This is a photo I did not take of the ambassador of an unnamed country meeting with the CEO of a biotechnology firm and a representative of an organization known as ORION. The CEO sits in a sleek, suede chair in the corner of a hotel suite with a large window, a billionaire philanthropist to the public, who think his mission in life is to end world hunger and climate change, but who is actually developing a strain of fungus that will wipe out a third of the world’s food population, leaving his company the only supplier of grain. The ambassador sits across from him, glancing over and over out the window into the dark city, as he plans to buy the only variety of grain that will survive the coming famine. The representative of ORION stands near the door, her arms crossed, because she knows I am watching. After working for decades in the business, she trusts me to only observe while she facilitates their meeting and follows the lead until we can take down the operation from the inside. Or so I thought. So I do not take the picture. But I should have.
-R.R.
