Chapter 5 - The Price of Silence
Dr. Reed immediately stepped in front of Elijah, shielding the old man. "Arthur! This is a horror show! You're using charity patients as human guinea pigs for unapproved pharmaceutical trials!"
"We are revolutionizing medicine, Dr. Reed," Arthur said coldly, pacing forward as his armed guards spread out. "The offshore companies pay fifty million dollars per successful trial stage. Do you have any idea how many lives a new drug for Alzheimer's or Parkinson's will save in the long run? A few disposable orphans and homeless kids are a small price to pay for scientific breakthrough."
"They aren't disposable!" Elijah roared, taking a step forward, his fists clenched. "They are human beings! You turned my wife’s sanctuary into a slaughterhouse!"
"Your wife was an idealist, Elijah. And idealists die broke," Arthur spat. "Just like you are about to."
Julian stepped forward, twirling the syringe between his fingers. His face was twisted in a mixture of fear and sadistic malice. "Dad, what about Reed? He's a licensed doctor. People will ask questions if he vanishes."
"Dr. Reed will have a unfortunate industrial accident in the basement generator room," Arthur said casually, as if ordering lunch. "And as for our noble founder, Mr. Elijah Carter... well, an eighty-year-old man with a history of heart failure dying of a sudden, tragic cardiac arrest in his former hospital? The press will write tragic poetry about it."
"You won't get away with this, Vance," Reed shouted, lunging forward, but one of the guards slammed a heavy tactical baton into Reed's stomach. Reed collapsed to the floor, gasping for air.
"Marcus!" Elijah yelled, reaching down, but two guards grabbed Elijah's arms, pinning him against the concrete wall.
Julian approached Elijah, raising the syringe. "This is a concentrated dose of potassium chloride, Mr. Carter. It will look like a natural cardiac arrest. No path0logist will ever suspect a thing."
Elijah looked into Julian’s eyes. There was no mercy there. Only the cold, empty ambition of a man raised by a monster.
Elijah didn't scream. He didn't beg. He simply looked up at the ceiling security camera, which was blinking with a steady red light.
"Do it then, coward," Elijah whispered. "Look me in the eye when you destroy Margaret's dream."
Julian smirked, raising the needle to Elijah's neck. "Goodbye, old man."
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CRASH!
The heavy double glass doors at the end of the hallway suddenly shattered into a million pieces as a flashbang grenade bounced into the corridor, exploding with a blinding light and a deafening roar!
