Chapter 19 Section 18

It's Friday afternoon, the perfect time to do it. Joanne announced his appointment in her pleasant-sounding, professional tone.Of course she knew what was going on with this appointment, because she had already printed out the dismissal letter, but she would not reveal a word.And at this moment, at the small conference table in the office, there was still Parnassus' human resources director, Costan Sanyo, whose name was simply called Koz.As a rule, Coats is required to be present when decisions about personnel adjustments are made.Malachy Ross hadn't gotten up from his desk when Driscoll entered his office.

"Brendan," he said deadpan, not bothering to put on a polite smile, "sit down." Driscoll was a well-groomed and well-groomed man in his mid-forties, with a carefully trimmed beard, a striking appeal, and a slightly asymmetric face.Combined with his muscular physique and the occasional tinge of blond on his light gray hair, it makes one think he might be a minor actor, playing the young, slightly sinister chief of some daytime soap opera. executive officer.From his demeanor, no one would have guessed that he was merely a secretary or—as Markham always called him—an administrative assistant.Today, he wears a low-key green tie and a yellow pinstripe suit.As soon as he got to the door of Rose's office, he saw Coz was there, and knew immediately what was going to happen.

He didn't sit down in the chair Rose was pointing to, instead he just walked over to the back of the chair and put his hand on its back. "I wish I'd had a chance to get Tim's papers in order before we talked about it," he said, "but of course I understand what's going on. But I'm going to do my best and in two weeks Get this done." Rose had a look of extreme disappointment on his face. "I don't think that's necessary, Brendan. I've made a decision, and the board of directors has agreed, after today, you don't need to stay here." He picked up a thick paper bag that had been prepared on the desk in front of him. envelope, and said, "By logic, we should have given you two weeks' notice of resignation, but...so, as compensation, we wrote this check. Besides, I think, you'll understand that this is a very reasonable In consideration of your long tenure in the company and Mr. Markham’s high recognition of your services, the board of directors has approved seven months’ full salary and five months’ half salary Salary, and of course your full due pension, and letters of recommendation from myself and several other board members. You have the right to keep your name on the employee health plan roll.”

Driscoll stood motionless, and the expression on his face showed the complex emotions in his heart. All kinds of feelings rushed into his heart and mingled together.Finally, he nodded and accepted the fait accompli swallowed. "Thank you, Doc, for being so generous. I want you to take back my office keys and parking pass and stuff like that." While saying these words, he had already pulled out his little wallet, and then reached into his pocket and pulled out something else.After placing all the things that needed to be returned on Rose's desk, he stood stiffly in front of the desk for a while.Finally, he cleared his throat and said, "Most of his schedule is in the computer on my desk, but I still have an unused copy CD in the upper right drawer. I Haven't gotten around to notifying him of all his appointments, and some unsent responses, and I think several internal memos. If you'd send someone back to the office with me, I'd be happy to print them out ..."

Ross gave Curz a wink, indicating that it was time for her to speak. "There's no need for that, Brendan. We'll get everything sorted out over the next few weeks. The normal procedure is that we'll have someone escort you out of the building after this meeting." She tried to make her smile appear It's warmer, but you can't help but feel a faint chill in your bones. "We know it might be overkill, but I'm sure you'll understand that it's not personal. Some people..." She stopped mid-sentence, then shook her head in a helpless manner He continued, "Everything in the locker next to your desk, including your sweatshirt and some other personal items, is packed and out there. Security will get it for you."

Something in Driscoll's backlog finally burst out unbearably.He turned his head and said to Rose: "How do you plan to dispose of Mr. Markham's personal documents? He left special instructions, I should... forget it, what I should do is if..." "We'll keep an eye on that," Ross said reassuringly. "You don't have to worry. You know that Mr. Markham left his plan and detailed instructions to the board for dealing with a tragic event like this one." " Rose half-raised from his chair and smiled perfunctorily, "I'm not going to thank you again for your loyalty and prudence. Now, what needs to be thanked is your cooperation."

