Read Online The Delta Factor by Thomas Locke - Free Book Online Page B

“Yeah?”
    â€œI guess it’s okay.” The furtive glance up and down the street, then, “You got the money?”
    â€œOf course.”
    Shoulders hunched even further. “Can’t you ask for more? You know it’s worth a lot.”
    Horace made a worried pout. “They’re not the type you can ask for much of anything.”
    â€œBut a lousy thousand bucks. That’s—”
    â€œA thousand more than you have now,” Horace pointed out.
    Kelley slumped in defeat. Probably thinking about the goons breathing down his neck. “Yeah, okay. Come on, let’s get it over with,” he muttered as he led the way toward the entrance.
    As soon as pharmaceutical companies began work on a new compound, and long before any positive or negative effect could be identified, a patent was applied for. The patent office did not require information as to what effect the product would have. That was the job of the FDA, and as many as five years might pass before final FDA approval was granted. But the only requirement for filing a patent was demonstrating that the product or the process was new.
    With new compounds being designed almost continually by pharmaceutical companies and independent laboratories, a U.S. patent was granted on the basis of two different types of information. The first was the molecular formula of the compound itself. The second was the process of how the compound was produced .
    For all molecular patents, this second type of information was essential because the compound itself was too small to be seen—and in some cases, when the application was made, only a microscopic amount might have been produced. So the production methods had to be spelled out in careful detail. The rule of thumb used by the patent office was, make the explanations so complete that a nonexpert would understand.
    Kelley pasted on a totally false smile as he approached the night-duty guard, an overweight black man engrossed in his crossword puzzle. “Can you believe it? Of all the luck, the boss has got me working Friday night.”
    â€œTough,” the bored guard said, not even glancing up.
    Horace signed a false name in the book and felt only disgust for the guy and his nervous chatter. Small-time losers, he thought. I’m surrounded by small-time losers. When Ted wouldn’t shut up, Horace turned and started for the elevators on his own.
    In the elevator, Kelley wiped off the grin with the sweat beading his face. Silently they waited while the floors pinged away, then walked together down the hallway to Ted’s office. The hallway was completely silent. That was why Horace had taken the risk of going ahead and arranging this meeting before talking with the foreigner earlier that day. On Friday afternoons, downtown Washington was a ghost town.
    Kelley had to use both hands to get his key in the door, his hands were shaking so bad. Horace rolled his eyes as the guy did a final up-and-down-the-hall search before waving him inside. Talk about telegraphing the message to the world.
    â€œOkay,” Ted whispered, sweating so hard his shirt was matting to his back. He pointed a trembling hand at the top file on his desk and said, “I gotta go do something down the hall. I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.”
    â€œNo problem,” Horace said, surprised at how calm he felt. Maybe Kelley’s nerves didn’t leave any room for his own. “I’ll leave the envelope in the file,” he said in a low voice.
    â€œThe what?”
    â€œEnvelope,” Horace said, drawing out the word.
    â€œOh. Yeah. Right. Well, I’m off.”
    â€œSee ya.” When the door was shut once more, Horace slipped the miniature camera from his pocket. The camera had cost almost as much as the bribe. Small time, Horace thought as he opened the file, arranged the desk lamp for maximum lighting, and began shooting pictures of each page. He would soon be leaving