Chapter 7 - The Independent Lab
Hook:
Headlights flared in my rearview mirror—a black Chevy Tahoe parked thirty yards back, its lights cutting through the sheets of rain.
Conflict:
I didn't wait to see if it was security or someone worse. I slammed the truck into drive, peeled out away from the curb, and took three erratic turns through the residential grid before losing the headlights in the downpour.
Twenty minutes later, Toby was huddled in the corner of a greasy vinyl booth at the diner, wrapped in my oversized flannel shirt, sipping hot chocolate with vacant eyes.
Discovery:
Elena slid into the booth across from me. She wore a dark windbreaker over her badge, her dark hair pulled back into a severe ponytail. Without greeting me, she placed a sterile vacutainer kit and an insulated cooler pouch on the table.
“You said Vance injected her ten minutes before you left?” Elena asked, keeping her voice low.
“Yes. He claimed it was an anti-spasmodic.”
“If it was a synthetic paralytic or an unlicensed neurotoxin, standard hospital tox screens won’t catch it,” Elena said grimly. “They only test for common opiates, benzodiazepines, and illicit street drugs. I have a contact at the state forensic toxic lab. But I need Sarah’s blood.”
Twist:
I stared at her in disbelief. “Mercy General is locked down. Mark said he filed co-conservatorship papers. They won’t let me within fifty feet of her bed.”
Elena pulled out a forged hospital credential badge from her jacket, tossing it onto the Formica table. It had my picture on it, identifying me as an outside medical biomedical engineer.
“They won’t let *Leo Mercer* near her,” Elena whispered. “Shift change is at 3:00 AM. That gives us four hours to crack Sarah’s drive, find out what she discovered, and get back into that ICU to draw a blood sample before the drug metabolizes out of her system.”
Emotion:
I looked at the badge, then at my little boy, whose eyelids were drooping with exhaustion. “What if she doesn't survive until 3:00 AM?”
Cliffhanger:
May you like
Elena plugged Sarah’s drive into her ruggedized field laptop. A red authorization screen popped up. “Then we’d better figure out her 16-character encryption key in the next five minutes.”
---
