Seth took the opportunity to call Yuri. Yuri’s voice was like an electric shock.
“You what? I told you not to leave the city!”
“I know Yuri, but could we talk about that part later? I’m getting a little nervous here.”
“Damn right you should be. What if they arrest you and take your fingerprints? What then, smart guy? Don’t you know you are most wanted man in world right now? I make call.”
Yuri angrily hung up and the police returned, but with more questions, not the passport. Now they had his registration, with his address, his immigration card, and his passport. If anyone wanted to run surveillance on English speaking white men from North America living in Russia, now they had a nice lead.
Relativity should have been about the perception of time, because it has a strange knack for running out when you need more of it, and lasting too long when you want it to pass quickly. Seth sat in the car and waited for what seemed like an hour. Finally, he was invited to come inside, and Natasha tagged along with him as his interpreter.
The policeman turned them over to another cop, who had Seth’s documents, and a ticket book and form.
“He says your registration is not up to date,” said Natasha.
“That’s impossible. It’s for the whole year. I haven’t even been here a year yet.”
“Well, that’s what he says.”
“Ask him how we can solve this,” said Seth.
The solution turned out to be putting 1,000 rubles between the pages of the ticket book. Seth had back his passport, his registration, his immigration card and a valuable lesson – fugitives don’t leave the hideout.
24
“Seth you really fucked up this time,” said Yuri. “This means no more privileges – no more restaurants, no more coffee shops – you go to work and you go home.”
“Really, Yuri, there was no harm done.”
“You don’t know that. I’m sure they are looking for anyone who could pass as American. There’s a lot of guys like that in Moscow, but here? You’re a dead giveaway.”
By putting Seth at the ends of the earth, Yuri was trying to get him farther out of harm’s way, but may have done the opposite.
“For how long? I can’t really live like this.”
“But you will live.”
Yuri chewed on his bottom lip, as if to stimulate his brain to thought. “Let’s give it some time and, if there is no heat, you can do your coffee shops, but don’t ever leave town again.”
The next several weeks were excruciatingly boring. Seth had to curtail his time with Natasha to the university grounds, and he couldn’t explain why. He hoped it would not be devastating to their fledgling relationship. Seth looked upon his boredom as an opportunity – the time that he would not have otherwise had to do everything he never seemed to have the time to do. In this time, he worked on his memoirs. Someday his entire story would be told, and it was important to nail down just exactly what that story was.
One day, strange as it may seem, another Canadian showed up at the university, claiming to be on a sabbatical. Worse yet, he was a scientist. Seth tried to stay as far away from the man as he could, but, at after a faculty meeting, the inevitable happened, and it was Natasha who introduced them. As he left class one day, Seth found himself trapped in the corridor, nose to nose with Natasha and the new Canadian.
“George, this is Dave Salisbury, our new biology professor, and guess where he’s from?”
“I can’t guess. Where?”
“Vancouver! Isn’t that great?”
Fucking wonderful, thought Seth. He didn’t know shit about Vancouver except that it was cold and rained a lot, and it was not far from Seattle.
“George is from Vancouver too!”
“Oh really?” said the newcomer. “What’s your alma mater?”
“Ya know, I’d love to sit with you and chat, but Natasha and I were working on a lesson plan, and we have to get to it. Sorry, eh?”
“Sure, no worries, maybe the two of you would like to get together with me and my wife for a dinner or something?”
Natasha chimed in, “That would be great!” at the same time as Seth’s “We’ll see,” and he whisked Natasha away.
“Why did you react that way? He’s from Canada too.”
“I don’t know. Just seems kind of fishy.”
“Fishy? Why?”
“Well, think about it, we are a zillion miles away from North America, and the only other guy who speaks native English is also from Vancouver? Doesn’t that seem fishy to you?”