This is an eviction order, and under Rose's quiet instruction, Curz has stood up from her seat, walked towards the table and said a series of empty words, leading the already distracted A restless Driscoll backed toward the door. "From today onwards you will start your own good life and I must say that. Look at the blue sky outside the window, I can't remember the last time I saw a sky so clear, but it reminds me of a storm Those few days ago." Sacking Brendan Driscoll, a sham little mouse, was the first warming ray of sunshine in Rose's life since Markham's death.Before Curz left the office, he couldn't hold back the excitement in his heart and got up from behind the desk, walked quickly to the drink bar, and poured himself a small glass of refrigerated wine from the bottle of Skyy wine he kept in the freezer. Old vodka.

In the reception area of ​​his office, Driscoll's heart-wrenching departure scene lasted only ten minutes, and he was already sipping his drink at a leisurely pace.Joanne called him on the intercom and told him everything was settled and Driscoll was out of the building. Ross strode out of his office, cracked a lame joke with Joanne, and turned right into the carpeted hallway.The floor-to-ceiling glass wall on the left side makes him feel like he is walking in the clouds at the moment, which is extremely comfortable-the sparkling bay is just below his feet, and the busy and noisy scene on the Bay Bridge seems to be within reach.Sitting at the desk that Driscoll had used outside the reception area of ​​Markham's office, Rose was experiencing a strange, ephemeral, ephemeral feeling inside him.In a few weeks, he realized, Joanne would be sitting here and he would be moving into the big, stately suite behind him.It was like the top of that slippery pole he'd been climbing all his adult life to get to, and he was about to do it.

All he has done is to get here one day.There's nothing wrong with that -- as the board has affirmed -- that he's the right man to take over the job.Now that Markham's days of micromanagement, fuss and unnecessary affectation are over, he believes he can turn the group's business around in a matter of months, but only if he can Let the company last until then. He thought it could be done.He already has an idea about this.Sending the city the $13 million bill it was supposed to co-pay for former outpatients was one, though it was a stopgap measure.In the short term, his plan will stem the bleeding in the city and restore Parnassus' financial health.

While waiting for the computer boot screen to appear, he opened the drawers of Driscoll's desk one by one, looked at them and nodded with satisfaction.They did a great job cleaning out every drawer.He was looking forward to finding the important files in Markham's office behind the locked door.Ross planned to go there over the weekend and look it up carefully.But at this point, he was an hour away from get off work, and an hour before his dinner appointment, and he wanted to use the time to see if there was anything nasty stored on Driscoll's computer. Long ago, before the group's cash flow became a serious problem, Ross purchased a computerized management technology system that he still considers to be one of his smartest investments.The custom business system program he subscribed to allowed certain users, such as Coz and himself, with "operator privileges" unlimited access to all files, so Ross' human resources department You can easily mark everything that happens.The security program of the system can calculate the exact number of keystrokes by computer users every hour, so that managers can know whether those secretaries are doing their best during their work and whether they are lazy.Likewise, if an employee spends too much time on the Internet while at the company, or writes a movie script, writes a love letter, or whatever, Coats will know at the end of the week.Then she and Rose would go over the reports and together make a decision about who would be punished, of course for breaking a rule.Ross believes that this is a beautiful thing to do-to regulate all behaviors with laws and regulations, so that they can selectively target people according to their personal likes and dislikes.

