Hi-Tech Hijack (10 page)

On the last night before returning to England, Aubrey took Rose and Eddie out to dinner at a luxurious restaurant in the north of Tel Aviv. A ’95 chardonnay from the Golan Heights winery accompanied the platters of fresh seafood covered in a butter and garlic sauce exuding a delicious aroma. During the meal Aubrey could not contain his excitement, and after the main courses were finished as they were waiting for their desserts, he took out a sealed envelope from his jacket pocket and handed it to Eddie.

“Eddie, you’ve told me a lot about your business dream and your enthusiasm has rubbed off on me. In this envelope there is a check for three quarters of a million pounds, and I would like for you to sign me up as an investor in your start-up. The check is in Rose’s name, since you haven’t started your company yet, but as soon as you do, she will endorse it to the company.”

Rose and Eddie were blown away. Rose sat there gaping, and Eddie, normally so sensible and cool headed, seemed totally confused for a full minute, trying unsuccessfully to say something—anything.

Finally he came to his senses and said, “I’m absolutely shocked, Aubrey. You know I haven’t started looking for investors yet, or even wrote down a business plan that would prove there is a feasibility or a chance for profitability behind my madness. This is a huge sum that completely sorts out the need to fundraise for seed money, but I can’t accept this from you. It’d be unwise to invest in me just yet.

“Eddie, my friend, I don’t know much about biotechnology, but I do know one or two things about people. I’ve gotten to know you, and I have great faith in your willpower, your wisdom, and your determination. I am prepared to take a risk and invest in your company. I’ve accumulated substantial funds over the years, and this check won’t make much of a dent on my way of life. It won’t harm Rose’s inheritance either, which is safely tucked away in separate accounts. I usually invest in solid shares of the classic industry at the London stock market. Over the past few years, I’ve started to envy the thriving hi-tech stocks, but haven’t dared investing in them since I don’t feel confident I understand this industry. As luck would have it, you’ve presented me with the opportunity to put my money into something I feel is going to be big, and I do so happily.”

“But Aubrey, at least wait until I have a business plan written down. Then you can consider the matter more seriously.”

“Eddie, in my experience a business plan is a nice piece of paper that is usually overly optimistic and aimed at luring in investors. It’s meant to get people to invest in a business and a team they don’t really know at a much higher price than the writers of the plan actually believe in themselves. I’m confident I’ve gotten to know more about you than any business plan could tell me, so we can just skip that part.”

“I don’t know how to thank you, Aubrey. What you’re offering here will save me at least a year of fundraising. In the blink of an eye you’re turning my dream into a reality and making it possible for me to go straight ahead to building the company. I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep soundly knowing how easily you’ve decided to invest and how much confidence you have in me.”

“I’ve not decided this easily. I told you, having faith in the entrepreneur and manager is more important to me than a business plan. I feel I’ve gotten to know you well enough so that I can trust you. I hope you’ll do your best to prove me right and make the project a success so that I can get my money’s worth. As for sleeping well at night—if at the end of each day you’re at peace with what you’ve done, then you won’t have any trouble sleeping.”

“Can I take a few days to consider your offer?”

“It’d be a shame, Eddie, for you to waste your energy courting after those arrogant venture funds you’ve told me about. The best thing would be for you to focus your efforts on what you’re good at—building the company and leading it forward toward the goals you have set yourself. The money will be available to you via Rose as early as tomorrow. Over the next few months, once you have your business plan and team all assembled, we’ll look at it together and see how feasible it is. I promise you if I don’t approve of things I’ll withdraw my money with the expenses involved in creating the plan deducted.”

“What amount of shares are you asking in return for your investment?” asked Eddie, settling down a bit and trying to steer the conversation to more practical matters.

“I would suggest a third of the shares would go to me, a third to you, and another third would be set aside for the team members you’ll be recruiting. When the time comes and more funds need to be raised, all our shares will be diluted unless I want to enter the second round of investment as well. In that case, I’ll do so according to the value of the company at that point, minus twenty percent, which means I’ll be given a twenty percent preference over any additional investor that would want to join in.”

“That sounds more than fair,” said Eddie, still shocked by the unexpected move.

The desserts were served to the table, and the conversation was momentarily stopped by sighs of pleasure. “By the way,” said Aubrey, breaking the silence once he thought Eddie had had enough time to digest the pleasant surprise, “I don’t intend to participate in any board or stockholder’s meetings. I’ll give Rose power of attorney so that she can fill in for me at the stockholders’ assembly, and if she wants, she can transfer it over to you so that you can represent her as well.”

“Consider it transferred!” cried Rose happily and patted Eddie on the back.

