Death Dealer: They started with Blackmail. They ended with Murder. (Max Blake Book 1) Read online

  Death Dealer

  By Ian Brett

  About the series

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  About this book

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  UK English spelling is used throughout this book.

  Prologue. Disaster

  “You can’t go public with these results, they’ll kill us. £50 Million straight down the fucking toilet.” Tom looked furiously at Miller, his eyes wide, his nostrils flared. He looked, capable of murder. “It would be the end of everything - is that what you want?”

  “For God’s sake man, we can’t keep them quiet. Zanol doesn’t work - it could even be lethal in some cases!” Protested Miller.

  “How the hell can that be? I just don’t get it. You said it worked brilliantly in animal testing, so what’s suddenly gone wrong now?”

  Miller determined to maintain a professional attitude. He refused to lose his temper. “It’s not a case of me or anyone else getting things wrong. Drug development is unpredictable by definition. Clinical trials mean tests in real people. When we get to that stage we start small. We tried Zanol on five volunteers and against all predictions four of them got serious low dose side effects. Why do you think it costs so much to get a new drug on the market? Anyway there is no way this drug will get a licence now.”

  Tom Patterson just sat, his head in his hands rocking backwards and forwards.

  “Look, that’s why the rewards are so high. You know this.”

  “Eh?” Tom was sinking into himself. He hardly heard Miller.

  “The rewards are high because of the risk of failure. You can’t predict what a drug will do in the human body till it’s been tried. We’ve spent just over £50 Million to get here. The average cost of developing a new drug is over £5 Billion, because when new drugs are tested in humans 95% of them fail to be both effective and safe.”

  Still no answer from Patterson.

  “Look you’re the Venture Capitalist, you must have known this.

  “But everything you said sounded so good.”

  “Yes but as I also told you, this is the stage when most drugs fail. We have three other molecules we can look at. We will just have to continue with them.”

  Patterson stood up, grabbed a cup and flung it into the corner. For a moment they were both silent, watching a muddy trickle of coffee drip slowly down the wall to stain the white carpet. “That’s the fucking problem, he said, there is no more money, we’ve spent it all.”

  “I get that, it’s a huge setback but …-

  “But!”

  “But, using your financial contacts and the results we’ve got so far on the other three molecules we can raise more cash and try again. It shouldn’t affect the viability of our long term plan.”

  “It will if I can’t raise the fucking money!”

  He’s beginning to lose it, thought Miller. “Look, Tom, that’s what you do. You’re the money man, the successful Venture Capitalist. For God’s sake no one in this sector is put off by one failure - it’s just what happens, it’s expected.”

  Clunk … clunk… CLUNK. Miller was amazed to see the financier banging his head against the wall. Then turn, his arms waving. “That’s the fucking point, I’m not.”

  “Eh... not what?” Said Miller his voice wavering.

  “Not successful. My last five investments have all blown up in my face, none of them will ever make any money. This will be the sixth.”

  Oh my God, this is what they warned me about, they said he was unsound. “So you’re telling me that even though we have three viable alternatives no one will fund their development.”

  Tom sat silent. Slowly panic began to leave his face as somewhere deep inside his brain started functioning again. “Hang on, shut up and let me think.” He sat down, his eyes wild but never leaving Miller’s face.

  Not a word was said for ten minutes then he began to smile. “OK, perhaps I can see a way out of this.”

  Miller opened his arms wide. “So let’s hear it.”

  “Right, just hear me out, don’t interrupt with your bloody questions and objections till I’ve finished. Just nod if you agree. Right?”

  “OK.”

  “The lab and animal tests have been fine?”

  Miller nodded.

  “The only problem is with the human clinical testing?”

  Miller nodded wearily. He could guess what was coming next.

  “Well instead of going to big pharma with completed phase O testing, we launch the shares now with just the lab work. You said lots of companies do that.

  “For fuck’s sake Tom, that is BEFORE they do clinical trials, you can’t float a company hiding results that you know make it worthless.”

  “I don’t see why not. Look, it won’t be worthless, what about the other molecules? We know they will work, so we raise more cash on the initial results, develop the new molecules and no one will be any the wiser - everyone will make money. It’s so obvious - you just have to keep quiet.

  “No.”

  “What the hell do you mean no?”

  “I won’t be involved in fraud. I have my scientific reputation to consider - apart from which it’s just immoral. This drug failed and the other three might as well. What would we do then?”

  Tom was silent for a moment. Then he held his hands up in supplication as if pushing Miller away. “OK perhaps you’re right, how about this? Give me a few days before you make the results public. Meanwhile I’ll try to raise more funds so we can carry on. I’ll start today give me…,” he appeared to be ticking off a list of tasks in his mind, “give me till the end of the week - that’s only three days. I’ll see if I can come up with something new. If I can’t then we’ll do it your way and go public.”

  Miller was relieved. Perhaps he’s seen sense…It’s good to stand your ground…No downside to a few days grace….I really want to finish this project. “OK, yes, as long as I can have first sight of any agreements you come to, I agree to three days.”

