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it,' Dan Marks shouted, catching Regan off guard. 'Absolutely loving it.'
    That was how the media came to meet the 'Dream Team'. The nation watched and marvelled as the press conference was assessed on the main television current affairs programme that evening. The trio looked confident and relaxed, self-assured. Their New England accents impressed and many commented they could have been straight out of central casting, ER meets Dallas. John Regan was so at ease in their company. Ireland went to bed that night glowing in the warmth of a strong 'feel good' factor.
    The TV, radio and newspapers made much of the three specialists over the subsequent weeks. The tabloid Daily Post ran profiles of the group and their backgrounds, filling pages with direct quotes: 'inadequate facilities'… 'poor career structure for junior staff leading to low morale'… 'lack of commitment to training among senior staff'. These open criticisms of existing cardiology facilities in Ireland were so scathing the Dream Team had more enemies than patients by the end of the first month. The social editor of the Evening Post featured Jennifer Marks' first day 'at the exclusive Holy Rosary Convent all-girls' school in Dublin's southside' where 'the emphasis is more on producing young ladies than career girls'. She included a list of the socialites, celebrities and academics who had spent their schooldays at the convent, many providing over-the-phone quotes on how wonderful it had all been.
    Linda Speer was the subject of a long profile in a Post weekend colour supplement. She told reporters she was part of a 'cardiology team of excellence' and wanted the unit to stay together for the next two years to continue research they had already begun. What she failed to mention was the money. Speer had grown up in a hand-to-mouth existence, one of five children abandoned by their father. In a run-down neighbourhood of north Boston her mother had struggled to rear the children, sometimes juggling three jobs at a time for extra money. Like John Regan, Linda Speer never wanted to go hungry again. She despised the ignominy of poverty.
    The report mentioned she'd married young while in medical school, but not that she'd abandoned her husband less than three years later when he didn't match her drive and ambition, merely that it 'didn't work out'. Since then she'd concentrated on her career but, as she confided to the reporter, gender was still a drawback. At crucial interviews the male-dominated medical profession often chose one of their own rather than a younger, brighter woman. She admitted, with unusual frankness for a doctor, that the Dublin position was a different route to her ultimate goal. Linda Speer wanted real success, power and wealth. She knew this was unattainable as a practising doctor, or not at the levels she aspired to. The research Ireland was willing to fund was her ticket to fortune.
    A short piece in the medical press claimed Stone Colman was ready for a career move and that Regan's centre offered advancement in establishing his personal international profile. Colman was known to be ambitious but the report suggested he'd peaked in Boston and needed a fresh challenge. He was quoted as 'delighted' with his share of the promised budget, knowing how tight finances were in the Mercy hospital. 'I can confirm that over one million pounds of the promised EEC grant is earmarked for laboratory work alone,' he was quoted as saying. 'While this sum may sound generous it is no more than adequate for my department. Indeed it is no more than one would expect for a large hospital laboratory,' he'd added pointedly.
    The Post also ran an EXCLUSIVE on the Marks family: 'Wheelchair-bound wife, Annie, once an aspiring neurosurgeon but now stricken with the devastating wasting disease multiple sclerosis. She is cared for by doting husband Dan, who administers her Interferon therapy himself every day.' There was a happy smiling family portrait, taken outside the front