Chapter 6 - THE ONE DOSE CLAIRE LEFT
The laboratory tested the vial while police escorted me back to the hospital.
No bacterial contamination was detected, but the crack had allowed part of the enzyme to degrade.
The remaining concentration was seventy three percent of the required amount.
There was no time to manufacture more.
Toby’s heartbeat slowed again.
His blood pressure continued falling despite medication.
I placed Claire’s formula beside the toxicology results.
The antidote could reverse the neurological receptor binding.
At full strength.
No human trial had tested a reduced dose.
Elijah stood near the trauma room doors.
“What would you do if he were your son?”
The question hurt because Toby had once felt close enough to mine that losing him after the divorce resembled grief without a funeral.
“He is not my son.”
“You love him.”
“Yes.”
“Then tell me.”
“I would give the dose.”
“Why?”
“Because supportive treatment is failing.”
“Could it kill him?”
“Yes.”
He closed his eyes.
“Do it.”
The hospital ethics officer required consent from the legal parent.
Elijah signed.
Cassandra still held alternate guardian status, but police suspended her authority after the poisoning evidence.
Sloane attempted to object through his attorney.
The court denied him standing.
I prepared the enzyme.
The liquid looked ordinary inside the syringe.
Toby’s entire future occupied less space than a teaspoon.
I touched his hand.
“Nomi is here.”
His eyes did not open.
I administered the antidote slowly.
Nothing changed for the first thirty seconds.
Then Toby’s heart rate accelerated.
Too quickly.
His blood pressure collapsed.
The monitor alarm filled the room.
We treated the reaction.
His heart stopped.
Elijah watched through the glass while I began compressions.
The man who owned hospitals, laboratories, aircraft, and companies could do nothing but stand outside while another person pushed against his child’s chest.
After forty eight seconds, Toby’s heart restarted.
His oxygen level began rising.
One number.
Then another.
His pupils responded to light.
The neurological rebound slowed.
The damaged antidote had worked.
I remained beside him until my hands stopped shaking.
Elijah entered only after the team approved.
He touched Toby’s hair.
“Thank you.”
I removed my gloves.
“Claire saved him.”
“You gave the dose.”
“She preserved the formula.”
“We both failed her.”
I looked at him.
“I did not know her.”
“You believed her warning when I did not believe yours.”
That was the closest Elijah had come to naming what happened between us.
Not enough.
Necessary.
Toby awakened six hours later.
He opened his eyes and looked around the room.
“Daddy?”
Elijah leaned over him.
“I am here.”
Toby saw me.
“Nomi.”
His hand moved weakly toward mine.
I took it.
“Did Mommy go away?”
Elijah did not answer immediately.
“Cassandra cannot come near you.”
“She said you wanted me quiet.”
“I never said that.”
“I heard you.”
Toby’s damaged watch contained a saved audio message.
The voice was Elijah’s.
Take the medicine, buddy. It will help you be brave.
A voice analysis confirmed it was synthetic.
Julian had used years of Elijah’s recorded speeches, calls, and interviews to create commands Toby trusted.
The hidden clinic videos showed Cassandra playing the messages before each dose.
Toby believed his father approved.
Elijah left the room before his grief frightened the child.
When he returned, Detective Ortiz carried another report.
The blood analysis showed that Cassandra had not administered the first dose.
NX Seventeen appeared in Toby’s medical samples from eight months earlier.
That was before my divorce.
Before Cassandra moved into the mansion.
Before Sherman Biomedical purchased Northstar.
I reviewed the date.
Toby had been hospitalized for what Sloane diagnosed as a severe stomach virus.
I had been attending a medical conference.
Elijah remained with him.
“Who gave him medicine?” I asked.
Elijah looked toward the record.
“A private nurse sent by Julian.”
The nurse was found dead three months later in an apparent overdose.
Toby had been part of the trial long before Cassandra took control.
Julian had used her.
He had also used someone inside our marriage before she arrived.
The old hospital chart listed the parent who authorized the experimental medication.
Elijah Sherman.
His signature appeared beneath the form.
He stared at it.
“I never signed this.”
May you like
I knew exactly how that sentence felt.
Continue to the next part: Elijah discovers the conspiracy used his identity for years and that Claire tried to warn him before her death.
