Chapter 9 - Under Federal Guard
Even with the hospital board dismantled and Sterling in federal custody, Agent Marcus Vance kept two armed guards stationed at Ethan’s door and a security detail assigned to Olivia.
"The man in the trench coat from last night hasn't been caught yet," Agent Vance warned Olivia as they stood in the hospital cafeteria grabbing desperately needed black coffee. "His name is Victor Kraus. Ex-intelligence operative, currently acting as Apex BioTech's 'head of corporate risk mitigation.' When an operation goes bad, he cleans up loose ends."
"What loose ends are left?" Olivia asked, sipping the bitter coffee. "Ethan is safe, Sterling is singing to federal prosecutors, and the hospital records are backed up on FBI servers."
"The encrypted clinical database," Vance said quietly. "Kraus took the master hard drives from the off-site facility before we raided it at three in the morning. That drive contains the names of seventy-four other children across five state hospitals who were administered Compound-NX under the guise of pediatric migraines and headaches."
Olivia’s heart sank. "Seventy-four children? Are they in danger?"
"Some of them have already developed micro-thromboses, just like Ethan did," Vance explained grimly. "Their parents think their kids are just suffering from chronic childhood illnesses. Without those master records, doctors won't know they are sitting on neurological time bombs."
Olivia set her cup down, her knuckles turning white. "There has to be another copy of the encryption key."
"There was," Vance said. "Dr. Evelyn Ross. She was Sterling's senior resident two months ago. She filed an internal complaint, refused to give the drug to a ten-year-old girl, and abruptly 'resigned.' She vanished off the grid six weeks ago. If anyone hid a secondary backup, it was her."
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Olivia suddenly froze. Her memory flashed back to her first week on the ward, cleaning out the locker previously assigned to Dr. Ross. At the bottom of the locker, under old nursing textbooks, she had found an antique brass key taped beneath a shelf lining, completely forgotten.
She hadn't thought anything of it back then—until now.