by David Archer
"That's okay, Eric." Summer reached out to squeeze his arm before backing off again. "You don't have to tell them."
Eric looked at her, his face twisting up for a moment like he was going to cry again, and then he got back to his explanation. "I was really… I thought I was okay, but… but then the suicide case, and I… there was just so much in my head…"
"You think the stress triggered the depressive episode?" Sam questioned softly. "That's understandable. You were under a lot of pressure, and you were being emotionally exhausted every day."
Eric trembled but nodded his head. "Once I told them I was seeing an independent psychiatrist… they kinda… I don't know, it got more…" He struggled with his words, a few fresh tears rolling down his cheeks. "It was more important. It was…"
"They panicked," Jade provided, giving him a small smile. "They panicked because they realized you have a family that cares about you, a family that is never going to let you go."
Eric looked at her with wide eyes, fresh tears welling up. "Even though I—"
"Even though." Everyone in the team replied, not letting him finish.
Sam squeezed Eric's arms and gave him a small smile, allowing warmth to overshadow his concern for the first time since the talk began. "You aren't going anywhere, Eric."
Eric hiccupped and reached toward Jade's tissue box. "You—you mean it?" He grabbed a tissue and pressed it to his nose, blowing hard.
Sam nodded deliberately. "I mean it."
Eric struggled with himself for a moment, but then he latched onto Sam's arms and continued. "I didn't… I couldn't figure out where you were getting the files from… where you got your timeline from, but I knew it was accurate. It wasn't until I overheard you talking to Detective Darren on the jet that I knew how close you were getting… so that night when… when I was at the hotel…" His face twisted up, but he only had enough tears left to make his eyes glassy. "I told them… that you were going to look into Donny's files. I figured they would just… just send the redacted ones, I didn't know—I thought—"
"Hey," Sam interrupted softly, shaking his head. "This is not your fault, Eric. They are the ones abusing their power. It doesn't matter what they use to justify that abuse, it's still their fault. You are not responsible for Donny's death any more than we were responsible for any of our suspects’ actions."
Eric blinked a few times and frowned, confused. "You mean that?"
Sam nodded. "I absolutely do." He let go of Eric's hand and reached up to cup his face, thumbing his tears away.
Jade averted her eyes, feeling that she was interrupting something private; she had never seen Sam so overtly gentle with anyone. Not even victims got that kind of treatment, and while she suspected Kenzie and Bo had been on the receiving end of it more than once, Jade had never actually witnessed it.
"I made a bad call, and so did you, but our mistakes don't make us responsible for other people's evil. They're the bad guys, Eric. It's their fault, not ours."
Eric leaned into Sam's hand, and as Jade watched, it became so painfully apparent how touch-starved Eric was. Logically, she knew he had been isolated for the half of his life when he did the most developing, but actually seeing it—seeing the way his head tilted, the way it made him relax almost immediately, the crease in his brow that broadcasted his inner struggle over whether or not to seek more—was different. Eric just wanted to be held—he just wanted to be loved for goodness' sake—and if that wasn't the most heart-wrenching thing Jade had ever seen, it irrefutably took a close second.
"Did you talk to them again, Eric? Or was that the last time you called them?"
Eric shook his head. "No, I… I called them again. I told them what little I could figure out about the new liaison. They asked why Jill left, but I didn't know. I… I didn't know about the truck driver finding Cindy, so they didn't hear about that unless it was from someone else. I would've—I would've figured out what was—" He took a deep breath, letting Sam rub his arms as he exhaled himself in to a state of calm—relatively speaking.
"Take your time, whiz kid."
Eric swallowed hard. "Um, I knew you were looking for a mole, but… I didn't tell them that, either. I was afraid… I was afraid of what they would do if they thought you were on to me." He blinked rapidly, swallowed again, and held Sam's arms tightly. "Um, I told them there was a big meeting, and I told them who was there, but I didn't know anything about what you guys talked about. I found out the next day that you were gonna bring in Melanie and… it got harder to call them after that."
