financing negotiations; he wouldn’t ask her about progress in the multiple trials that were going on in the private and the public areas of the facility; he would want to know about Pia and the young man who had accompanied her here to Nano.

“His name is George Wilson and he’s a radiology resident at UCLA. He checked out.”

“What’s he doing here?” Mariel could tell that Zachary was trying to be calm, but he was failing miserably. He was like a lion in heat. He picked up memos and reports from his desk, feigning interest in them, but his eyes were elsewhere, darting across his desk and back. This piece of news about George Wilson was driving him crazy, and a part of Mariel relished his discomfort. She didn’t know the nature of Pia and George’s relationship, but she didn’t mention that. She was content to allow Zachary to think the worst.

“She said he was visiting for a few days. They were classmates at Columbia Medical School. The background check we ran on Pia before we hired her mentioned him; they had been friends for the duration of the four years. The exact nature of the friendship had not been mentioned. What had been mentioned was that he had been involved in that kidnapping business.”

“Right, I remember. He was the guy who was supposed to get shot.”

“That’s right,” said Mariel. “He certainly seems to be a lucky young man.”

Berman looked up and fixed Mariel with a stare. Was she messing with him? He knew that Mariel was fully aware of his unrequited interest in Pia, and he knew with ever greater certainty that his brief affair with Mariel had been a mistake, a big mistake. She had latched on to him like a limpet and had taken some shaking off, despite the chasm in status between the two of them at work. Mariel had been spurned, but he was certain she was hoping that passion would be rekindled, and if so, she would come back to him in a second.

Berman would have liked nothing more than to fire Mariel so he wouldn’t have to be continually reminded of his mistake, but no one knew more about Nano’s medical nanotechnology program than she did. The sum total of everything she knew about Berman and Nano could be dangerous to him, so he was constantly walking a tightrope with her. Perhaps one day he’d jump off, but not today. Berman wondered why Mariel couldn’t be as mature as Whitney Jones. Whitney knew the working relationship they had was too important to jeopardize over something as frivolous as a few rolls in the hay.

“Do you want to go and see her?” Mariel broke the uncomfortable silence. “When I left her, which wasn’t that long ago, she was in the lab with the young man checking on some of her experiments. Perhaps she is still there.”

“How are those experiments going?” Zach was well aware of what Pia was doing and was impressed, which only fanned his desire. She was erotically gorgeous and smart, both qualities Zach found irresistible, especially in the same person.

“Seems they’re going well. So far no suggestion of any immune response. But they are not over.”

“Right,” Zachary said. He got to his feet. “I need to talk to her about the flagellum issue. Now that she’s been making such progress on the biocompatibility problem, she needs to get cracking on what she was initially hired for.”

“Of course,” said Mariel, backing away to let the onrushing Berman past. She knew the real reason he wanted to get down to Pia’s lab, and she set off slowly behind her boss, letting him charge ahead. In his eagerness he was soon out of sight. “Men, they are so predictable,” she muttered disparagingly.

When she got back to the lab where Pia worked, she found Berman standing alone in the center of the room, holding a file.

“She left,” he said. “What does this mean?” Berman handed the file to Mariel. She was well aware of Pia’s ongoing experiments — she had helped to design the protocol herself for most of them.

“It is a summary to date of what is currently running. As you can see, everything is negative for any suggestion of an immune reaction, which is encouraging. The new microbivore design with the polyethylene glycol molecules incorporated into the outer shell apparently is a stroke of genius. Obviously, Pia was right, and I think we should use it you know where.”

Mariel might not have been the easiest person to get along with, but she was honest to a fault. She disliked Pia not only because of Pia’s signature aloofness but also because Berman was so obviously physically attracted to her and not to Mariel. She also knew that Berman’s ardor was fueled by Pia’s rejection of him, meaning he wanted what he couldn’t have. Although Pia was a reminder to Mariel that Zach had rejected her, she was able to give Pia credit for her intelligence.

“If these positive results continue,” Berman said, “I think we can start considering moving to mammals for safety studies.”

Mariel studied Berman’s face. It appeared as though he had forgotten momentarily about Pia. She recognized his expression — he had it every time they made a step toward the major breakthrough they sought. The look on Berman’s face suggested more to Mariel than just excited anticipation of a seriously profitable business accomplishment, it was almost yearning.