Mr. Montgomery's PoV

Mr. Montgomery held up the little vial and rotated it back and forth as he watched the light pass through it and dance with different colors. It was good to know people in the right places. His request to push through this red liquid with the FDA had raised some eyebrows when they were given no supporting documents, but so far the results have spoken for themselves.

As he looked through the reports he could only call them unbelievable. This so-called 'lesser' grade of the drug seemed to have regenerative properties. He wanted to trust John but verification was always best. Too many times in the past promising drugs let him down.

The pain was almost constant now. Just to operate he needed painkillers and they robbed him of his wits. It was a horrible catch 22. Either he would be in too much pain to think or his once agile mind would be chained.

That was always the most scary aspect of aging to him. Mr. Montgomery had always felt that all he needed to succeed in the world was already right between his ears, but age started to rob him of that gift.

He felt all the pain now, for once off the painkillers. Uncorking the vial he drank it in one fluid motion. Then he sat down and closed his eyes. As the effects took place he could only smile. Just as promised from the FDA researchers.

The pain had been dulled and his mind was still clear. It was nice being rich and powerful, he got to take 4 of the 20 samples submitted for testing. Whatever the liquid was, it would dominate the current markets.

Mr. Montgomery picked up a file on his desk and looked at a picture of Charlotte. What was her game? Why had she not submitted a patent? Whoever controlled this substance would become very wealthy and influential.

Unfortunately so far all queries about obtaining its creation process were shot down. John had dealt with a different man, yet after the 'demonstration,' all communications went through Charlotte and her lawyer. She seemed to have no interest in selling the liquid's secrets.

That concerned him. If they had confidence in their product, why all the hiding? Secrets made him nervous, especially with so much money being involved. He wanted to believe that everything was above board but he had been burned too many times in the past. Too many wonder drugs that cured one thing only to cause an extra handful of problems.

Calling a number he seldom used, the call was quickly answered and a brusk "What," was heard on the other line.

Clearing his throat he said "I have a job for you. File is here. Double pay. I need this done now."

"Risk assessment?"

"Low. Former tech company research manager and a former tech researcher."

"Done."

Mr. Montgomery hoped he wasn't making a mistake, but so far this man hadn't let him down. But it was all too common these so-called cures were worse than the disease.

Looking down at the empty vial he wondered how long the effects would last in humans and what the downsides would be. Because there were always downsides.

***

Forrest's PoV

Forrest was just beginning to wake up and he had an odd feeling of optimism. As he opened his eyes he was surprised to find his arms wrapped around a sleeping woman. His movements must have woken her up because she let out a groan and then looked back towards him.

Smiling, she said "Morning handsome!"

Forrest was tongue tied. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen was in his bed. Why couldn't he remember anything! There were bits and pieces but it was like a dream now.

Scarlet then began to kiss him. As he was losing himself in the moment he heard loud footsteps coming. Putting the footsteps out of his mind, he lost himself while returning her affections.

And the door opened.

"Hey Forrest you up yet you drunk bastard? I got Jim to sign on with us but his conditions are guiding him to the western mountains first. Something about a temple."

Scarlet was on the opposite side from the door. And she mercilessly kept kissing him. With Davis standing not five feet away. His brain broke. He couldn't make decisions.

Then he heard Davis get closer and he said "Oh! Damn, sorry. Didn't notice."

Forrest heard the door thunk close a second later. And then Scarlet immediately stopped kissing him and started to dress. Before he said anything she was out the door with a mischievous grin. What?

***

Scarlet's PoV

Scarlet was snickering as she left Forrest's room. Looks like she had Davis pegged right. Total prude! The look on his face was hilarious!

And then there was Forrest. It was probably childish but who cares? Besides it was always fun to watch them chase and she gave him a good incentive just in case he forgot last night. She had almost died of boredom, but this past day was great!

Scarlet found her extra alcohol stash and waited. With Forrest getting up, she wanted to hear the conversation between Davis and Forrest about this upcoming trip. Staying out of sight, she brought the sweet alcohol to her lips. It was so wonderful!

