Everything to Lose (16 page)

26

Electrophysiology
lab

Gavin felt Suzie's sharp steely eyes pierce his head. He saw the veins in her neck were protruding fiercely. She looked ready to blast him with some riot act about not poaching technicians or not seeking confidential information from technicians or not going behind her back to undermine her academic position or some other transgression.

"I
run the judo club at Kinmalcolm. I thought he'd help me organise an inter-university match. I was told he's in the University team."

"I
see. Well ... okay. Well ... fine. The last time he was seen was after a judo match in the Student Union," Suzie sounded embarrassed.

"What
do you mean last seen?"

"He's
gone AWOL."

"Do
you think something happened to him?" Gavin asked and thought he could keep going while she was on the ropes.

"I
hope not. He's an excellent technician. It's not like him to dropout like this and leave me in the lurch."

"I'm
sure he'll turn up."

"He'd
better. He's got a lot to lose. He's due a big payment for the work he did on our energy project."

"Your
energy project. Oh yes I've read your paper on that work."

"We've
developed a product to boost energy for improved athlete performance," she said proudly.

"Wouldn't
that be considered cheating?"

"People
take carbs for energy and they're not banned. Our product will fall into that natural category. People will take carbs for energy plus our product to max the energy efficiency. Our product will be on sale in pharmacies for everyone so there is no unfair advantage," she said and sounded like a sharp saleswoman.

"Which
energy system are we talking about?"

"None
other than the king of energy, adenosine tri-phosphate."

"ATP
of course. I should have guessed. What are you doing with it?"

"We
have a catalyst that can get it into action faster and deliver more energy to muscles. What do you think?"

"From
what I've read I have to say I'm not convinced."

"We've
only published preliminary studies. We have to keep the main stuff under wraps for the moment," she said to counter his doubt.

"Why?"

"Commercialisation. We'll have our product 80PGen on the market in a few weeks."

"Some
of your results have got me confused."

"What
results?"

"It
was the first paper on the cycle ergometer trials. You reported an eighteen percent increase in muscle power output. I don't understand how you could achieve an increase of that level."

"Impressive
isn't it. Look I'm going to tell you a secret Dr Shawlens. I'm bursting to tell someone," she smiled wildly.

"I
do love secrets."

"The
Olympic record for men's four kilometre individual pursuit sprint is four minutes fifteen seconds," she gushed out.

"Okay."

"One of our cyclists has done it in three minutes fifty-eight seconds. Unofficially!" she gushed again.

"A
one off?"

"No
that's it. He did it three times in succession."

"Wow.
Seventeen seconds off the record. How is that possible?"

"The
catalyst delivers more energy into the muscle. The muscle works harder. Performance is greater," she said with authority.

"I
can't argue with that. So how does 80PGen achieve this?"

"It
increases the efficiency of the ATP reaction."

Gavin
Shawlens smiled back at her the way he often does to one of his students who has got the wrong end of the stick. He moved over to a white board, picked up a marker pen and wrote the ATP reaction on the board.

Adenosine-P-P-P
==> adenosine-P-P + P + 1 energy packet.

He
wrote the word muscle above the word energy and drew a looped arrow from energy to muscle.

"You're
kidding right? This is already a very efficient biochemical reaction honed by billions of years of evolution. You can't suddenly make it better," he said in his softest put down voice.

She
smiled back at him, took the marker pen from his hand and wrote a new equation under his.

Adenosine-P-P-P
==> adenosine + 3P + 3 energy packets.

She
drew a looped arrow from her word energy to his word muscle and beside her arrow she wrote x3.

"Are
you saying you can release the three packets of energy from ATP in a single step," he asked and almost couldn't believe his words.

"Yes."

"Jeesus. That's brilliant. A masterpiece."

He
stepped back from the board and his jaw dropped as he took in the magnitude of what she had just told him.

"This
is worthy of a Nobel Prize. It's awesome. Really awesome," he said and she saw astonishment in his face.

"I
knew you would appreciate what we've achieved."

"Why
not publish this? You'll be famous in five minutes."

"A
Nobel Prize doesn't make serious money. Our product will give us the money to open our own independent lab and do the research we want to do and not what research councils want us to do. We want a noble prize; The Buzzwall Institute of Advanced Sports Biology."

"Arise
and be recognised, Professor Suzie Griffan," he announced.

"I
don't mind if I do," she replied with a coy expression.

"So
then. Who is the biochemical genius that achieved this?"

"The
commercial backers are the biochemists."

"I
can't believe this. This is such an enormous discovery. Do you think they'd let me get involved? I could do some enzyme work," he pleaded with her.

"What
kind of enzyme work?"