Eric sniffed hard and looked over Sam's head at Melanie, prompting Jade to do the same. Melanie was biting down on her lip, tears rolling down her cheeks despite her lack of audible sobs, both hands clutching each other on her lap.
"I know—I know you always taught me not to—not to let them talk me into something that—that went against my morals or beliefs, but Melanie—" Eric's voice cracked and he shook his head, his eyes scraping together enough saline to push a tear down his cheek. "Melanie, they were gonna let my mom come and live with me."
Jade felt a knife going through her sternum, remembering all-too-vividly the desperation Eric had for a single phone call; from the moment they met him, all he wanted was his mother. It was the most childish thing about him, and yet, it got swept under the whirlwind of casework, and conspiracies, and complications, and medications, and meltdowns, and mysteries.
How could they have missed something so blatantly obvious?
Of course North Forest Hospital would use Eric's mother to trick him.
And they should have protected him from that, and Jade was furious with herself.
Eric rushed on, desperate to find favor in Melanie's eyes. "I know—I know it wasn't right, but I—I haven't seen her in so long, I—I was gonna see her, Melanie, in person, and I just—it's been so, so long, Melanie, I just—I just—I just wanna see my mom, Melanie." His shoulders shuddered as he struggled through the end of his explanation. "I just want my mom."
Melanie quickly got out of her chair and crossed the short distance between them, wrapping her arms around both him and the chair he was on. "Oh, baby, it's okay. Eric, you could have told me. I would do anything to see my mom one more time, so there is nothing in me that would be disappointed or angry with you. She's your mom, Eric. It's normal."
Summer slowly joined Melanie, also wrapping her arms around him. "It's completely normal."
Sam couldn't hug from where he was, but he never let go, and Denny shifted from a shoulder rub to arms wrapped around Eric's shoulder. Jade and Darren both stepped forward, nearly running into each other as they approached the side of the chair that wasn't taken. Eric didn't have any tears left, but he shuddered in their arms, practically melting into the comfort they were offering.
"It's gonna be okay, kid," Darren said.
"We're not angry," Sam assured.
"We got you, whiz kid," Denny murmured.
"We're gonna figure this out, Eric," Summer whispered.
"And I won't let anything bad happen to you," Melanie added.
Jade didn't say a word. She didn't have to, because that was the understanding they had always had. She didn't wear false faces with Eric—it was one of the things that made him so dear to her—and she couldn't think of any words to say, so she said nothing.
Because there were no words for the rage—the fury, the blinding red—rushing through her veins. It was the kind of anger that kept up until it saw a result, the kind of anger that could only be alleviated or explained with actions, the kind of utter lividity that could make government subdivisions quake.
Because it was no longer a question of whether or not North Forest Hospital was going to be dismantled; it was a question of whether or not Jade Miller would have to tear out every single rivet with her bare hands—and she would.
If it came down to it, she would, and she wouldn't regret a thing.
TWENTY-FOUR
Darren was an entertainer. Maybe it was in his blood, maybe it was all
the times he spent helping his mom prepare family get-togethers and special occasions, or maybe he just really liked cooking, but, for whatever reason, Darren was and always would be an entertainer.
That said, when the Windlass team arrived at his house, Darren was quick to serve drinks and throw together some appetizers, never mind the fact that it was two in the morning and they had just returned from a case.
"Okay." Sam leaned back in his chair and sipped his hot tea. "Eric, explain North Forest Hospital to us. Nothing is forbidden, assume we know nothing, and start from the beginning. Melanie, if you have any input, I would appreciate hearing it."
Melanie gave a small nod, sitting next to Eric on the sofa, hovering by his right shoulder like a guardian angel.
Eric nodded, too, and took a look around the room. He began at Denny, who was directly to the left, and moved his eyes clockwise across Jade, Sam, Summer, Darren, and Melanie. His eyes darted back down and fixated on the floor—as they had for the majority of the time since the incident in the room—his face swollen and red from the excessive crying.
