Deadly Cover-Up, page 3
“So, it looks like the bullet went straight through. You’ve got an entrance wound here, and an exit wound here.” He touched her skin gently, showing her. “As far as bullet wounds go, this is a pretty simple one that looks like it just did some basic muscle damage. It missed the bone completely. It’s gonna hurt for a while, but you’ll heal up in a few weeks or so.” He put some antibiotic on both wounds, then pulled the skin closed with butterfly bandages. “You should still get it checked by a medical professional. I’m no doctor. If you get stitches, the scar won’t be as bad, but you’d have to get them pretty soon.” She said nothing, not wanting to argue, and thankfully he let the subject drop.
He finished by wrapping gauze around her arm and gently taping the end. Then he cleaned and bandaged her scraped knees and hands, frowning at the bruises he saw on her legs. Finally, he handed her a few extra bandages and the small tube of antibiotic for later, and she pocketed them. “I’ve got some pain reliever in the kitchen. How about we go get some for you?”
She nodded, finally feeling comfortable enough to relax a bit under Ben’s ministrations. Her arm really did hurt, but it was the least of her worries. The stress and fear that she had been carrying for the last several months suddenly overcame her, and all she wanted to do was crawl into a hole and disappear. At least she was somewhat safe for the moment and Ben was nearby. She let him lead her into the kitchen, where he gave her some ibuprofen and a glass of water.
“You need to eat something when you take that medicine so it won’t hurt your stomach. What can I fix you?”
His tone was kind, and his offer sincere, but she didn’t feel hungry. What she felt was tired. Her lack of sleep and constant vigilance were catching up to her. Still, she recognized the truth in his words and didn’t want to deal with a stomachache on top of everything else.
“Maybe just something simple. Do you have any crackers and peanut butter? I know how much you love that snack.”
He nodded and pulled out a sleeve of wheat crackers, a knife and a half-eaten jar of creamy peanut butter. Ben could put peanut butter on anything and ate it by the spoonful when they had been dating. Those were fond memories. He liked the natural variety that didn’t have any added ingredients but the peanuts themselves, and she had ditched her old brand and started buying the same jar, simply to have some on hand whenever he was around. After a few months, she had learned to love it almost as much as he did.
She slathered a couple of crackers in the sticky stuff and looked up as she took her first bite. He was still watching her every move, but his eyes held some undefinable emotion that she couldn’t quite pin down. There was a time when she had been able to read him like a book, but that was before she had led him on such an emotional roller coaster. She wondered fleetingly if he could ever forgive her for her actions. She took another bite, pushing that thought aside for now. At this point, survival had to come first. Everything else had to wait.
“You’re about to fall down with exhaustion, Jordan. You’re safe here. I’ll make sure of it. Why don’t you sleep for a while? We can talk after you’ve had a chance to rest.” He drew his lips into a thin line. “You can have the guest bedroom. The sheets are clean. I promise.”
She bit her bottom lip again as she considered his offer, then finished off her crackers. She couldn’t go on much longer without sleep, and she really had nowhere else to go. “I do need some sleep, Ben, but you have to promise me you won’t tell anyone that I’m here. I’ve already put you in danger just by coming to your house. I don’t want to put anybody else’s life in jeopardy, too.”
Ben stood up a little straighter. “I am a law enforcement officer, you know. I work with a good bunch of deputies. Whatever you’re facing, we can help....”
“No.” She steeled her voice. “If you can’t promise me, then I can’t stay. Those are my terms. I feel guilty enough already for involving you.”
He took a step back and put up his hands again. Apparently, he realized that arguing was futile, at least at this point. “Alright, Jordan. We’re going to play by your rules. For now, that is, until you tell me what’s going on and we talk it through.”
“Thank you, Ben.” She nodded her head, trying to keep the weariness at bay. “Sleep sounds good. I promise I’ll explain everything as soon as I rest a bit.” She was tempted to give him a kiss on the cheek but decided against it. She had hurt him terribly, and she no longer had the right to kiss him or even show him affection. For all she knew, he had moved on and was dating someone new. The last thing she wanted to do was cause a rift in any relationship he was pursuing on top of everything else. The idea of him with someone different was a painful one, however, and a wave of jealousy swept over her that she hadn’t expected. She was so tired. Every emotion she was feeling was amplified by ten.