"There
are loads of metabolic pathways that depend on the ATP reaction for energy. There are millions of experiments waiting to be done with a faster ATP reaction. I need to think which one to start with. There are some key metabolic energy bottlenecks. What if these energy bottlenecks can be overcome? What would that do to human metabolism? This is so exciting."

"I
know. It's fantastic isn't it?"

"Totally
amazing. So how does the body cope with this?"

"What
do you mean?"

"With
every action there is a reaction. Your catalyst will release lots of phosphate faster than normal. How does the body deal with that?"

"Not
sure I understand you."

"ATP
isn't consumed; it's recycled in mitochondria. Three energy packets are not normally released at once because recycling is slower. Fast energy release and slow recycle will cause a phosphate imbalance. Scale that up and you'll have surplus phosphate."

"Won't
the body scrap the surplus phosphate?"

"The
body scraps waste Suzie. Phosphate isn't waste. It's too valuable to scrap."

"I
see," she said and felt a swarm of panicky butterflies in her stomach.

Suzie's
neck started to flush red and it spread up into her lower cheeks. She had worried that the whole project was too good to be true. She never liked the commercial partners and didn't like their methods.
SHIT!
SHIT!
SHIT!
She thought.

"Let
me get this right. Your product can strip phosphate out of ATP faster than muscle mitochondria can recycle the phosphate back into ATP. It will generate a surplus so what happens to the surplus?" he said as he stared at the equations on the white board.

"I
... I don't know. All I know is muscles stay at peak longer giving great performance."

"Did
your subjects experience any side effects during the trials, any biochemical disturbances?"

"I
would be lying if I said there was nothing. We have some glitches," she confessed.

"Anything
I can help with?"

"That's
kind of you, maybe you could. We have an issue with heat."

"What
kind of issue?"

"You
know athletes. You tell them one dose of 80PGen is what they need and they'll go away and take three doses. The product is supposed to be taken orally but some inject into the muscle because it works more quickly. High doses seem to generate a lot of heat," she said and he heard fear in her voice like she shouldn't be telling.

"Heat.
Does 80PGen alters their TEM?"

"What's
TEM?"

"It's
the thermal effect of a meal."

"Sorry,
what's the relevance of TEM?"

"When
we eat a meal about ten percent of the energy in the food is used to produce heat. When we eat surplus food the body helps maintain constant weight by burning off some surplus energy as heat," he lectured.

"Okay
why is this important for us?"

"The
mechanism involves unhooking normal ATP metabolism and shunting the energy away from ATP production to heat production. Some people have a high capacity to burn surplus energy as heat.'"

"Oh
you mean like my boyfriend Dave. He can eat everything in sight and not gain any weight."

"His
surplus food energy is burned off as heat."

She
looked a little more comfortable and she led him back into her office and they sat down at her desk.

"While
others and I'm one of them have a low capacity to produce heat. My surplus energy is used to make stored fat."

"
I understand, in fact that's me too," she replied and patted her waist.

"Maybe
your subjects produce more heat because 80PGen shunts more energy toward heat production."

"Can
the heat production thing be turned down?"

"Of
course it's simple enough to block the shunt with enzyme inhibitors."

"What
inhibitors?" she fired back at him.

"How
does 80PGen make ATP give up its three packets of energy?"

"Sorry
that's secret until we have patents and all that stuff finalised. Do I understand you correctly? You are saying heat production can be controlled with some simple inhibitors."

"I
would need to do some work on suitable inhibitors but yes I am."

"If
you can nail this heat problem then our commercial backers will cut you in for a share of the profits. You'll become very wealthy. You would have the funds to do all the enzyme studies you want to do."

"It
has occurred to me that maybe you have something even more important than an energy boost for athletes."

"What's
that?"

"Just
the ultimate diet pill. Take 80PGen with food and more energy will be shunted to heat than fat. Eat what you like. Don't get fat just get warm. Think about it," he said excitedly.

"The
backers haven't said anything about a diet pill."

"They
should be thinking about it because the potential is enormous."

"Maybe
we should look into it," she said meaning her and him.

"Who
are the commercial backers?"

"I'll
tell Professor Buzzwall what you've said. He's the academic liaison. I'm sure they'll all want to meet you and talk about these points," she said and stood up.

She
offered her hand and as he stood up he shook hands with her.

"I'll
be in touch," she said as he walked out of her office.

27

Petersfield
,
Hampshire

Zoe Tampin smiled as she paused at the drinks trolley to top-up her coffee while listening to her team discussing the latest ill-conceived government tax on vacant bedrooms in local council owned homes.