"Um… North Forest Hospital is an organization that uses consultants for jobs. Most of the time, you work with different subdivisions of the government, but you can be loaned out to other divisions, too. CIA, NCIS, NSA…" Eric shrugged and rolled his hand a bit, indicating the list went on. "Sometimes, you, uh… do other things… um…" He pulled his feet up onto the sofa and wrapped his arms around his knees. "Sorry. This is hard."
"It's alright, whiz kid." Denny nudged Eric's shoulder. "Take your time."
Eric nodded weakly and leaned into Denny's touch, still tense. "Um… you do different jobs… secret assignments… that maybe aren't so good… and it gets you things. Um… I…" He took a deep breath, blinking rapidly and rubbing his forehead. "I, um, I invented a new strain of anthrax… and the antidote to go with it… back in '99…"
Darren concealed any expression of surprise he may have had in his mug.
"Um, then, about five years ago… I created a kind of EMP that, once used, releases a corrosive acid that completely destroys the device." Eric shifted in his seat, pushing himself back into the cushions with a twisted expression Darren suspected represented something like helpless frustration.
"Were either of those ever tested on a civilian population?" Jade asked softly, pulling her feet onto her chair. "Or don't you know?"
Eric bit his lip and rubbed at his thigh. "I… I know the anthrax was. I don't know where or when… but I got confirmation a few months after I finished it that it worked, and I got—I got my book."
Darren swore inwardly, barely able to keep from grumbling to himself. Kid invents a new biochemical weapon and gets paid with a book. Geeze. He sipped his coffee and said nothing.
"They probably used a third world country of some kind," Melanie offered, putting a hand on Eric's shoulder but addressing Sam. "They usually picked somewhere remote, where the local government wouldn't be able to do anything if they figured out who attacked them. Not that anyone ever did. At least, not as far as I know."
Eric nodded in agreement and swallowed hard. "Um, the EMP could be tested on devices in a closed lab, so that—that was never used on people, to my knowledge."
Summer clicked her pen a few times and hummed, scratching down some notes on a tablet. "If we can figure out when the anthrax was tested, we might be able to connect it to North Forest Hospital through financial records cross-referenced with a timeline of the epidemic."
Eric looked almost hopeful at that. "You think you'll be able to get financial records?"
Summer looked at Eric, surprised, and then she looked at Melanie. "Well, can you?"
Melanie blinked, caught off guard. "Um… you want me to hack them?"
"No," Sam interjected. "We want a mysterious, third-party vigilante to hack them and periodically dump their records into public forums." He gave a sideways kind of nod. "So, yes, but only as directed, and only if you can do it without it being traced back to you."
Melanie grinned. "Oh, yeah. It'll take a long time, but I can do it." Her smiled faltered a bit. "I will need some things, though, and we can't have anyone tracking our financial records and finding out we were behind the leak."
Darren arched a brow. "I have money, but I'm not a bottomless pit."
Melanie shook her head. "That's no good, anyway. You're close to this, and if they suspect you and look at your financial records…" She shook her head. "No way. I'll figure out a way around the problem and get back to you. However, there is one more thing, and I definitely need you guys for that."
Sam looked at her expectantly. "What is it?"
"I need someone inside North Forest Hospital to help me get in. I know exactly who it has to be, where she'll be when, and all you have to do is slip her a chip when no one's looking. She can get it connected to their mainframe on the inside, and that will both help me get in and make it look like the leak is internal instead of a hacker from the outside."
Denny pursed his lips a bit. "Okay, but…" He shook his head. "How we gonna get in?"
Summer pointed to Sam with her pen. "Hey, we could potentially use this to force their hand."
Darren gave her an arched brow, sipping his coffee while Sam voiced his question.
"What do you mean?"
"North Forest Hospital doesn't know Eric is staying with us permanently." Summer looked around the room as she spoke, and her gaze lingered on Eric long enough that Darren looked, too. "We can set up a time to go in and get Eric's book—because that is his possession, even according to them—which would get us inside and send a message that Eric isn't coming back."
