An Unexpected Visitor

Chapter 11

Jean lunged at Hannibal Lecter from her chair behind the desk.
- What? she almost screamed and grabbed his shoulders brutally without thinking. Some papers lying on the table gently fell to the floor because of the sudden draft.
- I have found the error, he replied calmly as he broke free from her spasmodic grip. If you’d calm down and listen to what I have to say, we might make this work.
Jean realized what she was doing, and was suddenly terribly ashamed of her behaviour. She backed one step and raised her hands.
- I apologize, she said quickly. I... I don’t know what came over me. I’m sorry. But... have you really found something? she then asked, partly curious, partly doubtful.
- Yes, sit down, doctor Lecter replied without looking at Jean, gesturing at her to sit down. He searched amongst the huge amount aperapers after that which made him see the error in her research.
Jean pulled out a chair and sat down opposite him.
- I’m listening, she said excitedly. Tell me.
Doctor Lecteapedaped his mouth to an “o” as he slowly turned the papers and regarded them with his intense, piercing look. Finally he turned to face Jean.
- The molecule structure is the mistake, he informed her.
Jean scowled. - No, impossible. That can’t be it. It can’t be the formula, I have...
- This drug, Hannibal interrupted, is a racemic mixture of enantiomers, right?
Jean nodded. - Yes, why?
Hannibal picked up a paper with the active molecule’s structural formula.
- This is the error, he said simply. Look here, Jean.
He put the paper on the table before her, and held his finger over the sketch of the molecule.
- This is the active enantiomer, right? he asked.
- Yes, of course.
- Very well. But then there is this one. Its optical isomer.
With a light hand - and only a few motions - he drew a quick, but yet a very clear sketch of the molecule, although its mirror image. It was the D-form of the molecule, the one that was inefficient against Rogue’s power, but instead made her ill.
- This molecule is chiral, doctor Lecter continued. Do you realize now, Jean? This enantiomer is the one you should manufacture - without its optical isomer. Without the D-form. It makes her ill. She only needs the L-form. You shouldn’t produce this drug as a racemic mixture.
Jean took the paper where he’d drawe ske sketch of the unwanted molecule, and studied it for a few minutes, silently. She tried to understand what he had said, and simultaneously realize how he could have figured it out so quickly. But she could not deny that his conclusion made sense.
Of course! How could she have missed such an obvious thing?
Yes, she was a good doctor, and a decent biochemist, but she was not always very sharp-sighte S She decided that it was more normal *not* to have seen it for five months than to see it in just a couple of hours, as Hannibal Lecter had done.
How did he do it?
- Do you realize, Jean? doctor Lecter asked again and pulled her back to reality.
She nodded and looked at him across the table. Yes, surely she realized *that*, but she still didn’t realize how he could have seen it so quickly.
- You have to do a biocatalysis, said the doctor. So only the L-form remains.
- Will you help me make the drug? Jean asked spontaneously.
Slowly Hannibal leaned back in his chair. The look in his maroon eyes gleamed. Then, after being serious for so long, he suddenly gave a short and ironic laughter.
- You’re kidding, right?
- No, doctor Lecter.
- Listen to me, miss Grey. I cannot help you anymore, even if I would want to. I have to leave tomorrow night. Professor Xavier only gave me three days. I am sorry. But you know what to do, right? You don’t need me anymore.
- You’d be of great assistance, Jean persisted. I’m doing this for Rogue. She is only nineteen! You can help her get a chance of a somewhat normal life. Don’t you want that, Hannibal? Didn’t you say you wanted to help her?
- Sure I would like to help her, but I won’t be staying for very long.
- I’ll speak to Charles, Jean suddenly said. I’m sure he’ll give you a reprieve, if only you promise to help me. Please doctor Lecter... Hannibal... It will be so much easier with your help. And we can pay you. I am sure Charles...
Hannibal silenced her by holding up his right hand, which he used to draw the excellent sketch of the molecule’s mirror image.
- No, I do not need money. I have plenty of money.
- Please, then. What do you want?
- Nothing. You cannot give me what I want. But... well, I promise to try helping you with this, but it means I have to stay here longer.
Jean rose at once. She looked serious, excited and resolute at once. - I’ll talk to Charles, she said.
- Yes, you talk to Charles.
Lecter got up too. When he and Jean were facing each other he could see that she was more than half a head taller than he was. He judged her to be close to six feet.
She is a beautiful woman, and strong, but if I were her, I would not walk around in high heels, he thought.
Jean took off her lab-coat and left itthe the med-lab. Then she followed doctor Lecter up to ground level.
It would be nice to see the sky again, after almost a whole day underground.