She needed rest. She’d been to his house several times when they were dating, so she knew the layout. She gave him one last smile, then padded back to the bedroom he’d offered and was asleep within minutes of her head touching the pillow.
* * *
Ben stood in the doorway, watching Jordan sleep. He couldn’t believe how drastically his life had changed in the last few hours. She was alive! Yet, she was a shadow of her former self and filled with fear and apprehension. It hurt his heart to see the condition she was in, and the way she kept pushing him away every time he tried to reach out. She was obviously terrified of something or someone, and his first instinct had been to call on his team at the Sheriff’s Office. But he hadn’t. He wanted to respect her wishes, at least for now, until he truly understood whatever danger she was facing. There would be plenty of time to call later after they had a long talk and she explained everything. Besides, Jordan was very independent and always tried to solve her own problems. Her enemy must be powerful indeed, if she had gone so far as to leave the safety of WITSEC and reach out to him for help. He knew instinctively that if he broke his word and called his team before she was ready, he would break the tenuous connection they currently had between them, and that was the last thing he wanted.
Ben took a deep breath and stretched, trying to ease some of the tension that had settled across his shoulder blades. He considered going to bed himself, even though it was a tad early, but he didn’t think he could sleep, knowing Jordan was alive and in his house. There were too many unanswered questions spinning around in his mind. Who had shot her? And what if she woke up, had second thoughts and decided to disappear again? She’d already tried to leave a couple of times during their short conversation. He just couldn’t allow that to happen—not after he had just gotten her back. He’d meant what he’d said, too—now that he knew she was alive, if she disappeared on him again, he wouldn’t stop looking until he found her.
The solution was simple. He turned on the light in his hallway, grabbed the latest Lee Child book that he was reading and his sidearm, and sank down onto the floor, right outside her door. He leaned his head back against the doorjamb and blew out a breath. There was only one way for someone to hurt Jordan on his watch, and that would be by crawling over his body. There was a bedroom window, but it was tightly locked, and he was a light sleeper. If he did manage to snooze, he would definitely wake up if someone tried to open the window or sneak by him. Since she was so scared of something or someone, maybe when she woke up she would feel more at ease knowing that he was here, right outside the doorway with his weapon, protecting her.
Dear, God, help me know how to help Jordan. Please let her get the rest she needs and help her to trust me so I can do my best to get her out of whatever mess she’s in. Thank you for bringing her back to me. Amen.
The prayer was short but heartfelt. His faith was strong. He knew God was faithful and would help them with whatever they were facing. He turned his head and let his eyes roam over Jordan’s face, remembering every detail. She was still sleeping soundly. He felt like he could watch her sleep all night. As relieved as he was that she was alive and back in his life, he was also wondering how he could ever trust her again. He knew the WITSEC rules, but although she had mentioned some problems at work before her disappearance, she’d never given any indication that she was mixed up with something as dangerous as a federal crime that required witness protection. Why hadn’t she told him? Had he ever really known her? He shifted. Even if they were able to solve whatever problems she was facing, it would be quite a while before he would be able to stop worrying that she was going to disappear without a trace a second time, just like she had nine months ago.
Ben closed his eyes for moment and took a breath. She must have been planning her disappearance for several days before her alleged death. He opened his eyes and rubbed them. How had he missed this? He’d thought he really knew her. If she had been facing something of that magnitude, he should have been able to tell.
He glanced at her again. Why has she reappeared now? And why had she disappeared in the first place? Part of him wanted to wake her up right now just so he could get the answers to the dozens of questions that were flying around in his head, but he held back. He knew she needed rest. He was just going to have to be patient and wait. He studied her face, peaceful in sleep, memorizing every detail.
Could he ever trust her again?
FOUR
Jordan awoke with a start. Where was she? She had been dreaming, but all she remembered was a sense of fear and desperation. The rest was a blur. She blinked the remnants away and took in her surroundings. The room was dark, yet the light from the hallway illuminated Ben’s figure that was right outside the doorway. He was dozing, his chin near his chest, a novel with a bookmark sticking out still sitting by his right hand and his pistol only a few inches away. He looked terribly uncomfortable, yet peaceful at the same time. She rose up on her elbows, listening carefully, but she didn’t hear any other noises except cicadas chirping outside and Ben’s steady breathing. The clock on the bedside table said it was a little after midnight. Her stomach growled, reminding her just how long ago she had eaten those crackers and peanut butter, and how little she had eaten the day before.