  “Great, you won’t regret it.”

  He was right. Miller never did.

  Chapter 1 Crash

  Something isn’t right but ….no time.

  The noise is deafening. I can hardly hear Charlie’s directions over my headset. Foot flat on the floor I snap the leaver into 4th .We shoot up the hill at max revs, gravel peppers the underside of the car. I can see the crest of the hill but it’s all faith after that.

  “Caution Jump into right 2 tightens, don't cut, 100 oversquare right.”

  We take off from the crest of the hill at over 70 mph and as Charlie had shouted crash down into a right hand bend. Shedding speed I drift us round the corner, tyres scrabbling desperately for grip on the loose gravel. A bolder on the inside, so no cutting the corner; then into a 90 degree bend.

  “400 flat to K”

  Flat out for 400 meters then…? Then nothing.

  “Shit! I’ve lost -”

  I’m on my own. Fuck knows how sharp the corner is or what happens next.

  It’s another 90 degree. I just manage to slide us round. The road snakes back on itself.

  No chance.

  There’s a wooden farm gate in front of us and I aim for that. At this speed we’ll crash straight through. An immense BANG, a shard of wood shatters the windscreen and we’re in the field. Sheep scatter in front of us. We hit a drinking trough, knock it aside and are showered with water. We shudder to a stop as the wheels sink into a boggy patch. Thank God I’m wearing a full harness. My shoulders feel as if they have been dis
located by the deceleration, but it’s better than a broken neck.

  We sit there for several minutes, just glad to be alive. From a safe distance a flock of sheep regard us as if we’re mad. Perhaps they have a point.

  “What the fuck happened there?” I take my headphones off and disconnect the cars electrics, after this performance bursting into flames would be too fucking embarrassing.

  “I lost my place Max.”

  “You what?” Here I digress into a series of imaginative but heartfelt obscenities. When I emerge into the world again I can see Charlie looking at me and waiting for my blood to cool.

  “I should’ve cancelled today - thought I’d be OK but…

  I’m about to rip his head off when I realise that something, apart from his navigational cock up is worrying Charlie. I look up to see a couple of Race Martials hurtling across the field towards us. He takes my arm and speaks quickly.

  “I’m being blackmailed, I need to talk to you but I don’t know when I’m being watched. I’m scared Max.”

  The Martials have reached us now. The car is stuck deep in the mud and it takes both of them to yank my door open.

  “You OK?”

  “Were fine, nothing broken or damaged except our pride.” I said falling out.

  They rush round and force the other door open. Charlie clambers out and sits in the mud looking dazed.

  I pull out a confident smile. “Look we’re fine, no bones broken. If you will call the tow truck, we’ll just sit here quietly and wait till it arrives. You two are needed on the route.”

  “You sure?”

  I nod and after shaking their heads, they run back to the gate and leave us alone. Like the sheep they clearly regarded us as incompetent idiots.

  ***

  I was worried. We’ve been friends since we were five. Lapses of concentration in critical situations are just not part of Charles Moor’s make up. Nowadays he’s the respected MP for a safe seat in the Home Counties and a prominent member of one of the Select Committees. A junior Health Minister for three years he was dropped because he refused to follow the party line on yet another NHS reorganisation. Despite this his financial brain was too good to sacrifice. He was appointed to the Committee that examines value for money in government spending on science.

  We were sitting beside the crashed car. There was no one about, the mikes on our crash helmets were off and our mobiles sat back at the start line. Apart from the sheep no one could hear us.

  “So spill, what’s the problem?”

  He hesitated, made two false starts “I…I…” Eventually he took a deep breath and looked at the ground “I’m being blackmailed.”

  “Oh come on, no one’s blackmailed for being gay nowadays. Just tell them to fuck off.”

  “Not quite as easy as that, they’ve got pictures.”

  “What have you been up to?” To be honest at this point I still wasn’t taking him too seriously. There’s nothing much Charles was likely to do that would cause any fuss in the papers.

  “They have a series of pictures of me with two underage boys.”

  “Bollocks, I don’t believe it, that’s just not you.”

  He raised his head from the ground momentarily and looked me in the eyes. “Thanks Max, that means a lot. Unfortunately the pictures say differently, I don’t remember anything other than going for a few drinks...

  “Shit, tell me more.”

  “Well you know I’ve just broken up with Dale after God knows how many years?”

  “Sure.” To my knowledge they had been together for more than fifteen years.

  “Last week after the House had finished sitting I went out for a few drinks. I bumped into a guy I’d met years ago in my first job and we had a few drinks together to catch up. Don’t know why, I never really liked him much, I seem to remember he got the sack for being a useless bastard. Anyway I just wanted a change. He’s a big whisky fan and we downed a few. At some point in the evening he poured me into a cab and helped me home but I don’t remember much after that.”

  “You can’t remember anything?” My line of work has made me slightly cynical and I was getting a feeling about this.

