Chapter 7 - THE TREATMENT INSIDE HER BLOOD
Dr. Samuel Price ordered a complete genetic analysis.
Evelyn sat in his private office while he compared the new results to her earlier records.
“You have markers I have never seen in combination,” he said.
“Are they natural?”
“I cannot answer that.”
“You’re a cardiologist.”
“I’m not a genetic engineer.”
“But you treated my father.”
“Yes.”
“Did we have the same condition?”
Dr. Price hesitated.
“Not exactly.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“You told me I inherited it.”
“You have a related structural defect.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“At the time, I believed the difference was a normal variation.”
“And now?”
He removed his glasses.
“Your heart tissue appears unusually responsive to Helix-R.”
“Because the treatment was built from my biology.”
“That is possible.”
“Did my father know?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
Evelyn watched his face carefully.
“Someone used your access credentials to steal my records.”
“I know.”
“Were you paid by Ashford?”
“No.”
“Did Margaret ask you to declare me incompetent?”
Dr. Price looked away.
Evelyn’s stomach tightened.
“She did.”
“When?”
“Two months ago.”
“Before my diagnosis?”
“Before I told you the condition had progressed.”
“What exactly did she ask?”
“She wanted to know what circumstances would allow a family member to assume temporary medical authority.”
“And you answered?”
“I explained the law in general terms.”
“Did you tell her about my health?”
“No.”
“Did you tell anyone?”
“No.”
“Then how did she know?”
Dr. Price’s expression changed.
“I assumed you told her.”
Evelyn stood.
“You should have told me immediately.”
“She said you were under extreme stress and refusing family support.”
“My mother has spent years building stories about me.”
“I understand that now.”
“No, Doctor. You understand it because she attacked me in front of a witness. Before that, you believed her.”
He looked ashamed.
Evelyn left the office.
In the hospital corridor, she received a call from Nora.
“We found the internal source.”
“Who?”
“Not over the phone.”
“Where are you?”
“Archive warehouse.”
Evelyn’s pulse quickened.
“Why are you there?”
“Because someone requested the original Helix notebooks for destruction.”
“Who authorized it?”
“The order used your digital signature.”
“I gave no such order.”
“I know.”
“Do not touch anything. I’m coming.”
The warehouse stood forty minutes outside Boston.
When Evelyn arrived, police vehicles surrounded the building.
Smoke drifted from a rear loading door.
Nora stood beside an ambulance with soot on her face.
“What happened?” Evelyn asked.
“Someone set fire to Section C.”
“Were the notebooks inside?”
“Yes.”
“Did they survive?”
“Some.”
Nora handed her a sealed evidence bag containing a partially burned notebook.
Thomas’s handwriting covered the surviving pages.
One sentence had been underlined repeatedly.
SUBJECT E SHOWS STABLE INTEGRATION.
Evelyn turned the page.
A medical chart appeared.
SUBJECT E
FEMALE
DATE OF BIRTH: OCTOBER 14
Evelyn’s birthday.
Nora looked at her.
“There are dozens of references to Subject E.”
“Who started the fire?”
“The police found a man unconscious near the rear exit.”
“Do we know him?”
Nora nodded toward an ambulance.
A stretcher was being loaded inside.
The injured man was Chairman William Hale.
Evelyn ran toward him.
Hale’s face was burned along one side. An oxygen mask covered his mouth.
He opened his eyes when she approached.
“William, what happened?”
He tried to speak.
She leaned closer.
“Margaret,” he whispered.
“Did she do this?”
Hale shook his head.
“Not Margaret.”
“Who?”
His hand gripped Evelyn’s sleeve.
“Your father knew.”
“Knew what?”
Hale struggled for breath.
“You were not the first.”
The paramedics moved Evelyn back.
The ambulance doors closed.
As the vehicle pulled away, Nora’s phone rang.
She answered, listened, and slowly turned toward Evelyn.
“That was company security.”
“What happened?”
“Ryan disappeared from the hospital.”
“Did he leave voluntarily?”
“They found his security officer unconscious.”
Evelyn’s phone vibrated.
A video message had arrived from Ryan’s number.
She opened it.
Ryan sat tied to a chair in a dark room.
Blood marked his lower lip.
A distorted voice spoke from behind the camera.
“Bring us the Subject E notebook.”
Ryan lifted his head.
“Don’t do it,” he whispered.
The voice continued.
“Midnight tomorrow. Come alone.”
The camera moved closer to Ryan.
“If you involve the police, Subject R dies.”
The video ended.
Evelyn stared at the final frame.
Subject R.
May you like
Not Ryan Carter.
Subject R.