Darren didn't miss the way Eric tensed at that, some of the red fading from his flushed cheeks. Easy, kid. Easy.
Sam rubbed his chin and nodded slowly. "If we tell them he isn't coming back, it could make them panic, which could lead to a mistake. However… the last time they panicked, they killed the kid we were looking into. We can't risk that happening again."
Jade held up a finger, countering Sam's point with one of her own. "But Cindy wasn't from Eric's ward, and we don't know who the first victim was. We know North Forest Hospital went from killing consultants a couple times a year to killing three—or at least trying to—in one month. They might keep killing regardless of what we do."
"In which case, we need to nail them as soon as possible," Sam finished, nodding to himself. He appeared to consider the idea for a moment, but then he shook his head. "We need to find out who the first victim was, and we need to look at the cases Cindy and that other kid worked on. Still, even if they were killed for other reasons, we know the last kid we looked into was killed. We need to be sure they won't just kill everyone who has a 4380 serial number once they know Eric is staying with us."
Darren swirled the coffee in his cup a few times, pressing his lips together. "Our best bet is to make them afraid of a move that permanent. Trying to take custody and lock people up is one thing—they can always backtrack if it looks bad for them—but death is permanent." He held up a finger to indicate he wasn't done, and then he finished his beverage in a single gulp. "I think we should finalize our custody of Eric and begin the process for taking custody of Melanie. We'll tell North Forest Hospital about how helpful they've been and say we don't want to risk sending them back because… well, things just seem to happen to consultants, particularly ones we're interested in. We would hate to lose these wonderful resources, so we can't leave them in North Forest Hospital custody, because North Forest Hospital has a history." He rolled his hand to indicate furthered talk along the same lines. "Basically, we tell them we're on to them. They'll panic, which is what we want, but they'll know we're watching their every move and waiting for an excuse to come down on them."
There were several murmurs, hums, and contemplative expressions around the circle. Finally, Jade spoke up, pointing to Darren but looking at Sam.
"That might actually work."
Sam still appeared hesitant. "My only c
oncern would be Melanie. If we don't already have full custody when we tell them, they could take her back. I don't want to risk that."
"I do." Melanie blurted the words out immediately, scooting to the edge of the sofa with an excited light in her eyes. "It's worth it to me. If they take me back, okay, but there's no way they'll kill me when they know what you're up to. I can survive more time behind bars if that's what it takes." She spoke faster with every sentence, almost desperate. "Honestly, it might give me an opportunity to escape during transfer and start hacking on my own terms. It definitely can't be traced back to you then."
Sam looked at her for a long moment, and then he let out a sigh. "Well, it isn't as if we're finalizing any decisions tonight… so, for now, we can call this our plan."
Melanie sighed in relief, smiling despite the clear fatigue on her features.
We're all tired. We need to get some sleep before we try tackling much more of this. Darren looked admittedly forlorn, his gaze lingering on his empty coffee cup. There comes a point when you can't just caffeine your way through any more consciousness.
"Eric, you've been quiet." Summer looked concerned, her brow a bit furrowed. "Is there something else?"
Eric fidgeted in place, twisting his lips around, eyes focused intently on the floor. "I… I really just want to go to bed." He took a deep breath, opened his mouth to speak, and then began over with another inhale. "North Forest Hospital runs tests on consultants. There are a lot of different things they… do… to us… and it's possible the increase in deaths is because they're taking more risks in the laboratory."
Darren blinked a few times, muttering under his breath. Just when I thought this case was all out of shock factor, we throw human experimentation into the mix. He rubbed his forehead and pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a heavy sigh. "Sam," he began. "You call it."
Sam immediately understood, and he nodded in agreement. "I think it's time for everyone to get some sleep. We can continue this discussion in the morning."
Darren sent up a silent hallelujah, but as tired as he was, he still got to his feet to see everyone to the front door. After all, no matter the circumstances, including a middle-of-the-night meeting about corrupt, government conspiracies, Darren was an entertainer.