“We have to help him.” An idea began to take root. “What does this Berzerk do?”

“Not sure, but from what I’ve seen, it makes you act crazy violent.”

“Really. Why on earth would someone want to take something like that?”

“A logical question. But logic doesn’t enter much into the druggie world. If it feels good, do it—and screw the side effects.”

“Can you get me some?”

Jack’s eyes narrowed. “Why? You want to try it?”

“Not a chance. But I have a machine at work that can analyze anything. If I can identify this Berzerk, I can run a match for it in the company’s database and see if there’s any record of it.”

“And if there is?”

She sighed. “Then we’ll have one piece of the puzzle.”

Jack pushed himself up. “I’ll get on it. Call you when I find some.”

A black mood settled over Nadia as she watched Jack go. Despite the warmth of her office she felt cold; she thrust her hands under her arms to warm them. Jack was supposed to help Dr. Monnet, yet he seemed to be gathering evidence against him. She had a bad feeling that this was not leading to a good place.

4

Doug couldn’t help but laugh as he poured himself another shot of Old Pulteney fifteen year old. As a rule, eight o’clock in the morning was a tad early for scotch, but what did “early” mean if you’d been up all night?

He’d done it. It had taken him until dawn, but finally he’d tracked the GEM Basic R and D money to its final resting place.

“Ho-ho-ho!” he said, toasting himself. “You are a clever one!”

But what good is a triumph if you can’t share it?

He called Nadj at the clinic. First thing every morning, rain or shine, weekday or weekend, that was where she could be found. But the nurse told him she’d already left. He tried her home but her mother said she was at the lab and expected to be there all day.

At the lab? On a Saturday? And then he remembered the million-dollar bonus offer. Yeah, he’d be working Saturdays and Sundays for something like that.

He called her extension at GEM but she didn’t pick up, so he left her an enigmatic voice mail.

“Hi, honey, it’s me. I did it. I found the answer to the question. I’ll tell you the whole story at lunch. Meet me twelve-thirty at the Gramercy Tavern and we’ll celebrate. Until then, think about hocking everything you own, begging, borrowing, and stealing every dime you can lay your hands on, and putting it all into GEM stock. Love ya. Bye.”

He grinned as he hung up. That ought to pique her interest.

He yawned. Now for some shut-eye. God, he needed sleep.

Doug finished his scotch, turned off the computer, turned off his cell phone, disabled the ringer on the house phone, and headed for the bed.

No interruptions, just sleep, sleep, sleep.