| General Fiction posted March 8, 2025 | Chapters: |
...40 41 -42- 43... 
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Marie gets good and bad news
A chapter in the book The Devil Fights Back
The Devil Fights Back - Ch. 42
by Jim Wile
The author has placed a warning on this post for language.| Background Three intrepid women team up to conquer medical challenges. |
Recap of Chapter 41: Fran meets Dana outside the restaurant and informs her that she fired the shots that created the distraction to prevent Israel from discovering the gift basket holding a parabolic microphone. The FBI is able to transcribe most of what was on the recording of Spangler and Israel’s conversation, and Fran is confident this is enough to get a wiretap warrant on Israel’s phone.
Fran calls Brian with the news but learns he is extremely distraught about a letter he received that threatens him and his family. Fran convinces him the threat is real and advises him to hire some bodyguards.
Chapter 42
Two weeks later
Marie
It’s all over the news today. The New York Times was the first to carry the story. Now it’s everywhere. This was the beginning of the front-page article I read in The Times:
A Huge Dip for Dip
By Cynthia Miller
The popular, low-cost street drug Dipraxa, known as Dip, has suddenly disappeared. This highly addictive drug virtually cornered the market on every type of recreational drug. Known for the incredible euphoria it produced, users were becoming instantly addicted after the first dose.
Four weeks ago, the drug began making users extremely nauseous and some, violently ill, and it no longer produced the high.
The cause of this is unclear, but the sudden turnaround left users spurning the drug, and it is no longer available.
The drug was known to be manufactured in China and smuggled in through the Mexican border. It’s theorized that the formula was changed for some unknown reason, which caused the drug to become both unpalatable and ineffective.
The drug was beginning to cause a downturn in the US economy because workers were opting to drop out of the workforce to stay at home and get high.
Fortunately, there are no physical withdrawal symptoms when the drug is discontinued. The addiction was completely psychological in nature.
(continued on page 14)
Hallelujah! Apparently, Brian’s task force was successful in their efforts to stop the proliferation of the drug. I don’t know how they were able to do it when it was manufactured in China, but I’ve spent much of my life doubting his abilities, much to my chagrin, and I’m confident he found the solution somehow.
When I came home from work today with the paper under my arm, Cedric held the door open for me.
“Greetings, Ms. Schmidt. I see you have the paper with the good news there.” He was smiling broadly as he said this.
“That’s true, Cecil. I take it your mother is no longer able to find the drug?”
“Also true. Her supply ran out last week, and she can’t get any more. For a couple of days, it was difficult to get over the craving, but she seems to be doing well now. She has even been back to the library to see if she could get her old job back. They were willing to hire her back because several others had also become addicted to Dip, and they’ve been unable to fill the vacant positions. I urged my mother to reapply, and she was successful.”
“That’s wonderful, Cecil. Does that mean you don’t have to work three jobs now?”
“I’ve given notice to two of them—not this one, but the other two—and in another week I’ll be back to only one job.”
“And what is your thinking about resuming our lessons?”
“If you’re willing to take me back, I’d very much appreciate it Ms. Schmidt. As soon as I’m finished with my other two jobs, I’ll begin practicing again.”
“That’s fine, Cecil. You just let me know when you feel you’ve practiced enough for another lesson. I’ll leave this up to you.”
“Thank you very much, Ms. Schmidt.”
“It’s Dr. Schmidt, Cecil.”
“It’s Cedric, ma’am.”
“Whatever,” we said together.
I decided to call Julia and tell her I just read the article and see how my grandson is doing.
“Hello, Mother.”
“Hello, Julia. I had a very nice surprise today. There was an interesting article in The New York Times about the rapid decline of Dipraxa. I was wondering if Brian and that group of women working with him had something to do with this?”
“You know I can’t say much about that, but I’ll just tell you we’ve known for a couple of weeks now, and he’s very pleased.” There was no enthusiasm in her tone, though, and she sounded anything but pleased.
