Page 79 of Operation: Sharp Angel

Standish went on to explain that the ability of antipsychotics to cross the blood-brain barrier is crucial for their therapeutic effect, as they need to reach the central nervous system to block dopamine receptors and alleviate psychotic symptoms. Or in the case of the partner drug Chester needed Well-Life to develop, create the opposite effect, too. They wanted to induce psychotic symptoms that would be used in conjunction with enhanced interrogation techniques. The targeted drug and its anti-drug partner would be developed together.

Caustic chemicals were used, and unfortunately for Nick DeSoto, false data sheets were provided to him, labels were swapped in some situations, which minimized how dangerous the chemicals were. The combinations he made created reactions never seen, and he accidentally poisoned himself merely by inhaling the fumes of the chemical reactions. The toxic compound now in his body crossed the blood-brain barrier and attacked the central nervous system, resulting in headaches, the first symptom of the poisoning.

It was transmitted to the rest of his family through saliva. Kissing his wife infected her. Sharing drinks and food infected the two children. It took weeks for the symptoms to present in all four of them. By this time, Nick had figured out what happened, and he’d done enough digging to know he’d been lied to regarding the true toxic nature of the chemicals he’d been working with. It had been no accident, as he was originally told by his manager. At that point, the focus of his work became the development of an antidote for the poison.

And then Nicole confronted James Standish. That was when they knew the DeSoto family wasn’t going to play ball and quietly allow the cover up. Somehow, she’d even figured out that her parent’s plane crash was no accident. Chester sent his men in the following evening and things went sideways. The murder of everyone in the family was not premeditated, said Standish.

“Why was the entire house sanitized?” Tessman asked. “They cleaned up everything but the bodies.”

“Yeah, we didn’t know how long the poison would remain active in the saliva. Chester’s team cleaned it up.”

“But the blood?” Jackson said.

“Police and crime scene procedure would keep everyone masked up and wearing gloves near the bodies. Potential for spread was minimal. Same for the coroner.”

“Chester’s people sanitized the scene?” Jackson asked.

“Of course they did. I don’t have those kinds of resources and none that would do that kind of job,” Standish said.

“Okay, so the million-dollar question. Who is Chester?” Tessman asked. He was sure by now Shepherd would be running that name down and would be in communication with all of his intelligence agency contacts looking for him and trying to discover if the development of this drug was sanctioned or off the books. Tessman knew one more thing. Given that things had gone horribly wrong, resulting in the killing of a scientist and his entire family, heads would roll.

“I don’t know,” Standish said. “I swear I don’t. When things went bad, I tried to track him down so I could go above his head to his boss. Do you think I wanted Nick, Nicole, and their kids to be poisoned and then killed?”

“You were sure willing to allow Becca Elliot to be killed,” Tessman reminded him.

“Everything was spinning out of control by then,” Standish said.

“So, you figured what’s one more person killed, huh? Anything to protect your secret,” Tessman spat.

“You’re not going to believe me, but I was against anyone being killed. I only found out about Madeline after Chester had already had her killed. Same with Nick and Nicole,” Standish said.

“You’re right, we don’t believe you,” Tessman said.

“What about the other partner, Marvin Ackman?” Jackson asked.

“He knew about and supported the partnership to develop the drug because it had the potential to make Well-Life a boatload of money, but he didn’t know about any of the rest of it,” Standish said.

Even though they had his entire confession recorded, Jackson handed him a pad of paper and told him to write it out. Then they left the room.

“It’s time to get answers from the two parking lot goons,” Shepherd said. “I’m running down Chester with my contacts, but so far nothing. Do what you have to do to get intel, team.”

“We’ll need you in with us, Needles,” Flores said to Winston. “Door number two is the lucky winner.”

The three men entered the interrogation room with the man who’d been in Becca’s door, the man who struggled the most. He was still combative.

“You should step outside,” Tessman told Becca in a whisper. “You’ve got your answers. You don’t need to see this.”

Becca shook her head. She would later regret that she hadn’t left the room.

She watched Flores and Robinson grab the man, who still had the black hood over his head. They forced him into a reclined position on the bench and then the bench itself was adjusted so his head was lower than his body. He tried to struggle. Flores punched him twice in the stomach. Winston had opened a cabinet near the door and pulled out two jugs that looked to be about a gallon each. He poured some of the fluid onto the black hood over the man’s face. He sputtered and coughed. A drain was on the floor beneath his head. The water drained away.

“Chester, and what agency he and you work for?” Flores demanded.

Through coughs, the man yelled obscenities at them.

Becca watched it go on for some time. It was one of the most horrific things she’d ever witnessed. Water was poured over the hood. The man coughed and sputtered. Every few seconds, the hood was partially removed, just lifted over his mouth and nose and he was allowed to breathe for a few seconds before it was repeated. All throughout, he strained against the restraints which held him to the bench.

When he’d gone still and quiet, he was checked to be sure he was breathing. Twice, he was rolled to his side, and they helped him to cough up or vomit the water he’d either swallowed or aspirated into his lungs. Becca believed he’d stopped breathing several times. He had drowned. And Eddie Winston brought him back each time, only for the torture to be repeated.

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