Ben looked up from the biomedical journal he was scanning. His desk was stacked with others that arrived daily. It was important for iPS USA to be aware of all advances in stem cell science to make sure their expanding control of intellectual property was up-to-date. Scanning all the appropriate biomedical literature was almost a full-time job.

“Never too busy for you,” Ben said. “What’s up? Come on in and have a seat.”

“I wanted to know how your meeting with Michael went this morning.”

“I guess I’d have to say it was mixed.”

“How so?”

“Our meeting this morning was fine, but as a result he went out to talk to Vinnie Dominick and the Yamaguchi-gumi head, Saboru Fukuda. Michael just called me a few minutes ago. He said that he discussed with them first about iPS RAPID, and that went well. Michael said that the two actually seemed happy to come up with more cash to increase their equity, especially after hearing about yesterday’s signing with Satoshi. Moneywise, everything was very positive, so we just have to decide how we are going to proceed: purchase or license? Have you made any progress on that?”

“I’ve started due diligence. They haven’t been in business long enough to have much of a track record, but I believe I will be advising purchase over licensing. If they get the patent they’ve applied for, it’s going to be a big deal and lead us to litigation of their patent impinging on ours. I ran this by counsel, and Pauline agrees. I’m glad our two angels are standing with us.”

“Me, too,” Ben said. “But they’re not too happy about changing our relationship with them.”

“Well, we wouldn’t be changing it in the short run if we’re going back to them for a major second round.”

“No, but it doesn’t portend well for stepping away from them in the future.”

“I think we can wait until we’re ready for the IPO.”

“That’s a good point,” Ben said. “At that juncture, we’ll be able to show them how much they might profit from the IPO when we have the expected figures. We’ll make sure they understand we can’t do the IPO unless they step back.”

“I think that sounds like a plan,” Carl said, getting to his feet. “Are you going to stay much later? It’s already after five.”

Ben tapped the stack of journals. “I’ll stay an hour or so longer. I’ve got to make this pile smaller. Besides, if I left now I’d hit so much traffic it would hardly be worth it.”

“See you in the morning,” Carl said, heading for the door.

“Wait!” Ben called out.

Carl stopped and turned around.

“Have you seen Satoshi or heard from him today? I got him the lab space up at Columbia and have these legal papers to be signed, but I don’t think he’s been in at all today.”

Carl shook his head. “I haven’t seen him. Did you call his cell?”

“Yeah, a half-dozen times. I think he has it switched off, because it goes directly to voicemail.”

“Maybe he went on the trip he was going to take.”

“What are you talking about?”

“He asked me a couple of days ago where to stay in Washington, D.C. He said he wanted to take his family there.”

“Shit!” Ben groaned, shaking his head.

“What’s the matter?”

“He did this once before to me. He disappeared for a week with his family on a visit to Niagara Falls.”

“Well, you can’t blame him. He’s finally free for the first time in his life.”

“Yeah, wonderful,” Ben said sarcastically. “Now I have to worry about him like a wayward son.”

“Let’s think positively. Maybe he’ll come in in the morning.”

“That would be nice. Why do I have this feeling it’s not going to happen?”