Robin Cook: Cure

As per usual, the writing of Cure required the help of many friends, colleagues, and even strangers who were willing to take a phone call out of the blue and field a question. I am truly lucky to have access to a wide variety of experts who are graciously willing to give of their time. I thank you all. Those whom I would especially like to acknowledge for having demonstrated exceptional patience are (in alphabetical order):

Jean E. R. Cook, MSW, CAGS, psychologist

Joe Cox, J.D., LLM, tax, estate-planning, and corporate law

Rose A. Doherty, A.M., academician

Mark Flomenbaum, M.D., Ph.D., forensic pathologist

Tom Janow, detective, NYPD

Carole Meyers, research assistant, OCME, NYC

Marina Stajic, Ph.D., director of toxicology, OCME, NYC

AIZUKOTETSU-KAI: Yakuza organization centered in Kyoto, Japan

VINNIE AMENDOLA: mortuary technician at OCME

LOUIE BARBERA: temporary capo for Vaccarro crime family

DR. HAROLD BINGHAM: chief medical examiner, NYC

CLAIR BOURSE: receptionist at iPS USA

MICHAEL CALABRESE: private placement agent

PAULIE CERINO: capo for Vaccarro crime family, currently in prison

GROVER COLLINS: a kidnap expert and one of the founders of CRT Risk Management

DR. BENJAMIN (BEN) COREY: founder and CEO of iPS USA LLC

CRT RISK MANAGEMENT: stands for Collins, Rupert, and Thomas, a team of mostly previous Special Forces agents who have teamed up to help victims of kidnapping in particular

TOMMASO DELUCA: young enforcer for Vaccarro crime family, hired by Louie Barbera

JOHN DEVRIES: head of toxicology at OCME

VINNIE DOMINICK: capo for the Lucia crime family

YOSHIAKI ETO: enforcer for Aizukotetsu-kai in New York City

KENICHI FUJIWARA: senior vice minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry for the Japanese government

HIROSHI FUKAZAWA: oyabun, or head, of Yamaguchi-gumi

SABORU FUKUDA: saiko-komon of Yamaguchi-gumi in New York City

KANIJI GOTO: Yamaguchi-gumi enforcer in Japan

CARL HARRIS: chief financial officer of iPS USA LLC

INAGAWA-KAI: Yakuza organization centered in Tokyo, Japan

IPS PATENT JAPAN: fictitious Japanese corporation dealing specifically with Japanese patents

IPS USA: fictitious U.S. corporation dealing with induced pluripotent stem cell patents and associated intellectual property

HISAYUKI ISHII: oyabun, or head, of Aizukotetsu-kai

TOM JANOW: detective lieutenant of the Bergen County police

KENJI: name Laurie gave to Satoshi Machita’s corpse before it was identified

TOKUTARO KUDO: saiko-komon of Yamaguchi-gumi in Japan

LUCIA CRIME FAMILY: Long Island Mafia family run by capo Vinnie Dominick

ARTHUR MACEWAN: enforcer for Vaccarro crime family

SATOSHI MACHITA: researcher with wife, Yunie-chan, and son, Shigeru

DUANE MACKENZIE: young enforcer for Vaccarro crime family, hired by Louie Barbera

REBECCA MARSHALL: identification clerk at OCME

MLI: medical legal investigator at OCME; they have forensic training but are not MDs; MLIs go out in the field to investigate deaths

BRENNAN MONAGHAN: enforcer for the Vaccarro Mafia family

HANK MONROE: director of identification at OCME

MITSUHIRO NARUMI: saiko-komon of Inagawa-kai

OCME: Office of Chief Medical Examiner, New York City

CARLO PAPARO: enforcer for the Vaccarro Mafia family

MAUREEN O’CONNOR: supervisor of histology laboratory at OCME

OYABUN : head of a Yakuza organization, or Mob boss

TED POLOWSKI: enforcer for the Vaccarro crime family

TWYLA ROBINSON: chief of staff at OCME

SAIKO-KOMON : head adviser of Yakuza organization just below the oyabun in the particular Yakuza’s hometown, or the boss of a splinter group in a different town