"Someone
put a whole minute's thought into the bedroom tax," Rolley said and everyone laughed.

Zoe
had called them together for a catch-up meeting with Alan Cairn in a conference room in the Lainstorm House Hotel in Petersfield. She had chosen a charming 17th century country house standing elegantly in twenty-two acres of beautiful Hampshire parkland. It oozed quality and featured an old traditional courtyard with delicate archways on three walls. The hotel had served a good dinner and they were finishing off the cheese and biscuits with tea and coffee. Both Gavin and Rolley ignored an international
a
la
carte
menu and had a fillet steak.

"What
does that mundane choice tell you about these two academics?" Zoe whispered to Elaine.

"They
don't eat out much," Elaine replied and Zoe agreed.

The
meeting was primarily for Alan Cairn because Zoe contacted each team member two or three times each day to ensure she was always on top of developments. During dinner she quizzed and queried each of them to make sure they were best prepared to update Alan Cairn.

While
they finished off their tea and coffee Zoe set up a conference call using the phone projector function on her SEM phone. She set it up so that Alan Cairn could watch and listen to the group and they could see him projected on a screen. When Alan Cairn was online he asked Zoe to chair the meeting and said he would chip-in as and when required.

Zoe
asked Elaine if there were any operational issues. Elaine reported no negative ripples in the University relating to Gavin Shawlens or Rolley Morgan. No one had queried or questioned their qualifications or raised any concerns about their visit to the University.

Elaine
reported that she had told Professor Wood that the Home Office required an update on the status of Jemard P Edmond. She said Wood reported back that Jemard was training with a new coach on mountain roads in Europe and that he was in regular contact with Professor Buzzwall. She concluded that either he was lying or being lied to. Elaine said she would try to find another way to increase the pressure.

Zoe
asked Rolley to give an update on his progress. Rolley had been tasked to sound out other academics for concerns or suspicions about the Department of Sports Biology and join the cycling club.

Rolley
said the Physics staff didn't consider Sports Biology staff to be real scientists, didn't mix with them, didn't attend Sports Biology seminars and wouldn't dream of collaborating with them. He said he didn't get anything useful from his Physics colleagues.

He
said he had joined the cycling club and had been to six road-training sessions. He found out that a top cyclist in the club called Philip Pallston was openly supplying drugs and blood doping to amateur and professional cyclists, including Jemard Edmond. Rolley said he heard others mention Oliver Mansole as a person who could supply drugs.

"What
kind of drugs?" Alan Cairn asked.

Rolley
said they were sports drugs such as growth hormone, steroids and EPO. He also reported that the physio room in the sports club was set-up for blood doping and that Phil Pallston had offered to train Rolley on how to dope his own blood.

Rolley
reported hearing a lot of excited talk that Jemard's new designer drug that gave racers a great finishing edge and that some racers were keen to try it out. He said that with Zoe's approval he had bought drugs form Phil to gain his confidence and planned to ask Phil for a supply of the new drug.

He
placed packets of testosterone vials on the table. He said Phil was still wary but he expected he would supply. Rolley said he wanted to make a second drugs purchase to increase his credibility as a buyer. He said he'd told Phil he was preparing for a regional road race. Alan Cairn confirmed that if it was necessary he should proceed. They all laughed when Rolley said that he couldn't ask for a receipt.

"Good
work Rolley. Obtain a sample of the new drug for analysis," Alan said.

"If
Oliver Mansole is dealing and Jemard's death is drug related. Is that not a matter for the drug squad?" Zoe asked Alan.

"Yes
if it's as simple as that. To protect the University's reputation we must be certain that University staff and research facilities are not being used to design illegal drugs."

"Gavin
what progress have you made?" Zoe asked.

Gavin
Shawlens reminded them that he'd been tasked to infiltrate the Sports Biology Department, evaluate their research publications, look for links to research student Jemard Edmond and technician Oliver Mansole and join the judo club.

He
reported that his integration into the Sports Biology research community was going well. He had given a seminar and met all of the key researchers in the department. He told the team that as lead scientist he had evaluated the research publications and agreed with CASTER that the eight identified research papers were based on fake results probably provided by an unknown commercial partner.

"Good
I'll let CASTER know that you agree. What convinced you?" Alan asked.

"They
have neither the equipment nor the staff expertise to generate the results they have published. When I quizzed Dr Griffan about some of the results she was confused, clammed up and referred me to Prof Buzzwall. I am certain Buzzwall's group didn't produce the results in these papers and worse Griffan doesn't even understand them."

"In
layman's terms what have they been up to?" Alan asked.

