Last year after Victor Drake had hired Geoff and Suricata and was considering the final two people for his team, he’d carefully researched Dr. Octal Kurvetek’s job responsibilities at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. During the vetting process, Victor had found out that the doctor oversaw the proper administration of the three-drug cocktail used for lethal injections at the time: sodium thiopental, to induce unconsciousness; pancuronium bromide, to induce paralysis; and potassium chloride to bring about cardiac arrest.
From 1986 through 2006, Dr. Kurvetek had been the on-site medical supervisor for 219 of the 369 executions by lethal injection that took place in the state of Texas. His experience at the TDCJ and his background in neurophysiology all seemed to make him ideal for the job that Victor Drake was trying to fill. So he’d hired him.
It was only after Dr. Kurvetek had been on the team for six months that he told Victor his secret. “It was always more satisfying to let the convicts remain conscious while the pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride were administered. I didn’t do it all the time, of course. Just when the mood struck.” He seemed proud of what he’d done. “It’s prohibited by the Eighth Amendment, of course, which states that executions may not include ‘the unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain.’ But I don’t necessarily agree with that provision.”
“And?” Victor had said, anticipating the answer.
“Let’s just say that administering those two drugs to a conscious person would cause…”-Dr. Kurvetek’s lips curled into a worm-like grin-”an unconstitutional amount of pain.”
In a nutshell, Dr. Kurvetek’s specialty was death.
Death by pain.
And now, Victor had to rely on this man not only to pull the Project Rukh research findings together but also help take care of the problematic Austin Hunter. Victor didn’t want to, but finally he dialed Kurvetek’s number. “Have you found Hunter?” he asked as soon as the doctor answered the phone.
“No,” Octal replied evenly. “Geoff even checked GPS for his phone as well as his credit card use. Nothing. It’s as if he disappeared.”
Of course it is. That’s his specialty! That’s one of the reasons he was hired, because he can disappear without a trace.
“All right,” Victor said. “I need you to focus on the test results, give me everything you can. I have a meeting on Thursday afternoon with the general and I need to make sure he’s convinced the device is operational. Have Geoff and Suricata find Hunter.”
And then he ended the call before Dr. Kurvetek could reply.
After all, the doctor wasn’t calling the shots, Victor was.
That’s what he told himself as he went back to work managing his vast biotech empire.