CHAPTER 24
Washington D.C.
JIANJUN SAT IN STARBUCKS, a grande mocha latte and cranberry-orange scone in front of him as he tried once more to reach Michael by phone and text. He kept getting “out of range” messages. That was the first time it had happened with a satellite phone, but he knew it was theoretically possible. He tried not to worry, telling himself that Michael was simply in a canyon where the satellite waves couldn’t reach.
Jianjun would try again soon, but in the meantime he did further investigation of Phaylor Laine Pharmaceuticals, Jennifer Vandenburg, and Calvin Phaylor.
He learned that Vandenburg’s only child had progeria syndrome, a rare and fatal disease. In the archives of the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Forbes and Bloomberg, he read about Calvin Phaylor’s sudden fall from glory. Those reports led him to the archives of the New York Times, and a fifteen-year old article entitled “Death Stalks Group Seeking Answers to Life.”
He read that Phaylor and PLP had sponsored an International Symposium on Genetics in Medicine to bring in top scientists from around the world. Two of them, Dr. Chou An-ming and Dr. Niels Jorgansen, died tragically the day before attending.
Jianjun nearly jumped out of his chair. Finally, a connection! He got himself a frappuccino with whipped cream to celebrate and continued reading.
To calm the People’s Republic of China’s suspicions about Dr. Chou’s deadly accident, the FBI investigated. Jianjun suspected Interpol and the CIA were also involved. Nothing was found according to news reports, but it was the beginning of the end for Phaylor. A year later, he was put on administrative leave for fiscal irresponsibility, and a year after that, he was dismissed. A search for a new CEO began. Milton Zonovich acted in the position, but eventually the board selected Jennifer Vandenburg.
From what Jianjun had read about progeria, Vandenburg would have known there was a problem with her daughter by the time she became CEO of the world’s largest pharmaceutical company. Under her leadership, PLP launched some initiatives that had to do with genetics and stem cell research. Nothing helped Vandenburg’s daughter, however.
Jianjun hacked into PLP’s administrative and email records, but could find no inside information.
Both Jennifer Vandenburg and Calvin Phaylor lived in New York City. Time to schedule another trip.
Ancient Echoes
Joanne Pence's books
- A Brand New Ending
- A Cast of Killers
- A Change of Heart
- A Christmas Bride
- A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
- A Cruel Bird Came to the Nest and Looked
- A Delicate Truth A Novel
- A Different Blue
- A Firing Offense
- A Killing in China Basin
- A Killing in the Hills
- A Matter of Trust
- A Murder at Rosamund's Gate
- A Nearly Perfect Copy
- A Novel Way to Die
- A Perfect Christmas
- A Perfect Square
- A Pound of Flesh
- A Red Sun Also Rises
- A Rural Affair
- A Spear of Summer Grass
- A Story of God and All of Us
- A Summer to Remember
- A Thousand Pardons
- A Time to Heal
- A Toast to the Good Times
- A Touch Mortal
- A Trick I Learned from Dead Men
- A Vision of Loveliness
- A Whisper of Peace
- A Winter Dream
- Abdication A Novel
- Abigail's New Hope
- Above World
- Accidents Happen A Novel
- Ad Nauseam
- Adrenaline
- Aerogrammes and Other Stories
- Aftershock
- Against the Edge (The Raines of Wind Can)
- All in Good Time (The Gilded Legacy)
- All the Things You Never Knew
- All You Could Ask For A Novel
- Almost Never A Novel
- Already Gone
- American Elsewhere
- American Tropic
- An Order of Coffee and Tears
- Angels at the Table_ A Shirley, Goodness
- Alien Cradle
- All That Is
- Angora Alibi A Seaside Knitters Mystery
- Arcadia's Gift
- Are You Mine
- Armageddon
- As Sweet as Honey
- As the Pig Turns
- Ascendants of Ancients Sovereign
- Ash Return of the Beast
- Away
- $200 and a Cadillac
- Back to Blood
- Back To U
- Bad Games
- Balancing Act
- Bare It All
- Beach Lane
- Because of You
- Before I Met You
- Before the Scarlet Dawn
- Before You Go
- Being Henry David
- Bella Summer Takes a Chance
- Beneath a Midnight Moon
- Beside Two Rivers
- Best Kept Secret
- Betrayal of the Dove
- Betrayed
- Between Friends
- Between the Land and the Sea
- Binding Agreement
- Bite Me, Your Grace
- Black Flagged Apex
- Black Flagged Redux
- Black Oil, Red Blood
- Blackberry Winter
- Blackjack
- Blackmail Earth
- Blackmailed by the Italian Billionaire
- Blackout
- Blind Man's Bluff
- Blindside
- Blood & Beauty The Borgias
- Blood Gorgons
- Blood of the Assassin
- Blood Prophecy
- Blood Twist (The Erris Coven Series)
- Blood, Ash, and Bone
- Bolted (Promise Harbor Wedding)
- Bonnie of Evidence