Blue Coyote Motel (23 page)

He took out a typed list of what he wanted. He had gone over it several times to make sure that everything he needed for the anti-aging hormone and other experiments would be included as well as several substitutes in case the experiments didn't go exactly as planned. Sr. Perez looked at the list and assured Jeffrey that the items would be delivered to him within a week to ten days.

Sr. Perez said the cost of the items on the list would be $45,000. Jeffrey opened his briefcase which contained bundles of bills. Each bundle contained $5,000. He carefully counted out nine bundles, $45,000. He deliberately let Sr. Perez glance inside the briefcase bottom to see that there was plenty of cash left after he extracted the $45,000. He wanted Sr. Perez to think he was a rich American with plenty of cash and would be back. Jeffrey told him no receipt would be necessary. He doubted the money would ever see the bookkeeping office of Hernandez Compania, but as long as he got what he wanted, he didn't care.

Before closing his briefcase, Jeffrey took out another $10,000 and handed it to Sr. Perez, saying, "When the shipment is delivered to me in the United States, I don't want any record made of the materials on the list or that they were delivered to me."

Sr. Perez smiled ever so slightly and said, "No problem, Sr. Brooks. We do this all the time." Just as Jeffrey thought,
corruption
was
still
alive
and
well
in
Mexico. That's
how
things
got
done
here.
I
didn't
make
the
rules
but
I
sure
can
play
by
them
. He knew the carrot insuring delivery would be the next $45,000 he would bring when he made his next trip to Mexico to get a resupply of the ingredients he needed for his experiments.

When he got back to his hotel, Jeffrey asked the concierge to make a reservation for him on the first flight back to Phoenix. He went up to his room and packed. The concierge had been able to book a direct flight from Guadalajara to Phoenix, which was leaving in three hours. He had time to get to the airport, check in, and get something to eat. He missed Maria and couldn't wait to get back to her and his lab. His meeting with Sr. Perez had gone well, even better than he had hoped. He had a secure source for the ingredients he would need and felt confident that he would succeed with his dream of producing an earth changing drug. Freedom was going to be made. He knew it would work. He couldn't wait until his shipment of requested materials arrived and he could get started.

CHAPTER 24

Jeffrey returned from Mexico eager to begin his experiments. However, there was no doubt in Maria's mind that being fired from Moore Labs had taken a toll on him. He had always struggled with feelings of being different from other people and some people thought he was slightly crazy, but those feelings seemed to have intensified in the last couple of months. He was having spurts of extremely long hours of work followed by overly long hours of sleep. He had always been meticulous in his grooming, but now it no longer seemed to be important to him. When they would talk, she noticed that his speech and thought processes seemed to be jumbled, and at times, incomprehensible.

Jeffrey had been taking medication for his manic-depressive condition for many years and he began to wonder if it was losing its potency. He was aware that he was alternating long hours of work with long hours of sleep. He was also aware that his personal grooming was becoming less important than his work in the lab.

"What's going on?" Maria asked one day. "Something is wrong. I know how difficult the Moore situation was for you, but you seem to have changed. I'm also worried about your sleeping. It seems like every time I wake up in the middle of the night, you're not there. I didn't know you before you started your medication, but I've read that people in manic states often don't sleep for days. I've also noticed that when you do sleep, it's sometimes for hours and hours.”

"Maria, I was called 'Crazy Boy' when I was growing up. For some reason, all those god-awful childhood memories have been coming back to me. Maybe it's just a delayed reaction to the stress of being fired by Moore Labs," Jeffrey said. "As for not sleeping, I've had so much on my mind with building the lab, going to Mexico, and getting ready to conduct the experiments, sometimes I just can't seem to make myself sleep. When I do sleep, I want to get as much as I can so I'll be clearheaded when I conduct the experiments. Don't worry, I'll be fine once I get started on all the things I'm planning to do. Actually, I'm very excited. This is a transitional time for me." Secretly, he hoped that Freedom would help him as well.

Maria didn't have a good feeling after their conversation. She felt Jeffrey was beginning to spin out of control. Yet, maybe what he had told her was true. It couldn't have been easy to have everyone think you were crazy when you were a kid. And certainly there had been a lot of work and planning to do in the last couple of months. Maybe it was just a reaction to the stress he had been under. She decided to let it go for now and accept that this was just a temporary situation.

The complete shipment of drugs and supplies from the distribution center in California arrived as promised. Sidney had been true to his word. Two million dollars had been placed in Jeffrey's bank account the day after Jeffrey was fired. That money had become essential in view of the costs of remodeling the motel, building the lab, and buying the supplies he needed.

The laboratory was complete and was a dream which had come true.  Jeffrey would often stand in the middle of the laboratory and marvel at what had been done. Shining metal counters gleamed under recessed overhead lights that could be dimmed or brightly lit by a touch of the switch. The walls had been soundproofed. Security doors and new stairs had been installed. One set led to the front of the motel, the other leading to the rear of the motel. He didn't want to encounter motel guests each time he went in and out of the lab. He looked around at the results of his elaborate planning and design, thinking of the cost overruns, but he just didn't care what it had cost. It was a state-of-the-art laboratory and he couldn't help but smile with satisfaction at what he had created and accomplished.

While Jeffrey was busy finishing up the lab, Maria was putting the final touches on the motel. The plumbing had been replaced, furniture delivered, and fresh white linens were on each neatly made bed with colorful Southwest style bedspreads. The bathrooms had been tiled and new fixtures installed. The small kitchen adjacent to the office and the one in their house had new appliances, cookware, ceramics, and glassware. The motel had been freshly painted, inside and out. A landscape nursery in Blythe had delivered and planted the succulents and cacti, which surrounded the motel, softening the harsh, desolate landscape. The motel was as attractive as any motel could be in that remote area.

