Hidden Code

Dale Dangleben M.D.

Description

Many, over the centuries, have searched for the fountain of youth. What if they had it all wrong through the years? What if this fountain of youth was a genetic mutation? If it was, is it still active or has it gone dormant? Dr. Gilbert has his theories and looks to West Africa for answers. He will do whatever it takes to get the answers he desires. A young doctor will be drawn into a world of deception and greed because of what he carries within.

Sujets

• Thriller

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers LLC
• Date de parution: 30 octobre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781647505257
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Hidden Code
Dale Dangleben, M.D.
Austin Macauley Publishers
2020-10-30
The Hidden Code About the Author Dedication Copyright information © Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three
About the Author
Dale Dangleben, M.D., was born on the island of Dominica in the Caribbean prior to migrating to the USA. He was educated at Hunter College in New York and the Penn State College of Medicine. He currently resides in Pennsylvania.
Dedication
To my father, Arthur Dangleben, who always told me to read and encouraged me by supplying the reading!
Copyright information ©
Dale Dangleben, M.D.(2020)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher.
Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Ordering Information:
Quantity sales: special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address below.
Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data
Dangleben, M.D., Dale
The Hidden Code
ISBN 9781647505240 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781647505257 (ePub e-book)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020917826
www.austinmacauley.com/us
First Published (2020)
Austin Macauley Publishers LLC
40 Wall Street, 28th Floor
New York, NY 10005
USA
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Chapter One
Legend has it that in the fourteenth century there was a West African king that ruled for 168 years. How did he live for so long? The claim was he had found the fountain of youth. There were whispers through West Africa that he was keeping a secret of the location of this fountain. Most felt it was a body of water, such as a small spring or some plant or rare fruit that he ate. Also, he never left Africa or even traveled outside his kingdom. He outlived many, and it was felt he was dealing with dark magic and witchcraft. He would eventually be killed because of this witchcraft theory.
He had a daughter and a son. His daughter died at 19 of some infectious diseases. It is said that she was always a very frail child. After the king’s death, his son was allowed by the villagers to take over the throne. He also would go on to rule for a very long time. After a certain age, the same suspicions came upon him also. He had three sons and one daughter. The people would eventually revolt against him also. They felt that the family was holding a secret from them about why they lived so long and stopped aging after a while. During the revolt, he was killed, and his sons and daughters fled to Ghana.
This happened during the height of the slave trade and the attack on West Africa. Strong men and women were being stolen. West African mothers had their children ripped from their arms. Families were divided, never to see each other again. The screams of mothers and fathers lingered in the hot African sun. It was a time of complete separation of families. Through time, who knew what happened to the grandchildren of the king who never got old? Here we have it: just a legendary tale.
Chapter Two
In 1967 in Waterloo, Iowa, a young man named Gilbert was reading a storybook about a faraway king that never aged. He was just a boy reading a storybook. He was always fascinated with mystery books. They kept his imagination active. His father was an avid reader and read to him every night. His father’s favorite books were Reader’s Digest and National Geographic . These were books that fascinated Gilbert. He would sit every day and read these stories. His imagination would run wild. He would lay in bed and replay these stories or create his own. He also had Enid Blyton’s book collection, such as Secret Seven and The Famous Five . Many in the United States had not heard of Enid Blyton. She was a very popular British author of children’s mystery books. His parents had been fans when they were young and introduced Gilbert to these books. His collection was completed with The Hardy Boys , Nancy Drew , and The Three Investigators . Reading and escaping into adventure was his passion.
A few years later, he got a full scholarship to the University of Iowa. He majored in biology and did exceptionally well. He had made up his mind to go on to medical school. He found out about the M.D./Ph.D. program in his state. He applied and was accepted into the program. He had to declare what his Ph.D. portion would be and, for some reason, didn’t even hesitate to choose genetics. Yes, he wanted to be a geneticist who did bench research. This would be a seven-year journey to obtain his degree.
His seven years of study was long and hard. Many times during the journey, he wanted to quit. He was no quitter and would continuously brush these thoughts away. His genetics research was centered on point mutations and the manifestation of the phenotypic appearance of these genetic changes. His ultimate goal with the MD/Ph.D. degree was to do research and no bedside medicine. He wanted to get into genetic engineering to create new medicines to cure certain diseases.
Seven years later, he was on his way to changing the world. He was intelligent, confident, and ready. He took an internship at the same institution where he went to school. As part of his internship, he got an opportunity that would take him to West Africa to do some research. He was excited to be a part of this team heading to West Africa. He could not contain his excitement. The team landed in Benin and would head into Togo by rugged terrain sport utility vehicle. His trip was focused on the deep history of that part of Africa as it related to slavery. Finding out ancestry and ethnicity had become big business, and his institution was working with a private company that invested in such endeavors.
As soon as he landed in the capital city of Porto-Novo, he was taken to a hotel for the night. They met the team they would be traveling to Togo with. The next morning, a government official brought them their 20-day visa pass to enter Togo. They had three weeks to get their work done and leave. They got into the three SUVs and started the trek to Togo.
It was a three-and-a-half-hour drive along the Trans-West African Coastal Highway. Gilbert sat there in awe of such natural beauty. He took in every bit of the scenery.
The guide gave a history lesson and emphasized that no English was spoken, so translators must be used. The local language was predominantly French with a few local dialects.
The team got to their hotel in Togo and, first things first, they grabbed a cold beer. They then went to their separate rooms. The first order of business was a quick tour of the city and some food. While walking, Gilbert saw a large painted mural on one of the main streets and asked the tour guide to explain its significance. The guide said this area had a story that there once was a king here who never got old; that’s what the mural depicted. They kept on walking to their destinations. After a long day, they went back to their rooms. They had a busy day of real work ahead tomorrow.
Gilbert laid in bed and turned on the light. He opened the bed stand drawer and pulled out a hotel guide.
On the cover was a picture of the mural he had seen earlier. He opened the book, and there was a brief story again of this king who never aged. This was a legend in this area that was part of their history and culture. It was then and only then that it hit Gilbert, and he remembered reading such a book long ago as a little boy in Iowa. It had been a long day, and he quickly dozed off soon thereafter.
He woke up at 4 am with the story of this king lingering in the back of his head. It seemed he was meant to hear it again. Was this his fate? It almost seemed like a higher force was telling him something.
Gilbert was always a curious person and now he was intrigued. He began to inquire about the story. Every day after work, they gathered at the hotel bar and he took that opportunity to ask questions. The local guide insisted this was a mythical story and the king never really existed. Gilbert went to the city library and he began digging for more information. He found that there had been no European presence before the 15 th century. The stories were just that: stories passed on from generation to generation. Gilbert found out in his research in the library and online that some king did exist, but it only stated that he ruled for a long time. There were no dates or timeframe. This was a small area and isolated back then, so he was not surprised about the lack of information. It was suggested that the king’s son had at least one son and grandchildren.
Gilbert’s time in Togo was exhilarating. He was consumed with all of the culture, and his curiosity about the king that never aged grew.
Gilbert and the team finished their work in Togo and were heading back to the United States. He was still intrigued by this story. It was a long flight, so he pulled out his laptop and began writing his findings and his own crazy th