Race (14 page)

TEN

After dropping off the samples at the Toronto Drug Analysis Service Laboratory, or DAS, for short, we drove back to Scarborough where
Nemdharry
and Terries were observing the export company.
 
We met a block away.
 
Nemdharry
was drinking coffee and Terries was in the unmarked cruiser.
  
She stepped out once she saw us.

“Anything?”
Beadsworth
asked.

“The building contains eight units.”
Nemdharry
read from a small piece of paper.
 
“Two dental offices, one used-parts wholesaler, two clothing wholesalers, our export company, and two vacancies.
 
But the management said one unit might be leased by the end of the week.”

“Doesn’t seem like the best place to start a clandestine laboratory,”
Beadsworth
said.

“No, it doesn’t.
 
In the morning a white U-Haul truck came and went around the back.
 
It left forty-five minutes later.”

“Do you know where?’

“No idea.
 
We’re timing the schedule.
 
Hopefully, we’ll make out a pattern.
 
What’s surprising is that when I was talking to the manager of the building, I happened to walk past that unit and there was no smell.
 
No chemicals burning in the back.”

“What does the front look like?”
Beadsworth
asked.

Terries spoke, “It has nothing except for a sign that says LLPM Imports & Exports, and a receptionist.
 
No chairs, and the back area is entirely sealed off.”

“Then why have a receptionist?” I said.

Terries answered, “I think it’s just to show they are a legitimate company.
 
While I was there the receptionist didn’t get a single call.”

Beadsworth
wiped something off his coat and then said, “We believe we have a sample.”

“
Nex
?” Terries said.

“We’re not sure.
 
It could be anything.”

“What does it look like?” she asked.

“Like Ecstasy.”

“Shit,”
Nemdharry
said.
 
“Where is it?”

“We dropped it off at DAS.
 
We’ll find what’s in it.
  
I would like to talk to the owner of this coffee shop.”

“Yeah, sure,”
Nemdharry
said.

They left Terries and I at the car and walked down the street.

We were alone.

There was silence.

I looked at my feet and she was looking away.

I had to say something. “So you like the job?” I asked.

“It’s not bad.
 
A good learning experience,” she said, smiling.

Silence again.

“How about you?” she said.

“Yes, good learning experience.”
 
I found I couldn’t think of anything clever to say.
 
My mind was frozen.
 
I tried to stay cool, calm, and collected.
 
I leaned on the car and looked across to the many shops lining the street.
 

There was a
Laundromat
, a drycleaners, and a convenience store at the corner.
  
Beside the convenience store there were a couple of guys trying to place a sign above the window.
 
The sign read: BUBBLE T SHOP.

“Have you ever tried bubble tea?” I turned to Terries.

“No, really.”

“Neither have I.
 
Maybe someday we could try it together.”
 
I stopped.
 
I couldn’t believe I had just said that
.
 
I looked away not wanting to hear what she was going to say next.

She smiled.
 
“Maybe
some day
.”

I was relieved.

Nemdharry
and
Beadsworth
came back.
 

It was a long, slow day.

***

Next morning, we drove to DAS and inside found our analyst.
 
She was a short round woman who wore black-rimmed glasses.
  
She also wore the traditional long white coat.
 
Her name was Eileen
Mathers
.

“What is it?” asked
Beadsworth
.

“I’m not sure,” she said.
 
“Come with me.” She scanned a white card, the door beeped, and then we heard the sound of unlocking.
 
She took us inside to the laboratory.
 
There were many analysts wearing similar white coats, hovering over microscopes, looking through charts, staring at monitors, and examining liquids in test tubes.
 

It reminded me of my grade-nine science class.
   

“From the information you provided,” Eileen said.
 
“It’s supposed to blow up inside the human body?”

“Yes,”
Beadsworth
said.

“Are you sure you don’t mean it dissolves in the body?”

Beadsworth
looked at me and I at him.

“No.
 
From what I’ve been briefed it is supposed to blow up.”

“I don’t think that’s possible.
 
Pills and tablets don’t blow up.
 
They dissolve.
 
Capsules
do
dissolve faster than tablets because their outer layer is made of soft gelatin shells.”

“I think it is supposed to work instantly,” I said.

“For it to take instant effect it is better if it were taken intravenously, or even inhaled or snorted.
  
Tablets take time to break down.
 
Come, I’ll show you something.”

She took us to the corner where there were three glasses filled with liquid propped on top of a table.
 
The glasses were labeled with yellow stickers.
 
The first glass: Exhibit A—Orange, the second glass: Exhibit B—Green, and the third: Exhibit C—Brown.
  