***

Davis' PoV

Davis went back to the kitchen and tried to wrap his head around that woman being with his friend. She was trouble.

A few minutes later his friend came downstairs. Davis said "Sorry about walking in. Still down to business. The western mountains, are you familiar with a temple there?"

Forrest looked thoughtful and then said "Yes, I think I know the area. But it's very dangerous out that way. We're still taking two people back with us, right?"

"Yea. There is a middle aged man and his wife that the council decided on."

Forrest asked, "And we are taking these people to the mountains?"

"Maybe? That's why I asked you. You would probably know better."

Forrest looked to be in thought for a few seconds when he said "There are two options as I see it. Taking people who are unable to defend themselves in that area is a bad idea. Option one is we can do this errand first and then double back to pick them up. The other option is to take them along. I know a good position that a couple people could defend easily. If we drop them there and Jim and I head off to this temple, we could probably be stealthy enough to avoid the beasts out there in a pair."

Davis shook his head and said "We are already losing time going on this side trip. The whole point of bringing Jim was to be safer. If we wait any longer word will reach Jacksberg before we get there. It will defeat the point of sending a delegation in the first place. That is not a good option."

Forrest nodded and said "Yea, if we doubled back it would cost another two weeks at minimum. But if we bring along some rope we can scale down a few of the mountain sides and get back to the main road. So all in all it's a two and a half weeks travel time versus a four weeks travel time. And that is assuming there are no difficulties on the way, which is a big assumption."

"Then there really is no choice at all. If we bring Jim and go to that temple, we will need to bring the two good will tokens along. It looks like it will just be us two, Jim and the former prisoners. No one else is willing to come, and that woman will probably leave us as soon as it's convenient for her."

Forrest said "She doesn't seem too bad, you never know."

Really? Just one night and he changed his opinion? "Is that just your lower half talking? Because if she takes off, it's just going to be me and the two from Jacksberg at this position you pick. You and Jim will be headed to the temple, remember?"

After a second Forrest said "Well, those dogs of his will probably come along. They are definitely worth something. Maybe he can leave one of them behind while me and Jim go forward? Actually, It will probably be better if we leave both there. If they bark at all they will draw attention. I think we should be able to avoid fighting if it's just the two of us."

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Thinking about those two he remembered how red stained their fur was after the battle, he couldn't agree more. The wolves, however cute, were formidable. It was almost hard to believe that the same fluffy innocent looking animals had killed almost 50 men between the two.

And yet Maria rode around on them like they were ponies. "Yes, just having the pups would be a huge boon. Hopefully he hasn't changed his mind."

***

Jim's PoV

Jim called up Charlotte and said "A game just came out that I really want to beat, is there anything you're going to need from me in the next couple weeks?"

In an annoyed voice she said "Pay."

"Oh yea, you have to pay people if you're the boss. Wow, that kinda sucks."

Charlotte replied saying "Look, I'm really excited to work on the project again, even if we have to start from day one. Still I can't work for free forever. My attorney isn't cheap either. I've been using up the remaining funds from the initial silver sale for business related expenses, but I don't want to put money in my personal account without it being on paper. That silver contract is looking a lot more promising than this drug scheme though. They keep wanting more than we are willing to offer."

"What do you mean more than we are willing to offer?"

Charlotte said "They wanted to outright buy the formula. Then they tried to work out a deal where we manufacture it, but they get exclusive buying rights. Then when that failed, they wanted access to a supply of it on a monthly basis. It's hard to pin them down. These people are talking about an absurd amount of money, but you said the supply was limited. They want more than just a one time deal."

"Hrmmmm. I might be able to get more, but it's going to take time. Do you think it would be worthwhile?"

Charlotte yelled "Seriously? All this time you could get more? Do you know how much pressure I was under? They were talking about hundreds of millions and even billions of dollars!"

Jim corrected himself and said "I can get more of the crappy versions. I might be able to get something close to the good ones, it's a maybe though. But I doubt the supply would be even close to what other companies could do. I'm guessing maybe a couple hundred a month once things are up and running."

Stiltedly Charlotte said "Yes. Yes it would be very worthwhile."

