J. Buckley, Hugh F. Frayer, and a few more well-known figures had attended this board meeting. These names may not be well-known to the general public, but they were enough to quickly alter government regulations in order for their enterprises to succeed. Along with some other group of scientists who had originally formed the corporation, they held the majority of the stock in Labcorp.
The majority of the company's stock was still owned by the academics and scientists who started it, but in the end, those with an investment fund background had more money, so they were also forced to sing the same song as everyone else.
Before he attended the conference, Sigret and JARVIS only gave this information. Sigret, of course, knew more about these individuals in-depth, but for the time being, that information was ignored.
Hugh Frayer, who represented Blackrock, spoke out as everyone was seated in the conference room and the door was shut.
"Welcome to Labcorp, Mr. Robin Kashyap and Miss Myrene. I gotta say I was surprised when my Secretary yesterday informed that Labcorp had another major investment company backing the this major medicine research center. I am sure you have gone through the portfolio."
"Thanks for the warm welcome Mr. Frayer." Myrene and Robin both responded in kind. The CEO of Labcorp then came forward to discuss the company's future plans after a formal introduction amongst the members. For Robin, this was sort of an orientation, which he found to be a little dull.
He had already reviewed the documents and actually knew more than the CEO had revealed, but Robin didn't attempt to deflate his irrational optimism. The board members had shown him respect up until this point, so the least he could do was show them respect.
Following a brief pause, the company's founders allowed Robin and other important figures to have a private conversation.
"How do you like the Labcorp Mr. Kashyap?"
"It's good. I like the future projects and I am sure that my money and time is in the safe hands."
"It sure is. We are fastest in our research and in fact in the vaccine programme for COVID, Labcorp was the first one to break through and share the basic formula for vaccine making against the virus with other partners. We try to research on all front and even the less researched mRNA." Buckley said.
"That was really an achievement." Robin said.
"So Mr. Kashyap is there any unique cause of why you suddenly came to this laboratory research? There are undoubtedly many around the world, and you even left Europe to come make investments in this country. That might be a little unsettling, I'm sure."
Robin was anticipating a question like this. Because individuals don't spend money aimlessly just for fun, he was quite certain that all of the orientation and welcoming discussion was done to allow the board members to learn about his true motivation for joining this special group. Investors like them must constantly have an end goal in mind.
They were curious as to why Robin picked this lab and what he expected in return because there might not be a payback in the end because not all investments are profitable.
"I heard that the lab scientists are almost always able to make medicines that gets approved by FDA pretty fast. That is quite an achievement for a single lab." Robin said.
"TOf course, that is. The lab is home to some of the best medical professionals and researchers from across the world. Even the interns that we hire here are well paid and can only come after they have passed a thorough screening. Nowadays, employers tend to overlook interns, but we forget that they perform the fundamental tasks. In order to ensure that they work harder and better, we offer generous incentives. If they perform particularly well, we also offer them a position that is appropriate for their skills and work."
"That is great. By the way I am here for another purpose." Robin said.
All of the members' ears were forced to become more acute because of how relaxed they had been. Three vials of medication were removed from Robin's pocket and placed on the table. Everyone in the room was a little perplexed by this. They believed that Robin was here to promote his business and investment and that he had invested in the lab to attract their attention.
What role did medicine play in this? They had no interest in medicine. Money was important to them!
"What is this Mr. Kashyap?"
"As is well known, the FDA of America is regarded as one of the top organisations for reviewing any novel forms of medication. A private lab was given funding by our investment fund to develop a revolutionary tablet that will forever change the pharmaceutical and medical industries. Additionally, we have made the decision to first purchase a stake in a lab in order to reach the global market. This will enable the laboratory in this nation to verify our claims and ensure that we have double-checked our own products." It was Myrene who got up and presented the medicine.
The people around finally understood what Robin and Myrene were hinting at and since they have wasted so much money just to sell a medicine then it might really be a good one.
"May I know what is the medicine used for. In human terms."
"In proper understandable English this medicine can heal a person from a wound both externally and internally."
"Uhh. I think we already have different kinds of medicines for that since the body clots in different rate in different people so we have some medicines which can speed up the process." Frayer said.
"We know that but this medicine is much more potent. It is very hard to explain here. Why don't we let the researchers here go through the tablet and check its effectiveness. I am sure they will give a proper answer." Robin replied.
The board members were forced to attempt it despite their misgivings about the "voodoo tablet" he had summoned because of his significant ownership share in the business. They called a group of scientists and requested that they test the pills. To ensure a good outcome, Robin requested experiments to be conducted on live mice.
Despite their confusion, the researchers gladly accepted the task. The board members later invited Robin and Myrene to a brief get-together at a posh pub in Princeton. The moment Sigret prodded him, Robin and Myrene were on the verge of declining them.
He accepted the invitation with a slightly uneasy expression.
Everyone received a private space at the bar, which was fairly exclusive for alumni. Frayer and Buckley placed an upscale wine order. Although Robin didn't care for alcohol, he occasionally treated himself to a glass of wine. Of course, Myrene had to drink during it all. Despite the fact that her body couldn't process food, she could still eat it and afterwards simply grind it up into garbage.
All of this took a long time, so by the time Robin and the group arrived back at the hotel, it was already dark.
"What do you think? Will they accept this new medicine?"
"According to statistics, there is a high chance that they will force you to cough up the main ingredient as soon as they find out the basic ingredient can't be replicable with modern technology. They will try for sure but will fail."
"How sure are you about this?" Robin asked.
"About 99.98%." JARVIS replied.
"They is also a 49.32% chance they will use intimidation and physical assault to bring out the main ingredient. So you will have to be ready for that." Sigret also mentioned that.
"Oh! Really? So much for law and order."
"Buckley has a history of hiring some street thugs and doing their work, and later disposing them. This had happened multiple times before so I won't be surprised that he will pull the gun card on you."
"Then let them come." Robin smirked thinking about it.
"Stop smirking. We are not here only for the medicines. We need to take care of the mexican and colombian cartels. And in order to do so we need to get rid of people in the border of the states."
"Sigh! And here I thought I came for vacation. Wanted to go to Washington. Heard its quite beautiful at this time around."
"You can have your vacation after we deal with the distributors in the borders of California and New Mexico."
"Fine. are the troops ready?"
"Yes. Since the jets from Brotherhood are still not ready, Novus has sent Variants to work as our troop carrier."
"Where are they now?" Robin asked.
"100 kms east of Jacumba Hot Springs, Sir. All the locations have been pointed out after Vertigo did a recon over the area. We can hit them tonight." JARVIS replied
"And make a statement."
"Whatever you are planning to do will rattle the economy of America for the time being." Robin said.
--
Read 18 chapters ahead on my p@treon.com/thelightedghost