Chapter 5 - THE MEDICINE THEY TRIED TO HIDE“Don't touch anything,” Lauren said.
Dr. Ortiz stepped away from the medication tray.
“I haven't. I found the order when I went to retrieve his prescribed medication. The system says his cardiac medication was discontinued.”
“By whom?”
“Dr. Greiss.”
Lauren checked the monitor.
Eli was conscious, but his breathing was labored. His heart rate fluctuated as the monitor tracked each fragile beat.
“Has he received anything since we brought him in?”
“Only the emergency treatment we initiated.”
“Good. Keep him under continuous monitoring. I'm calling the pediatric cardiologist directly.”
Ortiz nodded.
Lauren used the hospital's emergency consultation line, which bypassed the administrative scheduling system. Within minutes, a cardiologist agreed to review Eli's condition.
But the medication order remained a problem.
The electronic record showed that Eli had been enrolled in a research protocol three weeks earlier. His medication had supposedly been replaced by an experimental treatment administered at an off-site facility.
No physician had signed the clinical authorization.
No pharmacy record documented the transfer.
And the consent form carried Mara Vale's signature, dated two days after the hospital's own records showed she had left the state.
Lauren felt sick.
“They manufactured the paperwork.”
“Or somebody entered the wrong information,” Ortiz said carefully.
Lauren looked at her.
“You don't believe that.”
“No,” Ortiz admitted. “I don't.”
She pulled a chair beside the bed.
“His heart condition is serious. But if someone deliberately withheld his prescribed treatment, we need to know why.”
Lauren looked through the glass toward the corridor.
Greiss was gone.
So was Voss.
Only two hospital security officers remained outside the unit.
“Where's Josie?” Lauren asked.
“Imani took her to the family consultation room. She refused to leave your side until I explained that her brother needed treatment.”
Lauren nodded.
“I'll go see her.”
Before she could move, Captain Warren appeared in the doorway.
“I've placed a temporary hold on the transfer order. Neither child leaves until the custody documents are verified.”
“Thank you.”
“Don't thank me yet. I've been told to suspend you.”
“By whom?”
“The hospital director.”
“On what grounds?”
“Unauthorized access to a restricted medical record.”
Lauren gave a humorless laugh.
“I've been accused of dying, stealing medical information, and interfering with a federal operation. I'm beginning to think someone wants me distracted.”
Warren's expression softened.
“I believe you. But I need evidence I can take to an investigator without compromising the children's safety.”
“Then start with the medication records.”
“I have. The audit trail has been altered.”
Lauren looked toward the computer terminal.
“Not completely.”
She crossed to the workstation and opened the medication administration screen.
The system was locked, but the bedside monitor maintained a local record of recent orders. She searched the device history.
One entry remained.
MEDICATION DISCONTINUATION REQUEST — ORIGIN: NORTHSTAR CLINICAL ADMINISTRATION.
The request had been submitted remotely.
The authorization had been issued from an account belonging to Dr. Greiss.
The record had been amended after the request was submitted.
Someone had changed the timestamp.
But the original transaction identifier remained.
Lauren wrote it down.
“Captain, can you preserve this record?”
Warren took out her phone.
“Already doing it.”
A sudden commotion erupted in the corridor.
Imani came running.
“Josie's gone.”
Lauren's blood turned cold.
“What?”
“She was in the consultation room. I went to get her water, and when I came back, the door was open.”
“Did you see anyone?”
“No. But the service elevator just went down to the parking level.”
Warren immediately called security.
Lauren ran toward the stairwell.
“Lauren!” Warren shouted.
She didn't stop.
The service corridor smelled of disinfectant and wet concrete. At the far end, the elevator doors were closing.
Lauren reached them just in time to see a small red sleeve disappear inside.
“Josie!”
The doors closed.
Lauren slammed the call button.
Nothing happened.
The elevator had been placed on restricted control.
She turned toward the stairwell.
Warren arrived behind her with two officers.
“Parking level,” Lauren said. “Now.”
They ran down the stairs.
At the bottom, the service corridor opened onto a loading bay. Rainwater blew through the partially open garage door.
A dark vehicle was idling near the exit.
The rear passenger door stood open.
And Josie was inside.
A gloved hand covered her mouth.
Lauren froze.
Marcus Voss stood beside the car.
“You've made this much more difficult than it needed to be,” he said.
“Let her go.”
“She's under federal protection.”
“Then show me the order authorizing you to remove her from a hospital without her brother.”
Voss smiled.
“You're still thinking like a nurse.”
“And you're still avoiding the question.”
He leaned closer.
“Do you know what happened to the last person who tried to expose Northstar?”
Lauren didn't answer.
Voss's expression hardened.
“Mara Vale disappeared. The investigation collapsed. And you were declared dead. Do you really think those things happened by accident?”
The words struck her with brutal precision.
Voss had confirmed what Lauren had suspected.
He knew about the old operation.
He knew about her file.
And he was no ordinary security contractor.
“Who do you work for?” she asked.
Voss ignored the question.
He reached for the car door.
Lauren stepped forward.
“Josie, look at me.”
The little girl was crying silently.
Lauren held her gaze.
“Remember the gloves.”
Josie's eyes widened.
Then the child lifted one hand and pressed her thumb against her palm three times.
A signal.
The same signal Lauren had taught her four years earlier.
Three presses meant I am not alone.
Lauren answered with three taps against her own wrist.
I see you.
Voss turned toward the vehicle.
That was when Captain Warren's officers moved.
One seized Voss's arm. Another blocked the driver's door. The third pulled Josie free and carried her behind the security barrier.
Voss fought hard enough to knock one officer against the car.
Then Warren drew her weapon.
“Stop resisting!”
He froze.
For the first time, the confidence left his face.
Warren ordered him restrained and searched.
Inside his jacket, officers found a second identification card.
It bore a different name.
EVAN MERCER — NORTHSTAR MEDICAL SYSTEMS.
Lauren stared at it.
Northstar.
The company connected to the missing medical records.
The company linked to Eli's medication order.
The company that had survived the investigation that supposedly killed Lauren.
Voss—Mercer—was led away.
Josie ran into Lauren's arms.
“I'm sorry,” she sobbed. “I tried to stay where you told me.”
“You did nothing wrong.”
“They said Mommy was a liar.”
Lauren held her tighter.
“Who said that?”
Josie pulled away just enough to look at her.
“The men at the house. They said Mommy stole something from the hospital.”
“What did she steal?”
Josie reached inside her sweater.
She removed a small plastic memory card.
“Mommy said this would prove everything.”
Lauren stared at the card.
“Where did you get it?”
“From her necklace. She put it around my neck before she told me to run.”
Warren took a protective step closer.
“What's on it?”
Josie's voice dropped to a whisper.
“Mommy said it shows who made Eli sick.”
Lauren looked toward the hospital.
Through the rain-streaked garage windows, the lights of Prescott glowed against the dark.
For four years, she had believed Operation Harbor Glass had failed because the evidence was insufficient.
Now a child had arrived carrying the evidence herself.
And the people who wanted it were willing to take a baby out of a hospital to get it.
Lauren closed her hand around the memory card.
“Captain,” she said, “we need to find Mara Vale.”
Warren looked at the arrested man.
“I'm starting to think she's been closer than any of us realized.”
Then the security radio crackled.
A voice announced that an unidentified woman had entered the hospital's restricted research wing.
May you like
The woman was asking for Dr. Greiss.
And she was carrying a photograph of Lauren Pierce.
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