Jim asked "Can't we look for another buyer? This guy seems annoying. We have the intellectual property rights for the project now, so there isn't as big of a rush. Can you start looking into how much it will cost in terms of replacing all the component fabrication units? And you think we could get a better deal for the 'medicine' if we shopped around?"

Charlotte thought about it for a bit and said "We don't have the capital onhand to start buying equipment, but yes I will look into it. As for other buyers? Yes. Probably. If the FDA passes it, then we would have a lot more options. Can you drop a few of them off? Samples might help."

"Okay, Is there anything else?"

Charlotte said "Forgetting something so soon Jim?"

"Uhh. I don't think so?"

"Pay."

Jim thought about it and said "Can you just pay yourself double what you made before? Money is annoying."

"I'll have the contract ready when you drop them off."

***

Private Investigator's PoV

Charles was staking out the target's house. His objective was to find the supplier of this red liquid drug that Mr. Montgomery was interested in. Not even two hours into watching the house, he saw a car pull up.

A man came out with a box. The man then left the box on the porch and rang the doorbell and started to run back to his car. Was this a prank?

His target came out and started sprinting after the man while holding up a piece of paper. Before the man could leave, the woman named Charlotte was able to block the car's path and put the piece of paper on the windshield. The man then took the piece of paper and looked to have signed it, then gave it back. Was this the supplier already?

Grabbing his camera and zooming in he realized who it was. This Jim fellow was a part of the report from Mr. Montgomery. Of course, this man was going to be his next stop, but according to the report, all encounters after the first one were through Charlotte.

All FDA filings, samples and contracts were done by Charlotte and her lawyer. Shortly after signing the paper Jim left and Charles continued to watch. He needed to confirm what that box contained.

Charles was looking through at the feed from his camera and zoomed in on the package. Charlotte picked it up and then looked inside. Pulling out one red bottle Charles smiled. He loved the easy cases. Grabbing the brief he found Jim's address. If things went well he would get a nice bonus by tomorrow.

***

Jim's PoV

Jim couldn't believe how fast Charlotte could run! Man he should have put more effort into getting away. He totally didn't expect her to run after him. Looking outside he saw that it was getting dark. Figuring he would start his epic quest in the morning, Jim went home and tried to go to sleep.

But for some reason he couldn't. Damn jitters. He was finally going to have an adventure! Hours and hours ticked by on the clock but he was still wide awake. It was like waiting for Christmas when he was a kid! He couldn't get to sleep. Jim was half wondering if anxiety would be considered as a negative status effect.

He was considering taking an Elixir in place of a sleeping pill when he heard something. And then he heard it again. What was that sound? Was it coming from inside his house?

Too bad his sense panel didn't work in his world. Wait. Or did it? Jim tried to think back to the one time that he used his five senses menu while having an eye in each world. It had been when Princess and Fluffy were biting his foot when he was in his car. He changed his vision setting at that time to see through the night in his right eye. Did his left eye's vision change at all? The road was well lit, and he wasn't focusing on that eye at the time.

Jim shrugged and fiddled with it. He fiddled and saw to his surprise that it worked! Once he bumped up his vision, his left eye could see in the dark! Jim shifted his right eye back over to his world and found to his annoyance that his night vision turned off.

Sighing, Jim shifted his right eye to the other world, and then closed his right eye. Woot! Worked. One eyed night vision! Jim heard the noise again and started slowly making his way downstairs while looking around with one eye.

***

Private Investigator's PoV

Finishing the brief on what they had of Jim made him a bit anxious. Jim didn't seem like a biotech nerd, he was a computer nerd. There was plenty of time to kill waiting to make sure the target was asleep, so he combed through the files to see if he could find anything important. If anything he found the opposite. Was Jim just a middle man?

He was almost baffled at how the report reached Mr. Montgomery. The original email was also included in the report. If someone put a gun to his head and asked him if this email was a spam scam or legit, he would have banked on a scam 100%. But it seems a number of very wealthy people also got this email.

It was like the email was targeted at the very rich. But combine an effective product and an unorthodox advertising campaign and his mind told him that Jim probably was not the supplier, he was a marketer.