“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you having so much faith in me. It puts an even greater responsibility on me not to fail you, and I promise to do whatever it takes for your investment to be worthwhile. With your permission, Aubrey, I’d like to state in the company regulations that if you find it necessary, you can claim the head seat at the company’s board of directors and that you also have the right to veto any joining investors. It’s important to me that the partners who will join the company in the next round will be Okayed by you.”

“It’s settled.” Aubrey raised his glass of sweet Muscat wine that complimented the series of desserts and touched Eddie’s glass. Rose raised her glass as well and toasted them both, her face beaming with joy and happiness at the two men in her life.

Rose spent the night at her father’s hotel room in Tel Aviv as it was his last night in Israel, and Eddie drove back to his parents’ house by himself. He was too excited to sleep. He sat out on the terrace staring into the night’s darkness. In his mind’s eye he could already envision what the company’s offices and labs would look like, and his brain kept going back and forth on the sums of money required and the time it should last. He was too wired to sit at his desk and actually type in data into the computer.

“I’m going to crack you, Ebola,” he whispered to himself, floating on the wings of imagination and already thinking about potential candidates to bring into the company.

As the initial excitement started to subside, the thought of where the money was coming from began to pester him. He had been in no way prepared for Aubrey’s proposal. The first thought that came to his mind was that the money might spoil the purity of his relationship with Rose. He did not like being dependent on others and certainly did not want his love to be dependent on this. He also wondered if Rose saw things the same way, or whether if having been raised in a wealthy home she did not perceive of her father’s proposal as something that would hold Eddie forever in her debt.

The worst possible thing would be if she thought her father’s gesture forces me to stay involved with her
, he thought. He tried to push these troubling thoughts aside, but they floated back to the surface.
On the other hand, had I insisted not to accept his offer, I could risk offending both Aubrey and Rose
. Eddie felt the events were out of his control, and he was unable to steer them.
Everything about my relationship with Rose was out of my hands. Our week in London aside, which I initiated, everything was accidental. In Zimbabwe we met by chance, coming to Israel was Rose’s idea, and had it not been for the attack—or had I started work that week—I would surely have been able to spend much less time with her. And the attack—are my feelings for her today really love, or am I still carrying a guilty conscience about the fact that she was hurt because she came to see me?

All these questions drove him to his desk and he turned on his computer. To his surprise he found an e-mail from Amit, who was supposed to move on from Africa to Australia a month before that. In his letter, Amit said he decided to put off the trip to Australia indefinitely and stay in South Africa, since he had met someone and fallen in love. He wrote with such confidence and joy about his love of only a few weeks, and Eddie felt jealous of Amit’s personality—one that did not allow unnecessary insecurities to put a damper on his happiness. He did not feel like answering Amit’s question (
And how are things with you?
) with much detail. But he felt obligated to give Amit a genuine response. As he typed, he found himself going further and further into details, clarifying and specifying how he felt not only to Amit, but also to himself.

You see, Amit
, he wrote,
I’m worried because my love for Rose doesn’t sweep me off my feet like what you’re describing. In my case I have so many question marks that are bothering me, and my conscience is bugging me. I have to put it off for a few months. I’m sure she loves me. No one has ever been so open and spontaneous in showing me love the way she does. She is free from keeping scores and simply loves me while I’m torn with all these questions. And I’m sure she can feel that my love for her isn’t as complete as her love for me is. How that must make her feel . . .

He wrote on and on for a long while, open like he was with no one but Amit, his closest friend. Amit’s response was short:

I’m sorry to see you’re still the same old you—choosing to torment yourself with questions instead of making the most of love and the amazing opportunities life has thrown in your path. Stop doing that! I have to go now, talk to you soon. Amit
.

Typical
, thought Eddie, and he smiled in envy of his friend who could see the world with such simplicity. As he got ready to go to bed he came to a conclusion.

First we’ll live together for a few months somewhere other than my parents’ house. And then, only if I’m sure of my love for her, I’ll agree to accept Aubrey’s money
. Before he fell asleep, Eddie made up his mind to go to the airport first thing in the morning to explain his concerns to Aubrey and to ask him to postpone his investment for a while.

Exhausted with all the thoughts and excitement Eddie woke up the next day at 7:00 a.m. He jumped up from bed only to realize it was too late—Aubrey’s plane was going to take off shortly. There was no way he could catch him and talk. Suddenly he remembered he once again had forgotten to call his sister Dalia, who was probably sure he was ignoring her and concocting all sorts of far-fetched interpretations by now. Angry and upset he got up and started pacing back and forth in the yard, completely at a loss as to what he should do. He knew the conversation he had to have with Aubrey was not one they could have over the phone. He might offend both Aubrey and Rose. With a snap of his fingers he might ruin his still-forming relationship with Rose, who would surely learn of the talk and would be hurt by his lack of confidence in his love for her.

