All weekend, I thought about heading over to Nick Johnson's house and laying the news
on him. That didn't happen, though, so maybe this hesitance would back to haunt me. Maybe it
had to do with me never talking to anybody outside of the Viola drug cartel's network about what
Julio Viola was planning. I didn't want my confession to Nick to be the first time I opened my
mouth to my friends and family about me playing a key role in Julio's scheme.
I picked my office phone handset and dialed Martin's number.
“Peter Hansen, what's up?” Martin, the acne - scarred, mustache man, asked me.
“Hello, Martin, hey listen, do you know if Oleg has talked to Nick Johnson, yet?”
“No, not yet,” Martin said. “We have found out that the Zyptorin trial will likely end
around March of next year, so we don't want to keep Dr. Nick under our pressure for more than a
few months.”
“Oh, okay,” I said. “You know, Oleg keeps talking about this guy Fred…who's he in all
of this?”
“He's in charge of the ground operations, tells Oleg when and where to be at all times.”
“Boy, Julio is pretty organized, huh?”
Martin laughed into the phone. “Hansen, you don't want to know”
“Alright, then,” I said. “Talk to you later.”
I hung up the phone and, sitting back in my chair, it dawned on me that I may just have to
suck it up: Nick would be the first person I open up to about Julio's Cartel. Claire and Susan
hadn't been speaking since our late August card game where Claire crossed the line in asserting
that Susan was wasting her career away looking after very much independent Stanley. It was
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Damage Control
74
surprising to hear a nurse say that kind of thing. Susan was really offended. We had seen each
other at soccer games but hadn't really talked all season, and that's why I had no idea Nick was
appointed to this drug trial committee. There had to be a way for Nick to believe this, convince
him that I did not turn Oleg onto him.
“Good luck with that,” I told myself.
Martin refused to tell me how Julio's team found Nick, and that lack of knowledge was beginning
to drive me nuts.
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Damage Control
75
Tuesday, November 5