Chapter 8 - THE FIRST PATIENT
Graham vanished from St. Matthew’s Hospital without appearing on a single security camera.
The sedative inside the ventilation system had incapacitated nurses, patients, guards, and two police officers.
Someone wearing medical clothing removed Graham through a service elevator during the confusion on the roof.
Detective Reed suspected Graham had arranged his own disappearance.
Ethan refused to believe it.
Claire no longer knew what to believe.
Victor’s helicopter landed on an abandoned shipping pier beside the river.
The pilot surrendered.
Victor did not.
He disappeared among warehouses before police established a perimeter.
The false ledger was recovered from the aircraft.
The jammer had worked exactly as Vivian intended.
It had also corrupted the helicopter’s communication system, nearly killing everyone aboard.
When Reed confronted her, Vivian showed no regret.
“Victor has killed people for less than inconvenience.”
“That does not give you permission to crash an aircraft.”
“The aircraft landed.”
“You could not have known it would.”
“I calculated the risk.”
“That is what Victor says.”
Vivian looked at Claire.
The accusation affected her more than she wanted to show.
They gathered in a secured conference room inside the hospital.
Adrian’s wound had been treated.
Evelyn remained under guard three floors below.
Eleanor sat across from Vivian.
The sisters had changed into hospital clothing.
Without their expensive gowns and controlled surroundings, they looked older.
They also looked remarkably alike.
Ethan stood near the window.
He held Graham’s note.
Do not believe Vivian.
She started Helix.
Claire placed Adrian’s flash drive into an isolated computer.
The first document opened.
Project Helix.
Pediatric Trial Phase Zero.
Lead Researcher.
Dr. Vivian Bennett.
Claire looked toward her mother.
“Tell me this is fake.”
Vivian stared at the screen.
“It is not.”
Ethan turned.
“My brother was one of your test subjects.”
“He was not supposed to be.”
“What does that mean?”
“Victor added him to the trial without my authorization.”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“You signed the research protocol.”
“I designed a treatment for adults with terminal immune disorders.”
“The records show children.”
“The original records do not.”
Claire opened another document.
Thirty-two children had been enrolled through private adoption agencies.
Most were orphans.
Several identities were incomplete.
Patient Twelve was listed as Adrian Vale.
Patient One had no name.
Outcome data had been deleted.
“Who was the first patient?” Claire asked.
Vivian did not answer.
Eleanor watched her.
“You should tell them.”
Vivian looked at her.
“You have no right.”
“Perhaps not.”
Eleanor turned toward Claire.
“Patient One was you.”
Claire stared at the screen.
“No.”
Vivian closed her eyes.
“You were sick.”
“What kind of sick?”
“Your immune system began attacking your organs when you were four.”
“I was never told.”
“You nearly died.”
“You used Helix on me.”
“It saved you.”
Claire looked at the scar on the inside of her arm.
She had always believed it came from the house fire that killed her mother.
Now she remembered hospital lights.
A woman crying beside the bed.
A needle entering her skin.
“You developed the treatment for me.”
“Yes.”
“And then you tested it on other children.”
“No.”
“Your name is on the protocol.”
“I created the compound.”
“You created the system.”
“Victor corrupted it.”
Claire stepped away from the table.
Every villain in this story blamed another person for what followed.
Every victim had also made choices.
There were no clean hands.
Ethan opened a second folder.
It contained video recordings from the original laboratory.
The date showed three weeks before the fire.
Vivian appeared on-screen beside Graham and Victor.
She looked younger.
She also looked terrified.
“We stop the trial now,” the younger Vivian said.
“Four children are dead.”
Victor’s voice came from behind the camera.
“Four children who had no chance without treatment.”
“They died because the dosage was altered.”
Graham appeared beside her.
“We need time to review the data.”
“We need to notify federal regulators.”
Victor laughed.
“And lose everything?”
Vivian stepped closer to the camera.
“If you continue, I will expose all of you.”
The recording ended.
Claire looked at her mother.
“You tried to stop it.”
“Yes.”
Adrian watched the blank screen.
“But you did not.”
“The laboratory burned the following night.”
Evelyn’s voice came from the doorway.
Everyone turned.
Two officers stood beside her.
Her wounded shoulder had been bandaged.
Reed had ordered her brought upstairs for questioning.
Evelyn entered the room.
“The fire was supposed to destroy the trial records,” she said.
“Victor promised no one would be inside.”
Vivian stared at her.
“You locked the doors.”
“I did not.”
“You controlled laboratory security.”
“I gave Victor the access codes.”
“You heard the alarms.”
Evelyn’s face tightened.
“I panicked.”
“You left me to burn.”
“I thought you had already escaped.”
“Five technicians died.”
Evelyn looked toward Adrian.
