has any file, it would be there.’
‘You’re probably right,’ Laurie admitted. She sat down at Lou’s desk and
called Chicago information.
While Laurie was on the phone, Jack quizzed Lou in detail about how he
was able to find out what he had. He was particularly interested and
impressed with the way Lou had come up with Equatorial Guinea. Together,
they looked more closely at the map, noticing the country’s proximity to
the equator. They even noticed that its major city, presumably its
capital, wasn’t on the mainland but rather on an island called Bioko.
‘I just can’t imagine what it’s like in a place like that,’ Lou said.
‘I can,’ Jack said. ‘It’s hot, buggy, rainy, and wet.’
‘Sounds delightful,’ Lou quipped.
‘Not the place someone would choose to vacation,’ Jack said. ‘On the
other hand, it’s off the beaten track.’
Laurie hung up the phone and twisted around in Lou’s desk chair to face
the others. ‘Jean was as organized as I expected,’ she said. ‘She was
able to put her finger on her GenSys material in a flash. Of course, she
had to ask me how much of the stock I’d bought and was crushed when I
admitted I hadn’t bought any. Apparently, the stock tripled and then
split.’
‘Is that good?’ Lou asked facetiously.
‘So good I might have missed my opportunity to retire,’ Laurie said.
‘She said this is the second successful biotech company started by its
CEO, Taylor Cabot.’
‘Did she have anything to say about Equatorial Guinea?’ Jack asked.
‘For sure,’ Laurie said. ‘She said that one of the main reasons the
company has been doing so well is that it established a huge primate
farm. Initially, the farm was to do in-house research for GenSys. Then
someone hit on the idea of creating an opportunity for other biotech
companies and pharmaceutical firms to out-source their primate research
to GenSys. Apparently, the demand for this service has trampled even the
most optimistic forecasts.’
‘And this primate farm is in Equatorial Guinea?’ Jack asked.
‘That’s right,’ Laurie said.
‘Did she suggest any reason why?’ Jack asked.
‘A memorandum she had from an analyst said that GenSys chose Equatorial
Guinea because of the favorable reception they received from the
government, which even passed laws to aid their operation. Apparently,
GenSys has become the government’s major source of much-needed foreign
currency.’
‘Can you imagine the amount of graft that must be involved in that kind
of scenario?’ Jack asked Lou.
Lou merely whistled.
‘The memorandum also pointed out that most of the primates they use are
indigenous to Equatorial Guinea,’ Laurie added. ‘It allows them to
circumvent all the international restrictions in exportation and
importation of endangered species like chimpanzees.’
‘A primate farm,’ Jack repeated while shaking his head. ‘This is raising
even more bizarre possibilities. Could we be dealing with a xenograft?’
‘Don’t start that doctor jargon on me,’ Lou complained. ‘What in God’s
name is a xenograft?’
‘Impossible,’ Laurie said. ‘Xenografts cause hyper-acute rejections.
There was no evidence of inflammation in the liver section you showed
me, neither humoral nor cell-mediated.’
‘True,’ Jack said. ‘And he wasn’t even on any immunosuppressant drugs.’
‘Come on, you guys,’ Lou pleaded. ‘Don’t make me beg. What the hell is a
xenograft?’
‘It’s when a transplant organ is taken from an animal of a different
species,’ Laurie said.
‘You mean like that Baby Fae baboon heart fiasco ten or twelve years
ago?’ Lou asked.
‘Exactly,’ Laurie said.
‘The new immunosuppressant drugs have brought xenografts back into the
picture,’ Jack explained. ‘And with considerable more success than with
Baby Fae.’
‘Especially with pig heart valves,’ Laurie said.
‘Of course, it poses a lot of ethical questions,’ Jack said. ‘And it
drives animal-rights people berserk.’
‘Especially now that they are experimenting with inserting human genes
into the pigs to ameliorate some of the rejection reaction,’ Laurie
added.
‘Could Franconi have gotten a primate liver while he was in Africa?’ Lou
asked.
‘I can’t imagine,’ Jack said. ‘Laurie’s point is well taken. There was
no evidence of any rejection. That’s unheard of even with a good human
match short of identical twins.’
‘But Franconi was apparently in Africa,’ Lou said.
‘True, and his mother said he came home a new man,’ Jack said. He threw