Page 17 of Savage Beauty

“Our investors and the laboratory will make money if either of my projects prove successful. The rapamycin is simply trying to ascertain the best level of the drug to reap the antiaging benefits without the negative side effect of lowering the immune system. If we can determine the optimal dosage level, it stands to be in greater demand than multivitamins. No one wants to age.”

“Yeah, I’d imagine that’s a pretty big market.”

“Projections set it as a thirty-eight-billion-dollar worldwide market by 2028.”

I whistle because, yeah, people have killed for a shit ton less.

“But I’m not the only one conducting research of that kind. There are multiple companies doing research right now.”

“I’d imagine so.”

“But what I’m doing with organ cellular growth? Imagine a future where someone you loved needed an organ. I could take their stem cells and grow them an organ. There would be no wait list. We could grow organs and have them ready for patients as needed. No one would have to become weak or close to death’s door to receive an organ. Transplants would occur on healthy individuals. Recovery rates would rise exponentially.” Those intelligent eyes sparkle like she’s describing nirvana.

“That’s what you were working on?”

“No.” She waves a hand dismissively. “Well, yes, that’s the long-term vision. Right now, we can legally grow organs up to fourteen days. There’s this ridiculous international law. That’s why we’re working out of the Cayman Islands. Because I have cells that have continued to live substantially past the fourteen-day mark. They don’t become functional organs. But we’re making progress. And that’s why I have to go back. Everything I was working on is in the labs. I don’t think the investors believe in my project. I overheard one of them sharing survival rates, and he was wrong. He was quoting black market data. I don’t know where he got it, but that’s what I was trying to show.”

“Show what?”

“Black market organs have issues.” She says it like I’m a simpleton for not understanding. If she’d been my lab partner in high school, I would’ve wanted to strangle her.

“I’d say black market organs have a pretty big ethical issue.”

“No.” She waves her hand dismissively, once again acting like I’m naïve or ignorant. “Not that. It’s that many of the donors have alternate health problems. The testing for compatibility isn’t necessarily as strong. Hospitals and surgeons who complete the surgeries aren’t as equipped and trained as more reputable hospitals that would never step outside of international guidelines. The long-term results are inferior to ethical transplants in the US. I was trying to extrapolate the long-term results in an environment without donor health risks. From a financial perspective, if I can grow organs, it would be a financial windfall. Based on my preliminary analysis.” She lets out a sigh. “I need to review the data sources I found on our network. I need to get back there to figure out what is going on.”

There’s not a single person she can trust back there. Any one of them could be complicit in her abduction. “You can come back with us to California. We’ve got a tech team. They can break into anything. We’ll get you on your network.”

“No. I need to go back to Grand Cayman. Everything is in my apartment.”

“Pretty sure they cleared out your apartment.”

“Who?” Another wave, but this time she dismisses herself. “It doesn’t matter. I have to go back.”

“Sloane, you’re dealing with dangerous people. I can’t emphasize that enough. People who stand to gain a lot of money with either your silence or your knowledge. The people holding you in Cambodia? All hired guns. The Wagner Group. Some of the best hired guns money can buy. Anton Solonov? He’s not a cheap hire. You don’t get to hire someone like that without connections. You can’t go back. It’s too risky.”

“The work I’m doing could change the world. Isn’t that worth taking some risks?” We stare each other down, locked in a battle of wills. I don’t blink, but deep in my bones, I know I’m going to end up helping this mad scientist. “What do you do?”

“Me?” I really do not care for how she looks at me like I’m a simpleton. “Well, I told you. I work for a?—”

“Were you in the military? Like my brother?”

“Yes.”

“So, you’re like my brother, Sam Watson?”

“I’m a lot like your brother was. Determined to make this world a better place.”

“And you’re one of the best, right? That’s what he loved. Being among the best.”

Hearing it phrased like that, coming from her mouth, leaves me speechless. I nod as I let the pride filter. Yeah, we are among the best. We’re among the most highly skilled in the world, trained by one of the world’s most advanced militaries.

“Well, Sam believed in taking risks. To better the world. And that’s what I’m going to do.”

CHAPTER4

Sloane

“What about your sister?”

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