Chapter 154

Adam found he felt sorry for Wilma Scott. She had masqueraded as a physician for several years. Most people she dealt with naturally assumed the title "Doctor" meant M.D. Adam had assumed that and so had every one in his group of friends.

Not only had she been found to be a fraud, she had pushed herself into a confrontation with a sharp-witted woman with a grudge who had no trouble using Wilma's ill-conceived words and arrogance against her.

AMS provided a valuable service for the adult industry. No one could refute that. But Wilma wanted more power and more influence and she wasn't qualified or able to hold that authority. Still, her last statement led Adam to believe she wasn't a knowing participant but rather another unwilling pawn, no different from the Kristi Clears and the Josey Swallows of the world.

She would never be able to regain the clout that had been hers for so many years. Her words and actions would always be suspect. Every dictum she put forth would bring calls for someone else to confirm the proffered facts.

Adult Medical Services would find itself pushed back into the crevice from which it had grown. It would still be the place where adult performers got clean bills of health. Well, some of them, at least. Adam was certain that many performers would seek alternatives.

Still, when it came right down to it, it was Wilma Scott's own doing. No one at the news conference had sought her out for comment. She had raced over to Trinity and started railing. Trinity just parceled out enough rope for Wilma Scott and AMS to hang themselves.

Five minutes after Wilma had torn down most of what she had taken a decade to build, the state and county health agencies, using information provided by Cedar-Sinai and UCLA, finished the job.

"As the facts of this isolated incident have come to light, a few things have become abundantly clear to the state and local agencies," a woman in a white lab coat said from behind a lectern on the building's landing. "Adult Medical Services is out of its element when dealing with the spread of pathogens. We have reviewed the charter under which AMS operates. They have overstepped their bounds on numerous occasions in the past years: issuing statements which can be construed as medical advice despite having no physician on staff; refusing to consult with or notify their licensing agencies during previous incidents of this nature; releasing names and health conditions to unauthorized private businesses without seeking permission from the patient. There are myriad more but those are the most egregious.

"Interference in medical matters by Adult Medical Services or its proprietors will be tolerated no longer. AMS may still operate in accordance with state law and its charter. They have auxiliary staff trained to handle potential pathogens and to conduct specified medical tests, particularly the testing of blood and saliva for the presence of the human immunodeficiency virus. That is to be the limit of their participation in health-related issues. Anything further will result in the immediate revocation of their charter. I will now turn this conference over to Dr. Leonard Mulberry from UCLA Medical Center and Dr. Celeste Brannon from Cedar-Sinai's Infectious Disease Department. Copies of the doctors' curriculum vitae will be distributed. I will return for questions after the doctors have made their findings known."

Adam watched Wilma Scott as the woman spoke. There was no wiggle room in the statement. AMS had been minimized to almost nothing. It was a shame, Adam thought. Some of the safety ideas Wilma Scott had put forth were valid.

But she had become too reliant on the larger operations to understand the business as a whole had changed, he decided. She wanted regulations for the smaller groups and seemed content to allow the major players to police themselves. That simply didn't work. She refused to accept that the newer operations often were the ones most interested in protecting their performers. It never occurred to her that to a place like Five Friends, every performer was a valued commodity. SilverWing had five actresses waiting to replace Kristi Clear when she left. There was no one at Five Friends who was not indispensable.

She also had buried her head in regard to the incestuous relationships that had grown between the casting agencies, the production houses and some of the small sites who helped to grow a base for the talent. She looked the other way when the money guys included AMS in their web. Wilma Scott wasn't a bad person, Adam concluded. She was arrogant and power-hungry, yes. She was ignorant of some of the facets of the business that had changed since she left it in the 1990s. She failed to recognize that the startups had rapidly become the lifeblood of a stagnant industry because it was unlike anything she saw as a performer.

When Wilma Scott was Sophie Michaels and fucking on film, the large studios controlled every facet of the industry. They also tended to treat their performers decently back then. It wasn't exemplary treatment by any stretch but they sure as hell didn't send them off to get strapped to a board, to be beaten with a cane or to have their breasts bound in ropes.

No, that was the idea of the new style of management and Wilma Scott certainly wasn't to blame for that. In fact, she had used her web site to speak out against humiliation and degradation sites. She just didn't go the extra step and learn that those very sites were supported financially by the same people who were paying to keep her in business.

