Page 7 of Forged in Deception

Karlin tried without success to calm her racing heart as she followed Dr. Bajwa through the lobby of Senera Pharmaceuticals. The fact that she hadn’t actually broken any rules and had actually volunteered to work overtime on a Sunday was irrelevant. She knew that the man’s temper was easy to kindle, and his good graces were easier to lose than to regain.

“Ah,” Dr. Bajwa said, gesturing toward a random, empty conference room. “Good enough. I just want to make sure no one is listening in the halls.”

She nodded noncommittally and followed him in, sitting down in one of the modern, uncomfortable chrome and leather chairs.

“I’m sorry for making a call while I was on the clock,” she said quickly. “I had to talk to my brother. It was important, but I should have waited another hour until I was off.”

He looked over at her, his brown-skinned forehead wrinkling in a moment of brief puzzlement.

“Ms. McKenna, focus, please,” he said, clapping his hands together as his face broke into a smile.

She released a breath. She wasn’t in trouble. Actually, the man seemed to be in an absolutely stellar mood.

“What can I do for you?” she asked.

“I wanted you to be first to hear the good news,” he said, leaning forward over the table while somehow managing to keep his wrinkle-less shirt perfectly tucked in. “We did it, Karlin.”

Now it was her turn to look puzzled.

“Did…what?”

“We got a sixty-five-year-old for the next research retreat. Sixty-five! And it’s a male subject!”

Karlin was taken aback, and for a moment, her mouth seemed to cease operating properly.

“Do you not realize the significance of this?” Dr. Bajwa continued, waving his hands in the general direction of the walls.

She nodded. She did. Testing any new drug was difficult, but a psychedelic like DX8 posed additional challenges, especially when it came to finding patients to volunteer for clinical trials. Young people were significantly more likely to be willing to ingest it—sometimes too willing—which could skew the trial results.

“I understand we’ve been in dire need of older patients for more than a decade, so yes, that’s excellent news,” she said carefully. “I’m just not sure why you would be willing to spend time on a Sunday to come into the office to tell me personally.”

An almost imperceptible look of disdain crossed Dr. Bajwa’s face, only to be replaced by excitement once again. The man was practically bouncing out of his chair.

“You didn’t even let me finish. I just got off the phone with my guy at the FDA. We’re officially moving into Phase II. Efficacy tests. Patients with actual, diagnosable mental disorders to treat. Lives that DX8 will change.”

Karlin took a moment to let his words sink in.

She wanted to share in her boss’s excitement, but she couldn’t shake off her nerves.

Senera had been conducting Phase I safety and dosage tests on the drug that was now known as DX8 for a decade, and had spent untold millions doing so. Things were moving slowly, and in the pharmaceutical industry, if you didn’t innovate, you’d be stomped by someone else who did.

Karlin wanted to move forward, too. But she couldn’t just ignore the red flags.

Especially not when she considered the DX8-related incident that followed her like a ghost.

“Are you sure we’re ready?” she asked. She tried to sound nonchalant, but Dr. Bajwa could sense what lay beneath her light tone at once.

“Of course. Our research retreats this year have been a huge success.”

“What about the blood test results for two of the younger guys back in July? They both had elevated hematocrit levels at the end of the retreat.”

“Barely elevated, Karlin. Those results could be–shall we say–interpreted as a rounding error.”

He gave her a pointed look.

“The FDA has already been informed of the amended report stating as much.”

“You signed off on this?” Karlin said incredulously.

---