“Sounds like you’re hungry,” Ben said softly.
She snapped her head in his direction and was surprised to see him move and adjust his position. Slowly, he turned and looked at her. She was amazed that he was awake, and he reminded her of a bear coming out of hibernation—powerful yet deceptively languid. Her stomach growled again, and she grimaced. “I haven’t been eating regularly. I guess my body isn’t too happy about it.”
“Feel like talking, or would you like to eat something first?”
“Food can wait.” She sat up. “Are you guarding the door so I don’t leave while you’re sleeping?”
He shrugged and turned so now he was partly in the room. “I’m keeping the bad guys out for you. I wanted to make sure you felt safe and got some of the rest you needed.”
She wasn’t sure that was the only reason, but she let his comment go, appreciating the fact that he was taking her fears seriously. She got out of the bed and sat on the floor in front of him so they were eye to eye, then leaned against the bed as if it were a backrest. She pulled up one knee and looped her arms around it. It was a common pose. When they had been dating, they’d spent many hours sitting on a blanket at the beach, picnicking and talking for hours. Being near the water was one of Ben’s passions, and Jordan had shared that love of the ocean with him. “So how have you been?”
He raised his eyebrow, apparently surprised at her innocuous question, but he finally shrugged. “Lonely. You left a big hole in my heart. I’m still grieving your loss.”
She hadn’t expected such a truthful, heartfelt answer. She didn’t see condemnation in his features, but the pain was clearly written across his face. “I’m so sorry I hurt you, Ben. That was not my goal, I promise you.”
He waited silently for her to continue, apparently not trusting himself to speak.
It was time. And maybe by talking through her problems, she could avoid discussing the emotions that were so painful to wade through. She took a deep breath. “So, you know I was working at Southeastern Labs for the last few years in their research-and-development department. We had several trials going on with various drugs. I was working on a new medicine for migraines called Mintax. It’s a neurological drug, and we were studying the effects it had on the brain. Migraines are still largely a mystery, even though millions of people suffer with them—they’re even chronic in a large population. If we could discover a cure, we could make Southeastern millions and help people all over the world. Of course, the team was sworn to secrecy, and we weren’t allowed to discuss the drug with anyone outside of Southeastern. Big Pharma is highly competitive, and spies have been known to poach formulas. The more we worked, the tighter the security became.”
Ben nodded. “Yeah, I remember that you mentioned Mintax, but you couldn’t tell me any details about the drug. I also remember that they were keeping you at the lab for long hours before you disappeared.”
“Well, as we worked, we discovered that Mintax has some very unusual properties. The chemical compound is odorless, tasteless and virtually impossible to detect in the human body after it is consumed. It’s even harder to find than those steroids the athletes keep trying to use to enhance their performance. After several hours, it doesn’t show up in regular toxicology screens, even when taken in higher doses.” She leaned forward. “But there is more. We discovered that Mintax doesn’t do much for migraines after all, except for in a very small percentage of users. On top of that, in certain populations, it causes seizures and even death.”
Ben raised an eyebrow. “It kills people? Are you kidding?”
“No, it’s definitely not a joke. If given in the right dose, a person with various preexisting medical issues can go into seizures within about thirty minutes or so of taking the medication, depending upon certain variables, like body weight, metabolic levels, preexisting medical conditions—you know, the normal contingencies. Of those, about thirty-two percent of them die. Southeastern called that number significant. I call it appalling. Then, once the seizures stop, it’s virtually impossible to prove that Mintax was the cause.”
“So didn’t Southeastern need to stop the drug testing and go back to the drawing board before more people got hurt?”
Jordan nodded. “That’s what should have happened, but it didn’t. Hence my problem. Southeastern spent a fortune developing Mintax, and they couldn’t afford to go back to the drawing board. It obviously won’t cure migraines for the masses as they’d hoped, so there was no future revenue available to help the company recoup their costs, and they didn’t have any other big drug trials warming up in the bull pen. You have to understand, they put everything they had into the Mintax program—literally all of their eggs were in one basket. They are testing some other drugs, but nothing on the scale of Mintax. In fact, the migraine medication should never have made it to human trials in the first place, but once it did, they couldn’t afford to stop. On top of everything else, I think Southeastern might be having financial problems. Do you remember Sam Delvers, the CEO of the company?”
Ben nodded. “By reputation only. I’ve never met the man.”
“Well, at first, he would come down to the research-and-development section once every quarter or so, and my boss would take him around on a tour of the floor and give him updates on all of our research. Mr. Delvers has always been a hands-on kind of boss, wanting to see everything for himself rather than just relying on reports and projections. Once the Mintax trials began, he started showing up weekly—and then daily once we moved from testing on animals to testing on humans. But we weren’t testing on normal segments of the population. My boss discovered Southeastern was using the homeless and single people without families that wouldn’t be missed. They were doing extensive background checks on the people who were testing the drug, so if a death did occur, it could easily be covered up. It also meant they could fudge the numbers, and no one would be the wiser.”
Ben shifted. “How did Southeastern get permission from the FDA to go to human trials so quickly? I thought new drugs had a more rigorous testing phase.”
Jordan nodded, pleased that Ben had homed in so quickly on one of the biggest problems in this case. “It’s supposed to. Usually it takes about twelve years and $350 million dollars to get a new drug from the lab to the shelf at your local drugstore. After a new drug is developed, it is tested in the lab for about three and a half years or so before the Food and Drug Administration will let it be tested on humans. If the FDA says it’s okay, then the new drug will enter three different phases of clinical trials. During phase one, they use less than a hundred healthy people to test the drug’s safety. That usually takes a year. Then, during phase two, the sample size goes up to three hundred people, and that group tests the drug’s effectiveness. That takes another two years. During phase three, the sample group can go up to around three thousand, and people in clinics and hospitals try out the drug. They’re supposed to be monitored very carefully to see if the drug is effective and whether or not there are any adverse reactions in the patients. This takes another three years. Then Southeastern would have to submit a new application to the FDA for final approval, which takes another two and half years or so.” She paused and took a breath. “In the case of Mintax, Southeastern obviously leapfrogged some of those steps. After my boss, Jeremy Sparks, discovered that Southeastern was testing on the homeless to avoid liability and lie about the numbers, we both started digging into the paperwork. We found that the FDA approval documents were forged, as well as the effectiveness studies and claims.”
Ben raised an eyebrow. “And you’re sure Delvers knew that the correct procedure wasn’t being followed?”
Jordan shrugged. “I’m not sure, but somebody at the top was pulling those strings. During those last few weeks, Delvers was always around, asking questions. I’m also pretty sure Sparks confronted him. I walked by my boss’s office one evening, and the two were yelling at each other. I heard them mention Mintax. Sparks was also an honest, honorable man. There is no way he would have sanctioned the lies. I’m sure he would have brought them to the attention of the CEO or the board. He wouldn’t have just let it slide. That’s one thing I’m sure of. In fact, Sparks told me he was about to go to the FDA with the forgeries, and with the accurate results from the human trials. He was just trying to track down one or two more documents that supported his case. Then suddenly Sparks disappeared. The next thing I knew, I was reading his obituary in the paper.” She shifted, her arms tightening around her leg. “It turns out Jeremy Sparks died from unexplained seizures, even though he was only in his fifties and didn’t have a history of epilepsy or any other disease that would have caused them.” She paused, the horror of the situation once again settling over her. Finally, she took a deep breath and pushed on. “As far as R & D goes, there were only three of us that were overseeing the Mintax program that could really tie it altogether—Jeremy, myself and Samantha Peretti, who was in charge of the human trials. Everyone else only worked on pieces of the project and really never knew the full extent of what Mintax could or couldn’t do—or the scandal surrounding the trials. After Jeremy was killed, I got scared. I emptied my bank account and thought about running, but I still couldn’t believe that Southeastern would hurt Sparks. I mean, he was a loyal employee, after all. And you don’t usually hear about companies killing off their employees.”
