| General Fiction posted August 5, 2025 | Chapters: |
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Prologue and Chapter 1
A chapter in the book Beating the Devil
Beating the Devil
by Jim Wile
| Background A cancer researcher invents an early cancer detection system. |
Prologue
Cherryville, North Carolina
June 2031
June 2031
He had received his instructions from headquarters that morning, and now it was time to initiate the plan.
He slit the seal on the first of the 10 boxes of filters he’d pulled from the storeroom shelf. He dumped out all 20 of the filters inside their sealed plastic wrappers onto the staging table and selected a random three. He filled his syringe with acetone then picked up the first of the three filters. Poking the syringe needle through the top of the wrapper between the two parts that pull apart, he injected a few drops onto the filter inside before pressing the two halves of the wrapper together again.
He did the same to the other two filters, mixed the three of them in with the 17 untouched ones, then packed them all back into the box. He resealed the box, placed it back on the storeroom shelf, and repeated the process on the other nine boxes he’d pulled.
He smiled at his handiwork. Now it would simply be a waiting game until the next test.
Chapter 1
One week later
Brian Kendrick clicked his pen continuously as he stared at the numbers on his computer screen. “Ughhhh!” he uttered in disgust. He was completely baffled by what he was seeing. It was 11:00 PM, and he’d been studying the data for hours.
He had only applied Aflatoxin B1 to the drinking water of 25 of the 100 lab rats to induce liver cancer, but 35 of them were showing cancer markers in the breath analyzer results.
He threw the pen to the floor, pushed his chair back, bent over, and put his head in his hands—his favorite thinking position—when Julia came down the stairs, walked up to him, and began massaging his neck and shoulders.
“Still coming up with too many?” she asked.
“Yeah. Doesn’t make any sense. Ooo, that feels good,” he said as her fingers plied the tense muscles.
“The normal cancer rate shouldn’t exceed more than one in a hundred, but these results are showing way more than that amount. It’s got to be false positives, but damned if I know why there are so many. Abby is too good of a mathematician to have screwed up the math that badly.”
Julia stopped massaging his shoulders and said, “You know, Babe, maybe you need an independent test. I read an article recently in—”
“Do you think you could keep rubbing while you tell me?”
She laughed and began massaging him again. “So, I just read an article in North Carolina Today about a therapy dog who can sniff out cancer in the patients he visits at the hospital. Maybe you could borrow him from the woman who owns him to sniff your rats and see if he confirms the results your data show?”
Brian stood then and folded her into his arms. He was a handsome man, clean-shaven with brown hair. At 6 feet 2 inches tall, he towered over his diminutive and lovely wife who was a foot shorter. They were both 41 years old.
“Jules, that’s why I married you. You are so damn clever.”
“What, it wasn’t my dynamite looks and talent in bed?”
“Well, that too. You’re the whole package.” He put his hands on her bottom and started squeezing as he continued to press against her.
“Speaking of packages, yours seems to be expanding. Why don’t you call it a night and come upstairs with me?”
“If you insist.”
The next morning, Brian awoke to find that his 6-year-old son, Johnny, had crawled into bed between them. He was sitting up, leaning against the headboard, and reading a book.
“Hey, kiddo, what are you reading?”
“Henry and Mudge.” Dad, could we get a dog?”
Julia stirred then. “Hi, Sweetie. What time is it?”
“Hi, Momma. It’s 7:16,” he said, after looking at the digital alarm clock on Brian’s nightstand. “Could we get a dog?”
Julia yawned and stretched and sat up in bed while Brian closed his eyes again, turned over, and decided to let Julia answer that question.
“I don’t know. We already have a cat,” she said, glancing at Nadia who repositioned herself against Brian’s legs when he turned over.”
“Yeah, but dogs are more fun than cats.”
“How do you know that if you’ve never had one?”
“I just think they are. Nadia only plays for a few minutes and then she leaves.”
Right then they heard their daughter, Lindsay, who had just turned four, cry out from her room down the hall, “Momma, I need you.”
Julia said, “Daddy and I were just talking about maybe visiting a dog soon. We’ll think about it.”
“Can I come too?”
“Hold that thought while I go see what your sister wants.”
“Can I come too, Dad?”
Brian sat up then, stretched, and tousled his son’s hair. This stirred Nadia who jumped down from the bed and began meowing loudly to be fed.
“I’ll be right back after I feed the cat.”
As Brian left the room with Nadia leading the way, he heard Johnny moan, “How come nobody will answer my question?”
In a few minutes, Brian returned, and so did Julia with Lindsay. “A minor wardrobe malfunction,” explained Julia as she got back into bed with Brian and Johnny. Lindsay joined them there.
Johnny, who had resumed reading when his parents left, put his book down and said, “Guys, focus. Can I come to see the dog too when you go?”
Brian answered, “Well, Momma and I were just thinking about visiting the dog. I haven’t even talked to the owner yet to see if she’d let us come see him. We’d need her permission first.”
