Part 16 (1/2)
That's when he came to the Man and persuaded him to put up the money to help him take everything private. The only way Bartlett would play ball was if he could buy the Gerex Corporation and get three-quarter interest in all the patents. Van de Vliet kept the other quarter, but now they're both hoping to sell off forty-nine percent to a big pharmaceutical company. Not American. I can't tell you any more than that.”
”Congratulations,” she said. ”Sounds like your job is secure.”
”Yeah, right.”
That twitch of nonchalance he had when something really mattered--even as a child he would attempt (and fail) trying not to gloat over some personal success. It was moments like this when she realized she'd missed seeing him and talking to him. When you cut a family member off from you, you also cut yourself off from them. After all, he was her closest blood kin, even though he was an unreconstructed s.h.i.+t. At some level she wished she could get past the bitterness she felt toward him.
Could it be he really had changed?
He didn't like the way the scene was going. What the h.e.l.l was her problem? He looked at his scotch longingly, then got up and went to the kitchen and got another ice cube for it.
Go easy.
How was he going to get through to her? If word of the Beta screw-up got out, the buyout was toast and Grant Hampton along with it. But if Ally could be brought in ...
”Grant,” she was saying, ”I want to start off by asking you if you've ever taken a really good look at that guy Karl Van de Vliet. Does he look anything like his picture? The one that came with that CV of his.”
”Sure, that's him.”
”And I a.s.sume you've actually read his resume?”
”Of course.” Here it comes, he thought. The thing everybody asks.
”If those dates are right, then he has to be--what?--at least sixty years old. But in the picture he doesn't look a day over forty-five. So what's going on?”
”Ally, you're finally getting it.” He rattled the ice in his Dewar's, then finally took a deep sip. Maybe, he thought, it would help with the courage. ”He's a truly amazing human being.”
”That's not an answer, Grant. It's a generality.” She exhaled in obvious exasperation. ”But I want an honest answer about one thing, dammit. Do you actually think he could help Mom's Alzheimer's? Maybe even reverse it? Tell me the truth. Just once.”
”Ally, I can't guarantee anything. But it's worth a shot.”
Now, he thought hopefully, she was sounding like she was starting to come around. Thank G.o.d. As for whether Dr. Vee could cure the old bird who knew? But he'd overheard the nurses talking about how he and his research staff had had some phenomenal luck with Alzheimer's... .
”By the way, what happened when you talked to Mom?” he went on. ”Did she seem like she understood anything I told her?”
”Grant, she probably understood a lot more than you wanted her to. The bad part is, she let you give her some hope. Now, what's going to happen if she goes out there and ends up being disappointed?”
It's a real possibility, he told himself. But it's probably the only way I'll ever get you out there, and that's what really matters.
”Ally, we'll never know unless ... You should go too.”
”Look, maybe I'll talk to Van de Vliet. But it's purely information- gathering.” She was staring at him. ”So why not tell me? The whole story. Are you doing this for Mom and me, or are we just being used like lab animals?”
”I'm not sure you're going to believe anything I say.” He sipped again at his scotch, then walked over to the skylight
and looked up. Finally he turned back. ”After Dad ... and everything, I had trouble sleeping. I know you didn't think it got to me, but it was like some bad force had taken over my mind, haunting me. I became obsessed with death. I took off two months and went to Colorado, camping. Out there, under the stars, I did a lot of thinking. Dad had died suddenly, but maybe that was a blessing in disguise. The rest of us, we all die a little every day. Why does time do the things to us it does? Why do we have to grow old and repulsive?”