But who was making the stuff? With both Jim and Charlotte being co-workers at 3D tech a short time ago, he thought it would be a good guess one of their friends worked for a biotech company. Not a word from the other pharmaceutical companies was heard about stolen research when the FDA application made it through, so it had to be someone's side project.

The unorthodox marketing combined with the silence of other pharmaceutical companies gave him the suspicion that this was a small time operation. A friend of theirs stumbled on something, so they tagged a manager buddy and a computer nerd to see if they could cut out the middle men. But that was just a theory.

Charles still needed to be thorough. Maybe Jim did biotech stuff as a hobby? The first thing he would check is the basement. Basically all lab rats use the basement for their labs. Even drug lord wannabe's knew that much.

With volatile chemicals it's best to be surrounded by cinder block rather than carpet and wood. Plus ground level windows helped get rid of potential toxic gas instead of dumping it into air circulation vents.

First checking the basement he felt like his instincts were right. Just a bunch of random junk, not a beaker in sight. Since he had already broken inside his house, he might as well look around. Maybe he could find some correspondence with their supplier.

Creeping back to floor level he found the kitchen. Charles wasn't finding anything relevant. He saw the computer but figured that would take the longest time, so he looked around some first.

He had debated on grabbing it, but he doubted the secret formula would be on the marketing guy's laptop. Stealing the thing would just spark the alarm bells. He still had the option of tailing Jim to see where the supplies came from.

Continuing to look around he still found more nothing. He saw some letters on the counter and began pacing back and forth as he scanned through their contents. His mind was already set on leaving and trying to tail Jim in the morning, but he was just putting his thoughts in order.

As he was still looking through his mail, a massive bang went off right next to him. Fragments of something peppered his skin. Jesus! The bang was so loud it was hard to hear anything. Did the bastard try to nail him with a shotgun!? Where no one was before a second ago, Jim appeared. It all happened so fast.

One of the pellets must have hit his arm, he felt a warmth trickling down his hand. Feeling his blood drip down on the floor finally got him out of his daze. Charles bolted for his car. He didn't look back and just kept running. Was there going to be another bang? Was the spirt of warmth going to be in his back next?

Charles ran as if the grim reaper was on his heels. Slamming the key into the ignition he floored it and his tires squealed as he got the hell out of that neighborhood. Jeez! That dude was insane. Maybe he was the advertiser for more than one reason.

Charles wanted to feel outraged that a dude friggin fired a shotgun right next to him, but he did break into the guys house. It felt like he just showed up in an instant and was towering over him. Why was he so close after shooting? Must be a damn psycho. Or was his mind playing tricks on him? When the adrenaline was pumping he knew it was hard to accurately determine time.

Either way the dude was violent. No way in hell he was touching this case with a 10 foot pole. Mr. Montgomery knew the kind of cases he took and he sure as hell didn't take cases where people would shoot at him in the back! No wonder he offered double, that lying bastard.

He was going to go home, send this stupid report in and then he was done with this case. This is why he insisted on being paid half up front. Man he needed a drink.

***

Jim's PoV

It didn't take him long to find a man pilfering through his stuff. His one eyed night vision was working great! Currently his target was scanning through Jim's mail while pacing back and forth in the kitchen. What kind of burglar looked through mail? This man was clearly not looking for valuables. He was looking for information. Friggin corporate espionage!

After a few seconds thought Jim figured he would just punch the guy out then call the cops. He cocked his right fist back and then threw a hard punch. Since the man was pacing back and forth he tried to lead his target a little.

Aiming about chest level on the shorter man, Jim punched. But something weird happened. His attack moved so fast that he completely missed! But with the amount of force he put into the punch, he couldn't slow it down. His fist was aiming for the marble kitchen countertop! Oh no, this was gonna hurt!

To Jim's astonishment the marble countertop exploded like it was hit with artillery fire. What in the world just happened? Why was his punch so fast and how in the world did it hit with so much power?

As Jim thought about that the little guy looked stunned and quickly glanced at the countertop and back to himself then darted away like a rabbit. He thought about chasing the man down but was more concerned with what just happened. Why was his punch so powerful?