“Oh, no!” cried Marissa.
“Officially she broke her neck hitting the pavement,” Tristan said.
“But I thought the fracture resulted from a kung fu kick although I couldn’t prove it. But it made me terrified for my son’s safety. Since I had a trial to face, I stayed, but I sent Chauncey to live with my in-laws in California. I knew I couldn’t protect him.”
“Your wife was American?” Marissa asked.
Tristan nodded.
“We met when I was doing a fellowship in San Francisco.”
What happened at the trial?” Marissa asked. was acquitted of most of the criminal charges,” Tristan said.
But not all. I served a short time in jail and had to do some community service. I got fired from FCA, obviously. I lost my specialty certification but managed to hold on to my medical license. And I fled out here to the outback.”
“Your son is still in the States?” Marissa asked.
Tristan nodded.
“I wasn’t about to bring him here until I was certain it was over.”
“What an ordeal.”
“I hope you will take it to heart,” Tristan said.
“You are probably right about your friend’s death not being accidental.
You’re probably also right about your own life being in danger.
I think you’d better leave Australia.”
“I don’t know if I can at this point,” Marissa said.
“Please don’t be as foolish as I was,” Tristan said.
“You’ve already lost a friend. Don’t persist. Forget your idealism. All this represents something very big and very sinister. It probably involves organized Chinese crime and heroin, a deadly combination.
People always think of the Mafia when they think of organized crime, but the Mafia is a Girl-Scout operation compared to the Chinese syndicate. Whatever is at the bottom of it all, I realized I couldn’t investigate it on my own. Nor should
YOU.”
“How could organized Chinese crime be associated with TB salpingitis?” Marissa asked.
“I haven’t the slightest idea,” Tristan said.
“I doubt there is a direct causal link. It has to be some unexpected side effect.”
“Did you know that FCA is controlled by a holding company that also controls all the Women’s Clinics in the States?”
“I do,” Tristan said.
“That was part of the reason I went to work for FCA. I knew that they were planning to expand around the globe primarily because of their in-vitro fertilization technology.
Marissa touched Tristan’s arm. Even though her loss was different, she felt the kinship of shared tragedy.
“Thank you for talking with me,” she said softly.
“Thank you for being so open and trusting.”
“I hope it has the desired effect of sending you home at once,” Tristan said.
“You must give up this crusade you are on.”
“I don’t think I can,” Marissa said.
“Not after Wendy’s death, and not after all the suffering that the TB salpingitis has caused me and so many others. I’ve come this far and risked this much.
I have to find out what’s going on.”
“All I can tell you is that a similar compulsion ruined my life and killed my wife,” Tristan said. He sounded almost angry. He wanted to talk her out of her foolishness, but seeing the glint of determination in her eyes, he knew it would be in vain. He sighed.
“I’m getting the idea that you are a hopeless cause.
“If you have to proceed, then I suggest that you contact the Wing Sin Triad in Hong Kong. Maybe they will be willing to help–for a price. That was what I was planning to do. But I have to warn you that it will be dangerous since the Hong Kong triads are notorious for violence, especially when heroin is involved; the amounts of money are astronomical. The heroin alone coming from the Golden Triangle is worth over a hundred billion dollars a year.”
“Why don’t you come with me?” Marissa said.
“Your son is safe in America. Why not follow up on what you had planned to do years ago? We can do it together.”
Tristan laughed aloud.
“Absolutely not,” he said.
“Don’t even try to tempt me. I ran out of idealism two years ago.”
“Why would FCA and the Women’s Clinic be involved with drugs?” she asked.