“I did everything for you.”
“You volunteered me for the trial,” he said.
“You were dying.”
“I was six months old.”
“The doctors said you would not survive.”
“So you gave me to Victor?”
“He promised treatment.”
Eleanor stood.
“You could have come to me.”
“You had Ethan.”
“I would have protected both of you.”
“You had already taken everything.”
“I took Ethan because you signed documents transferring him to Victor.”
“I needed money.”
“You were selling your son.”
Evelyn struck Eleanor across the face.
The officers moved forward.
Eleanor lifted a hand.
“Let her.”
Evelyn’s voice broke.
“You were always the perfect one.”
“Graham chose you.”
“The family chose you.”
“When I had nothing, Victor was the only person who offered help.”
“He did not help you.”
“He used you.”
“And you used Ethan to keep Graham.”
Ethan stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Both women fell silent.
He looked at Eleanor.
“Did my father know Adrian was alive?”
“Not until Daniel found the trial records.”
“And then?”
“Graham planned to expose Victor.”
“Why didn’t he?”
“The plane crashed.”
“After he survived?”
“Victor imprisoned him.”
“Mother, I found him beneath our house.”
Eleanor looked away.
Ethan understood.
“You knew he was there.”
“I discovered him two years ago.”
“You kept him hidden.”
“He was ill.”
“He was restrained.”
“He became violent.”
“Why?”
Vivian answered.
“Helix causes neurological damage after long-term exposure.”
Claire looked at Adrian.
“Are you affected?”
He touched the scar near his eyebrow.
“Sometimes I lose time.”
“How much?”
“Minutes.”
“Hours.”
“Once, three days.”
Ethan looked at Graham’s note.
“Dad received Helix?”
Eleanor nodded.
“Victor kept him alive with repeated doses after the crash.”
“That is why he was in the medical room.”
“Yes.”
“Could the treatment affect memory?”
Vivian answered.
“Severely.”
“Could it make him paranoid?”
“Yes.”
Claire studied the note.
Do not believe Vivian.
She started Helix.
Perhaps Graham had written it as a warning.
Perhaps Victor had placed it.
Perhaps Graham no longer knew the difference.
Naomi entered with a police escort.
She had insisted on speaking.
Victor had threatened her daughter after Naomi discovered offshore accounts connected to the Ashford Foundation.
She agreed to publish controlled stories in exchange for her daughter’s safety.
“I kept copies of everything he gave me,” Naomi said.
“Did he mention Northbridge Recovery Center?” Claire asked.
Naomi’s face changed.
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
“A private facility in Connecticut.”
“For whom?”
“Patients affected by unauthorized Helix trials.”
Adrian moved closer.
“There are others alive?”
“Seven, according to Victor.”
Vivian looked at Naomi.
“Where is the facility?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who paid for it?”
Naomi removed a folder from her bag.
“A nonprofit organization called the Bennett Restoration Trust.”
Claire stared at her surname.
“I have never heard of it.”
“You are listed as the sole director.”
“That is impossible.”
“The trust was formed eight years ago.”
The year Claire disappeared.
Naomi placed the documents on the table.
The signature authorizing every payment resembled Claire’s handwriting.
Just like the false letter Eleanor had sent Ethan.
Claire looked at Eleanor.
“Did you create this?”
“No.”
“Victor?”
“No.”
Vivian examined the signature.
Her expression shifted.
“I know who wrote this.”
“Who?”
“Daniel.”
Claire shook her head.
“My father had been dead for four years.”
Vivian turned the page.
An attached photograph showed the trust’s original board.
Three people stood outside a courthouse.
Victor.
Graham.
Daniel Bennett.
The photograph was dated eighteen months after Daniel’s supposed death.
Claire stared at her father’s face.
“He survived the crash.”
Vivian touched the image.
“For a while.”
“You knew?”
“No.”
Ethan examined the background.
A courthouse sign revealed the location.
Albany County.
Naomi opened another document.
“The trust still has an active director.”
“Who?”
“Someone using Daniel’s federal identification number.”
Claire’s phone rang.
The call came from her own number.
She answered carefully.
A man breathed on the other end.
“Claire.”
Her knees weakened.
She knew that voice.
She had listened to it on old birthday videos for years.
“Dad?”
“Do not go to Northbridge.”
“Where are you?”
“Graham is with me.”
Claire looked at Ethan.
“Why?”
“Because Vivian is coming for us.”
A door slammed in the background.
Her father lowered his voice.
“You have forty-eight hours to find Patient Zero.”
“I thought I was Patient One.”
“You were.”
“Then who is Patient Zero?”
The line crackled.
Daniel spoke one final sentence.
May you like
“The woman calling herself Vivian is not your mother.”
Then the call ended.
