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“I believe that,” nodded Katherine. “Whether these men are psychopathic or not, their family lives, their childhoods played a big part in what’s happening. I’ve known men who were sexual predators who showed the behaviors during childhood or as teenagers, and their parents ignored it. Just saying boys will be boys. If someone had been brave enough to step forward, to force them into therapy earlier, all that pain might have been avoided.”
“Honey, it’s hard to know what evil will do. Evil doesn’t think like you and me.”
“Ready to head home?” asked Pork, walking toward her.
“Ready,” she smiled. “Coming with us, Teddy?”
“I’ll be along on the next boat,” he smiled. “I think I’m gonna have a conversation with Sema. She seems to have all the answers.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Antoine, Hannu, and Gabe went out the next day. George and Sven were busy helping with another project, so it was time to get Gabe more involved.
“Where is the first one?” asked Gabe.
“Up there. Pemberly-Marks Labs. Suzette said that they primarily focus on cardiac drugs,” said Antoine.
“This will be good for me to take the lead,” said Hannu. The former head of a hospital in his home country, Hannu was a brilliant physician and knew the inner workings of the heart better than anyone else in their car. Primarily known for his work with bones and helping athletes get back to normal. He’d done his share of surgeries all over the body.
“Good morning,” said Antoine. “We have an appointment to meet with the director.”
“I’m sorry, sir. I was told to give you her apologies. She’s not seeing anyone today.” Antoine stared at his brother, then looked in the rear-view mirror to see Hannu’s frown. He leaned forward between the front seats, looking at the guard.
“Please tell her that Dr. Hannu Frode is here all the way from Finland. I should like to speak with her about her research.” The guard stared at him, then reached for the phone.
“Yes, ma’am. Yes, ma’am,” repeated the guard.
“Hannu, that was risky,” said Gabe.
“No, it was the truth. All except me wanting to see her research.”
“Dr. Marks will see you,” said the guard. “Please park in the VIP space in the first row, and a guard will come out and get you. Do not get out of your car until someone comes to you.”
Antoine pulled through the gates, frowning at the others. They were forcing them to stay in the car, afraid that they might see something or get too close to something. After seventeen minutes of waiting, they were beginning to lose their patience.
“This way, sir,” said a man suddenly standing in front of the SUV. Intentionally, they slowly got out of the vehicle, stretched, and cracked their backs, all the while smiling at the guard.
“Sirs, Dr. Marks is waiting. She doesn’t like to wait.”
“And I don’t like to be kept waiting by someone inferior in skill level to me,” said Hannu. Even Antoine and Gabe raised a brow at his curt response. “We will move when we are comfortable to do so.”
The guard stared at him, frowning. No one dared to piss off this woman. No one. Her wrath was well-known at the facility. Finally ready to move, Hannu waved the guard forward as if commanding his minions.
They walked down a long, sterile corridor with dozens of doors on both sides. All were closed. All silent. Antoine ran a hand over the doors, feeling them. All steel. All the way through. Someone was hiding something. The other thing painfully clear was that all the rooms were soundproof.
At the end of the corridor, they were led into a large laboratory. There was no one else inside, but the tables were filled with standard laboratory equipment. A few machines were running, their soft clicks and hums familiar to Hannu.
“Dr. Marks will be here in a moment. Please don’t touch anything,” said the guard.
“I believe I know lab protocol,” frowned Hannu. The others gave him a look that said ‘good job,’ but he knew what he was doing.
Taking their seats on stools lining the wall, they couldn’t help but feel as if this was all set up for them. It was a ruse.
“Good morning,” said an older woman walking into the lab. She had short gray hair cut in a severe close shave to her head. She wore tortoise-rimmed glasses as thick as bottles. Barely five-feet-two, she was wearing comfortable orthopedic shoes on her feet.
“Good morning,” said the men.
“I have to assume that you are Dr. Frode,” she said, staring at Hannu. “I’ve read much of your research and papers. It was mostly to do with athletic performance, and then you branched out into heart defects and transplants. That’s quite a change.”
