Chapter 271: Grand Slam (9)

“Is that related to Alphonse Lofair?” Song Ji-Hyun asked.

“Don’t try to find out. It could be dangerous. I’ll help you get the decontamination microorganisms a little while after you get back home,” Young-Joon replied.

“You said before that even if I signed a contract with Alphonse, the project would end up being canceled. You said there’s something wrong with him. By that, you meant that he’s responsible for the genetically diseased people in Nicaragua, right?” Song Ji-Hyun said worriedly.

“Don’t tell anyone, okay? I called and stopped you then because you’re a friend that I can trust.”

“...”

“We’re almost here,” said Kim Chul-Kwon.

As soon as Young-Joon entered the airport, he quickly checked in and went through the departure process.

“You dropped your wallet!” Song Ji-Hyun shouted.

She grabbed Young-Joon, who was walking hastily and handed him his wallet.

“Thanks. I’m in a bit of a hurry right now. See you in Seoul.”

Young-Joon took the wallet, put it in his pocket and went to catch his flight with the K-Cops security team.

Song Ji-Hyun stared after him for a long time. She didn’t have anything to do in the United States anymore, but she didn’t go up to catch the flight to Seoul. She spent the rest of the time in the lounge thinking.

She was anxious. Young-Joon was someone who had consistently stood up to big, unethical powers. And he had always won.

But this time, it felt different. Though she had only met him once, Alphonse Lofair didn’t seem like an easy opponent. His background was also unusual. After the Cold War, he negotiated an agreement with Russia to share the Mir Space Station with NASA. This achievement helped him quickly rise through the ranks at NASA, getting him to where he was today.

But he was originally a biologist—an embryologist specializing in genetics.

“...”

What did Alphonse Lofair do in Nicaragua for Young-Joon to be so aggressive? Was it even possible to track down evidence left in DNA? Should she really return home, leaving Young-Joon here alone?

“Phew...” Song Ji-Hyun let out a sigh and walked to the vending machine.

Her fingers froze as she was about to press the button for hot cocoa. She remembered the strange girl who had yelled about the bacteria floating on the cocoa because the filter hadn’t been changed.

‘Rosaline.’

Song Jong-Ho said he had seen her in his hallucinations. Rosaline had appeared out of nowhere when Song Ji-Hyun stepped out of the hospital room at the Next Generation Hospital for a moment, but Young-Joon didn’t explain where she came from. He also didn’t tell her where she lived in the States when she asked.

“I don’t understand...”

“Excuse me...”

Someone called Song Ji-Hyun from behind. It was an Arab man with a handsome beard.

“Hello,” Song Ji-Hyun replied, a little wary.

“Nice to meet you, Doctor Song. May I speak with you for a moment?”

“Who are you?”

“I’m Yassir, a founding member of Philistines, a botulinum toxin pharmaceutical company in Egypt.”

“Philistines?”

Song Ji-Hyun’s eyes widened. The events that happened in the Middle East had become quite publicized. What happened to Doctor Ref, the violent terrorist who was captured, wasn’t covered, but it was revealed that she was connected to a company called Philistines, which the Egyptian government was investigating.

“... I thought your executives were being investigated by the Egyptian police right now,” Song Ji-Hyun said.

“We’ve already been investigated. It’s mostly circumstantial evidence, and I guess there was nothing ‘in Egypt’ that would prohibit me from leaving the country.”

Yassir shrugged.

“Well, we’re only guilty of illegally importing botulinum toxin through a woman named Isaiah Franklin. We have been studying the polyomavirus, but it’s just the CIA’s claim that we’ve released it somewhere. Besides, even if we did, it’s not a dangerous species in the first place. It’s a little... too much to ban someone from leaving the country just for smuggling some bacteria, right?”

Yassir grinned.

“...”

“Oh, and we’re an innocent company with no ties to Palestinian rebels, although Isaiah Franklin might have had something to do with them.”

“Alright. I don’t need to hear anymore. What do you want from me?” asked Song Ji-Hyun, cutting him off.

“You don’t beat around the bush. Okay, I’m here because I would like to work on something with you, Doctor Song. It won’t be bad for you,” Yassir said. “Doctor Ryu’s current opponent is quite a big shot. Unlike the Chinese president, they have no weaknesses.”

Yassir then tapped his chest.

“Perhaps we can be of some assistance.”

*

“Doctor Ryu went

where

?”

Campbell, the President of the United States, froze when he heard the shocking news.

“He went to Nicaragua. Apparently, he is doing a big healthcare project there,” his chief of staff replied.

“...”

An indescribable feeling of unease washed over Campbell.

“Alright. I’d like to be alone for a moment,” he said.

After the chief of staff left, he bit his nails in worry.

The entire country of Nicaragua was one huge scandal for the United States government. At the height of the Cold War, Nicaragua was ruled by a dictatorship known as the Somoza, who were puppets of the United States. Beginning with Anastasio Somoza García’s rise to the presidency, this nepotistic government monopolized wealth over three generations. The Somoza family ended up possessing forty percent of Nicaragua’s entire GDP.

Eventually, citizens organized a rebel army to overthrow the Somoza family and establish a democratic government. Naturally, they had strong anti-American sentiments, and the organization was named the Sandinistas after Augusto César Sandino, a legendary figure in the anti-American struggle.

The Sandinistas successfully staged a coup, ousting the Somoza government and establishing a democratic government.

This was where the problem started.