“Well, yes, but I’m sure it’s just a coincidence. And you don’t have any reason not to socialize with him, so…”
Seth had every reason not to socialize with this guy and a great deal to hide, not to mention the fact that he couldn’t answer one question correctly about Vancouver. He didn’t even know if they had a baseball team. He had better read up on Vancouver and learn to change the subject every time it came up.
“Let’s get together with them, it will be fun,” she said.
Seth was not sure he could handle that kind of “fun” but it was true, he was becoming stir crazy in his new situation of “house arrest.”
“Okay, I’ll think about it.”
Natasha hugged him around the neck and kissed his cheek. Seth would have to hit the Internet and brush up on Vancouver.
25
The curtailment of Seth’s social life felt like a big step backward, and Natasha didn’t understand why Seth was turning down her invitations. After two weeks of isolation, Seth came to the realization that something had to be done or she would interpret the restrictions as rejection.
Seth decided to venture out of the apartment a little bit at a time. It was the Camel’s Nose principle. If Seth snuck out a little bit longer every time, he would soon have his freedom back, or at least, that was the theory. A “double date” with Dave and his wife was the perfect excuse to slip his nose under the tent.
“No way, it’s too early,” said Yuri.
“Look, this guy is from Vancouver, supposedly so am I, and there’s nothing between us but a sea of Russians. If I don’t accept his invitation he’s going to think something is up.”
“You’re right, he probably will.”
“So?”
“Go ahead and accept. I am going to check this guy out.”
***
The double date was for Friday night, at a nice Armenian restaurant. Seth was actually looking forward to it until Yuri rang the bell Thursday night.
“He’s FBI,” said Yuri.
“Who?”
“The guy from Vancouver, and you don’t have to worry, he’s not really from Vancouver or Canadian either. His real name is Brian Jenkins.”
“What does he want? He has no authority over me, does he?”
“They obviously suspect who you may be, and it’s probably from that fucking police stop, but no, he has nothing over you. Except of course…”
“What?”
“If he wanted to shoot you, but that would more likely be CIA.”
“That’s reassuring.”
“Well, if they knew where you were, they would just shoot you and you would never suspect it.”
“Oh, thanks Yuri, I feel much more comfortable now.”
“Don’t mention it. Next time listen to what I tell you. Now we have to listen to this guy and figure out what the hell he’s doing here.”
“How do we do that?”
“I’m coming with you.”
“Bringing a hooker to our double date?”
“Who said anything about hooker? I bring my own girl.”
“You have one?”
“No, but this is Russia. I get one, it’s easy. You study about Vancouver and think of some questions this guy won’t be able to answer. It will be fun.”
Yeah, great fun. The party was expanding. First Seth, the spy by no choice of his own, then Yuri, the FSB agent, and now the FBI. It was becoming a real alphabet soup of inte
rnational espionage.
26
The Bt toxin that was produced by the bacteria and the one produced by the corn plant were completely different in toxicity. Seth could not explain why, but the rats who ingested the regular Bt had no effects at all. However, the ones who ingested the Bt corn had multiple effects, such as infertility, shrunken testicles, organ damage, and Seth and Daniel found evidence of the Bt toxin breaching the digestive system and in the blood of the subjects. They also found elevated antibodies, and an increase in cytokines. There was no way this corn was fit for human consumption. Tissue samples from the ileum, the lower part of the small intestine, showed a significant increase in cell growth. This meant possible precancerous activity.
“Dan, if this corn hits the market, there’s going to be risk of allergic reactions, autoimmune diseases, birth defects and infertility, not to mention cancer.”
“I’ve checked and rechecked the data. They definitely have to go back to the drawing board on this one,” said Dan.
“What about the pollen?” asked Seth.
“Tests conclusively deadly to butterflies and possible endangerment to bees.”
“That means anywhere within a one to two mile radius of where this stuff is planted, pollinators are going to die. That could affect the whole ecosystem.”
“We’re also showing nutritional content is less in the Bt corn than comparable conventional corn.”
