Chapter 281: FRB (9)

“Chenover Bank?” asked the defense counsel of the U.S. government.

“That’s right,” replied Congressman Norton.

The genomics laboratory at Groom Lake Air Force Base was founded by Chenover Bank. It was no secret that the owner of Chenover Financial Holdings was Lofair.

“I was told that they invested one hundred million dollars in Groom Lake Air Force Base and used half of that money to build the lab and get it running,” Norton said.

“I see. The owner and director of the genomics laboratory at Groom Lake Air Force Base was Doctor Alphonse Lofair, a very young scientist who was only twenty-nine years old. He wasn’t very well-known in the academic community either,” said the defense counsel.

“And the reason he was appointed as director of the laboratory could be because of the Chenover Bank, right? Do you know anything about that?”

“... I don’t know the details. The funding is just something I heard about when I was stationed at Groom Lake Air Force Base. I don’t have any documentation on it.”

“Thank you.”

Norton sighed and stepped down. He recalled the meeting with the chief of staff of the Campbell administration before coming here.

‘After the Nicaraguan government wins at the International Court of Justice, we’re going to use that to prosecute all of the individuals from the Heagan administration domestically.’

That was what the chief of staff told him.

‘That’s why we are participating in this case. There’s going to be a bloodbath in the country, so align yourself wisely. If you testify properly this time, there might be a slight chance you will be treated with leniency in future trials. We are one hundred percent confident in the Nicaraguan government’s victory. We have gathered substantial evidence.’

Ditching Lofair and following through with this threat was a bit of a gamble for Norton as well, but now he was glad that he did. It was because the Nicaraguan government put a surprising person on the stand.

“I would like to call Elsie Franklin to the stand,” said the defense counsel representing the Nicaraguan government.

Elsie looked around the room as she took the stand. Song Ji-Hyun was mouthing words of encouragement towards her.

“You worked at the genomics laboratory at Groom Lake Air Force Base. Please tell us about your experience there,” asked the defense counsel for the Nicaraguan government.

Elsie took a deep breath and began to recount what she had seen and experienced as a talented young doctor in her twenties.

“There was a ward that could accommodate hundreds of pregnant women. We hired impoverished women from the streets of Nicaragua and injected genetically modified embryos into their wombs, allowing them to implant and develop.”

Elsie began her statement. The conditions at the lab were worse than anyone imagined. Campbell, who was later briefed in writing at the White House, was shocked even though he knew about it. In China, Yang Gunyu scoffed when he read what had happened. This wasn’t much different from the organ exploitation and human experimentation that Chen Shui was doing.

“No matter how many fertilized eggs we had, there were never enough for the experiments, so female researchers were coerced to receive hormone injections to induce ovulation, after which their eggs were harvested for donations,” Elsie said. “The babies born there were mostly abandoned in orphanages or cremated after they died. It’s estimated to be in the thousands.”

“I have a question for the witness,” asked Judge Bruno Spender.

This American judge had already heard about Elsie’s problems from an anonymous informant before entering the courtroom.

“I’ve reviewed the past records submitted as evidence about the laboratory, but the documentation is quite sparse, and we couldn’t find employment records for the scientists. Do you have any materials that can support your claim of having worked at the laboratory?”

“No...”

“The witness has a history of psychiatric examination, and it has come to my attention that you have a severe addiction to hallucinogenic drugs. Are you still in treatment or using those substances?”

“Your Honor, that’s irrelevant to what the witness is saying right now.”

The defense counsel of the United States quickly jumped in.

“I think we need to explore various possibilities. Can you submit the witness’ medical records?” Bruno Spender said with a smile. “You may still testify, but please submit your medical records as well.

“... Yes.”

Elsie had somewhat expected this. She finalized her testimony and stepped down.

*

Young-Joon borrowed an entire lab room at the A-GenBio Cancer Laboratory. He took Isaiah Franklin’s bone marrow to the lab, where he made induced pluripotent stem cells from it. The process of growing them back to hematopoietic stem cells took about four days. Young-Joon corrected the genes using Cas9 and fixed the telomeres at the end using telomerases.

Now, he had to confirm with NGS that all the DNA was corrected as intended, but there was no time for that.

“She won’t last that long, right?”

—Her survival rate will drop significantly with each day that passes. Beyond this point, organ damage may accumulate to the extent that a bone marrow transplant won’t be enough; an artificial organ might be necessary.

These were hematopoietic stem cells and gene correction that Young-Joon had done countless times before. Given the urgency of the situation, he had no other choice. Instead of going through NGS, he activated Synchronization Mode.

“She’s not my niece? Did you really look into it?”

—What?

“How pathetic. Stop wasting your energy on pointless things and start thinking about how you’re going to pay for this. I’m hanging up.”

—Wait!

Young-Joon turned off the phone and threw it in the trash can in the back seat of his car.

“How far are we from Johns Hopkins University?” Young-Joon asked.

“We’re almost there,” Kim Chul-Kwon said.

*

“Everyone who was involved in running Groom Lake Air Force Base under the Heagan administration needs to be punished!”

On the streets of Spring Valley, which was on the way to Johns Hopkins University, a group of citizens were rallying with a statement of condemnation.

“The United States must now be accountable now for what it did in Nicaragua in the past. We also demand that the CIA earnestly clarify suspicions that it attempted to kill Isaiah Franklin, a victim of the Groom Lake genomics laboratory.”

The citizens’ chants went on.

“It was quiet even until the Nicaraguan government filed a lawsuit, but there have been rallies here and there after Doctor Song and Yassir made a statement to the press,” Kim Chul-Kwon explained.

“Are they talking about Chenover Bank of the Federal Reserve?” asked Young-Joon.

“The name has been mentioned after the first trial. There has been public opinion that the compensation amount claimed by Nicaragua is excessive since the beginning of the trial, and now there are more people suggesting that Chenover Bank should pay for it.”

“Since the medical treatment is expensive,” Young-Joon said, nodding.

After some time, Young-Joon arrived at Johns Hopkins University. At precisely the right timing, Albert completed preparation for the bone marrow transplant procedure and waited for Isaiah Franklin, who entered the room around the same time as the CIA.

With Isaiah Franklin lying on the hospital bed, Young-Joon briefly explained to Albert how to use the hematopoietic stem cells.

“... As such, no conditioning is required at this step,” Young-Joon said.

Originally, bone marrow transplants involved completely eradicating the existing bone marrow cells with powerful chemotherapy and radiation, followed by transplanting healthy hematopoietic stem cells. The process of removing the existing bone marrow cells was called conditioning.

“Because the hematopoietic stem cells in the body are already nearing the end of their lifespan?” Albert asked.

“Yes. They won’t cause any problems even if we leave them there. In fact, it will make the recovery faster.”

Young-Joon held out a styrofoam box. It contained liquid nitrogen, and inside were plastic vials of frozen hematopoietic stem cells.

“I’ll do a quick pretreatment and come back.”

Albert took the box outside.

Thud.

The door closed behind him, leaving only Young-Joon and Isaiah Franklin in the room.

“Ryu Young-Joon,” she said.

“Why?”

Young-Joon glanced over at her.

“...”

Isaiah Franklin was silent for a moment, then stared at Young-Joon.

“You’re trying to nag me again about how I’m trying so hard to treat you and what will happen if people find out about Rosaline, right?” he asked.

“... No, it’s just...”

Isaiah Franklin opened her mouth hesitantly.

“Thanks,” she said. “I just wanted to say... Thank you, I mean it.”