Chapter 3 - Eleven Minutes
Daria ran.
Adrian shouted her name, but she was already crossing the executive floor toward the emergency stairs.
Eleven minutes.
Her mother had eleven minutes.
Maybe less.
“Daria!”
Adrian caught her near the stairwell.
“Let go.”
“Listen to me.”
“They're going to hurt her.”
“And running thirty-four floors won't get you to the hospital in eleven minutes.”
She knew that.
She hated him for saying it.
Naomi hurried toward them.
“I might stop it.”
Daria turned.
“How?”
“Hospital systems communicate with Thorn's patient-support portal.”
Adrian understood immediately.
“You can flag the medication.”
“If I can access an outside connection.”
“The building network is blocked.”
“Cellular isn't completely blocked.”
Adrian removed his phone.
“Use mine.”
Naomi worked rapidly.
Daria watched the countdown on her mother's notification.
Nine minutes.
Naomi reached the hospital portal.
Login.
Password.
Verification.
Denied.
Again.
Denied.
“They've disabled my credentials.”
Daria felt panic rising.
Adrian took the phone.
“My credentials may still work externally.”
He entered them.
The portal opened.
Naomi found Evelyn.
ACTIVE INFUSION ORDER.
Eight minutes.
“Cancel it.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“It requires physician authorization.”
Daria called the hospital.
No connection.
Again.
Nothing.
Adrian grabbed the office landline.
He dialed St. Catherine directly.
A nurse answered.
“This is Adrian Thorn, CEO of Thorn Pharmaceuticals. I need you to stop an infusion scheduled for patient Evelyn Rivers.”
The nurse hesitated.
“I can't accept medication instructions from—”
“The compound may be contaminated.”
That worked.
“Patient name again?”
“Evelyn Rivers.”
Keyboard sounds.
Then silence.
“Sir, the infusion has already been delivered to the room.”
Daria nearly collapsed.
“Has it started?” Adrian demanded.
“I'm checking.”
More silence.
“Not yet.”
Daria covered her mouth.
“Stop it,” Adrian said. “Immediately.”
“I need the attending physician.”
“Then find them.”
The nurse put them on hold.
Naomi stared at the screen.
Something changed.
INFUSION: SUSPENDED.
Daria's knees buckled.
Adrian caught her elbow.
She didn't pull away.
Not this time.
Her mother was safe.
For the moment.
Then Naomi said, “They're deleting records.”
Adrian released Daria.
“What?”
Naomi showed him.
Patient files were disappearing from the internal portal.
One after another.
Someone was erasing TH-47.
Adrian opened his laptop.
“We need copies.”
“I have them,” Naomi said.
“Where?”
She hesitated.
“My brother.”
Daria looked up.
“Eli?”
Naomi nodded.
Eli Bell was a public-school science teacher.
He had nothing to do with Thorn.
Exactly why Naomi had trusted him.
“He has an encrypted drive.”
“Where is he?”
“Home.”
Adrian grabbed his jacket.
“We get out, get the drive, then go to federal authorities.”
Daria stared.
“Federal?”
“If unauthorized human testing occurred across state-funded treatment programs, this is bigger than internal compliance.”
“Your company did this.”
His expression hardened.
“Someone inside my company did this.”
“That's convenient.”
“You think I'm involved?”
“I don't know what to think.”
The accusation hurt him.
She saw it.
But her mother's name had been printed on a secret experimental-treatment list.
Trust was suddenly expensive.
Adrian walked to a wall panel.
Behind it was a mechanical emergency release for the private elevator.
“Old building codes,” he said.
He pulled it.
The elevator unlocked.
They descended to underground parking.
The garage appeared deserted.
Adrian's black sedan sat near a concrete column.
As they approached, Daria saw something beneath the windshield wiper.
Another envelope.
Adrian removed it.
Inside was a photograph.
Daria's mother sleeping in her hospital bed.
Taken recently.
Possibly tonight.
Daria turned pale.
“They're watching her.”
Adrian flipped the photo.
Three words were written behind it.
STOP DIGGING, DARIA.
Adrian's face changed.
This was no longer corporate damage control.
It was intimidation.
Personal intimidation.
They entered the car.
Adrian drove.
Naomi gave directions to Eli's house in Mid-City.
Daria called her mother's nurse every few minutes.
Evelyn remained stable.
The infusion had been confiscated.
Adrian quietly instructed the hospital to place security outside her room.
“You can do that?” Daria asked.
“I can pay for it.”
She almost made the same accusation again.
Rich people fixing things with money.
But this time, money had placed two guards outside her mother's door.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
Adrian glanced at her.
“Don't thank me yet.”
They reached Eli's street.
Naomi leaned forward.
“That's his house.”
The front door stood open.
Naomi was out before the car stopped.
“Eli!”
Adrian followed.
Daria stayed close.
Inside, furniture had been overturned.
Drawers emptied.
A lamp shattered.
“Eli!”
No answer.
Naomi ran upstairs.
Daria heard her scream.
They found Eli in the bedroom.
Alive.
His hands had been zip-tied behind him.
A bruise darkened his cheek.
Naomi dropped beside him.
“Oh my God.”
Adrian cut the ties.
“Who did this?”
Eli coughed.
“Two men.”
“Did they take the drive?”
Eli looked at Naomi.
“I gave them one.”
“One?”
He managed a weak smile.
“You told me never to trust the first hiding place.”
Naomi started crying.
Eli pointed toward an old aquarium.
Inside the filter housing was a tiny waterproof drive.
Adrian retrieved it.
“Everything's there?”
“Everything Naomi gave me.”
Sirens approached.
Daria felt relief.
Then Eli shook his head.
“I didn't call police.”
Nobody moved.
The sirens stopped outside.
Adrian looked through the blinds.
Two police cruisers.
Four officers.
One unmarked vehicle.
A man stepped from it.
Naomi's face went white.
“That's Detective Mercer.”
“The one you called?” Daria asked.
Naomi nodded.
Mercer walked toward the house.
Adrian looked at the drive.
“We don't know if he's compromised.”
A knock sounded.
“New Orleans Police!”
Another knock.
“Open the door.”
Adrian moved toward the back.
Then Daria noticed Eli staring at the window.
Not at Mercer.
At the man climbing from the passenger side of Mercer's unmarked car.
Expensive gray suit.
Silver hair.
Calm face.
Adrian followed Daria's gaze.
Everything in him went still.
Daria whispered, “Who is that?”
Adrian didn't answer immediately.
He didn't need to.
She had seen the man's portrait hanging outside the boardroom.
Victor Hale.
Chief Operating Officer of Thorn Pharmaceuticals.
Adrian's mentor.
May you like
Victor looked directly toward the upstairs window.
Then he smiled.
