Chapter 9 - The Shadow’s EchoDeep in the federal penitentiary upstate, inside a bleak, windowless interrogation room, a man in an orange jumpsuit sat staring blankly at a stainless steel table.
Dr. Daniel Keene looked ten years older. His hair was uncombed, his skin sallow, his hands shaking incessantly—not from Parkinson's or medical precision, but from the brutal withdrawal of the very chemical compounds he had once synthesized.
The heavy steel door banged open.
Two federal marshals escorted a tall, imposing man in a charcoal overcoat into the room.
Lorenzo Bellandi didn't sit down. He simply stood over the table, leaning forward slightly, resting his knuckles on the cold metal surface.
Keene slowly raised his head, his eyes wide with stark terror. "L... Lorenzo. You shouldn't be here. The guards—"
"The guards work for me, Daniel," Lorenzo said, his voice terrifyingly calm. "Or rather, the men who pay the guards work for me. It’s all the same thing."
Keene swallowed hard, his throat dry as sandpaper. "What... what do you want? I told the FBI everything. I gave them Vanessa, I gave them Vanguard—"
"I know," Lorenzo interrupted smoothly. "You sang like a canary. Very smart."
He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small, sealed plastic envelope. He tossed it onto the table.
Inside the envelope was a single white, oval pill.
Keene stared at it as if it were a venomous snake. "Where did you... how did you get that? The federal evidence locker—"
"Do you really think the government keeps things secure when I want them?" Lorenzo asked, a dark, humorless smile touching his lips. "You thought you were so clever, Daniel. You thought you could lock me in my own body, take my empire, and walk away."
"I was just following orders—"
"Whose orders?" Lorenzo interrupted, leaning down until his face was inches from the disgraced doctor's eyes.
Keene’s breath caught in his throat. He opened his mouth, his lips trembling, his eyes darting toward the security camera in the corner of the ceiling.
"If I tell you," Keene whispered, his voice cracking into a desperate plea, "will you protect me? Will you get me out of here?"
Lorenzo didn't blink. He stared at Keene with eyes dead and cold as winter stone.
May you like
"You'll stay right here, Daniel," Lorenzo whispered back. "Until your mind rots away completely—just like you planned for me."
He turned on his heel, walked out of the interrogation room, and let the heavy steel door slam shut behind him with a thunderous echo.
