Sizzle and Burn

organization had produced. Hell, they were all, to one degree or another, experiments.
    “You’re in charge of the Oriana project,” he said. “It’s your decision to make. But I would remind you that Houdini is a tool, a very expensive one. The particular version of the formula that was prepared for him required a significant financial investment. It would be unfortunate, to say the least, to see that investment wasted. However, if the project is a success, the loss of Houdini could be written off.”
    He ended the call before January could respond, aware that his pulse was racing and he was breathing too rapidly. Fear and adrenaline shivered through him. It took longer than it should have to regain control.
    After a while he crossed the room, opened the door and went into the outer office. His attractive administrative assistant looked up from her desk.
    “Yes, Mr. Nash?”
    “I’m going down to the lab,” he said.
    “Yes, sir. Shall I cancel the meeting with the people from the online supplements company?”
    “No.” Shit. It was one thing after another today. He paused at the door, concealing his impatience. “What time are they due to arrive?”
    She checked the clock. “Forty-five minutes from now.”
    “I’ll be back by then.”
    He went out into the hall and headed for the stairwell. His office was on the third floor of the aging three-story brick building but he rarely used the elevator. He liked to set an example of fitness for the staff.
    He passed a cheerful wall banner announcing that Cascadia Dawn Natural Food Supplements had achieved record profits for the sixth quarter in a row.
    The director of marketing emerged from an office and nodded respectfully. Two women from publicity saw him and greeted him with formality. He acknowledged them, pushed open the stairwell door.
    The top floor of the building was reserved for offices. Online and catalog sales were handled on the middle floor. The first floor served as a warehouse for the wide variety of nutritional products sold under the Cascadia Dawn Natural Food Supplements label.
    The company was successful but it was not large. That was intentional. He planned to see to it that it remained a regional niche player in the nutritional supplement business. It was the perfect cover for an illicit drug lab.
    Cascadia Dawn did not manufacture and package its own products in bulk. It hired an outside firm to do that. But it did possess a state-of-the-art research and development lab where new nutritional formulas were developed and older ones were updated. The lab occupied a large portion of the basement of the building. It was divided into two sections.
    He went down the last flight of stairs, opened a heavy steel fire door and walked into a small office.
    An attendant in a white jumpsuit was seated at the desk. He got up quickly.
    “Good morning, Mr. Nash. Do you want to enter the lab?”
    “Yes, please, Miller.”
    “I’ll get a suit for you, sir.”
    Miller opened a cabinet and took out a sealed plastic packet containing a disposable lab coat, elastic-brimmed hat, gloves, mask and booties.
    Nash stepped into a small chamber and donned the clean apparel quickly. When he was ready, Miller pressed a button that opened another door.
    Nash walked into the pristine space beyond the door. The stainless steel workbenches and equipment gleamed beneath the bright industrial lights suspended from the ceiling. Technicians and assistants gowned in white from head to toe nodded and murmured greetings as he went past.
    Everyone in the room was working on a variety of supplement products of the type found in health and fitness stores across the country. Nash knew that some companies in the field had gone under over the years but for the life of him, he didn’t see how anyone could lose money in the nutritional supplement business. Sheer incompetence was the only way he could imagine going bankrupt. It was astonishing how much money consumers were prepared to throw at any product that promised to help them lose weight, get an erection, reduce stress or improve their immune systems. And all the stuff could be legally sold without any evidence of effectiveness backed up by clinical trials.
    Amazing. And profitable.
    He nodded to several technicians and then went to the far end of the room. There he stopped in front of another stainless steel vault door and paused at the computerized lock. He was one of only two people in the entire building who knew the