'If he hasn't dyed his hair.'
'But I saved the best until last.'
'Okay. Shoot.'
'Grogg's got to tell you this one himself. It was a master piece. Here.' Jill signed off.
'Hey, Grogg, you're the man of the hour. What do you have now? Jill says it's hot,' Sam teased.
'Remember 'popsicle boy'? Well, we got into his computer and found an IP that matched the old Grace Technologies mainframe. Then we used our favorite former disgruntled employee of Grace.'
'Jason Wade?' Sam suggested.
'None other. And he knows that mainframe intimately. It disappeared when Gaudet gutted Grace. Now it's on a satellite link in some computer room somewhere on the planet. We can't figure out where, but with Jason's help we actually broke in and found an interesting file. It's called Cordyceps. Actually, two files. One just Cordyceps and one Cordyceps/ Windows SMB/CIFS. Without Jason's old password we could never have gotten in because it shuts you out if you make a handful of unsuccessful attempts. Somebody just forgot to delete that particular password. We tried to open them both and they both self-destructed. I think the SMB file is related to a computer worm. I'm betting someone's building a computer virus. SMB files have had weaknesses that have been exploited in the past by virus builders.'
'But now it's gone?' Sam questioned.
'Actually, no. Just for the hell of it we went back there again and there was the file-restored. So it actually disappears for a time, probably into some disk memory, and then it is visible again. So we get another shot and we have an idea about how to get around the password from something that Jason Wade dis covered a long time ago about how this security works. With a general password we can make the document stop disappearing into memory and maybe we can download it, even if we can't yet open it. We're working on that. Jason thinks that when we open it, we'll know a whole lot more. So we'll see. The files had a silent alarm, but we were able to neutralize it. Hopefully, they won't detect that we invaded,' Grogg summarized.
'Cordyceps. Hmm.'
'We looked it up in the encyclopedia. It's the name of a fungus,' Grogg elaborated.
'Let me ask Bowden about it. He does fungus.'
In a couple of minutes Sam was back in Michael's room.
'Do you know anything about Cordyceps-other than it's a fungus, according to the encyclopedia?'
'Actually, I do.' Michael looked from Sam to Grady. 'Why?'
'It may somehow relate to what Gaudet wants from you. We think that they have a plan called Cordyceps.'
'Ah. Well, it's not just any fungus, cordyceps. It has a fas cinating life cycle.' Michael explained the gruesome manner in which the fungus killed bugs and propagated itself.
Sam marveled at the black metaphor. 'No way.'
'Afraid so. Cordyceps was also the origin of cyclosporine, a fairly effective first generation immunosuppressant. Interest ing that they appear to be in need of an immunosuppressant and they call their plan Cordyceps. Chinese Olympic runners attribute their success to a diet that includes cordyceps. Asians also used it to restore sex drive in elderly people, and recent clinical studies have backed that up. It's a fungus or a group of related fungi. Five of the top thirty drugs in use today came from fungi. So, yeah, cordyceps is impressive.'
'You say they make immunosuppressants from it.' Sam needed to hear more.
'Yes, but I have discovered several powerful immunosup pressant molecules. One I'm thinking of is from a rare fresh water sponge. There are very few freshwater sponges and this one is unique. But I know of nothing that would reprogram a human's immune system as you describe for Chaperone. I've never heard of anything that powerful.'
'Assuming the name Cordyceps is a metaphor, I wonder who the beetle is?' Sam mused.
'Now that I think about it, Northern Lights did take a lot of those freshwater sponges. And they wanted more.'
'Say nothing to anyone about that,' Sam cautioned.
'I couldn't give them any more, though. I'd already taken as much as I dared. For a while. We need to let it reproduce. I'd found it in only one site. As I'm sure you know, the Amazon is about the size of the continental United States. There's bound to be more of it, but who knows where? r emember too that this sponge grows underwater in a land full of rivers. It's blind luck to find it,' Michael reasoned.
Sam smiled. 'When it comes to security, I guess that's as good as it gets. But if I get your journals, do I get the GPS coordinates for everything you've found?'
'Yes, you do. But you would have to know which organic tissue contains the magic molecule or whatever you're look ing for.'
'Making you the key to his success again. Gaudet would do anything to boil the search down to one plant.'
'If it were the sponge, it's actually an animal. Sponges are one of the oldest living animals dating back to the pre-Cambrian period. A colleague has called them biological Titans. They, or the micro organisms that inhabit them, have provided us some of the most important drugs ever discovered-anticancer drugs, antiviral drugs for AIDS, Herpes, and Shingles, anti-inflammatory drugs, and immunosup pressants. But I still don't see a connection to cordyceps any more than one of the thousands of other tissue samples I have provided them.'
Sam saw that Grady actually had her hand on Michael's arm. Nice distraction from the pain of the wounds.
Leaving the two of them alone, Sam went back to the phones, deciding that he would update Jill before calling Figgy. He repeated the conversation about Cordyceps, sponges, and the rest; then he closed with the observation about the touchy-feely situation between Michael and Grady.
'This Cordyceps thing is spooky,' Jill said.
'Yeah, we all wanna know who the beetle is.'
After their normal perfunctory 'see you later,' Sam hung up. Next he made a quick call to Figgy.
'How are we doing on Moreau? I need to see her,' Sam reminded his contact.
'A lot of red tape. I'm working on it.'
'What's their problem?'
'I'll level with you. They're trying to talk with her and having their troubles. They don't want to be upstaged on one of their own kind by an American. But I'm working on it and you'll get there and I'll get you everything they get.'
'Find out what the French know about Georges Raval.'
'Will do,' Figgy answered.
'I want to see the French list of all the former Grace scientists and compare it to mine.'
'Maybe they'll want to look at yours and tell you if there is a difference.'
'I'm not gonna deal with games like that. I can always tell the CIA to stuff it and drop France from the group. Tell them that.'
'Come on, Sam. The French still have some clout with the CIA. You won't bluff them that easily.'
'Get me the damn list.'
Sam hung up, disgusted that he had to do this dance with the French. Only God knew what they were really up to.
Then he made arrangements to move Michael to a large hospital in Rio.
As he neared Michael's room, Sam couldn't help asking himself what it would be like if thousands of people sud denly acted like his neighbors, Matt and Frank. As he thought it, he answered it-and wondered just how much time he had.
Chapter 8
Men who piss into the wind wet their own feet.