HIDEKI SHIMODA: saiko-komon for Aizukotetsu-kai in New York City

LOU SOLDANO: detective captain, NYPD

JACK STAPLETON: medical examiner, OCME, NYC

LAURIE MONTGOMERY-STAPLETON: medical examiner, OCME, NYC

RON STEADMAN: NYPD detective at Midtown North Precinct

JACQUELINE ROSTEAU: Ben Corey’s assistant

NAOKI TAJIRI: manager of The Paradise club in Tokyo

COLT THOMAS: a kidnap expert and one of the founders of CRT Risk Management

TADAMASA TSUJI: saiko-komon of Aizukotetsu-kai

VACCARRO CRIME FAMILY: Long Island Mafia family run by capo Louie Barbera

DR. CALVIN WASHINGTON: deputy chief medical examiner, NYC

RIKI WATANABE: enforcer for Hisayuki Ishii

LETICA WILSON: nanny for Laurie and Jack’s son, JJ

MARLENE WILSON: receptionist at OCME

WARREN WILSON: basketball buddy of Jack’s who is the neighborhood gang leader

YAKUZA: organized crime organization in Japan

YAMAGUCHI-GUMI: Yakuza organization centered in Kobe, Japan

CHONG YONG: enforcer for Hisayuki Ishii

February 28, 2010

Sunday, 2:06 a.m.

Kyoto, Japan

It happened in the blink of an eye. One instant everything was fine, considering the fact that Benjamin Corey was breaking into a foreign biological laboratory; the next instant it was a disaster in the making, and Ben Corey went from reasonably relaxed to simply terrified. Within seconds of the overhead lights flashing on, flooding the entire floor with raw fluorescent light, a cold sweat rose on his forehead, his heart began pounding in his chest, and, of all things, the tips of his fingers became numb, a fight-or-flight symptom he’d never experienced previously. What was supposed to be a walk in the park, as described the previous evening in Tokyo by his Japanese Yakuza contact, was now threatening to be anything but. An elderly uniformed guard approached down the lab’s central corridor, his visored hat tipped back from his forehead, a flashlight held high in his right hand near the side of his head. As he advanced he swung both his head and the flashlight beam down the aisles between the rows of laboratory benches. He held a cell phone against his left ear and spoke in a hushed staccato voice, apparently keeping Kyoto University’s central security office apprised of his progress investigating a lone light that had suddenly gone on in an office of the third floor in an otherwise completely dark and supposedly empty building. Each approaching step brought forth an ominous jangle from a large ring of keys clipped to his belt.

This was Ben Corey’s first episode of breaking and entering, and he promised himself it would be his last. He shouldn’t have been there, considering the fact that he was an M.D./Ph.D., a graduate of Harvard Business School, and the founding CEO of a promising start-up company called iPS USA LLC. He’d formed the company with the hopes of shepherding the commercialization of human induced pluripotent stem, or iPS, cells and, in the process, turning himself into a billionaire several times over.

The specific reason that Ben was there at that moment was under his arm: several lab workbooks owned by a former Kyoto University researcher, Satoshi Machita. In the books was proof that it was he, Satoshi Machita, who had been first to make iPS cells. Ben had found the books in the side office from which he’d just emerged. Satoshi had told Ben exactly where the books would be and essentially authorized Ben to get them, which Ben had used as the rationalization for his participation in the break-in. But there were other factors as well: Over the previous couple of years, Ben had struggled through a midlife crisis that still robbed him of age-appropriate maturity. He’d divorced his wife, with whom he’d had three children, now grown; quit his steady job at a highly successful biotech giant; married his former secretary, Stephanie Baker, and quickly fathered a new baby boy; lost forty pounds and took up triathlons and extreme skiing; and embarked on the risky venture of iPS USA at a time when raising capital was difficult at best, and to do so required significant compromises on his part, particularly regarding the source of the money.