Now that they were close to opening the motel, Jeffrey was anxious to experiment with the new drug, Freedom, before it opened. “Maria,” Jeffrey said one night at dinner after he had received the shipment from the California distribution center, "I really think the Navajo rugs you told me about would look great in the guest rooms. They'd be perfect on the tile floors. Why don't you go back to that gallery in Phoenix that you liked so much and get them? Spend the night and see if you find anything else we need. You've been working so hard. You could use a day of shopping, which I know you enjoy.”

"Thank you. I know you're going to love the rugs. They are so beautiful and really would finish off the rooms. I also need to get a couple of other things while I'm there. I'll go day after tomorrow. Is that OK with you?"

"I could use a few things as well. Let me make a list. I'll stay here at the motel and finish up what needs to be done before we open. We should be able to turn the highway sign on next week."

Jeffrey got his pen and paper and began making a list. Secretly, he was looking forward to Maria being gone so he could perform his first test of Freedom. He was pretty sure the test he was planning would work. He had been over and over it in his mind, tweaking the ingredients and adding and deleting various materials. He had an uncanny ability to mentally put different compounds together and envision the finished experiment in his mind before it had ever been tested. It was one of his strong suits as a scientist. He felt confident that the experiment he was contemplating would work, but you never knew until it was tested.

Two days later, Jeffrey kissed Maria good-bye and told her to drive safely. As the dust kicked up by Maria's van faded into the distance, he quickly went down to the lab, assembled the materials he'd need, and began his work. It took many long hours to get the right combination of different ingredients. Jeffrey worked late into the day, but finally, the time had come to test Freedom. Would it work?

He slowly opened the valve on the compressed gas container and heard the low, familiar hiss of gas being released from the container. The container looked like a green oxygen tank, similar to the type commonly seen in hospitals and used to dispense oxygen to a patient. It was four feet high and constructed of round, heavy gauge steel. The regulator mechanism to release the gas at the selected rate was located on the top.

When he was building the laboratory, Jeffrey had purchased fifty of the tanks from a Los Angeles medical recycling company and had them shipped to his laboratory. The gas being released from the container was his own invention and design. He had attached a small hose to the regulator located on top of the compressed gas cylinder. The hose was connected to the air-conditioning duct that led to all the motel rooms, the office, and their home. The Freedom gas itself was colorless and odorless; however, Jeffery had added a slight amount of sandalwood scent to give the gas a distinctive, yet pleasant, aroma.

A powerful fan pushed the gas through the air-conditioning ducts. The jerry-rigged system of hoses, vents, and fans looked as if it was working perfectly. He was pleased that his invention seemed to be performing just as he had anticipated. His months of careful planning were taking shape. The Freedom drug was on its way to its first test site. Now it was up to him to see if it would work on a human being as he had planned.

He ran up the steps from the basement and made his way to the Blue Coyote office. There was a slight scent of sandalwood in the room. He stood quietly for a few minutes, breathing in the scented air that was coming out of a vent high on the wall behind the reception desk. Jeffrey didn't notice any side effects. He didn’t feel dizzy or sick to his stomach. Actually, he felt pretty good.

Jeffrey left the motel office and walked into the courtyard outside the office. He let himself into the empty motel room located across from the office. He didn't detect any sandalwood, which meant there was no seepage from one room to another. The air-conditioning system had been designed by Jeffery so that the flow of Freedom's air could be manipulated from room to room by the controls he had installed in the lab.

He went back to his lab and turned the control valve so the Freedom mixture would enter the motel room he had just been in, but not the others. After he walked back up the stairs, he entered the room and now detected the scent. He walked into the room next to it, detecting no odor. The pipes and vents were working perfectly.

Next, he needed to see if the dosage level of the mixture would produce the "good feeling" he was hoping for. He poured himself a cup of coffee, got his latest copy of Scientific American, and sat down on the leather couch in the office. An hour later he felt better than he had ever felt in his life.

Jeffrey dialed Maria's cell phone. She answered on the first ring. "Maria, is there any way you could come back this evening instead of tomorrow? Nothing is wrong, but my experiment, the one I briefly told you about, the "feel-good" one, seems to be working out better than I had expected. I can't wait to see what you think and how it makes you feel.”

"That's great." Maria said. "The timing is absolutely perfect. The 'wet wool' feeling I always get just before a bout of depression has started. I'm on my way to the gallery to pick up the Navajo rugs. It's my last stop. I have an appointment at the gallery in a few minutes, so I can be home in about three hours. I love you and thank you for doing this for me."

Maria couldn't wait to get home to Jeffrey and the experiment. She bought eight of the Navajo rugs; one for the office, the refreshment area, their home and the rest for the guest rooms. They were truly works of art. She knew she was spending a lot of money on the motel, but she had convinced herself it was a wise investment. She hoped it would appeal to people and perhaps they would stay at the Blue Coyote whenever they were in the area. She hoped it would be a "word of mouth" success.

Jeffrey was really pleased. The months of mulling everything over in his mind had paid off. He knew he had discovered something that drug companies would be very interested in purchasing. As he waited for Maria, he thought about how he should market the mixture. He was pretty sure he could easily sell it for a huge sum of money. If he tried to sell it here in the United States, issues would be raised about clinical trial tests and there would be a long waiting period. The FDA would no doubt put a ban on using it while they did testing. Other countries didn't have the strict regulations that stifled the development of new drugs in the United States. When new drugs were developed outside of the United States, they could be sold at a much lower cost because the years of research and development needed in the United States were pretty much side-stepped at overseas locations. Jeffrey thought the pendulum had swung a little too far here in the good old U.S. of A.