| General Fiction posted August 21, 2025 | Chapters: |
...4 5 -6- 7... 
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The high road
A chapter in the book Beating the Devil
Beating the Devil - Chapter 6
by Jim Wile
| Background A cancer researcher invents an early cancer detection system. |
Recap of Chapter 5: Brian and Julia fear they are in for more intimidation like they had experienced during the development of Glyptophan. Brian reasons the best way to catch the culprit is to get him to do it again.
He has Mal order additional filters and makes sure Larry hears his instructions as well. They will be overnighted and arrive tomorrow. That night, Brian hires his security company to install miniature hidden cameras in his storeroom.
At 2:00 AM, the saboteur shows up and lets himself in with his key. He had previously disabled the Kendricks’s security system, but Brian was also alerted when the hidden cameras were triggered to start filming. Right when the saboteur begins working on the filters, Brian opens the door to the storeroom.
Chapter 6
Startled, Mal looked over and locked eyes with Brian. In front of him, on the table, were the ten boxes of filters that had arrived that afternoon. He stopped what he was doing, closed his eyes, and shook his head slightly.
Brian stood in the doorway taking in the scene, his pistol at the ready. He had mentally prepared himself for the sight of Larry, but Mal? He was frankly shocked while he waited for him to speak.
Long seconds passed before Mal finally said, “How did you figure it out so fast?”
“You and whoever hired you were not nearly clever enough in disguising your activities. You shouldn’t have randomized the filters so much. It would have looked like a manufacturer’s defect had you sabotaged a bunch of consecutive ones. I figured it was either you or Larry—my bet was on Larry—who was doing it. Acetone, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Why, Mal?” asked Brian with frustration and disappointment evident in his voice. He had had high hopes for Mal, who, up to this point, was an excellent lab technician—thorough, conscientious, and seemingly invested in the project. Brian had put great effort into his training and was as much a mentor as a boss.
“The usual reason. Money.”
“Whose money?”
Mal gave a long sigh. “You know I can’t tell you that.”
“We’ll see about that.”
The men stood simply looking at each other until Mal broke the silence again and said, “What are you going to do now?”
Brian tucked the pistol into his waistband. “Well, you’re fired, of course. Beyond that, I don’t know yet. I’ll tell you one thing, though; if you don’t tell me who’s paying you, it will go much worse for you.”
“Much worse than being severely maimed or killed if she finds out?”
“She?”
Mal said no more.
With this clue that he had likely dropped on purpose, Brian was fairly certain he knew who Mal’s backer was.
“If you needed money, Mal, why didn’t you come to me for it?”
“I couldn’t do that, Brian. You’ve already done so much for me.”
“So, you’d stab me in the back instead because you’re too proud to ask for help?”
“It was a lot of money. My baby girl needs a new heart, and the amount you pay me puts me over the Medicaid limit. The medical insurance I have would still leave me $50,000 short. We’re running out of time, and I needed it right away. Besides, I knew what I’ve been doing wouldn’t slow you down much. You were bound to figure it out soon. I thought I still had some time before I planned to resign in a few days and move to Cleveland, though. That’s where the surgery is scheduled. You figured it out much quicker than I predicted.”
“Mal, it was Vivian Delacroix who put you up to this, wasn’t it?”
He looked at Brian and after a few moments, gave a slight nod.
“Alright, I need to think about what I’m going to do now. I’m going to call you tomorrow, and you’d better answer. I’ve recorded what took place here tonight, so I’ve got you dead to rights. Don’t make this any worse than it already is.”
“I won’t. FYI, the only boxes that’ve been tampered with are those five on the shelf from the old batch. I didn’t get started on these new ones yet. Your recording will show that.”
Mal’s shoulders were slumped, and he had trouble looking Brian in the eye, but he managed to add, “For what it’s worth, Brian, I’m sorry.”
“Pack up your personal items, give me your key, and leave. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
Julia was awake when Brian came to bed. “I couldn’t sleep for the waiting. Who was it?”