“Is everything alright, Julia? You don’t sound like yourself. Is Johnny okay?”
“He’s fine, Mother.”
“Then what is it? Isn’t Brian’s testing going well for his new drug?”
“That’s not it either. That’s going better than ever, and his interim results are very positive.”
“Well, don’t make me keep guessing. Just tell me.”
“I didn’t want to trouble you with this, Mother. I didn’t want you to start worrying about it, but it doesn’t seem like you’re going to leave it alone, so I guess I’d better fill you in. We’ve been getting threats that Brian had better discontinue his testing of Glyptophan or else.”
“Or else what?”
“Or else face the consequences. We don’t know what those might be, but it has us very worried. Fran thinks it’s for real and even knows who’s making the threats. In fact, they’ve got a wiretap in place on his phone. She also advised us to hire a couple of bodyguards, and we’re in the process of interviewing them now.”
“Oh, my God, Julia! That’s terrible news. What is going on here? I can understand why that’s putting a damper on all the good news lately. I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you, Mother. And another unfortunate thing is that Brian has to travel in a few days. The FDA is insisting that his phase-2 test group needs to be more diverse, and he needs to include Native Americans and a few other minorities. He has several interviews to perform to add additional test subjects. He says he’ll stay here at least until we’ve hired the bodyguards, but the FDA is breathing down his neck now. They won’t approve his results unless he adds more subjects.”
“Well, that settles it. I’m coming down to stay with you for a while—at least until you’ve hired the bodyguards. Brian can go on his trip because I’ll be here with you and Johnny.”
“That’s awfully nice, Mother, but I’m sure Brian won’t leave at any rate until the bodyguards are hired.”
“I don’t care. I’m planning to come.”
“Well, that’s fine. We’d love to see you again. It’s been a few months now.”
“I can take up to four weeks of vacation after June 18, since we won’t have another concert until October. I’ll book a one-way flight and leave it open-ended.”
“Thank you, Mother. Johnny and I will be happy to have your company, especially when Brian’s gone.”
“Alright. I’ll let you know when I’ve made my flight arrangements.”
“You’ll have to either rent a car or hire an Uber from the airport. I’m not supposed to venture out on my own. There was talk of some sort of surveillance.”
“That’s no problem. Jesus, they’re really serious about this, aren’t they?”
“Yes, they really are. When it comes to their profit motive and their bottom line, they’ll do just about anything it seems.”
“Fuckers.”
“I’ll second that.”
“Listen, you take care, and I’ll see you in a few days, Julia.” I hesitated for a moment. “I love you.”
A few seconds of silence followed, and Julia said softly, “I love you too, Mother. Goodbye.”
Whoa. Where did this come from? It may have been the first time I ever told her I loved her. That’s sad, but I can’t deny that the feeling is growing inside of me now.
 Recognized |
Fran Pekarsky: One of three narrators of the story. She is an FBI agent from the North Carolina field office in Charlotte.
Dana Padgett: One of three narrators of the story. She is a confidential informant (CI) for Fran and works in Big Pharma.
Brian Kendrick: Fran's younger brother. He is the inventor of Dipraxa and Glyptophan.
Julia Kendrick: Brian's wife. She is a world-class violinist who now plays in a bluegrass band.
Johnny Kendrick: Brian and Julia's baby boy and Marie's grandson.
Dr. Marie Schmidt: Julia's mother. She is the third narrator of the story.
Cedric (aka Cecil): The doorman at the apartment house where Marie lives.
Lou D'Onofrio: Fran's boss at the FBI.
Leonard Merra: A vice president at the Big Pharma company where Dana works. He is in charge of stopping Glyptophan.
Rudy Spangler: A vice president at Gideon Pharmaceutical. He is in charge of stopping Glyptophan.
Peter Israel: The security chief at Gideon Pharmaceutical. He is in cahoots with Rudy Spangler to stop Glyptophan.
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