It was such a versatile and dangerous bacteria.

The longer he sat at his desk, the more convinced Jerry became that only one course of action was open to him. He was initially horrified by the thought, but it looked like there were no other options, and he hated to be backed into a corner. Whenever he got squeamish, Jerry pondered the prospect of being broke and disgraced. If it all came crashing down, he’d be a laughingstock. Some ambitious hack would write a book about him, and he’d come across like a buffoon, an idiot. He would avoid that fate at any cost.

Once Jerry had the idea percolating in his mind, really all he needed was the resolve and the money. Spending hours researching certain specialized activities on the Internet had convinced him of something else: Money really could buy you anything. He had the money. He just had to convince himself he could follow it through.

Now, toward midday, the throwaway cell phone rang again. Trotter was hoping for Hooper, but he got Brubaker.

“What do you have?” Trotter said.

“Confirmation that those two guys are definitely the leaders in this organ-making field. Way out in front. Independently confirmed beyond that source I mentioned. And no one can be precise on the timeline because it depends on the results of tests that no one can predict. They might do a test and it doesn’t work, which sets them back a week, a month. Or it does work and it’s on to the next one.”

“But eventually it’s going to work?”

“That’s what I’m hearing.”

“Too much to hope that it blows up in their face.”

“If you’re looking for them to fail, doesn’t look like it’s gonna happen. From every source, they’re very confident.”

“How do you know?”

“So I’m told. Plus they’ve formed a private company to control the patents that have been applied for. And it’s not one patent. It is a whole series of patents to be sure they’ll control the whole field.”

“Thanks, I figured. That means they’re close.”

“Not necessarily—just means they’re confident they’re going to get there.”

“How’d you find out about the company?”

“You really wanna know?”

“Indulge me.”

“Okay, boss. I have a friend in the New York State Division of Corporations. Can find out when people register corporations or LLCs. Comes in handy when guys set up limited liability companies to hide money from their wives.”

“I’ll bear that in mind.”

“Rothman Medical they call it. So it wasn’t hard to find. Registered two weeks ago. They probably registered it overseas too, in better tax locations. As I said, they’re being thorough.”

“And who are the partners?”

“The members of the company? Just the same two guys.”