Gavin
Shawlens told them about the energy molecule ATP that supplies packets of energy for all work done in the body. Each ATP molecule carries three packets of energy. Each packet is released in a controlled sequence to enable efficient recycling. He said Suzie Griffan told him they had developed a method to release all three packets of energy from ATP in one shot so muscles receive three times the energy and work much harder.

"Is
it possible?" Alan asked.

"Theoretically
you can release all three energy packets. It's far from normal to do it in one go. They have reported spectacular improvements in sports performance attributed to their product providing an energy boost."

"Is
it safe to release that amount of energy?" Rolley asked.

"Yes.
I think the body adapts to the surplus by producing additional heat."

"I
understand. Is there any news on the location of Oliver Mansole?" Alan interrupted to head off an academic discussion.

"The
students in my tutorial group know him. One of them is arranging for me to meet his aunt. He believes she is hiding him."

"His
name?" Alan asked.

"Tyler
Wattsin, final year student."

"Anything
from the judo club?"

"I've
not joined that yet. I've had a lot of teaching to prepare in the evening. Also I'm following up another lead," Gavin said defensively.

"What
other lead?"

Gavin
Shawlens told them about his meeting with Laraine McSwann. He told them her husband Bob McSwann provided personal training for the University sports clubs including cycling. He added that Robert McSwann and Oliver Mansole were close friends and that Bob McSwann had left the family home suddenly nine months ago. He said Laraine McSwann had told him Oliver Mansole was a drugs supplier and that Professor Buzzwall and two thugs had questioned Laraine about Mansole and his stash of drugs.

"I
looked into Mr McSwann as Gavin requested but I'm not sure where this fits in this jigsaw," Elaine said.

"Robert
McSwann was Jemard Edmond's trainer. Given Rolley's comment about blood doping in the cycling club; I think McSwann was involved. Jemard is dead and McSwann is missing. His friend Oliver Mansole has disappeared. It's all too much for a coincidence. I think if we get Robert McSwann he might tell us more about what Jemard was doing and explain why he was killed. He might also lead us to Oliver Mansole."

"Buzzwall
has shown his hand and it's looking decidedly dirty. If there is a link between Buzzwall and the supply of sports drugs then we have to open that up. Now we're making progress," Alan said.

A
proud smiled slipped onto Zoe's face.
Good
for
you
she thought.

"Sir,
can you begin a location search for Robert McSwann? Elaine will send you his details."

"Okay
Zoe I'll get that moving. I have a question for the academics. Do we have a solid backfire in the Department of Sports Biology?"

"Gavin?"
Zoe asked him to lead.

Zoe
saw in Rolley's face he was unprepared so she pushed it first to Gavin.

"I
believe so. The Department has no expertise for complex biochemical work and didn't do the research work that was published. They have a commercial collaborator who I think gave them a fantastic set of results but I think the provenance is dubious.

I
searched the University's ethics approval committee minutes and Home Office ethics approvals. Staff in Sports Biology have never applied for or received ethics approval for studies on energy or ATP in human subjects. That means trials were conducted on human beings without ethics approval.

If
they launch their product 80PGen using the University's prestige and credibility and it is found to be based on illegal and dubious research then that will backfire on the University big time," Gavin said confidently.

"Thanks
for that Gavin. Follow up the Wattsin and McSwann leads. I will let Zoe know when I have a location for Robert McSwann. Try and find time to join the judo club. There might be similar stories to the cycling club," Alan said.

"If
necessary I'll join the judo club," Zoe said.

"Rolley,"
she handed over to him.

"I
can't comment on ATP or the assessment given by Dr Shawlens. It's not my area but I am certain there is a strong sideline running sport drugs and blood doping from the cycling club. If University staff are abusing their position for illegal gain then criminal charges will damage the University's reputation. That's how it looks to me at the moment. I need more evidence before I can say the University is complicit in this activity."

"Thanks
Rolley. You push on with the cycling club angle and see what falls out. We need to know if the University has plausible deniability or not," Alan said.

"That's
good Rolley," Zoe said and softly patted his arm.

"Well
done all of you and thanks for this catch-up. First class work. I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of this quickly. Then we can all get back to our day jobs. Good night."

As
Zoe Tampin returned her phone to normal mode she echoed Alan Cairn's praise and she felt proud of her team. Their performance reflected well on her as team leader. It's one thing leading a troop of soldiers or agents who will do exactly what they are told. A very different thing trying to lead a group of academics who question everything and frequently don't do what they're told to do.

At
her first briefing Alan Cairn warned Zoe that leading a team of academics was worse than herding cats. Alan had already congratulated Zoe on her team's progress and in particular he commended Zoe for successfully managing Gavin Shawlens in his fragile state of mind.