Only Brendan Driscoll, perhaps the most contemptuous person in the company, has at one point successfully prevented the system from being fully implemented.He wrote love letters, short stories, and poems on his computer, and visited pornographic sites on the Internet.When Markham was on a business trip, he would sometimes spend hours chatting with his friends on the phone (the records of these calls were also recorded in the computer system, of course).But Markham wouldn't let him go, and Driscoll got away with it all. Ross is sitting in front of Driscoll's computer.He had passwords for his personal files, but Ross had his own "operator privileges" password and easily cracked Driscoll's.He entered the initials of his name as the user name, and entered the password, and the next operation prompt appeared on the computer screen, and a stiff smile appeared on Ross's face involuntarily. The Mandarin Oriental is the jewel in San Francisco's crown, and its unassuming exterior exudes a reserved nobility.Ross had a special liking for it, and it was so close to his office that it was an easy walk, and on such a glorious evening, a leisurely walk seemed more agreeable than usual.Having come off those grueling days -- not just the tidal wave of Markham's death, but the hail of bullets from the "Talk of the City" column's heavy shelling -- he's trying to enjoy himself as best he can. Enjoy, no matter where, as long as he can let himself relax. There has always been some comforting insider in Parnassus - there is so much information about Eric Kenson in Driscoll's computer that it far exceeds his expectations.About his wife; Ann's letters; Kenson's what appears to be an emotional blackmail letter and Markham's response - which Kenson used to keep his job; memos for documents; cash-paid vouchers ; personal condemnation;He printed everything out and told Joanne to send it to the district attorney by courier. He also printed out other documents, put them in his briefcase, and then deleted them from his computer. Nancy and the girls went to Lake Tahoe for the weekend.He'd told her she should have their private pilot fly them there, but he wouldn't.As busy as he's been against the clock all week, it's entirely possible that his schedule will continue to fill up the weekend, and it could be in the future. He had told her about it on Wednesday night.They were in their bedroom getting ready for a dinner out.The bedroom door to the corridor was open, and they could hear the girls playing in the corridor with Betty the nurse.Nancy pouted at him.She will miss him terribly, especially in that regard.Glancing at the open door, the girls' voices were about twenty feet away, she unzipped her skirt, which fell to the floor, stepped out, and bent her back toward him. Slumped down and propped their elbows on the antique Italian writing desk at the head of their bed.Then she turned her head, looked over her shoulder at Ross and smiled at him in her usual way, sending him the "I challenge you, we have maybe two minutes" signal to him.At the same time, he whispered eagerly: "If you can give me something so that I can always remember that you are by my side, it will make my visit more enjoyable." "Good evening, Dr. Ross, and welcome again to the Silk Restaurant. You seem to be enjoying an extremely pleasant memory." He recovered from his meditation and smiled perfunctorily. "Hi Victor, nice to see you again." "This way," the waiter greeted as if reciting lines, "your guest has been here for a few minutes." His guest was Ron Medrath, about forty-five, a multi-faceted, athletic, senior vice president of Balsons.The company was a little-known small pharmaceutical company about eight years ago, but it has since grown into a viable and competitive company, mainly producing some common medicines, mostly aspirin, paracetamol tablets, and treatment for infants and children with colds. Prescription medicines such as colds and anti-inflammatory drugs, etc.Its growth period has caught up with a boom in profits, and its stock price has exploded, outpacing the growth rate of the proverbial Silicon Valley.Medrath and a few other like-minded decision makers at Balson & Co. decided that it would be nice to have a three-bedroom home in Tourist Hill or Kilroy, but in general it would be better to own a three-bedroom home in Atherton or Rowe. Erdos Hill is a little better with six-bedroom villas. Balsons knew that it was easy to produce generic drugs of equal or nearly equal potency, and companies like Merck, Bristol-Myles Squibb, and Pfizer made money off of these products. To billions of dollars.But what's lacking in this approach is aggressive marketing to big customers -- hospitals and health maintenance organizations.Instead, it's second-guessing high-volume sales, functioning only at the pharmacy chain level.This situation will change. This evening, Medras came here on a special sales invitation.Ross isn't exactly his biggest client yet, but he's still an important member of his client base.This is because when any new drug comes to the market, it usually faces a situation of being rejected by the market, and as soon as their new drug was put into production, Roth included it in Parnassus' drug list.This usually has a snowball effect.San Francisco is not a big market, but it has a high degree of concealment, which provides enough room for Balsons to achieve its goals.When Medrath goes to companies that are ten or twenty times the size of Parnassus, he can tell them, "This drug is working really well, and the major health care