There was also an organization within Nicaragua called the Contra rebels who wanted to overthrow the Sandinista government, and the U.S. supported them. This was only natural—with an anti-American government established right under America’s nose, it was obvious that communism would spread centered around Nicaragua.

The problem was that the support was illegal. At the time, the U.S. Congress had passed the Boland Amendment, which prohibited the U.S. government from supporting rebels in Latin America. In other words, the Heagan administration was illegally aiding the Contras without the knowledge of Congress.

So where did the money come from? Believe it or not, it came from illegal arms sales to Iran.

At the time, Iran was at war with Iraq, a terrorist state and an enemy of the United States. The Heagan administration sold arms to a terrorist organization and an enemy state, then used the proceeds to support the Contra rebels in Nicaragua, violating the Boland Amendment, to try to overthrow the regime. This was the Iran-Contra affair that brought Heagan to the brink of impeachment.

“It’s one of the most embarrassing things the United States has ever done in Latin America.”

Campbell bit his lip.

But this was only one of the huge scandals involving Nicaragua. There were more shocking truths that came with being president and having access to classified information.

‘The proceeds from the arms trafficking to Iran also went to Groom Lake Air Force Base.’

Campbell sighed.

‘Groom Lake Air Force Base, as well as the embryology lab within it, was a U.S. government-funded organization.’

And many of the key players in the lab were part of American intelligence. Campbell also knew how that lab ended up.

Now, A-GenBio had announced that it was going to study what environmental issues might have contributed to the birth of many of these genetic disorders.

“Should I take this as a declaration of war, or are we taking it as an accusation when they’re going purely to do research and treat patients?”

Campbell paced back and forth in his office, unable to sit down.

There were a lot of people who would go to jail if this blew up: the military officials who managed the Groom Lake facility, the Heagan administration who allowed it to happen, and the Lofair family. It was going to be a bloodbath.

Thankfully, Campbell’s administration had little to do with it, but there were no neutrals in a fight like this, and Lofair is a very scary man.

Knock knock.

Someone knocked on his door. It was James Holdren, the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. He came in with a bottle of vodka and two classes.

“Holdren?”

“I’m retiring soon. How about having a drink with me?”

“...”

James poured some vodka into the glasses.

“You don’t look so good.”

“I’ve got a problem.”

“Is it Lofair?”

“...”

“There’s one unwritten rule for the President of the United States: don’t mess with the Lofairs,” James said. “The FRB, the central bank that produces our dollars, is a private bank. It’s basically owned by the Lofair family, and every president who has tried to nationalize it has been severely attacked, politically and physically.”

“...”

“President Lincoln, who rejected the central banking system and implemented Greenback, and President Kennedy, who tried to give the power to print money to the Treasury, were both assassinated,” James said. “President Andrew Jackson also rejected the central bank and suffered an assassination attempt.”

“It’s not a democracy,” Campbell said bitterly. “I was elected by the people, but there are too many people in this country to fear, of which Lofair is the scariest. This country is their kingdom.”

“What about Doctor Ryu?” James asked. “I told Doctor Ryu to not mess with Lofair and go back home, but instead, he called in hundreds of medical personnel from South Korea and marched into Nicaragua.”

“...”

“Those people, who are immersed in Doctor Ryu’s new technology and scientific revolution, are very loyal to him. You have to think of them as a very unique form of a private army. If they borrow a hospital from Nicaragua and just sit there, it becomes a sacred sanctuary.”

“I suppose.”

“They open the eyes of the blind, make the paralyzed walk, and cure genetic diseases. If he stays in such a place, no one can harm Doctor Ryu. Moreover, all eyes will be on him since it’s their first visit. In that situation, what do you think will happen if he brings up Groom lake?”

“But they said they covered up all the evidence. No matter how much of a genius he is, what would he find there?”

“You never know. How could we understand the mind of a genius? But Mr. President, I’m going to fulfill my duty as a friend who has served in your cabinet for a long time and as the advisor of science and technology policy to the White House,” Holdren said. “Stand with Doctor Ryu.”

James stared at Campbell.

“He never loses. Stand with Doctor Ryu and bring down Lofair.”

*

The Nicaraguan government welcomed Doctor Ryu and more than six hundred medical staff as a state guest. The treatments shipped by sea from A-GenBio using a cold chain seemed endless.

“Thank you so much.”

Mistega, the president of Nicaragua, shook hands with Young-Joon.

“We have renovated several buildings in the Kukra Hill area and prepared them to be used as hospital wards. They are not yet fully equipped, but...”

“As you know, this is not just a visit by our doctors but an academic exchange. We need medical staff from Nicaragua to join us.”

“Our doctors and nurses have been very eager to participate. They’re all waiting for you,” said Mistega.

“Thank you.”

With an introduction from Mistega, Young-Joon led the A-GenBio and Next Generation Hospital staff to the medical center in Kukra Hill. There, local doctors were already seeing patients. The patients, who had heard that Young-Joon was coming, had lined up two days in advance. So, the doctors, who were already there setting up rooms and waiting, had begun to treat them.

“There’s something I want to ask of you when doing blood tests for patients with genetic diseases,” Young-Joon said to the professors of the Next Generation Hospital. “When there is damage to the DNA, a few sequences are inserted or removed in the process of the body repairing it. These are called indels, and these marks are left behind when DNA is edited with gene scissors like TALENs or radiation.

“It’s usually very difficult to analyze them because they’re random, but A-GenBio can do it. Please extract the DNA from the blood sample and send it to the research team.”