Chapter 10 - The Second Attack
Emily woke to silence.
The ICU monitor beside her displayed normal numbers, but no footsteps moved in the hall. The overnight nurse was gone. A red light blinked above the locked door.
Then the monitor screen changed.
Adrian Vale's face appeared.
"Your sister is alive," he said. "For the moment."
Emily reached for the call button. Nothing happened.
"Daniel failed because he loved comfort more than conviction. You and Lily suffer from the opposite defect. You believe truth has value independent of consequence."
"Thirteen people died."
"Thirteen people out of six thousand. Novalyne could still help millions."
"Then publish the risk and let patients choose."
Adrian sighed. "Choice is inefficient."
The ventilation stopped. Emily heard a soft click inside the medication pump connected to her central line. Blue liquid appeared in the chamber.
She tore at the tubing, but her right hand was weak and her injured left arm was heavily dressed. The line would not release.
The door opened.
Marcus rushed in, yanked the pump cable from the wall, and clamped the tubing inches before the blue fluid reached Emily's body.
"How did you know?" she gasped.
"Adrian likes cameras. Cameras need networks. Networks leave footprints."
The face on the monitor disappeared. A crash sounded in the corridor. Adrian had entered wearing paramedic gear, but Ortiz's officers intercepted him near the elevator. He fired once and fled into a stairwell.
Sarah arrived with Lily on a stretcher. The sisters saw each other through the glass doors for the first time in eight months.
Emily began to cry without making a sound.
Lily lifted one trembling hand.
Adrian reached the roof, where a medical helicopter idled for a scheduled transfer. He forced the pilot out and climbed aboard. Ortiz emerged onto the roof as the rotors accelerated, but she could not fire safely through the cockpit.
Sarah noticed the helicopter's destination code on the ICU transport board: Halcyon Tower.
"He is not escaping," she said. "He is going back for something."
Federal agents had already entered Halcyon's offices. Executives were being detained, servers seized, accounts frozen. Yet Adrian flew directly toward the building as dawn spread over the city.
Emily asked to see the evidence archive. Marcus brought a tablet and opened the index. Hundreds of files appeared: altered reports, payment records, surveillance photographs, and recorded meetings.
One folder was labeled MITCHELL.
Sarah opened it.
Inside were photographs of her apartment, her car, and her father entering a nursing facility. The newest image had been taken that morning.
Beneath it was a message scheduled for delivery at 6:00 a.m.
May you like
OPENING THE CAST WAS YOUR SECOND MISTAKE.
YOUR FIRST WAS BELIEVING NOAH GRANT DIED.