providers in San Francisco have put It's on its drug list." And, without pushing or talking, they can be reassured that other medical directors will buy it. During the ten to fifteen minutes of pre-dinner drinks, they each expressed regret and sympathy for the loss of Tim Markham, recalled the good times they had with him, and praised the A look at his insight, leadership and personality.But in such a setting and atmosphere, with a pile of hors d'oeuvres, a delicious main course in front of you, and some of the best sashimi in the Western Hemisphere, it's hard to sustain the melancholic mood for long.Waiting until the next wine server poured Medras a sip of the mellow wine from the bottle of Latour wine made in 1989-the wine they ordered to accompany the Asian lamb chops —and the conversation moved on to some more pleasant topics.Another hour passed as they talked about golf, new toys (Medras had just leased a new plane in Saratoga), investment tips and opportunities, and so on. Rose had grown used to the hazelnut flavor in the hazelnut liqueur, and Medrath was taking his second sip of it over coffee when he finally got the chance to turn the conversation on to what the two of them were here to talk about.Balsons was working on a new drug last year, so far top secret, awaiting FDA approval, and Madras had every reason to think it would be available next month. The news came.The company has mastered a new production process that allows them to reduce the cost of producing insulin to 15 percent of current costs. Rose put down the narrow mouth glass in his hand. "You mean to replace the original twenty percent with five percent?" Madras nodded, a greedy gleam in his eyes. "And we'll pass on the savings to you individually and directly." Rose made a quick calculation in his head. “A dollar for a dose? The federated payment system will pick up the bill. It will change all the items from clear to black.” "Yes, we believe so. Even so, of course, there are some issues that need to be discussed." "There's always been some issues." But Ross understands that those issues will be lessened if a company like Parnassus is on board.For example, complaints about possible rare side effects may not necessarily be uploaded to the government.At the same time, if that new insulin was on his drug list, it would gain trust in a blink of an eye. "I want you to know this," Medras continued, "because in the next few weeks sales people will be visiting your medical people. We hope to get enough clinical trial cases from you, Include enough history so that when we bring it to the market to actually sell it, people think it's a good drug, and so do doctors and patients. It's an incredible breakthrough, Malachy, that it can truly play a vital role.” Ross believed he was telling the truth, though he didn't have to check it out.The FDA will determine that.And whether or not it ends up being invalidated, Ross doesn't see his job as the FDA's watchdog, checking and letting go of the stuff it regulates. He has his own task, which is to use examples and reasons to prove that there is an irreconcilable contradiction between good medicine and profit.The kind of relationships he and like-minded medical executives have built with Balsons, and others like them, have helped bring universal health care to life.Lower-cost insulin is just one example of hundreds of new drugs on the way.Somebody shoves it down people's throats if need be.There really is no other way, and the reason is very simple, such a thing is by no means a free lunch. Once the Food and Drug Administration approves production, his new product will appear on Parnassus' drug list.After reaching an agreement on this matter, Medras paid the bill, drank his coffee, said goodbye to Rose, and left.After he was gone, Rose sat down at the table and finished his hazelnut wine.Now, four well-dressed young girls came into the room for him to choose from.With the arrival of the girls, the tone and atmosphere of the house came alive.He leaned back in his chair, taking advantage of the last moment to enjoy the added bonus of power.Then he stretched out his curled right foot and picked up the shriveled leather briefcase Medras had left him sideways.He pushed back the chair beneath him to make room for him to open the briefcase on his lap.Inside the bag were three bundles of neatly bound hundred-dollar bills, a credit card and the key to a luxury suite at the hotel, and a piece of Balson & Co. letterhead with Medrath’s writing on it. room number. Five minutes later, forty-two stories above the city, Ross stepped out of the elevator and walked down the glass-enclosed walkway that connects the twin towers of the Mandarin Oriental, all the while never taking his hands off Pass the briefcase.At this time, the sky had completely darkened, and the lights of the city were flickering far away from him.He stopped here every time, enjoying the dizzying feeling, the volley feeling of floating above everything. He came to the door of his room, inserted the key card in, knocked, and then pushed the door open. "Is that Mr. Ross?" A voice as beautiful as music drifted over, making one feel that the speaker was well-educated, and his lips were as sweet as honey.A young and beautiful Japanese woman came out of the corner bedroom naked.Rose's eyes were glued to a dagger-shaped tattoo on her right breast.It stood straight on her breast, and the point of the knife was just over her nipple, which had a small gold ring on it. "Hi," she said, bowing respectfully, "I'm Kumiko. Come on, let me undress you."