Chapter 17 - The Agent Beside Us
Only three people had access to the sample.
Dr. Adler.
A laboratory technician.
And Detective Brooks.
The technician’s badge had never entered the room.
Dr. Adler was in surgery.
Security footage showed Brooks carrying the sample case into an elevator.
When confronted, she did not run.
She placed her badge on the table.
“Crane ordered me to destroy it.”
I stared at her.
“You helped us.”
“I was assigned to control the investigation.”
“Then why arrest Mark?”
“Because Crane decided Mark had become a liability.”
Hailey looked at her.
“Did you know he was hurting me?”
Brooks could not meet her eyes.
“I knew there was a medical study.”
“That is not what I asked.”
“Yes.”
The answer silenced the room.
Brooks had seen the hidden clinic files months earlier.
She knew Hailey was Subject Seven.
She delayed the investigation while Crane’s lawyers prepared to erase Acheron.
But she had not destroyed the sample.
She removed it because someone else inside the hospital planned to replace it.
Brooks opened her coat.
The sealed vial remained in an evidence pouch.
“I chose this morning,” she said.
“Chose what?”
“Whether I was still working for Crane.”
She gave the sample to an independent federal prosecutor.
In return, she agreed to testify.
Crane’s office responded immediately.
A court order arrived placing Hailey under federal protective medical custody.
The document claimed her blood contained classified biological technology.
Federal agents were authorized to move her to a secure facility.
The order was signed by Judge Anthony Mercer.
David’s notebook listed Mercer as one of Crane’s paid officials.
They were using the law to abduct Hailey.
Dr. Adler locked the pediatric floor.
Hospital attorneys challenged the order.
Armed federal agents gathered outside.
Hailey sat upright in bed.
“I’m tired of people saying they’re protecting me.”
I held her hand.
“What do you want to do?”
May you like
“I want everyone to hear the truth before they take it away.”
She asked for her camera.
