Chapter 3 - THE FILE THAT HAD BEEN ERASED
Nora arrived at Evelyn’s office before sunrise.
She closed the door and placed a laptop on the conference table.
“I searched the archive,” Nora said. “There are no digital records of Julian Mercer before 2008.”
“That’s impossible.”
“I know.”
“He co-founded the company.”
“According to public documents, your father founded it alone.”
Evelyn stared at the screen.
“Someone altered the records.”
“Not recently. The metadata suggests the purge happened more than fifteen years ago.”
“Can you recover anything?”
“Maybe from the physical archive.”
Carter Biomedical stored its oldest paper files in a secured warehouse outside the city. Thomas had insisted on preserving original contracts, research notebooks, and laboratory records.
Only three people had unrestricted access.
Evelyn.
The chief legal officer.
And Margaret.
“Why does my mother still have access?” Evelyn asked.
Nora scrolled through the authorization list.
“Your father added her in 2007. It was never revoked.”
“Revoke it now.”
Nora hesitated.
“There’s another problem.”
She opened a security report.
Margaret had entered the warehouse three nights earlier.
She remained inside for forty-seven minutes.
Then a fire alarm forced the building to evacuate.
The alarm was later determined to have been manually triggered.
“Was anything taken?” Evelyn asked.
“We don’t know.”
“Was there camera footage?”
“The camera covering Archive Section C stopped recording six minutes before she arrived.”
Evelyn’s phone rang.
Ryan.
She let it continue until it stopped.
A message appeared.
I HAVE THE ACCOUNTING. COME ALONE.
Beneath the message was an address in South Boston.
Daniel entered the office ten minutes later.
When Evelyn showed him the messages and warehouse report, he immediately contacted a private security specialist he trusted.
“You are not going alone,” he said.
“Ryan won’t talk if he sees anyone else.”
“Then he doesn’t talk.”
“I need to know what he took.”
“You already know enough to report him.”
“But I don’t know who else is involved.”
Daniel studied her face.
“You think this is bigger than Ryan.”
“He mentioned Julian Mercer. Mother entered the archive after I received the medical threat. Someone accessed my confidential health information. And Ashford is trying to buy the company before Helix-R approval.”
“You believe they’re connected.”
“I believe coincidences become patterns when enough people profit from them.”
Daniel walked toward the window.
“Let me investigate Ashford quietly.”
“You’re a federal prosecutor.”
“I know people.”
“That sentence usually means something illegal.”
“It means I know people who can look at public filings faster than we can.”
Evelyn almost smiled.
Almost.
At noon, she went to the South Boston address.
Daniel followed in another vehicle despite her objections.
The location was an abandoned shipping office near the harbor.
Ryan waited inside beside a dusty desk.
He looked sober and frightened.
“You brought someone,” he said.
“No.”
“You’re lying.”
“You asked me to come. I came.”
Ryan looked toward the window.
“They’re watching me.”
“Who?”
“The people I owe.”
“Names.”
“I can’t.”
“Then I’m leaving.”
He grabbed her arm.
Evelyn pulled away.
“Do not touch me.”
Ryan released her.
“I didn’t take eight hundred thousand.”
“I know.”
“I took three million.”
Evelyn said nothing.
His eyes filled with shame.
“Some of it came from the company. Some from private investors. I thought I could fix everything before anyone noticed.”
“What did you invest in?”
“A data firm.”
“What kind of data?”
“Medical.”
Evelyn felt a cold sensation move through her.
“Patient records?”
Ryan looked away.
“Ryan.”
“They said it was anonymized.”
“Who said?”
“Ashford.”
The name hung between them.
“What did Ashford want with the data?”
“They were building prediction models. Drug response, disease progression, mortality risk.”
“And you gave them Carter Biomedical trial data?”
“No.”
“Tell me the truth.”
“I gave them preliminary Helix-R results.”
Evelyn stepped back.
The betrayal was so large that for a moment she could not fully understand it.
Helix-R’s early trial data was worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Competitors could use it to imitate the therapy, undermine the patent, or interfere with approval.
“You sold our research.”
“I borrowed against access.”
“You sold Dad’s work.”
“I was going to repay everything.”
“With what?”
“Ashford promised me a position after the acquisition.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“There will be no acquisition.”
Ryan’s fear turned to anger.
“You don’t understand. The deal is already moving.”
“I control the company.”
“For now.”
He reached into his coat and removed a flash drive.
“This is everything I have.”
Evelyn did not take it.
“What’s on it?”
“Payments. Messages. Names.”
“Why give it to me?”
“Because they changed the deal.”
“What changed?”
Ryan swallowed.
“They don’t want you removed from the board anymore.”
“What do they want?”
“They want you declared medically incompetent.”
Evelyn looked toward the door.
Ryan continued.
“They know about your heart.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“You gave them my records.”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
“I swear I didn’t.”
Evelyn finally took the drive.
Ryan stepped closer.
“Mother says signing temporary authority is the only way to protect the company.”
“Mother knows?”
“She knows more than she told me.”
“About Ashford?”
“About everything.”
A vehicle door slammed outside.
Ryan’s face changed.
“They found me.”
Daniel entered through the side door.
“We need to go.”
A black sport utility vehicle had pulled into the lot.
Two men emerged.
Daniel showed them the outline of the firearm beneath his jacket.
They stopped but did not retreat.
“Federal officer,” Daniel called. “Stay where you are.”
The men returned to their vehicle without speaking.
As Evelyn, Daniel, and Ryan hurried toward the opposite exit, Ryan whispered something.
“The drive is encrypted.”
“What is the password?”
“Mercer.”
Evelyn stopped.
Ryan looked at her.
“Mother chose it.”
Before Evelyn could ask another question, a gunshot shattered the office window.
Daniel pushed both of them behind a concrete wall.
The black vehicle sped away.
On the floor, Ryan clutched his shoulder.
Blood seeped between his fingers.
Evelyn knelt beside him.
“Stay awake.”
Ryan’s lips trembled.
“They weren’t trying to kill me.”
“How do you know?”
May you like
He looked at the flash drive in her hand.
“They were trying to make sure you trusted me.”
