Chapter 5 - Lab Seven
Daria refused to leave her mother with them.
Adrian refused to let Daria go alone.
They argued for exactly ninety seconds.
Then Daria made the decision herself.
“I'll take the drive.”
“No.”
“They asked for me.”
“They'll kill the evidence.”
“I'll give them a copy.”
Adrian stopped.
Eli already understood.
He duplicated the drive.
One copy for Daria.
One for Naomi.
A third uploaded through an encrypted connection to a secure server with delayed release.
“If we don't cancel it by sunrise,” Eli explained, “everything gets sent.”
“To whom?” Daria asked.
“Reporters, federal regulators, medical boards.”
Adrian nodded.
“Good.”
Daria looked at him.
“You're willing to destroy your own company?”
“If my company did this, it deserves whatever comes next.”
That was the moment she finally believed he hadn't known.
Not because of evidence.
Because of his face.
Thorn Pharmaceuticals was his father's legacy.
His life's work.
And he was willing to burn it down rather than protect people who had harmed patients.
They developed a plan.
Daria would enter Lab Seven.
Adrian would follow through an old maintenance corridor.
Naomi would contact Rebecca Sloan.
Eli would stay with the evidence.
The laboratory sat in an older Thorn facility near the Mississippi River.
Daria arrived at 1:26 a.m.
The building appeared abandoned.
Inside, emergency lights illuminated empty corridors.
She carried the drive in her purse.
“Mom?”
No answer.
She reached Lab Seven.
Martin Kessler stood inside.
Daria had worked for him for two years.
He had approved her vacation requests.
Complimented her spreadsheets.
Once sent flowers when Evelyn entered the hospital.
Now Daria looked at him and wondered whether any of it had been real.
“Where is my mother?”
“Safe.”
“I want to see her.”
“You brought the drive?”
“Yes.”
“Give it to me.”
“Mom first.”
Martin sighed.
“You've always been difficult.”
“You used to call it thorough.”
“I was being polite.”
A wheelchair appeared through the side doorway.
Evelyn.
Alive.
Weak.
Confused.
“Daria?”
Daria nearly ran to her.
Martin stepped between them.
“Drive.”
Daria handed it over.
Martin inserted it into a laptop.
“Password?”
“Rivers47.”
He typed.
Files appeared.
His shoulders relaxed.
“Now let her go.”
Martin looked toward someone behind Daria.
Victor Hale entered.
Daria had expected him.
Seeing him still frightened her.
“You caused a remarkable amount of trouble,” Victor said.
“You poisoned my mother.”
“That's an emotional interpretation.”
“You tested an illegal drug on her.”
“TH-47 saves renal tissue.”
“It killed nine people.”
“Early protocols were imperfect.”
Daria stared at him.
“They were human beings.”
Victor's expression barely changed.
“Every medical breakthrough has a cost.”
Behind him, unseen through the narrow glass partition, Adrian entered the maintenance corridor.
Daria kept Victor talking.
“My mother didn't consent.”
“She consented to treatment.”
“Not this treatment.”
Victor shrugged.
“Technical distinctions.”
Daria understood then exactly what kind of man stood before her.
Not a desperate scientist.
Not someone who had made one terrible decision.
A man who had converted suffering into arithmetic.
“Why use Adrian's signature?”
Victor smiled.
“Because companies need heroes.”
“And villains?”
“Only when something fails.”
“You were going to blame him.”
“Adrian is sentimental. Brilliant, but sentimental. His father had the same weakness.”
Daria saw Adrian freeze behind the glass.
Victor continued.
“Thomas could have changed medicine. Then he became frightened.”
“Of TH-47?”
Victor's smile faded.
“The original version.”
Adrian's father had known.
More than that.
He had tried to stop Victor.
“What happened to Thomas Thorn?” Daria asked.
Victor's eyes sharpened.
“That isn't relevant.”
Behind the glass, Adrian stared.
Daria pressed.
“Was his heart attack really a heart attack?”
Victor stepped closer.
“Careful.”
That was enough.
Adrian emerged.
“Answer her.”
Victor spun around.
For the first time, his composure broke.
“Adrian.”
Martin moved toward an alarm.
Adrian blocked him.
“Don't.”
Victor recovered quickly.
“You shouldn't be here.”
“I've heard that a lot tonight.”
Daria almost smiled despite everything.
Adrian moved beside her.
“Let Evelyn go.”
Victor laughed softly.
“You think you understand what's happening because you've read a few files?”
“I understand nine people died.”
“Nine terminal patients.”
“Nine people.”
Victor's face hardened.
“You built an empire using research I protected.”
“You corrupted research my father abandoned.”
“Your father lost his nerve.”
“My father had ethics.”
“Your father had weakness.”
Adrian stared at him.
Then Victor said:
“And that weakness killed him.”
Silence.
Daria saw Adrian absorb the words.
“You killed my father?”
Victor smiled.
“I didn't say that.”
“You didn't need to.”
Sirens sounded outside.
Victor's expression changed.
Rebecca had succeeded.
Federal agents.
Police.
Victor turned toward Martin.
“Destroy everything.”
Martin reached for the computer.
Daria pulled the drive first.
Martin grabbed her wrist.
Adrian shoved him away.
Evelyn screamed.
Agents entered from both corridors.
“Hands where we can see them!”
Victor raised his hands.
Martin did too.
For several seconds, Daria believed it was over.
Then the lights went out.
Complete darkness.
Someone grabbed Daria.
She screamed.
A gunshot exploded.
When emergency lights returned, Martin was on the floor.
May you like
Victor was gone.
And so was Evelyn's wheelchair.