Seth knew that these problems may be irreversible and that it may be many, many years before the full negative effects were revealed. It was difficult to postulate what effects resulted from the neonicotinoids, if any, and what effects were from the Bt toxin, but Seth theorized that, since the toxin was found in high levels in the areas with abnormal cell growth, it was the primary culprit.
Seth’s tenure at the company had been preceded by a report he had done on the effects of glyphosate. The levels of glyphosate in non-organic vegetables and animal feed had skyrocketed since the advent of Cleanup Ready crops. Since glyphosate was the active ingredient in the world’s most popular herbicide, and its patent had run out in the year 2000, the company had genetically engineered corn, soybeans and cotton to be resistant to its glyphosate based product, Cleanup. Seth became an expert on the poison and its effects on mammals for the study, and he now surmised that the company may have hired him just to shut him up.
Glyphosate had even far more devastating effects than the neonicotinoids alone, as it was an anti-microbial agent, which essentially killed off the good bacteria in your digestive system, leaving the bad bacteria like E. coli to wreak havoc, contributing to diseases like “leaky gut.” Seth’s recruiter at the company had promised Seth would work on a team that would make improvements in the products to avoid glyphosate exposure. Of course, this never happened, but Seth was equally sold on the Miracle Rice project and really believed in it.
The after effects of glyphosate had already begun to affect the general population. More and more people were becoming sensitive to certain components of foods and developing allergies that were never seen before. Gluten intolerance had become so prevalent that gluten free items were being advertised. The rBGH hormone, genetically engineered by the company to make cows produce more milk, had also sprouted conditions like intolerance to lactose.
The pieces were adding up. So many chemicals were being introduced into the food supply that approximately 70% of all processed foods were made with either high fructose corn syrup, cottonseed oil, canola oil, or beet sugar, all of which were genetically engineered company products. Seth was finally in a position where he could try to convince the company not to put another hazardous product on the market, so he was meticulous in his analysis of the data and the preparation of his report.
“Bill is not going to like our report,” said Dan.
“It is what it is.”
Seth spent the better part of the next day preparing the report, complete with all the backup and details of each test result. The finished product was a fine example of his best work ever. It was finally ready for Bill.
Bill’s face as he read the report looked like he was enduring the smell of a lingering fart. Finally, he looked up from the report in seething disgust.
“Seth, I thought I was clear about this.”
“You were. You told me to do an ‘independent study’ and that’s what I did. I can’t help it that the corn is poisonous. It is what it is.”
“No, Seth, it is not what it is. Your data is faulty.”
“Faulty? No, my data is solid.”
“Your experiments were interrupted by the break-in. They’re not conclusive.”
“Bill, I have all the data, and all the findings. It’s all there.”
“Still I have to go with Team 2’s report. They conclusively have proven that the Bt toxin does not survive digestion.”
“In test tubes, with simulated stomach acid.”
“Yes.”
“Well, then how do you explain these tissue samples, and the Bt toxin in the blood of the rats, breaching the placenta to the young and ending up in the brains of the offspring?”
“Seth, we’re tabling this research. It’s inconclusive. I’m going with Team 2. Thanks for your help, but the decision has been made.”
“Bill, this corn cannot go to market. It’s too dangerous.”
“God damn it Seth, don’t you remember what I fucking told you the first day? This is an independent study. The corn is already approved. It’s already in everything you eat, every day. Every can of soda, every cookie, every cracker, everything. You have as much chance of stopping this train as you would finding balls on a Brahma Bull.”
The corn was already on the market. How could the company have let that happen? Seth’s stomach turned. He felt a lump in his throat. Kids were eating this stuff, all over America. It would only be a matter of time before there were increased allergies, birth defects, cancers, infertility, and nobody would know where the blame really lies.
“Bill, we have to do something. I know we can make a safer corn, I know we can.”
