Deadly Cover-Up

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.”

She bit her bottom lip, then continued, “A couple of days later, I decided I needed to talk privately with Samantha and get her take on what had happened to Sparks. She was scared and wasn’t willing to see me at first. Finally, she agreed, and we set an appointment for Thursday morning. Then she died in a car accident that very day on her way into the office. When I heard, at first, I was too terrified to do anything, but then I discovered that Southeastern was cleaning house, and the entire Mintax program was shut down. All of the specimens and reports had suddenly disappeared, as well. It was as if the entire project never even existed. I knew I had to do something. I couldn’t let Southeastern get away with killing Sparks and Samantha, and all of those people that participated in the human trials. I also knew that I had to disappear, too, or I would be the next one in a grave. As soon as I heard about Samantha, I went straight to the US Attorney’s Office, and I’m sure someone followed me. I am convinced I wouldn’t have survived the day if I hadn’t left at that very moment.”

“So what happened?” Ben asked.

“Apparently, Southeastern Labs was already on the US attorney’s radar, and the government had been slowly building a case against the company for fraud, kidnapping and murder due to the illegal testing. Sparks had been working with the prosecution team to help with the case, so when he died, they immediately started looked for another source. After Samantha died, I became that source. They had already planned to talk to me when I walked through their door.”

“What about Southeastern and the financial fallout?” Ben asked. “As you said, they spent a fortune developing Mintax. Even if they shut the program down, the company couldn’t just write the losses off if they didn’t have a drug to show for it—even a failed one.”

Jordan’s lips thinned. “I agree, but I don’t know all of the ins and outs of the financial side of things. I’m not sure how Sam Delvers decided to deal with the losses. I heard something about them trying to produce it in a third world country, but I don’t know if that is true or not. I really don’t know what their final decision was, or how they were planning to survive the financial disaster the drug caused.”

Ben was silent for a long time, and Jordan could tell that he was processing everything that she had told him. It was quite a story, and she realized it sounded far-fetched. Reputable pharmaceutical companies didn’t usually resort to murder to clean up their messes, but there had been a lot going on at Southeastern—a lot she couldn’t explain and was still trying to figure out. She had been high enough in the management hierarchy to know the specifics about Mintax, but not high enough to know how Southeastern had chosen to deal with the various problems the company faced as a result of the drug’s failure.

Ben’s eyes were intense. “So, what happened next? Did you testify against Southeastern? How did it all turn out? I haven’t heard a thing about this on the news.”

“Southeastern had some incredibly talented attorneys that were also unscrupulous. When they deposed me, I felt like I was the criminal. They twisted everything I said. When I finally did testify, I could tell the case wasn’t going well. I don’t know everything that happened because they wouldn’t let me sit in the courtroom during the testimony, but I do know that the case ended up being dropped and the whole situation was basically swept under the rug. The marshals moved me to a midsize town in South Carolina, and then basically ignored me, even when I told them I saw a suspicious man following me on several occasions.” She took a deep breath. “The man I was worried about kept popping up at strange places, and there was no doubt he was going to hurt me. At one point, he even tried to run me off the road.” She shifted uncomfortably. “I knew it was just a matter of time before I ended up like Samantha and Jeremy. I still had some money left, so I came back to Jacksonville. Then yesterday, I saw the same man who tried to kill me in South Carolina. He followed me here.”

Finally, Ben spoke, and she saw raw pain in his eyes. “I still don’t understand why you didn’t come to me when you heard about Sparks’s and Samantha’s deaths—or even before that when you first discovered there was a problem at Southeastern. You must have considered your options and decided what to do before you knocked on the door at the US Attorney’s Office. I work at the Sheriff’s Office. I was your fiancé. I could have protected you. We could have worked through this together. Instead, you disappeared, and I thought you were dead.”

Jordan tensed and pushed some of her hair behind her ear as fear squeezed her stomach. Had her past actions destroyed Ben’s willingness to help her? She knew her story sounded far-fetched, and she was asking him to take a lot on faith. As she watched his face, however, she realized that he did believe her. The problem was that her disappearance had broken his heart. How could she make him understand? She leaned forward and gently touched his arm. “You’re right. I should have. I’m so sorry, and I know words aren’t going to erase how much I hurt you.” She removed her hand and leaned back. “I also know you’re good at your job, and you could have protected me, but I was terrified. I thought that if I involved you, you would become collateral damage when they came after me, or they would come after you, too, once they realized you were a threat.” She bit her bottom lip, then pushed forward. “Two of my colleagues had just been murdered. I wanted to protect you. I didn’t want you killed because of me.”

He took a moment to digest her words, and she could tell that he was still struggling with her explanation. He rubbed his hand across his eyes in a tired, drained motion. Finally, he spoke again. “So what changed? Why are you here now?” She could hear the hurt in his voice, and it fueled the regret she had already been feeling.

“I need help,” she said softly. “I thought I could do this on my own, but I can’t. The marshals wouldn’t help me. And I finally realized you’re the only one that can. Southeastern hurt a lot of people and developed a very nasty drug. They were never held accountable, and I’m the only one who knows it. Now Southeastern wants me dead. I didn’t know what else to do or where else to go.”

Ben was silent again, apparently mulling over her words. Finally, he made a decision. “Tell me what you need.”

She let out a sigh of relief. She had been holding her breath, waiting for his answer, and hadn’t even realized it. “I have to get proof of the Mintax drug and what it can do, and I need to bring that and what they did during the human trials out into the open so we can prove they lied about the drug’s properties. I also need to show that they killed my boss and Samantha. They won’t need to kill me if Mintax and Southeastern’s actions are no longer a secret. But right now, it’s just my word against theirs.”

“And where do you propose we get this proof?”

“That I don’t know. Maybe you can help me track down some people who know more than they think they do. There also has to be something left on Southeastern’s computers, but they revoked my access to their servers.” She shifted. “The company doesn’t like loose ends. Someone there sent that man to kill me yesterday. I’m sure of it. I’ve been renting out a small cottage, but I’ve been afraid to even go out much because I knew they were searching for me.” She tightened her arms around her leg once again. “When I went to the grocery store yesterday, that was the first time I’d left my place in days. When I got to the store, I saw a man following me. I don’t know if he figured out where I was living or not, but I just couldn’t go back and take that chance.”

Ben raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure it was the same man you saw in South Carolina?”

She nodded. “Positive. When I saw him, I ran out of the grocery store, but he followed me and tried to kill me in the parking lot. I managed to escape, but he shot me in my arm, which slowed me down. I ran across the road, and he got hit by a car when he tried to follow me. I think he’s probably dead, but I don’t think it will take them long before they send someone else.”

Suddenly, they both heard the sound of glass breaking. Ben immediately grabbed his pistol and put his finger to his lips, urging her to stay silent. She nodded, her heart beating so loudly she was sure the intruder could hear it.

“Someone’s in the house,” Ben whispered. “Stay here and crawl between the bed and the wall. I’ll be back.”

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