“Well, if she says it’s okay, can I come?”
“If she says yes, then you can come.”
“And if we like him, can we bring him home and keep him?”
“No, not this dog,” said Julia. “This is a special dog with a really good nose who can smell things that people can’t. The owner wants to keep him.”
“But could we get a different dog then?”
“We’ll see,” said Julia.
“Oh, boy. ‘We’ll see’ means yes!”
“No it doesn’t,” said Brian. “We’ll see means maybe.”
“Nah, it always means yes.”
Brian glanced at Julia, and they shared a smile. His son was pretty much right about that.
Johnny went back to his book while Brian lay back down and tried to catch a few more winks.
“Momma, I’m hungry,” said Lindsay.
“I guess it’s time for all of us to get up now. That means you too, Daddy,” said Julia, giving him a poke in the side.
It made him jump. He made a face at her, then he stretched and let out a loud yawn.
“Ooo, Dad, your breath!” said Johnny.
With breakfast over and kids dressed and ready to face the day, Brian sat down to read the article about therapy dogs Julia showed him in North Carolina Today. The name of an organization called Pet Partners was mentioned in the article and, with a little internet research, Brian found a phone number to call. He left his number with the woman he reached and a brief explanation of what he wanted.
Later that day, he received the call he was expecting.
“Mr. Kendrick, this is Madison McPhail. I understand you called Pet Partners this morning?”
“Yes, Miz McPhail, thanks for returning my call so promptly. I’m a cancer researcher who lives in Cherryville. I just read the article about you and your dog Bo in North Carolina Today and I was very intrigued about Bo’s ability to detect cancer in people.”
“Why yes. It’s quite extraordinary the way he’s able to do that.”
“Let me tell you why I wanted to contact you, Miz McPhail. I’ve been developing an early cancer detection system that can diagnose cancer in its earliest stages—that’s once the cancerous cells have begun the dysplasia or abnormal growth stage and begun to cluster. At that point, they begin to give off volatile organic compounds or VOCs that are detectable. From the article, apparently Bo is also able to detect these VOCs with his nose and can tell which ones are produced by certain cancers.”
“Yes, that’s correct. I’ve spoken with an oncologist at the hospital we visit about this, and he explained it the same way you just did.”
“Did you train Bo to do this?”
“Not at first, no. He just seemed to be able to recognize the cancer patients.”
“What would he do?”
“Well, he would sniff the person a lot more, especially where the cancer might be located. He would sometimes whine a little, and he would want to spend more time with these patients and lie by them in their bed, up against them. It’s like he could tell they had something more serious going on than most of the others he would visit, and they needed him more.”
“That’s amazing. Now, you said, ‘not at first.’ Does that mean you’ve since trained him to smell cancer?”
“Yes, we’re working on it. He’s doing quite well.”
“Look, the reason why I called is that I’ve had some inexplicable results in my test subjects, which are rats, and my instruments are showing what I feel to be many false positives. I was wondering if Bo could help me verify or disprove the results that I’m seeing by sniffing the rats’ breath in order to detect which ones are truly cancerous? I’d be very happy to pay you for your time.”
“Well, that sounds like a very interesting project to be a part of, Mr. Kendrick. I’m sure Bo would be happy to lend a hand, or I should say a nose. We live in Forest City, so we’re practically neighbors of yours. When would you like to come and meet Bo?”
“As soon as possible at your convenience, Miz McPhail.”
“How about tomorrow afternoon?”
Book of the Month contest entry
 Recognized |
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This book is the third in a series which began with Duel with the Devil and continued with The Devil Fights Back. It will feature many of the same characters.
You won't have to have read the previous novels to be able to jump right into this one. Pertinent backstory will be provided as necessary.
CHARACTERS
Brian Kendrick: A 41-year-old neuroscientist and cancer researcher
Julia Kendrick: Brian's 41-year-old wife. She is also a world-class violinist.
Johnny Kendrick: Their 6-year-old son
Lindsay Kendrick: Their 3-year-old daughter
Dr. Marie Schmidt: Julia's mother
Madison (Maddy) McPhail: Owner of Bo
Bo: Maddy McPhail's cancer-sniffing therapy dog
Picture courtesy of Poe Assistant
Pays
one point
and 2 member cents. You won't have to have read the previous novels to be able to jump right into this one. Pertinent backstory will be provided as necessary.
Brian Kendrick: A 41-year-old neuroscientist and cancer researcher
Julia Kendrick: Brian's 41-year-old wife. She is also a world-class violinist.
Johnny Kendrick: Their 6-year-old son
Lindsay Kendrick: Their 3-year-old daughter
Dr. Marie Schmidt: Julia's mother
Madison (Maddy) McPhail: Owner of Bo
Bo: Maddy McPhail's cancer-sniffing therapy dog
Picture courtesy of Poe Assistant
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© Copyright 2025. Jim Wile All rights reserved.
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