Blake Schwendiman's Blog and Blook

Chapter 31

Thursday, 10 March 2022 – 10:45 p.m. MST

Quinn returned home late. He rushed into the house, hoping to find Laura still awake. She was. She was standing in the entrance, waiting for him. She had apparently been crying, but she was composed when he arrived.

“What’s wrong?” Quinn asked.

“Jordan called,” Laura responded, “she was heartbroken.”

“Why? What happened?”

“Tonight was her interview. She feels that she did terribly. She said that she just froze in front of the panel, and then she had trouble answering after she gained composure.”

“That doesn’t sound like Jordan. She’s so outgoing.”

Laura nodded. She wiped a new tear from her eye. “It was because of the subject.”

“What was it?”

“Adoption in the twenty-first century. They asked her to defend adoption in this new era of medical and genetic advances. They wanted her to explain why any parent should adopt a child when they can easily and more inexpensively use modern genetic technologies to ensure a biological childbirth.” Laura stopped. She wiped her eyes again. “It’s not a fair question. They did that on purpose.”

“Of course they did. How many other girls are the daughters of the richest man in the world? How many other girls have so much of their personal life discussed in the media? They knew she’s adopted. They wanted to see how she would deal with such a personally sensitive topic.” Quinn felt for his daughter and for Laura. There were times that he regretted the decisions that brought them so much media attention and so little privacy.

“But they didn’t ask the other girls such personally invasive questions.”

“Probably not. But like I said, Jordan has an inherent disadvantage. As unfair as it is, nobody wants to see her win. People just don’t like to see successful people continue to succeed. It’s not fair, but it’s life.” Quinn took Laura by the hand. “I’m sorry.”

“I know,” Laura said as she pulled Quinn in for a hug. “It hurts so much worse when they pick on the kids. And she so badly wanted to go to Mobile.”

“We can go to Mobile any time she wants.”

“That’s not the point. She wants to compete nationally. On her own merit. She doesn’t care about Mobile Alabama per se, she just hoped...” Laura trailed off.

Quinn held Laura for a moment. He hated that he had even more bad news to add. “Honey?”

“Yes?”

“Have you seen the news?”

“No. What’s going on?” Laura felt the tension in his voice.

“Karachi. Terrible.” Quinn activated a video display in the room. He sat next to Laura and watched as the scene continued to unfold.

“What happened?” Laura asked incredulously.

“An outbreak. They’re blaming it on contaminated food brought in for aid. The crowd has gone crazy.”

“Didn’t they test?” Laura asked. She knew that since the development of inexpensive and thorough contamination testing, no international food shipments were ever dispersed without it.

“I don’t know. But the food they distributed was from the US.”

“So it would have been tested at export time anyway.”

“Yes.”

“Then what happened?” Laura looked at Quinn. This news was bad on multiple fronts. Not only was it a tragedy in itself, but it would also bring Q-Morrow into the limelight again. Q-Morrow had developed nearly all of the testing methods and technologies used throughout the world.

“I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.” Quinn felt sick. He feared that this was planned, that it was a volley by Sireesha against him, his companies and the United States.

“I need to be able to talk about it on Sunday.” Laura said flatly.

“The awards banquet? That’s not a political venue.”

“It’s all politics now, honey.” Laura countered. “You know that as well as I.”

“Okay. I’ll get as much detail as I can.” Quinn paused. “But...”

“What?” The tone in Laura’s voice became skeptical.

“Well, do you want a theory?”

“Oh, hon, not a conspiracy.” Laura had listened to many of Quinn’s conspiracy theories.

“If you don’t want to hear it, that’s fine.” Quinn struggled so often with the fact that Laura didn’t know about the futurestream. He had incredible insight into the present world because of the future, but he could not disclose the details.

“Okay. Let’s hear it. What is it this time?”

“If you can’t take me seriously...”

“I’m sorry. Go ahead.”

“Okay. Suppose an Indian terrorist engineered a bio-weapon intentionally. Then those terrorists intercepted the aid packages to Karachi and infected them with the bio-agent.” Quinn didn’t actually know how Sireesha infected the aid packages, but she would have had access to delivery information and routes.

“Okay. Let’s say you’re right. Why does it have to be an Indian terrorist?” Laura recognized that even if Quinn’s theories seemed outlandish sometimes, he always had a well-considered motivation.

“Because Pakistan’s relations with the U.S. are at a pivotal point right now. This is an important position for us in Asia. Our positions with Pakistan and China both have been strengthening and that may be a threat to India. But if the US is perceived as outdated, India can begin negotiating with China and Pakistan and position itself to create an economic superpower in Asia. Imagine the impact on the world economy if India and China were to create open trade agreements and open political policies.” Quinn stopped. He had more information about the future, but decided to allow Laura some time to digest what he had already provided.

Laura considered the idea for a moment. “Let me make sure I understand. You’re saying India is placing a wedge between Pakistan and the United States? And the purpose of the wedge is to improve India’s relationship with its neighbors?”

“Yes. Our relationship with Pakistan is tenuous, but it’s better than it has been in decades. If India can strengthen its relationships by claiming that the U.S. is weak and outdated, India stands to gain. It was our technology, United States technology that was used to scan the aid that was sent to Pakistan. India can leverage this to form a new agreement throughout Asia to supply scanning technologies and begin forging a stronger overall alliance.” Quinn paused again. He searched Laura’s eyes for a response.

“You mean Sireesha can forge an alliance, right?” she asked, pausing to search his face for a reaction. “Quinn, you need to let go. Everything that happens in the world is not directly related to the personal war you’re having with Sireesha.”

“It’s not just that, Laur...”

“But even if you’re right, I can’t propose that. We have nothing to back that ... do we?”

“No.” Quinn responded in a whisper. “We don’t.”

“In that case, I need to be able to speak intelligently about it based on what we do know.”

Laura loved Quinn. She hated dismissing his earnest help. He really did mean well and she knew it. He just didn’t seem to have a solid grasp of the real world from time to time.

“If you need anything, just say the word.” Quinn tried to sound upbeat. He knew that he really couldn’t convince Laura to go public with the information he had just provided. It would be detrimental to her credibility. He had no intention of damaging that.

“Thanks.”

Quinn walked over and gently kissed her forehead. “Don’t stay up too late,” he whispered as he started for the bedroom.