FanStory.com - The Devil Fights Back

Recap of Chapter 1: Fran Pekarsky, an FBI field agent, finds solace in a bar in Charlotte, North Carolina. Dana Padgett, an older woman, joins Fran at her table because she appears to need some companionship. They get to discussing their jobs, although Fran must lie about her real job, claiming to be an IT security consultant. In couched terms, she describes an event that is spreading like kudzu that is troubling her.

Dana is the assistant marketing director of a Big Pharma company. Fran asks her about a new opioid-like painkiller that is non-addictive and is currently being tested, and Dana tells her this new drug, if successful, would put a big dent in her company’s profits. Fran doesn’t reveal that the drug, called Glyptophan, was invented by her brother.

Later, back in her room, Fran muses about what’s troubling her, and we learn she’s been suspended from the FBI.

Chapter 2

Fran

It had been a typical Monday, and I was at my desk, researching a known link to a Mexican cartel responsible for smuggling fentanyl into the country, when my boss, whose name is Lou D’Onofrio, entered my office and said, “Francine, please follow me.”

I was leery of his tone. He was one of the few people who addresses me as Francine. To most, I’m just Fran, or Agent Pekarsky, or, to some old timers, Agent Fuckup.

This endearing moniker was given to me by my first partner on an assignment when I was a boot right out of Quantico. It wasn’t because I was known for fucking up, but rather because my initials are FKP for Francine Kendrick Pekarsky.

In fact, if anyone was a fuckup, it was him, the chauvinist asshole. Unfortunately, he called me that in front of others, and the name stuck for a while until the time I saved his ass in a gunfight, and everyone knew it. Although I’m rarely called that anymore, there are still a few old timers who do, but it’s more from affection now. They know what a competent agent I am. I’ve proven it enough times, and I no longer take offense to it.

I followed Lou to his office, and seated there at a conference table were two agents from the Inspection Division, whom I had previously seen from their occasional visits to the branch. The Inspection Division of the FBI is the equivalent of Internal Affairs in a police department. I don’t know these agents’ names, but they always come together, and some wit in the department began calling them Thing-1 and Thing-2.

Lou sat down next to them and gestured for me to take a seat opposite the three of them. My pulse quickened. I had no idea what this was about, but the stern expressions on their faces were not a good sign.

Thing-1 began. “A new opioid has recently been found on the streets of eight major US cities. It goes by the name of Dipraxa, or just Dip for short. It’s a pill.”

I was stunned by this revelation. My heart began pounding now, and my throat dried suddenly at this news.

Thing-2 continued, “Six months ago, you provided the FBI with a drug, also called Dipraxa, to use on a captive who subsequently gave up information that led to the quashing of a major weapons sale. Could you tell us how that came about?”

I looked inquiringly at Lou. This information was highly classified and not to be shared, even with the Inspection Division, unless they were authorized to hear it.

Lou said, “I’ve seen the authorization to divulge this information. You are to answer their questions.”

I asked to get a glass of water before beginning. This was to give my heart a moment to slow and to add a little moisture back to my throat.

Once seated again, I began. “You are correct. I had been assigned to a special task force to try to coerce this information from the captive, but our methods to date had proven ineffective since the rules of enhanced interrogation had become so stringent. Torture was off the table, but I had a sudden brainstorm at a meeting of this team, and I informed the attendees that I knew of a substance that could be more carrot than stick and that could get him to talk.”

I took another sip of water and continued.

“The idea was that we would give him a newly developed opioid that was extremely addictive because of the immense euphoria it induces. Once he was addicted, we would withhold it, and he would give up the information we sought to be provided with more of the drug. It was that pleasurable and addictive.”

Thing-1 looked puzzled. “Granted, it would cause pleasure, not pain, but wouldn’t withholding it cause withdrawal symptoms that would be considered torture? How did that ever pass the smell test?”

“The drug is psychologically addictive but not physically addictive. There are no physical withdrawal symptoms when you stop taking it. You will mentally crave it, but that soon passes and leaves no permanent psychological scars.”

“How did you know about this drug, Agent Pekarsky?” asked Thing-2.

This drug, Dipraxa, with the same name as the one now found on the streets of major cities, was the precursor of Glyptophan, the one Dana and I had been discussing that has just completed phase-1 human trials.

“My younger brother, Brian Kendrick, invented it at home in his own laboratory. He didn’t start out intending to invent the ultimate opioid. He is a neuroscientist who suffered from chronic back pain due to an injury he sustained in a car accident when he was 16. He became addicted to OxyContin that was prescribed to him. In the next few years, he suffered two overdoses and nearly died both times.

“Thereafter, it became a goal of his to study biochemistry in college and learn enough to create a non-addictive painkiller. Dipraxa was the result. He tested it on himself, and it worked perfectly until it didn’t. At the correct dosage, it cured his pain without producing any euphoria—the thing that makes opioids so highly addictive.

“But one day, he accidentally took a double dose, which passed a threshold, and suddenly, he experienced the greatest euphoria he had ever felt, even on high doses of Oxy. It’s probably the most powerful psychologically addictive drug ever invented, and it turned him into a zombie. Once he began taking it, that’s all he wanted to do, and it was nearly impossible to stop. I say nearly, because he was able to quit with the help of his gem of a wife.

“Once he overcame the addiction, he figured out the problem with it and created version two—Glyptophan—which solved the euphoria and subsequent addiction problems, making it a highly potent pure analgesic that can target specific chronic pain such as back pain. That drug is currently undergoing human trials.”

Thing-1 said, “How did you convince your brother to give you some of the original drug, Dipraxa, without breaking confidentiality and telling him why you needed it?”

“I couldn’t at first. He wouldn’t give me any unless he knew what I wanted it for, and I wasn’t willing to tell him the reason.”

Lou broke in, “We received the necessary authorization to share the reason for it with Brian. Agent Pekarsky did everything by the book.”

I continued, “Only the team of agents assigned to the case and my brother knew about the decision to use Dipraxa, and I became the interrogator of the captive. It worked perfectly. We were able to extract the necessary information, which enabled us to catch the bad guys and prevent the weapons sale.”

No one else was ever supposed to know about this drug and what it was capable of. I even warned Brian once that if it got out to the general population, it would spell doom for mankind. He is an extremely disciplined and conscientious individual, and it nearly ruined him. Imagine what it would do to someone less motivated than him.

I knew what was about to happen now.

Thing-2 said, “Agent Pekarsky, our forensics lab has verified that the street drug Dipraxa is the exact same formulation as what you and your brother provided to the FBI. This drug is so widespread that we can only conclude a major producer has the formula. It’s beyond the scope of what your brother could produce in his home lab.”

Lou said, “Agent Pekarsky, I’m suspending you pending an investigation into how this happened. You are not to become involved in this investigation in any way. You will now turn over your firearm and credentials to me.”

I had known this was coming as soon as I heard that a drug called Dipraxa had been found on the street, and I set my gun and credentials on the table. “Sir, I understand the need for this, but let me assure you, my brother and I had nothing to do with it. I wish you would let me help investigate.”

Lou softened a little. “Look, Fran, you’ve worked for me for a number of years now, and you’ve proven your merit time and time again, but surely you understand the conflict of interest involved if you were assigned to investigate. You cannot be involved in this. I can’t emphasize that enough. This will be a paid suspension of indeterminate length. You are still employed as an FBI agent and still bound by all the rules and regulations pertaining to your position. Are we clear about this?”

“Yes, sir.”

So, what am I going to do with my time now, just days after that meeting where I was suspended? Why, investigate, of course.