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“No thanks.”
She drew a deep breath. “Thank you for…everything. Helping me. Saving me really. I…the man with the gun. I’m sorry you had to deal…” Her words died as she shuffled back to the sofa and set her tea on the coffee table. Then she covered herself with the quilt.Better.
“It’s my job.”
“I think you’ve gone over and above anything required to be the captain.” She wrapped her cold hands around the mug.
“Not because I’m…I was the captain but because Hank Patterson asked me to. He asked me to take care of you and I owe Hank a lot. Keeping you safe is my job.”
So much for thinking he was just being altruistic. Although she was pretty sure he wouldn’t desert her regardless of his promise to Hank. “I see. Still, thank you.”
Xavier stared at her. “So, you want to tell me what the hell is going on?”
The moment of truth.Now she’d see if her instinct about Xavier’s dedication to his job were accurate. She returned his steely gaze. “I… I’m not entirely sure.”
“What does that mean?” he demanded.
“I don’t know who wants me dead,” she snapped.
He frowned. “Does that mean you’ve made so many enemies that you can’t figure out which one wants you dead, or you have no clue that you even have enemies?”
She heaved an exasperated sigh. “No. I know why they want me dead. I just don’t know who is behind it?”
“Start at the beginning.”
Taking another mouthful of tea to calm her nerves, she swallowed and then started her story. “I was working late on Friday and discovered a file. It contained data for the new drug we’re about to get approval for from the FDA. The thing is…the data was not the same information that had been given to me and to the FDA.”
He waved his hand. “Who are you exactly, and why do you see the data?”
Heat rose in her cheeks. She was so used to the world, or rather, her world, knowing who she was that she’d forgotten to explain.Way to think you’re the center of the universe.“Shit, sorry. I’m the Chief Medical Officer for NoVoGlobal Pharmaceuticals. We’re based in New Jersey. I’m just in Austria to get our European operation up to speed with a few projects. We have offices in Switzerland and Austria, as well as London.”
Xavier said, “Okay, back to the data.” He sank a little deeper into the chair.
Taking his getting settled as her cue, she began again. “I deleted something accidentally and went into the backup server to retrieve it. Normally, the server is rewritten every month with the new data but as I said, I’m here to bring certain things up to speed. Our European branch has been woefully behind on many things including technology. Anyway, I was poking around in the deleted files section and found a file for our new lung cancer drug, Cytoxine. I opened it and it was data from the last study we did. Fifteen hundred and eighty-three participants. The results were…” her stomach rolled as she gritted out the truth, “alarming. They were not the results that had been presented to me.”
Xavier asked, “How were they different?”
She opened her mouth to explain and then realized too much detail wouldn’t be helpful here. She needed to streamline her explanation. “During the last phase of the trial, we increased the dosage of the Cytoxine given to the patients who were receiving the drug. The numbers I was given showed a two percent death rate. That is considered in the acceptable range.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Acceptable?”
She brought her legs up under the blanket and curled into a ball. “You were in the military right? It’s like the percentage of collateral damage for an op. The goal, obviously, is to not have any, but there’s a certain amount that is likely to occur no matter how careful everyone is. As long as it’s a small number, it’s regrettable but understandable.”
“I get it,” he said. “This happens with every drug?”
“Yes. No drug is developed without some patients dying, even the regular over-the-counter meds everyone uses. Read the fine print sometime. They can all cause death given a certain set of circumstances.” She took a breath. “Anyway, the data in the file I found said the death rate was much higher, seventeen-point-two percent. That’s way too high. If I had seen those numbers, I would’ve stopped the study and we would’ve gone back to the drawing board.”
“But you didn’t see them until Friday night?” he asked, raising both eyebrows.
“Yes, and I was horrified. Still am. That’s just way too many deaths.” Her stomach churned every time she thought of it. All those people. She cleared her throat. “The FDA announcement with approval for Cytoxine to be used to treat lung cancer in the US is coming this Wednesday. Our CEO and board will do all kinds of interviews about the development process and the drug will be touted as the best treatment to win the fight against lung cancer. But it’s all a lie.” She shook her head. It was still so hard to believe. “I was trying to make it to Geneva before Damon, our CEO, flies home for the announcement.”
Xavier stared at her. “What was your plan?”
She shrugged. “Tell Damon what I discovered. I have a copy of the file and I—the file. It’s in my skirt. There’s a pocket on the inside. Is the skirt okay?”
He nodded. “It’s not that hot.” But he got up and disappeared. He came back a moment later and put the flash drive in her hand.
“Thanks,” she said as he sat back down and glanced out the window. “Anyway, where was I? Right. I pulled together a file that shows the timeline of the drug’s development. I can show where the data was falsified. I just don’t know who’s responsible.
