so it's not so much
of a shock. It*s true Dr. Marshall wants to remove your
right arm, but he won't just hack it off Like I said earlier,
he's a world-class surgeon. He's working on damaged
nerve regeneration. Don't ask me to go into the specifics
because I haven?t got a clue. Dr. Marshall will explain ev
erything when you meet him. All I can say is that a long
time ago, he progressed as far as he could go in his re
search, using test animals and computer simulations. He
needs to test out his advanced theories using Hve human
subjects. Themedical community would never allow this
type of thing, of course, which is precisely the reason Dr.
Marshall funds his own research. Although this might be
frowned upon, that doesn't make it illegal You have every
right to donate your arm to medical science, just as he has
every right to compensate you for your trouble. People do
it all the time. All over the country people are selling part
of their livers, or one of their kidneys, and they're getting
compensated for it. Why shouldn't you?"
I sat rigid as a stone, not even sipping my expensive
scotch. I'd heard the stories of people selling their kid
neys for big bucks but hadn't really thought much about
it. This wasn't that much different, was it? I wasn't com
pletely convinced it was legal, but who really cared? Dr.
Marshall wouldn't be calling the cops to report me;
that was for sure. By the time anyone found out, if ever,
Arlene and I'd be nestled away on some warm tropical
island somewhere.
"Where and when would all this happen, if, and I do
mean if I decided to go through with it?"
"This weekend. You'll be brought to his private medi
cal center about three hours from here, where you'll
meet Dr. Marshall and his top-notch medical staff. You'll
get a tour of the facility and have a chance to ask any and
all questions you have before giving your final consent.
The money will be wired into a bank account for you
and you'll receive confirmation of its deposit before the
operation begins. The operation itself I'm told is simple,
a couple of hours, tops. You won't feel a thing.
"After it's over^ you'll be eared for and pampered for
as long as it takes your wound to properly heal. About
the worst thing you have to worry about will be fevers
and the risk of infection, but the doctors and nurses will
be monitoring you closely. They won't release you from
the hospital until you've been given a one hundred per
cent clean bill of health and you're free of pain. Hell,
they'll even give you a rehabilitation course to help you
cope with getting by using only one arm. Luckily you're
left-handed, so that should make things-—"
"How do you know that?" I interrupted liim, more
than a little shocked that these strangers knew so much
about me. I was in fact left-handed, as he'd said.
"What? Oh, well that's easy. You're holding your
drink in your left: hand,"
I screwed up my face and started to protest but Drake
immediately started laughing.
"I'm kidding, Mike. I'm a little more professional
than that. I asked around, found out your name, and
then anything and everything about you can be found.
I checked all your records. You name it—financial, med
ical, educational. I checked them all.
"When are you going to realize this is the real deal
here, Mike? We're not just fucking around, wasting
time. Dr. Marshall is a very important man who's will
ing to make you rich if you'll help him. Obviously, los
ing a limb will be hard on you for a while, I know that,
and he knows that. That's why he's willing to give you
so much money. It's a huge sacrifice you'd be making.
Huge, but I'm willing to bet within a year you'll be
mighty happy you met me.
"Just say yes and show 'Tip. Meet Dr. Marshall and ask
him anything you/ want. Spend a few months in the
hospital and bang, you're a multimillionaire. It's up to
you, Mike. What do you say?"
It was a good question. One I didn't have an answer
for