He grabbed a hoe and started furiously removing the weeds that had taken over the tree holes in the yard. He took out his anger at the stubborn roots for a long while. He struck the soil with the hoe and pulled out the roots with his hands, one by one, picturing to himself that they were cancer metastases that he was destroying with his tamed Ebola virus. When the last hole was all clean, he knew he had two options: to lose the investment and perhaps Rose, and jeopardize the possibility of making his life’s dream a reality, or to embrace the chance or luck that put Rose, the attack, and her dad in his path at this time, just like Amit wrote. He resolved to thank fate and play along.

Rose returned from the airport in the afternoon. She insisted to get back by herself and took the bus as an exercise in integrating into Israel, as she said. Eddie welcomed her with a hug and a joyous smile, content with his decision to let fate guide the way.

The next day Eddie called Ronit and reminded her of their talk at the pub a few weeks earlier.

“Eddie? I was afraid you went off to America without saying good-bye!” said Ronit, surprised that she got his call. “It’s so good to hear from you.”

“I wouldn’t go without calling and letting you know, Ronit. It’s just that a lot has happened for me over the last couple of months. I’ve decided to stay in Israel and start my company around my Ebola idea. I’d like to meet with you and Reuben. I’d love to hear your take on all this and perhaps make an offer to your husband to consider joining me.”

“We’d be happy to meet. Reuben is still exploring some options and hasn’t made a decision yet.”

“Where should we meet?”

“Why don’t you come over to our place for coffee this afternoon? My shift is over soon, and I’ll make sure Reuben will join us. We live in Hod HaSharon. It’ll be better to have this kind of talk at home quietly rather than at the busy pub.”

“It’s a date.”

Rose declined Eddie’s offer to join the meeting. She thought it best for Eddie to spearhead the move by himself without feeling the investor’s representative is looking over his shoulder.

Ronit waited for Eddie at her doorstep and greeted him with a handshake and an army-like pat on the shoulder. They made no direct eye contact, and she showed him in. Slightly embarrassed by the intrusion into Ronit’s private world, Eddie followed her to the warm and pleasant sitting room. Reuben and Eddie fell into conversation about Reuben’s professional experience.

“So how’s the start-up going?” asked Ronit after serving the coffee and cake and joining them.

“It’s going a lot faster than I thought, which you can gather since I haven’t gone to the States.”

“I thought a lot about what you told us and took a peek at some databases, and you were right—no one in the world has gone into deep research about the Ebola epidemic or about the subdivision of the virus into several strands. There’s no vaccine development to this day either. I found some mention of the suspicion that the apartheid-era governments of South Africa and Rhodesia performed brutal experiments in bioweapons on local villages in the remote border areas of their countries using the deadly virus. There are also some rumors that the Soviet Union developed a spray that renders the Ebola virus airborne and that they experimented in Africa.”

“Yes,” said Eddie. “I think that harmful side of things is the reason no one has thought about using this virus to the benefit of humankind. The phenomenon that drew my attention was the piece of information that came to light in the late eighties: it turned out that certain types of monkeys that were living in Southeast Asia, and specifically in the Philippines, were carriers of the virus, but were not affected by it. Even more amazing, humans who caught this strand of the virus were able to develop antibodies and did not become ill.”

“Then perhaps it wasn’t the same virus? Not the Ebola, I mean?” asked Reuben.

“DNA tests confirmed it was the same virus, or at least when they were performed five years ago it was impossible to detect any differences. That’s exactly what draws me to explore this issue.”

“How was the non-deadly virus discovered?” Ronit was intrigued.

“It was discovered by chance when some monkeys from the Philippines were transported to Virginia, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Sienna, Italy. I think I mentioned the name of this specific virus when we met last. It’s called the Ebola Reston, and the workers that handled the monkeys were sick with some sort of fever that faded after a few days without causing any serious damage.”

“And what did you think when you learned these facts?” asked Reuben.

“A virus attaches itself to a healthy or sick cell, absorbs itself into it and demolishes the original cell without the body recognizing the symbiosis. If a combination of the two could be created so that the bad virus would be directed to attacking sick cells in the human body and destroy them, and the ‘good’ virus directed to stopping it from spreading and destroying the entire body, then I could harness this aggressive virus for healing purposes. The challenge is to create a mutation that combines the aggressiveness of the Congolese virus with the passivity of the Philippine strand and create a sophisticated weapon to destroy metastasized cancer cells. The combined virus would attack the cancerous cells and destroy them using the cell’s own self-destruct mechanism.”

