Chapter 6 - THE BROTHER WHO DIED TWICEArthur told Clara the truth during the drive to Connecticut.
Samuel Vance had been brilliant.
More brilliant, Arthur admitted, than he was.
Their father had founded a modest electronics company in Ohio. Arthur expanded it. Samuel transformed its technology.
By thirty, the brothers were millionaires.
By thirty-two, they hated each other.
Samuel believed medical technology should be developed without regulatory interference.
Arthur disagreed.
Their final argument occurred after Samuel conducted an unauthorized trial on six terminally ill patients.
Two died.
Arthur reported him.
Samuel vanished before federal investigators could arrest him.
Months later, a burned vehicle containing what authorities believed to be Samuel’s remains was discovered near the Canadian border.
Arthur buried an empty coffin.
Again.
“Your family really needs to stop doing that,” Clara said.
Arthur actually laughed.
It lasted one second.
Then disappeared.
Dawson had coordinated with federal agents.
The memory card Arthur carried was fake.
Its encrypted folders contained tracking code.
The real data had already been duplicated in three secure locations.
The plan was simple.
Plans were always simple before something went wrong.
Arthur would enter the abandoned research facility alone.
Federal teams would remain outside the perimeter.
Clara had not been invited.
She came anyway.
“My mother died because of this.”
Arthur looked at her.
“That is exactly why you should stay away.”
“That argument didn’t work for Eleanor either.”
He had no answer.
The old Meridian laboratory stood at the end of a private road surrounded by winter forest.
Broken windows.
Faded corporate logo.
Snow beginning to fall.
Arthur entered at 8:03 a.m.
Clara watched remotely from the command vehicle.
A camera in Arthur’s coat transmitted everything.
Inside, the facility was not abandoned.
Lights burned in the corridors.
Computer servers hummed behind glass.
Arthur reached the main laboratory.
Victoria and Malcolm Reed sat bound to chairs.
Samuel stood behind them.
Seventy years old.
Thin.
White hair.
Walking cane.
He looked less like a criminal mastermind than a retired professor.
“Arthur.”
“Samuel.”
The brothers stared at each other.
“You’ve aged.”
“So have you.”
Samuel smiled.
“Not gracefully.”
Arthur held up the memory card.
“Release them.”
Samuel looked at Victoria.
“Your wife tried to kill you.”
“I’m aware.”
“And you want her alive?”
“I want answers.”
“Always the businessman.”
Samuel nodded toward the card.
“Put it on the table.”
Arthur did.
Samuel signaled to a guard.
The man inserted it into a laptop.
Seconds passed.
Outside, the federal team tracked the signal.
Clara watched a map.
One server.
Then another.
Connections spread outward.
Dawson whispered, “Come on.”
Inside, Samuel studied Arthur.
“Do you know why Father chose you?”
Arthur said nothing.
“Because you were obedient.”
“He chose me because you killed people.”
“They were dying already.”
“You don’t get to decide that.”
“I was trying to save millions.”
Samuel leaned forward.
“Every breakthrough costs something.”
Arthur looked at Victoria.
“Did he force you?”
Victoria cried silently.
Samuel smiled.
“She’ll say yes.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
Arthur’s face softened slightly.
Samuel laughed.
“Oh, Arthur.”
“What?”
“You still need people to be good.”
He walked toward Victoria.
“She was stealing from you long before I contacted her.”
Victoria looked down.
Samuel continued.
“Malcolm too.”
Reed closed his eyes.
“They are not victims.”
“Neither are you.”
Arthur’s voice hardened.
“You murdered Rachel Bennett.”
Clara stopped breathing inside the command van.
Samuel’s expression barely changed.
“No.”
Clara stared at the screen.
Arthur looked surprised.
“Victor did.”
“On your orders.”
“No.”
Samuel leaned on his cane.
“Victor had become sloppy. Rachel threatened him personally.”
“So you expect me to believe you weren’t involved?”
“I expect nothing from you.”
Samuel turned to Reed.
“Tell him.”
Reed swallowed.
“Victor ordered Rachel’s crash.”
Clara’s hands shook.
Arthur continued.
“What about Eleanor?”
“Victor threatened her too.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor wanted control.”
Samuel smiled.
“And he almost got it.”
Arthur frowned.
“Almost?”
Samuel looked directly into the camera hidden in Arthur’s coat.
Clara felt cold.
“He knows.”
Dawson swore.
Samuel waved at the lens.
“Hello, federal friends.”
The command vehicle erupted.
“Move! Move!”
Agents advanced.
Inside, Samuel calmly pressed a button.
Metal shutters slammed across the building.
The video feed flickered.
Then Samuel said:
“You think this is my operation?”
Arthur stared.
“It’s Victor’s?”
Samuel laughed.
“No.”
Arthur’s eyes narrowed.
“Then whose?”
Samuel looked toward Victoria.
She began sobbing.
Arthur slowly turned.
Victoria lifted her face.
“I’m sorry.”
Samuel smiled.
“Your wife has been considerably more ambitious than you imagined.”
Arthur looked devastated.
Victoria whispered, “It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.”
Arthur moved closer.
“You planned this?”
“Not all of it.”
“The poison?”
“Yes.”
“The patents?”
“Yes.”
“My medication?”
Her silence answered.
“And Samuel?”
“I found him five years ago.”
Arthur stared.
“Why?”
“Because I spent ten years watching you treat me like a guest in your life.”
“You married me knowing you had intercepted Eleanor’s messages.”
“Yes.”
“You knew she was alive?”
“Eventually.”
“And you let me grieve her.”
Victoria stood despite her bound hands.
“You never loved me like you loved her.”
“That is your explanation?”
“No!”
Her voice broke.
“You want the explanation? I spent my entire life being useful to powerful men. Victor used my mother. Then he abandoned us. You hired me and barely knew my last name. Samuel found me and told me I could stop being someone’s assistant.”
Arthur’s face was stone.
“So you decided to become a murderer.”
Victoria shook her head.
“I didn’t know the dose would kill you.”
Reed spoke.
“That’s a lie.”
Victoria spun toward him.
“Shut up.”
Reed looked at Arthur.
“She insisted on enough to guarantee cardiac arrest.”
Victoria screamed, “Shut up!”
Samuel laughed.
Clara stared at the monitor.
Then she saw something nobody else seemed to notice.
Samuel’s left hand.
Trembling.
Not slightly.
Violently.
His face twitched.
He dropped his cane.
Reed stared.
“Samuel?”
Samuel collapsed.
Arthur moved instinctively.
Reed shouted.
“Don’t touch him!”
Samuel convulsed on the floor.
Victoria stared in horror.
“What’s happening?”
Reed’s face changed.
“He’s been poisoned.”
Arthur looked around.
“By whom?”
Reed slowly looked toward Victoria.
She backed away.
“No.”
Samuel gasped.
Arthur knelt.
“What did you give him?”
Victoria shook her head.
“Nothing.”
“Victoria!”
“I gave him nothing!”
Samuel grabbed Arthur’s sleeve.
His voice came out as a whisper.
“Not… her.”
Arthur leaned closer.
“Who?”
Samuel forced out one name.
“Victor.”
Then the lights died.
Gunfire erupted outside.
May you like
And the federal command channel exploded with a single warning.
“WE’VE BEEN COMPROMISED.”
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