The Memory Painter

Bryan stared at the canvas and whispered, “What happened to us?”

He was afraid to find out, but he had to. He put down the brush and abandoned the portrait. His computer was already on, and he knew the Internet was waiting with answers. He typed in the name Michael Backer and stared at the links as they started to pop up. He clicked on one: “First grant given by the National Institute of Aging for a study on memory enhancement.” An article appeared, along with a photo of Diana, Michael, Conrad, and Finn, looking fresh out of med school and ready to take on the world.

Bryan skimmed the article and clicked on another. His heart stopped when he read the headline. “NIA Neuroscientists Perish in Lab Explosion.”

He forced himself to read it. Michael and Diana had died in the lab. Bryan sat back, stunned. That was impossible. He continued reading. “Finn Rigby, the one survivor, was pulled from the flames by firefighters.”

The article was dated March 10, 1982. Bryan reread it again and again. Michael and Diana had died, and Finn survived. But where was Conrad in all of this?

He typed Conrad’s name and National Institute of Aging into the search engine and came up with twenty times more hits. He clicked on a link, scrolled down, and saw Conrad’s picture with the caption: “Conrad Jacobs leaves NIA to form Medicor Industries.”

Bryan clicked on the corporate Web site. It appeared to be a global company with operations around the world. Conrad had come a long way in thirty years. Bryan studied Medicor’s corporate logo for a moment. It was the symbol of a pyramid, with a DNA strand running up through its center and a phoenix resting on top.

He would need to track down Conrad and Finn at some point, but he couldn’t just show up at their doors—at least not until he had more answers. Right now, he needed to figure out how he was going to talk to his father about any of this.



TWELVE

Off the 128 Beltway, within a cluster of skyscrapers, one building stood apart from the rest like a towering pinnacle: Medicor Industries, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies.