Chapter 8 - The Men Behind the Ledger
Whitmore told Cole to surrender.
Cole laughed.
“You think she’ll protect you?”
Whitmore glanced at Laura.
“I’m not asking for protection.”
“Then why come back?”
Whitmore looked toward the burning samples.
“To correct my greatest mistake.”
Laura almost spat the words.
“My sister?”
“No.”
“Michael?”
“No.”
Whitmore pointed at Cole.
“Him.”
According to Whitmore, the program had begun as an illegal attempt to accelerate experimental treatment approvals.
Immoral.
Criminal.
But Whitmore insisted the early trials had not been designed to kill anyone.
Cole changed that.
He realized sick patients generated enormous insurance revenue.
He began intentionally worsening patients’ conditions and hiding it within research data.
Sophia discovered something wrong with her medication.
She threatened to report it.
Cole panicked.
Whitmore entered Sophia’s room afterward to confront him.
“So you covered up her death,” Laura said.
Whitmore lowered his eyes.
“Yes.”
“That makes you responsible.”
“Yes.”
For once, he didn’t hide behind excuses.
Cole sneered.
“Touching confession.”
Then he fired.
Whitmore fell.
David tackled Laura.
Ranger lunged.
Cole fired again.
The bullet struck Ranger.
Laura screamed.
Ranger collapsed.
Something inside Laura broke.
She grabbed a metal tray and swung it into Cole’s wrist.
His gun fell.
David attacked him.
Cole escaped through the rear tunnel.
Laura dropped beside Ranger.
Blood soaked his shoulder.
“Stay with me.”
The dog looked at her.
Tail moving once.
Weakly.
They rushed him to an emergency veterinary hospital.
The bullet had missed his heart.
Barely.
Laura refused to leave his side.
Meanwhile Whitmore survived too.
And from his ICU room he requested federal investigators.
He offered everything.
Names.
Accounts.
Locations.
In exchange, he wanted protection.
Laura didn’t care what deal he received.
She wanted Cole.
Federal agents discovered that Cole had purchased forged passports.
But his escape plan required cash.
Lots of it.
He still needed one hidden account.
Michael’s ledger contained the access code.
That meant Cole still needed Laura.
The following morning, flowers arrived at the veterinary hospital.
No sender.
Laura opened the card.
RANGER SAVED YOU TWICE.
HE WON’T DO IT A THIRD TIME.
Below was an address.
Michael’s grave.
Midnight.
Laura crumpled the card.
David said, “You’re not going.”
Laura looked through the glass at Ranger sleeping after surgery.
“Yes.”
“Absolutely not.”
“He wants the code.”
“So?”
“So we finally know what he wants.”
She turned to David.
“And that means for the first time, we control where he goes.”
At midnight, Laura stood beside Michael’s grave.
Alone.
Or apparently alone.
Agents hid throughout the cemetery.
David watched from a distant mausoleum.
Emily waited in a surveillance van.
Cole appeared from the fog.
No weapon visible.
“Hello, Laura.”
She stared.
“Michael was better than you.”
Cole smiled.
“That’s why he died.”
Laura’s microphone captured everything.
But then Cole said something nobody expected.
“You still don’t know who poisoned you at the charity event.”
Laura frowned.
“I assumed you.”
“No.”
“Then who?”
May you like
Cole smiled toward the surveillance van.
“Ask Nurse Emily Foster.”