“Bt corn, soy, cotton, it’s all approved. That train has left the station, Seth. Our reports show that it’s safe. That’s how it got approved. Team 2 says it’s safe. The only one who says it’s not safe is you. They mostly feed this shit to cows and pigs anyway, and make ethanol out of it.”
“Bill, you have to…”
“I don’t have to do anything. That’s it, Seth. I wish I could thank you for this report, but I can’t. It’s being tabled as non-conclusive. That’ll be all Seth.”
Seth began walking out of Bill’s office as Bill called to him.
“Do I have all the data, in every format?”
“Yes.” Seth was lying.
“No copies were made, all the slides and results have been turned in?”
“Yes.”
Another lie. Seth had always prided himself on his integrity. Telling the truth had been the hallmark of that pride. Now, lies were becoming an everyday occurrence in his life and that tugged at his self-esteem. But, he thought to himself, “Sometimes lies can get you into trouble, but if you really want to get screwed, try telling the truth all the time.” He was now in the possession of something so dangerous he didn’t know what to do with it. Dangerous to his job, dangerous to himself, dangerous to the company, and potentially dangerous to the government. At this point in time, Seth wished he could be someone else. He wished he could close his eyes, tap his heels together, say “there’s no place like home,” and vanish.
27
As Seth was leaving Bill’s office, Richard Roberts, the wiry Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety of the EPA was walking in. Seth wondered why the EPA would be making a house call. Bill could provide him with Team 2’s report, an independent study on the safety of Bt corn, at the same time he was shredding evidence that the corn was a deadly toxin.
As Seth went to bed that night, he couldn’t sleep. Every time he tried to close his eyes and drift off to
sleep he imagined deformed babies and hairless kids on chemotherapy. Bt corn may be a killer, but this job was going to kill Seth before the box of cheerios and rBGH milk did.
If Seth went to the press with what he had now and tried to blow the whistle on Germinat, the best he could do is lose his job and insure that he would never work again in any capacity in his profession. He needed something more. To fight his insomnia, Seth tried taking walks to clear his head, but it only stimulated him to think of ideas on how to get his hands on more evidence, which kept him awake. There was only one way to find it, if there was any. He had to break into Bill’s office and hack into his computer.
Seth was used to keeping long hours, so it would be easy to have access to Bill’s office. He knew he would be able to hack into Bill’s PC once he got in. All he needed to do was figure out a way to break in.
At home, Seth used the extra key from his office to make a bump key. All the locks at Germinat were the same model. Seth’s bump key would go into the lock on the door of Bill’s office and, after a few taps of a screwdriver, Seth would be in. The next question was when to do it.
Seth lay in bed, night after night, unable to sleep. Once he blew the whistle on Germinat, what next? Would he be hailed as a hero? Take to the talk show circuit? Write a book? One thing was for certain. The company was going to fight back. Seth would be discredited, blacklisted in the scientific community. If blowing the whistle had no immediate economic reward for Seth, he would be lucky to get a job flipping GMO hamburgers and pumping GMO cola at McDonalds. He definitely had to weigh the pros and cons on this one. There were many cons. No company car, no more trips to St. Tropez, no cushy perks, no more conferences with hot and cold running blondes. The pros, only one, if someone would actually listen, he may be able to save lives, human and animal, and, the bigger picture – the environment; something the EPA was supposed to do instead of helping the company poison the world.
Germinat was buying up seed companies. It also bought Beescience, the research company that was trying to solve the problem of poisoning of the pollinators. Germinat’s herbicide, Cleanup, was the most popular brand in the world and, thanks to Cleanup Ready GMO corn, soy and cotton, the three most common components of processed food and animal feed could be sprayed with even more Cleanup, as it would kill everything but the crop itself. Too bad for the Monarch butterfly, who depended on the milkweed, once flourishing in the wild, and which now grew in between the crops. Cleanup was so good at killing that it killed every form of plant life, except, of course, the Cleanup Ready crops.