Chapter 2 - The Patients Who Never Existed
Evelyn ran before anyone could stop her.
Cole followed.
So did Hale.
The ceremony dissolved behind them as officers began issuing orders and confused sailors were moved away from the medical complex.
Evelyn reached the entrance first.
Inside, the emergency ward looked normal.
Too normal.
Beds made.
Floors clean.
Computers glowing.
But the six patients from the night before were gone.
Every one of them.
She entered Ruiz's treatment room.
Empty.
"Where are they?"
A corpsman named Lewis stood near the desk.
"Transferred."
"By whose authority?"
Lewis hesitated.
"Commander Briggs."
Evelyn turned toward Hale.
"You said he wasn't authorized."
"He wasn't."
"Then stop him."
Hale pulled out his phone.
Cole entered behind them.
"Nobody leaves this facility."
Hale stared at him.
"Sir?"
"You heard me."
For the first time since the slap, Cole sounded less like a man defending his authority and more like an officer trying to understand how badly he'd misjudged the situation.
He looked at Evelyn.
"Tell me what happened."
She didn't want to.
Not yet.
But six missing sailors had changed the equation.
"At 0210 yesterday, six personnel were brought here from a training site."
"What happened to them?"
"Respiratory failure. Neurological symptoms. Confusion."
"Cause?"
"Unknown."
"Training accident?"
"That's what I was told."
Evelyn opened the medication cabinet.
"Then I found this."
Empty.
She stared.
"They cleaned it."
"What was there?"
"Unmarked injectors."
Hale's eyes narrowed.
"What kind?"
"I don't know. Labels had been removed."
Cole said, "And you treated them?"
"I stabilized them."
"All six?"
"Yes."
"Alone?"
"With my team."
Evelyn looked at the computer.
She entered her credentials.
ACCESS DENIED.
Again.
ACCESS DENIED.
"My account's locked."
Hale stepped forward.
"Use mine."
His worked.
Evelyn searched Ruiz.
NO PATIENT FOUND.
She searched the others.
Nothing.
"That's impossible."
She pulled up yesterday's admissions.
Four patients.
Not six.
All minor dehydration.
Cole watched.
"Could you have been mistaken?"
Evelyn turned on him.
He immediately regretted the question.
"No, Admiral."
Silence.
"I put tubes down two men's throats. I restarted another man's heart. I don't forget patients like that."
Cole nodded once.
"Understood."
Evelyn noticed something else.
The timestamps.
"Captain."
Hale leaned closer.
"What?"
"These records were created at 0315."
"So?"
"I was treating Ruiz at 0315."
She pointed.
"The system says I personally entered these dehydration reports."
Hale stared.
"Someone used your credentials."
"Exactly."
Cole's phone rang.
He answered.
"Cole."
His expression hardened.
"When?"
He looked toward Evelyn.
"Seal the gates."
He hung up.
Hale asked, "What happened?"
"Commander Briggs just left the installation."
Evelyn stared.
"When?"
"Three minutes ago."
"How?"
Cole's mouth tightened.
"He used my authorization."
That silenced everyone.
Evelyn picked up the evidence pouch containing the flash drive.
"We need to open this."
Hale shook his head.
"Not on the network."
"Then where?"
Cole answered.
"My command suite has an isolated terminal."
They moved quickly.
Outside, the ceremony had been suspended.
Thousands of personnel were being redirected.
Whispers followed Evelyn.
Everyone had seen what Cole did.
Some stared at him.
Others stared at her.
Cole noticed.
For once, he didn't appear concerned about his reputation.
"Evelyn."
She stopped.
It was the first time he'd used her first name.
"What?"
"What I did out there—"
"Not now."
His jaw tightened.
She continued walking.
Cole followed.
The command suite was secured.
Hale disconnected the isolated terminal from every external line.
Evelyn inserted the flash drive.
One folder appeared.
CARTER.
Inside were seventeen files.
Most were encrypted.
One video wasn't.
Evelyn opened it.
A man appeared on screen.
Older.
Thin.
Wearing civilian clothes.
Cole immediately stood.
"No."
Evelyn looked at him.
"You know him?"
Cole didn't answer.
The man began speaking.