  “Nothing, I phoned him next day to apologise and he told me what happened. He’d helped me to my door and left me there, with the key in my hand trying to find the lock. So far so embarrassing but nothing too bad. That afternoon I was in my constituency office when an envelope labelled ‘Strictly Private. For the eyes of Dr. Charles Moor MP only’ was brought in. I opened it and -”

  I’d never seen him like this. Charles clamed up for a bit, then shook himself and continued. “There were ten photographs inside.” He dug into his race gear and pulled out an A4 sized photo. They’re all basically variations on this.”

  It was definitely Charles. There’s a small heart shaped birthmark on his left shoulder and it was clearly visible. He was spread out on his enormous bed, lying on his back and wearing a blindfold. Both his wrists were tied to the headboard with thin red cords. Two, obviously under age boys, were pleasuring him. The picture taken from the left side of the bed showed Charles, his head back, in ecstasy. One boy, had Charlie’s member sucked deep in his mouth. The other was kneeling astride his chest facing him. Charles’s hand was tightly wrapped round the boy’s engorged penis.

  “This is one of the less shocking ones. It’s obviously me but I don’t remember any of it. I don’t like underage boys, you know I only find men of my own age interesting, but look, I can’t argue with that -. And this is a copy of the note that was in with the pictures.” He handed me a photocopy of a faded note and I could just make out the words.

  Ring 07872 822 004 by 20:00

  Or these Pictures will be sent

  To the Daily Mail. The two boys

  Will be available for interview.

  They will confirm that you paid

  Them And have been doing so

  for the Last 6 months. Carry

  on as normal. If you tell anyone

  or go to the Police we release

  the pictures immediately.

  I looked at Charles and raised an eyebrow. “So what happened to the actual note?”

  “It was clear when I first got it but as it was exposed to light it began to fade, so I copied it at work.” He gave me a tattered piece of paper. “You can’t see anything on this now.”

  It was the sort of heat printed paper they use for credit card receipts. This one had been treated to fade faster. The paper was degenerating as it was exposed to light.

  Charles was leaning forward holding his head in his hands. “Do you think that’s what I’m like Max? I never thought so but -.”

  “No I do NOT think so. Look Charlie, I’ve known you all my life and I know you’re no paedophile. Plus and this is a big plus, I’ve dealt with blackmail before. With all the abuse allegations in the media at the moment this looks like a classic sting to me. Anyway you haven’t told me what they want yet - I assume you did ring them?”

  “They want me to divert the Select Committee away from Zanic Bioscience.”

  “Is that all?”

  “Zanic is a successful bioscience development company. We’re going to look at them to see if we can get any pointers to improve Government Seed funding in the sector. I noticed how successful they’ve been lately - they’ve been puffing themselves in the papers so I suggested we take a look at them to use as a role model for other potential investments.”

  “Go on.”

  “When I rang I got a recorded message which told me that I was to ensure that the Committee looked for another company, anyone other than Zanic. Their session must be deferred till next year. If I did that the pictures would be destroyed and I would never hear from them again. If not the pictures would be sent to the papers.”

  “What’s the time scale?”

  “They’ve given me a week for a new company to be chosen and Zanic to receive a letter informing them that their appearance has been deferred for six months.” />
  “What have you done?”

  “Nothing yet, I wanted to speak to you first. I might just resign. If this is the kind of person I am then I shouldn’t be in public life anyway. I….” His words dried up.

  “That would be ridiculous. You didn’t do this Charles, your being set up. I know it.”

  “But how do you know that when even I can’t be sure.”

  “OK, why did you come to me - I mean why me and not anyone else?”

  He looked up. “You’ve been my friend for years… I thought you might trust in me and…. and I’ve got some idea what you do for a living.” He spread his hands wide. “I thought you might be able to help.”

  “Exactly. And that experience tells me that this whole thing is dodgy. Look is there any way you can gain us a bit of time?”

  “I’m due to see the Chair tomorrow, we’ve got a lot of work on at the moment and I could suggest a deferment whilst I look into the sector. That would probably be a good idea anyway.”

  “Great, you do that and I will start looking into this. We’ll sort it, I promise.”

  I had to help Charlie but I had a decision to make - fast. Could I do this without telling Howard? I had a feeling that this investigation could quickly go political and at this stage in the life of our company we needed to be squeaky clean. Damn. This might come down to playing one friend off against another. It might even come down to my livelihood. Whatever the decision was already made for me. If I didn’t help Charlie, I could never respect myself again. I owed him - owed him big time.

  Chapter 2 Meeting

  Tom Patterson sat thinking. He knew there was no way the bastard would swallow it, all Miller cared about was his good name. Perhaps over time I can draw him in. Slowly, that was the answer. I’ve done it before with others. Show him part of the plan - just the new finance - no need to say where it came from. The rest could wait. What did a man need to be successful in this game? Main thing - to understand himself. If he could do that he had the knowledge to test and manipulate his colleagues. He could work out which buttons to press - see how far they would go and when to push them.