Trinity was surprised to see Adam slip to the side and stand next to Wilma Scott. She had never seen him rub salt in a wound but she thought the woman might deserve it, given what she had said and done.

Instead, Adam put a soft hand on Wilma's shoulders. Trinity saw the look on Wilma's face when she saw who it was. Then Adam spoke and Wilma's look softened. She gave him a sad smile, nodded and he came back to stand next to Trinity, who looked up at him questioningly.

"I told her that when things shake out, we'll show her what's been going on and then we'd help her find a way to stay in business because we support a lot of what she does," Adam explained.

Trinity found herself looking at Adam in awe. Over the next weeks and months, every single person in the adult industry would take pot shots at AMS. She was sure of it because she knew how people were.

And in 30 seconds, Adam had positioned Subarctic Enterprises to be the group with the most influence in how disease testing was handled in the adult world. It wouldn't make money, she knew that. But it would probably save a few lives.

"I really, really love you," she said, taking hold of his arm with no intention of ever letting it go.

The news conference ended without Adam learning anything he didn't already know for a fact or strongly suspect. The only revelation came when Celeste Brannon found him as she was leaving the stage.

"Hey, you're clear," she said. "All of you, even the girl from Europe. I went ahead and ran the whole spectrum down to cholesterol and iron levels. You're all extremely healthy and there is no trace of HIV or even an antibody count to suggest you have had a recent cold."

"Thank you," Adam said. The sense of relief that washed over him almost caused him to drop to his knees. He felt tears come to his eyes. "I was really worried that I had harmed someone I care about."

Celeste put her hand on his arm. She had no bedside manner and she knew it. That was why she chose research instead of practice. But it made her feel special to deliver good news to this guy.

"I saw you talking to the Scott woman," she said with a small smile. "You're not going to start your own clinic, are you? You're just going to take over hers."

"That isn't why I spoke to her," Adam said. "Look, AMS does some good things when they stay in their element. Plus I happen to agree with a lot of her ideas about performer safety. I just think they need to be wider spread than what she suggests and I think she focuses too much on the heterosexual side and ignores the homosexual side. That has to change. But we need some version of AMS, particularly an AMS with a clear mission and clear limits. We'll help her stay in business if she agrees to hire a physician with relevant experience to run things and a board of directors comprised of medical professionals to made decisions. If she won't, we'll do it and we'll make her more irrelevant than she just became."

"We're not out to ruin anyone," Trinity said. "But when we're talking about safety and health, we'll bury them if they stand in our way."

Celeste smiled and nodded.

"In a couple of weeks, let's get together," she said. "I have some ideas on this subject and I think your group and my group could work to make things a lot safer."

"You know it's already safer than the population in general, right?" Trinity asked. "At least in the heterosexual portion of the industry."

"I do understand that but it still isn't as safe as it could be," Celeste said. "This one could have been nasty. Patient Zero has been known to work six or seven times a week. Can you imagine if he had done that this time? Instead of having 19 people it could have been 119. Or if he got tested once a month at AMS and he worked with 50 people before the results came back positive. Just because the antibodies haven't appeared doesn't mean it's inactive. Most cases of HIV are spread in the 'window period' between infection and detection. What do you think about a mandatory quarantine for anyone working outside of the country?"

"I think it needs to be more specific than that," Adam said. "When you talk about some of these places, they are more stringent than we are. We have two young women affiliated with a casting company from Budapest. They require testing every 14 days. The studios we work with require tests no older than 48 hours old. If they don't know you, it must be the same day. But yeah, I think a quarantine for performers who work in some countries is a great idea. I would also be willing to push for same-day testing for everyone. Once a month doesn't cut it and the fact that we have only the studios and web sites to even make sure you've been tested in the last 30 simply doesn't work. Same-day testing, given that the test is relatively inexpensive, works best."

"Particularly if you're the one providing the tests," Celeste said with a raised eyebrow.

"Either way," Adam asserted. "We already do it that way out of own pocket or out of company funds. The day someone is scheduled to work, he or she goes to AMS. Now, before I forget, AMS is going to stop testing for 180 days."

"Come to my department," Celeste said. "Call ahead if you can but one of us will help you out. It will give us a chance to talk about what else we can do to keep this from happening again. I'm talking about realistic things, too, Adam. I'm not talking mandatory condoms or things people won't do. But, for God's sake do not send the whole adult industry to see us."