  

She pointed to the glasses.
 
“These are the samples you submitted.
 
I cut a small piece from each tablet and placed them in water at precisely the same time.
 
Exhibit A was the earliest sample.
 
Look closer.”

The water had turned white with visible chunks of what used to be the orange tablet resting at the bottom.

“You can see,” Eileen began.
 
“The tablet did not dissolve entirely.
 
Just as it made contact with the water the tablet broke up into pieces and then fell to the bottom.” She pointed to the small clumps.
 
“I have not stirred so most of the tablet dissolved on its own.”

We moved to Exhibit B.
 
The glass was completely clear.

“It’s translucent.
 
This sample has dissolved entirely but it took a good half-hour to do so. “We moved onto the last glass—Exhibit C.
   
The tablet was completely dissolved but you could still see tiny white particles floating at the top.
   

“Once the sample touched water it immediately fizzled and shrank.
 
But there is still this white residue and a white film at the top of the glass.”

She turned to us.
 
“What we are seeing is the evolution of the sample.
 
Whoever is trying to manufacture this is trying to produce the effect you mentioned.
  
But from my experience it is not possible.
 
I’m not saying it is impossible. With the technology these days I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“What’s in it?”
Beadsworth
asked.

“I’ll show you.”

Being inside the small room, filled with all sorts of equipment: beakers, test tubes, and other science equipment, I was getting claustrophobic.
  
If I were forced to work in here I’d end up drinking one of those green or brown liquids just to escape.

We went to another table and the analyst fixed a bright light on a ceramic plate.

“I’ve scraped a bit off from each tablet,” she said.
 
With a tiny scoop she placed a small amount of white powder onto the plate.
 
“This scraping is from the orange pill—the earliest sample.”

From a cool storage she pulled out a small glass bottle, “This is a Marquis reagent consisting of
sulphuric
acid and formaldehyde.
  
I first saw it in Amsterdam.
  
Now it’s widely used everywhere.”

She tilted the bottle and discharged two drops of fluid onto the scraping.
 

We waited.

“No reaction,” said Eileen.
 
“Good.”

She pulled out another small bottle, this one not from the cool storage.
 
“This is a
Mandelin
reagent.”
 
She did the same as before by placing two drops on the scraping.
 

This time the reagents rapidly turned dirty orangey-brown.

“Just as I thought,” Eileen said.
 
“It’s
Ketamine
.”

Beadsworth
nodded.
  
He understood.

“What’s
Ketamine
?” I said, looking around.
 
I didn’t want to sound stupid but I had to ask.

She said, “
Ketamine
is an
anaesthetic
used primarily by veterinarians.
 
It’s a central nervous system depressant.
   
Taken in higher doses
Ketamine
causes hallucinations and delirium.
 
Numbness in the extremities is also common.
 
So when you said the drug is supposed to numb, right away I thought of
Ketamine
, but I wasn’t sure.
 
In liquid form it can be injected into the muscle and the effect can usually be felt within four minutes.
 
If swallowed, the effects come from ten to twenty minutes, but only in higher concentrations.
 
So it would be more viable to keep it in liquid form.
 
Lets
look at the second tablet.”

She placed more scrapings on a clean ceramic tile and again discharged two drops of the Marquis reagent.
  
The reaction was green.
 

She looked at us with one raised eyebrow.
 
“The color dyes of the tablets are an indicator of what’s in them.
 
This contains caffeine and
Ketamine
.
 
Caffeine being the prominent substance in the tablet.”

“Caffeine?” I said.
 
“The stuff in coffee?”

“Yes,” she answered.
 
“Caffeine is a stimulant.”

“I get it,” I said, as if I had just discovered the cure for cancer.
 
“
Ketamine
knocks you out and caffeine brings you back in.”

“In simple terms, yes.”

I smiled at
Beadsworth
.
 
Now look who’s smart
.

Eileen said, “Now for the last tablet.
 
I can already tell you what’s in it.” She performed the same procedure using the Marquis and the reaction was blackish brown.
 
“This tablet contains many substances, with
Ketamine
being the primary.
 
My guess, the secondary substances would be caffeine and methamphetamines.
 
These tests that I have performed only indicate the most prominent substance in the tablets.
  
The Marquis test was made specifically for Ecstasy.
 
So if there
are
any other substances the fluid might not change
colour
or react.
 
Also, these tests don’t indicate how pure the substance is or how much of it is in the tablet, but it is a fine primary indicator.
 
What I’m trying to say is that I wouldn’t be surprised if it contained cocaine, speed, or acetaminophen.”
 
She paused.
 
“I’ll have to do a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer analysis.”