“It was Mal, believe it or not. Shocked the hell out of me.”
“I can’t believe it. After all you did for him too. How could he do that to you?”
Not only had Brian cured Mal of his pain, but he had also loaned him money for college and given him a job upon graduation.
“He said he needed $50,000 for a heart transplant for Samantha but was too proud to ask me for it. He said he knew it wouldn’t hold me up much and that I’d figure it out. He ends up being right, but it’s still unforgivable. I could never trust him again.”
“You shouldn’t. Is what he did considered a felony? Could he go to jail for it?”
“Yeah, definitely. It’s industrial espionage, conspiracy, fraud, you name it. He could get jail time, or huge fines, or both… if I decide to report it. The question is, do I really want to punish him?”
Julia thought about this for a while. “Do you know who put him up to it? Maybe you should go after him instead.”
“It’s actually a her—Vivian Delacroix.”
She looked at Brian blankly for a moment until it dawned on her. “Oh, I remember her from the dinner we went to a couple of years ago at Wake Forest. Isn’t she that oncology professor who’s also working on early cancer detection?”
“She’s the one.”
“I remember we were sitting across from her, and she couldn’t shut up about her work. I think you were the only one at the table who understood what she was saying. She didn’t even try to dumb it down for the rest of us. It was like we didn’t exist.”
“Yeah, and she didn’t take too kindly to my suggestion that maybe a home breathalyzer could yield faster results than her approach and wouldn’t require drawing blood to do it. Remember how she said I could never build the accuracy into a home breathalyzer, and users would have to send their samples to a lab? She wasn’t exactly nasty about it, but she sure was dismissive. I took that as a challenge to prove her wrong.”
“I guess she must have rethought it and decided you might be onto something. Mal told you it was her?”
“Not in so many words, but I got him to confirm it. So, what do you think I should do about Mal?”
“Do you believe his story about Samantha needing a heart transplant?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure of that. He talks about her a lot, but I never realized it was quite this serious or immediate. And I don’t know the amount of money he needs for sure either. He said it would be $50,000. He probably got half up front and would get the other half when he finished with his sabotage.”
Julia was silent for a moment. Brian could see the wheels turning and decided not to interrupt her thinking.
At last, she said, “How about this? I’d hate to see Mal’s daughter be a pawn in this and not get that new heart. Why don’t you demand that Mal give you the money he’s been paid so far? Then pay that bitch a visit and demand the rest of the fifty grand from her in exchange for not alerting the police with your evidence. You can then be in charge of paying the medical bills for Samantha.”
Julia stopped momentarily for Brian to digest her suggestion.
It might work, he thought, and it seemed like the right thing to do, although Vivian would be getting a much better deal than she deserved. “I’m with you so far, Babe, but it looks like you’ve got more to say, don’t you?”
“Yeah. Regarding Vivian, what she did to try to slow you down was pretty shitty, but if she truly has an almost-ready early detection system that will save lives, it’s more important she finish it than halting her progress with a long, drawn-out trial and possible jail time.”
That certainly would be taking the high road, but Julia made a good point and one he ultimately agreed with. It would have been nice, though, if Vivian had shown him the same consideration by not attempting to thwart his efforts.
He had earned many millions for his discovery of Glyptophan, and the royalties continue to pour in. His family would never hurt for money, so he could afford the high road. Plus, he would always hold the threat of exposure over her with the evidence he had collected if she ever tried anything again.
“I think we’re on the same page here, Babe. Everything you said makes sense, and I’ll make plans tomorrow to pay Vivian a visit. Now maybe I can get a few hours of sleep.”
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
Abby Payne: Brian's partner on the project. She is 65 and a brilliant mathematician
Callie Bennett: The programmer on the project. She is Abby's cousin.
Malcolm Roberts (Mal): One of Brian's two lab assistants
Larry Posner: One of Brian's two lab assistants
Vivian Delacroix: An oncology professor at Wake Forest University also doing early cancer detection work
Picture courtesy of Imagen-4-Ultra-Exp
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