"If Lieutenant Evelyn Carter is watching this, then Protocol Meridian has been activated again."
Hale whispered, "Jesus."
The video continued.
"My name is Dr. Samuel Warren."
Evelyn recognized the name.
He had directed the classified medical program she'd worked with twelve years earlier.
Officially, Warren had died in 2017.
"Nine years ago," Warren continued, "we discovered unauthorized neurological testing being conducted on active-duty personnel under the cover of readiness research."
Evelyn felt cold.
"Several officers attempted to stop it. Lieutenant Carter was one of the medical personnel who unknowingly documented evidence."
Evelyn stared at the screen.
Cole sat slowly.
Warren continued.
"The program was terminated. Or so we believed."
A list appeared.
Names.
Dates.
Locations.
Evelyn scanned them.
Then stopped.
HARRISON COLE.
She turned.
Cole was staring at his own name.
"What is this?"
The video continued.
"Vice Admiral Harrison Cole was not involved in the testing."
Cole exhaled.
"But his credentials were repeatedly used to authorize transfers."
Evelyn looked at him.
"Like today."
Cole said nothing.
Warren continued.
"Someone inside the command structure has been using senior officers as shields."
Hale leaned closer.
"Briggs."
"Maybe," Evelyn said.
The video suddenly distorted.
Then another image appeared.
Six sailors entering a transport vehicle.
Timestamp: seventeen hours earlier.
Ruiz was among them.
A man met them.
Commander Briggs.
But Briggs wasn't alone.
Beside him stood a woman in civilian clothes.
Evelyn leaned toward the screen.
She recognized her.
Dr. Amelia Voss.
Deputy Director of Naval Medical Research.
Hale whispered, "She's Pentagon."
Cole stood.
"She's more than Pentagon."
"What?"
Cole looked at Evelyn.
"She briefed me yesterday."
Evelyn felt sick.
"About what?"
"Your medical unit."
The room became silent.
Cole continued.
"She told me there had been concerns about fatigue-related mistakes."
Evelyn stared at him.
"She told you I was negligent."
"She never named you."
"But she put the idea in your head."
Cole understood.
The ceremony.
Evelyn's appearance.
His anger.
The confrontation.
Someone had prepared him to react.
Hale said quietly, "They wanted everyone watching Carter instead of asking what happened to those sailors."
Evelyn looked toward Cole.
"And you gave them exactly what they wanted."
He absorbed the words.
Didn't defend himself.
"Yes."
The computer beeped.
Another file unlocked automatically.
A text document.
ONE OF THE SIX REMEMBERED.
Below it:
DANIEL RUIZ.
Evelyn opened the file.
Ruiz had submitted a statement hours before disappearing.
I WAS AWAKE DURING THE INJECTION.
I HEARD BRIGGS SAY CARTER WOULD RECOGNIZE THE SYMPTOMS.
THEY WERE WAITING FOR HER.
Evelyn read it again.
"They weren't testing those sailors."
Hale frowned.
"What?"
"They were bait."
Cole looked at her.
"For you?"
Evelyn nodded.
"Someone wanted me to recognize Meridian."
Her phone vibrated.
A new message.
COME ALONE IF YOU WANT RUIZ ALIVE.
An address followed.
An abandoned Navy warehouse less than four miles away.
Hale saw it.
"No."
Evelyn was already standing.
"We call security."
"They'll kill him."
"You don't know that."
"No. But they know I'll believe it."
Cole stepped toward her.
"You're not going alone."
The secure terminal beeped again.
A second video began playing without anyone touching it.
Daniel Ruiz appeared.
His hands were tied.
A voice behind the camera said:
"Lieutenant Carter. You have thirty minutes."
Ruiz looked terrified.
Then he suddenly leaned toward the camera.
"Don't come!"
Someone struck the table beside him.
The camera moved.
For less than a second, another prisoner became visible.
Evelyn froze.
She knew that face.
Everyone in the room did.
Because the man sitting beside Ruiz had supposedly been dead for nine years.
Dr. Samuel Warren lifted his head.
He looked directly into the camera.
May you like
And whispered:
"Evelyn, Briggs isn't the one you should be afraid of."
