Chapter 7 - The Whistleblower
We stayed in the cabin for two days.
During that time, I learned the full truth of what had happened. I used an old landline telephone in the cabin's cellar to call a former investigative reporter for the Chicago Tribune, a woman named Karen Vance (no relation, but an old college friend).
Karen did some digging through public corporate registries and SEC filings.
What she found was horrifying.
St. Jude Bio-Tech wasn't just a research laboratory. They were a subsidiary of Apex Global Health, a massive multinational pharmaceutical conglomerate. Three years ago, during my father's clinical trial, their chief researcher had accidentally discovered a rare genetic mutation in Dad's blood—a natural immunity to biological tissue degradation, effectively an anti-aging and regenerative cellular marker worth billions of dollars to military and private longevity markets.
When my father died, they realized the full sequence hadn't fully matured in his adult cells. It required the developmental growth factors of a pediatric carrier to isolate and clone the gene line.
They had targeted Sarah. They had manufactured fake medical records showing Lily was dying of a rare autoimmune disease, convinced Sarah that only their proprietary experimental "cell-transfer" therapy could save her daughter, and had her sign non-disclosure agreements and medical releases under duress.
When Sarah realized they were using her child as a living laboratory, she tried to back out. So they used my name on the secondary papers to frame me as an accessory, knowing that if I fought back, they could threaten to take my daughter Emma away through child protective services.
"Evelyn," Karen warned over the static-heavy landline. "They have lawyers on three continents. They have federal judges on their payroll. You can't just go to the police. The local police chief in Skokie already issued an arrest warrant for you for non-custodial kidnapping and assault on Dr. Chen."
"They set David up?" I gasped.
"David is in the hospital under police guard. They claim he assisted you in an illegal back-alley medical procedure that put a child in critical condition. Sarah signed a statement confirming their story."
"She what?" I felt a surge of cold fury.
"They have her cornered, Evelyn. She thinks if she doesn't play along, they'll put her in prison for life and send Lily to a state ward where St. Jude can claim legal guardianship anyway."
"Where is Sarah now?" I asked.
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"She's being held at the St. Jude corporate headquarters downtown. They're keeping her in a high-rise suite under 'voluntary security protection' until the court hearing on Monday morning to strip your parental and familial rights."
I held the receiver tight against my ear. "Monday morning. Then we have thirty-six hours to crash their party."