“I must admit there is some sense in your idea to combine the bad virus and the good one. It isn’t completely far-fetched,” said Ronit. These sorts of ideas can go either way: they can either turn their owners into millionaires, or they can be forgotten and neglected. In this case I have a feeling there’s a good probability your assumptions are correct and that it’s worth a shot.” Reuben started to get excited and looked at Ronit for confirmation.

“Would you be willing to take the risk and put in two years of your professional life to check the feasibility of such a project?” asked Eddie.

“In principle, yes. I’d of course, like to have a deeper understanding of the subject matter, but we definitely have something to talk about.”

“Well, Eddie, sounds like you’ve recruited the first employee to your company.” Ronit smiled.

“My first partner. A man of Reuben’s experience and training can definitely fill in the slot of expertise I’m lacking in the field of mathematical processing and statistical analysis that the genetics field requires. And besides, he’s several years older than me and more experienced, which can never hurt; and most importantly,” said Eddie, looking directly at Ronit, “he’s your husband, so if he passed your acceptance trial, I’m sure he’s someone I can trust. I think your medical expertise can also be of use to the scientific side of things.”

“I’d be happy to help in any case, but the decision is up to Reuben.”

“In that case,” said Eddie, turning to Reuben,” I’d like to offer you to join Ebocell as a partner, and I intend to register it as a company in the next few days.”

“You even have a name already.”

“You know, I didn’t get much sleep last night. So after I finished counting all the sheep in Hefer Valley and still wasn’t sleepy, I tried to come up with a name for the company. This is the name I fell asleep with, and the one I woke up with this morning.”

“And what about the capital? Coming here today must mean you have some ideas in that direction,” insisted Reuben.

“I have much more than just an idea,” said Eddie, smiling. “I have a check for seven hundred and fifty thousand pounds, which I estimate can finance the company for the first two years.” Eddie took great pleasure in surprising the Nevo couple and his eyes followed Ronit’s reaction.

“That’s unbelievable! How did you manage that so quickly?”

Eddie filled Ronit and Reuben in on what had happened to him over the last two months.

“Why didn’t you bring Rose with you so that we could get to know her?” asked Ronit. Something in her sparkling eyes died down.

“She didn’t feel she had to take part in a business meeting.”

“An interesting approach,” commented Ronit, and she said no more.

“I’d be happy to join your company.” Reuben steered the conversation back to business. “Ronit spoke so highly of you and that to me says we can get along. As for the idea, I told you that very first night we met at the pub I thought it sounded great. Along with the investment, you have the three fundamental terms—a gifted team, an idea that answers a vital need, and capital. The three requirements necessary for success are there. My answer is yes.” Reuben held out his hand to Eddie and they shook hands.

“Well then, that means we can start working,” said Eddie, smiling and wondering whether he should tell Reuben what he learned from his friends at the coffee bar in Ness Ziona about the frustrations and failures of 95 percent of the start-ups during their first three years.

When he returned home late, Rose and his parents had already gone to bed. He went up to Rose’s room and found her waiting for him, half asleep. He kissed her forehead. “I’ll join you in a bit,” he said and left the room before she was completely awake.

Thrilled with the latest developments, he sat down at his computer. He reread his letter to Amit and Amit’s response.

I really am a fool with these insecurities
, he told himself. Then he called his sister Dalia in Los Angeles. Dalia, the sandwich child only three years older than him, was very close to him over the years. As a kid he would share everything with her, and even though many years have passed and they grew apart, he still felt comfortable sharing what he was going through with her.

He told her briefly about his African trip and then went into a bit more details about starting his company and about the unusual circumstances that made it possible.

“So, is Rose the love of your life, Eddie?” asked Dalia, jumping at the opportunity to catch up with her brother’s romantic affairs.

“I wish I knew, Dalia,” said Eddie truthfully.

“Not good, brother. Love should sweep you off your feet. Life is hard enough as it is, let alone if you go through it with someone you’re not one hundred percent committed to.”

“Is that how it is with you even after ten years of marriage?” asked Eddie.

“I think so,” answered Dalia, but her voice did not sound decisive.

“I’m not hearing a definite yes, sister.”

“You’re right, Eddie. That was silly of me. You can never know what’s best or what you might have missed along the way that may have been better. I think what you need is time together. You grew up in such different environments and circumstances, and only life together would be a real test for the strength of your emotions.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s the right answer to the situation,” agreed Eddie.

“And don’t be so naïve as to think for her it’s so definitive and everlasting. Women react differently. You shouldn’t have too much of a guilty conscience over the question of who loves whom more. Time will tell. A woman’s heart is full of mysteries.” She chuckled and said no more.

“If you say so, then it must be true,” said Eddie, ending the conversation and saying good-bye. Then he went back to Rose’s room where she was already fast asleep. He got into bed and held her closely. He buried his face in the back of her neck breathing in her lovely smell and fell asleep.