Michael Ridpath - Final Venture

I put down my papers. 'Really?'

'Yes, the animal work on BP 56 is looking good. We'll be able to try it on humans soon.'

'That's great! So it really works?'

'We won't know until it has gone through the whole clinical trials process, but so far it's looking very good.'

'Well done, my love.' I leaned over and kissed her. It was Lisa who had first suggested that BP 56, some kind of small molecule called a neuropeptide that she had isolated, would have a beneficial effect on Parkinson's disease. And it now looked as if she was right. I felt a flood of pride at what she had achieved. 'Perhaps Boston Peptides will have a market cap of a billion dollars in a few years.' I smiled at her.

'All you venture capitalists ever think about is money! The best thing would be if we actually could treat Parkinson's. That really would be cool.'

'OK, you've got me,' I said, properly chastened. 'But I can still hope.'

She smiled. 'Poor Henry is so excited he can hardly control himself.' Henry Chan was her boss and the founder of Boston Peptides. 'But we're going to need cash from somewhere to fund the clinical trials. Venture First doesn't want to put up any more. I kind of sympathize with Craig.'

I winced. At least Venture First has an excuse. I think they've just about run out of money themselves.' They were a small venture-capital firm that had provided the initial funding to Boston Peptides. The rumours in the market were that their performance had been poor and they were having trouble raising more funds from their investors.

'So what kind of people do you get to take these drugs?' I asked.

'People with Parkinson's disease, of course.'

'No, I mean during the clinical trials. Who would want to be the first human ever to take a drug?'

'Oh, I see what you mean. Volunteers. Medical students, mostly. They get paid for it.'

'They must be mad.'

'It's perfectly safe.'

'How can you know until it's been tried on people?'

'We do very thorough tests on animals. If there's a major problem it will show up.'

'So why do the tests on people at all, then?'

'There are often some side-effects,' Lisa said. 'Headaches, nausea, diarrhoea.'

'You'd never catch me doing it,' I said.

'Someone's got to. And these volunteers really are doing something for science.'

'Mad,' I said. 'Brave, but mad.'

Lisa glanced at the papers I was reading.

'What are all these?'

'Oh, it's a deal called Tetracom that Diane is working on. It looks quite promising.'

'Diane, huh?'

'Yes.' I tried to come out with the next bit casually. 'We're going to Cincinnati next week to visit them. I'll be out Thursday night.'

She pulled back. 'OK,' she said, picking up her book again.

I watched as she studied the page in front of her intently.

'Do you have a problem with that?' I said at last.

'No.' She didn't look up from her book.

'I mean, I have to go. It's my job to work with Diane.'

Then she looked up, a spark of anger in her face. 'To tell you the truth, I do mind, Simon.'

'You shouldn't,' I said. 'There's nothing to worry about. You should know that.'

'You say there's nothing to worry about,' Lisa snapped. 'I think perhaps there is. A business trip to Cincinnati. The two of you alone in some hotel. If she has got her eye on you, that's when she'll make her move, Simon.'

'Lisa! She's a partner in my firm. A colleague. A boss.'

'She's done it before!'

'Who told you that?'

'Dad,' she said quietly.

'Huh,' I snorted. 'He put all this into your mind, didn't he?'

'No. I just don't trust that woman.'

'You don't even know her.'

'OK,' said Lisa. 'You go then.' She reached over and turned out the light.

We lay in bed, backs to each other. I was angry. I really had no choice but to go. And Lisa really ought to be able to trust me to go on a business trip with a colleague, even a beautiful one.

I was still fuming, when I felt a finger brush gently up my spine.

'Simon?' she whispered.

'Yes?'

'I have an idea.'

'What is it?' I turned to face her.

She pulled herself close to me, her hands moving over my body. 'I'm going to wear you out so completely that Diane will have to dump you for someone her own age.'

She gave me a long kiss.

'Sounds like a good plan to me,' I said.

The scull cut through the river and the slight head wind towards the Boston University Bridge, where the Charles River narrowed. A mile behind me was the Union Boathouse from where I set off three mornings a week. I was into a good rhythm now. Legs, arms, shoulders, back, breathing all combined to produce the regular splash of wood in water on either side of me.

I had learned to row at school and had rowed again at Cambridge. In the army they had other ways of keeping you fit, but when I had arrived at Harvard it had not taken me long to find the river again.

On my left rose the Dome and Senate House of MIT, and beyond them the mysterious tall brown buildings of Kendall Square, housing the biochemical secrets of companies such as Genzyme, Biogen, and our very own BioOne. On my right was the long strip of green that was the Esplanade, then the noisy Storrow Drive, and overlooking that, the sedate apartment buildings of the Back Bay. The air was crisp, the water blue, and the sky clear. Out here, scudding through the middle of this broad river, I felt alone. I could think.

My conversation with Helen had depressed me. I knew she was near the end of her rope, and I wanted so badly to help her, but I just couldn't do it. If I could find the cash, and we did win the appeal, then her life would still be difficult but it would be bearable. I was the lucky one, with a wife I loved and a job I enjoyed. It wasn't fair. I wanted to share some of that luck with her.

Although the job wasn't going that brilliantly at the moment. My anger with Frank and the other partners was hardening.

I remembered the discussions Frank and I had had with Craig when we were putting the deal together. All three of us assumed that the extra three million dollars would be available. Sure, we had inserted the right to refuse to provide the funds in the legals, but my implicit assumption was that that was to protect us from Craig failing to get a team up and running.

From what I could see, he had done a great job. He was certainly volatile, but we'd known that when we'd invested. Frank was correct that in the last six months a number of companies large and small had begun work on the next generation of switches for the Internet. But none had the determination and sense of purpose of Craig. He lived and breathed Net Cop: it had become his whole life. He would get there first, I was sure. If only we would give him the funds to do it.

But the partners had made up their minds. There was nothing I could do to change it. I could disappear in a huff, my honour intact, my resume a shambles, and try to find another job somewhere else. But I'd be throwing away a promising career at a place I liked, working with people I liked.

Or I could do as Lisa suggested. Try to sort the mess out myself.

As usual, Lisa was right. I would stay and help Craig. I wouldn't let Net Cop die.

I reached the Harvard boathouses and turned round.

Frank's opposition bothered me a lot. And so did Lisa's reaction to my going to Cincinnati with Diane. I supposed I could have said no when Diane had suggested dinner the previous Thursday night. But nothing had happened, no matter what Frank thought. And Frank had overreacted to what he had seen, or what he thought he had seen.

Lisa didn't have anything to be jealous about. Did she?

Diane was attractive. I liked her. We got on well together, we had had a great time at dinner the other night. But I loved Lisa. I loved her so much, so much more than I could ever imagine loving someone like Diane. And I didn't want to do anything that would jeopardize that. I didn't want to end up like my father.