“But they don’t give out names when they conduct trials,” I pointed out.
“No, but they would have an intake list and they would be attached to a certain trial. The patient’s results wouldn’t be listed by name in the results, but they would still be in the system. I’m telling you, none of these people appear to be connected with anything, but they’re listed in this company’s system still.”
“So, someone’s conducting trials, but they don’t want anyone to find out about it,” Hunter surmised. “The question is, what are they running trials for?”
“I want Blake and Parker to go back in. There have to be more files on whatever that thing is. I want to know everything we can so that we’re prepared for whatever’s coming our way.”
“Like a cancer treatment?” Hunter laughed. “Yeah, let’s get prepared to save thousands of lives.”
“He’s right,” Parker said. “Something’s off with it. It’s too secretive. If this was legitimate, wouldn’t there be more information in the system about it? What are they hiding?”
“The dead bodies,” Becky answered. “If the list of people that I found is connected to the results that Knight found, then people are dying, but no one is listing them as deceased. And if they’re not listing them as deceased, it’s because they don’t want people to have access to those bodies. Or, they don’t want anyone to find out that they were conducting illegal trials.”
“Or those two lists have nothing to do with each other,” Hunter pointed out. “You have no way of knowing that the people on one list are on the other, or that the list Knight has even has anything to do with this company. It’s all speculation right now.”
“What if this has nothing to do with missing people or trials being conducted without CDC approval?” I asked, playing devil’s advocate. “What if this is more about the lab finding something that they think could be a major breakthrough, but they’re worried about the information being stolen and used by a competitor. So, they’re keeping it all secretive, letting only those that need to know in on what’s really going on? It wouldn’t be the first time that a competing company sent someone in to snatch research.”
“Then let’s get in there before someone else does,” Knight argued.
“If we send them back in, you’re talking about getting them into the actual lab,” Cap pointed out. “They’re not going to find anything else by hacking into the system, so you’re talking about going into the lab and getting physical copies of notes. How do you plan on getting them in there?”
“We already have access to the system,” Becky said cheerily. “We hack in and get into their camera system. If one of you can get an access card, we can do the rest from here. And when you’re working in a lab with diseases, viruses, and antibiotics, there are safety protocols that should keep your face mostly hidden. They’ll see you on camera, but as long as you don’t look directly at it, they won’t see your face.”
“Won’t it look suspicious that we’re sifting through notes?” I asked. “I mean, if we take the notes, someone will be alerted that we broke in when they see them missing. But if we stand there and look through all of them, that will alert them also.”
“You’ll have to play it by ear. If you can get pictures, take them. If not, just grab what you can quickly and get out,” Knight said. “But remember that once we do this, they’ll tighten security, so this is our only shot.”
I nodded and glanced at Parker. He looked renewed in his effort to help out and I was curious as to why that was. We spent a few more minutes going over the schematics of the building and making sure we knew exactly where we were headed. Parker and I then watched the video feed from the cameras we had placed in the hallways, watching how much foot traffic was in the area of the lab. It looked relatively deserted, which could be either a good thing or a bad thing. With not many people around, there wouldn’t be as many people to notice that we didn’t work there. On the other hand, it might look more suspicious that we were there.
“Are you ready for this?” Parker asked as we headed for the SUV.
“It’s now or never.”
He turned and grabbed my arm, stopping me in my tracks. “What are you going to do if we don’t get what we need?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t think we would get as far as we have, so I guess I haven’t really thought about it.”
His jaw clenched and he glanced back toward the building. “Maybe you should sit this one out. I could go in alone and you could wait in the SUV for me.”
“Why?”
“Because you could get in a lot of trouble.”
“I’m already in a lot of trouble. Parker, I stole information from the FBI, and they know it. There is no way that I’m walking away from this with a slap on the wrist.”
“I’m just saying, I can take it from here. Trust me, I’ve already been through a court-martial. I’ve been to prison while I was waiting for my trial. I know what I’m risking and what will happen to me if I get caught. You could stay away and possibly still escape with a lighter sentence. You might even get off.”
“So, it’s okay for you to take the risk, but not me?”
He gripped both of my arms, almost shaking me as he spoke. “I’m telling you to fucking walk away before you can’t get out of this mess. I’m taking the risk because it’s worth it for me. There’s nothing that you’ll get by doing this, other than the truth, and you can let me take all the risk.”
I didn’t get it. Why would he take all the
