Page 101 of Artifice
“This is bigger than you realize,” Henry spat as agents led him past. “The program has backers in governments across three continents. We’ve been working on this for decades. You can’t stop progress.”
“Watch us,” Simon replied coldly, before turning to Olive. “We found seventeen students in various stages of chemical alteration. Medical teams are assessing them now.”
“Hopefully they’ll get the help they need.”
“They will. The other good news,” Simon continued, “is that we’ve confiscated all of Dr. Wells’ research. Our best minds will be working on reversing the effects.”
More agents arrived, bringing medical personnel who immediately moved to assess Mr. Thorne’s and Tevin’s injuries as well as Colin’s condition. Margaret remained passed out on the floor and would need to be checked also.
Olive stood beside Simon in the midst of the controlled chaos, watching everything unfold. “How did you find us?”
“Rex got up with me, asking some questions,” Simon explained. “He was worried when you stopped answering your phone. We were keeping an eye on you and saw you on the cliff. We saw Stephanie drug you, and then the men took you down here. It was just a matter of getting our men in place after that.”
Olive shook her head, still processing. “All this time, you were?—”
“Doing my job. Just like you.” Simon glanced toward the tunnel where Colin was being guided toward medical attention. “Though I’d say you did it better. You got through to him when our best psychological experts thought it would be impossible to break the conditioning.”
In the distance, more shouts echoed as agents continued to secure the facility.
“It’s over.” Simon holstered his weapon. “Lighthouse Harbor is finished.”
But as Olive looked toward the tunnel where they’d taken Colin, she knew there were other students fighting their own chemical prisons.
This wasn’t over. Not for the children who’d been used. Not for the families who would struggle to understand what had happened to their kids.
And not for her. This case had stirred up too many ghosts from her own past—her father’s cons, Oakridge, Sheffield.
Questions still remained.
The tunnels suddenly felt colder. Olive knew with certainty that Lighthouse Harbor had been just one piece of a much larger puzzle.
But for now, they’d stopped children from being human lab rats. They’d exposed the operation.
It was enough for today.
Olive took a deep breath and followed Simon toward the surface, toward daylight and whatever answers awaited her there.
CHAPTER 54
The next few hours were organized chaos at best.
Families arrived to get their children. Those who didn’t have families were handled by social services. Local police were on the scene as well as FBI and whoever the men with Simon worked for.
Olive and Tevin had remained on the grounds of Lighthouse Harbor, staying close in case they were needed. People had lots of questions for them, and Olive had answered to the best of her abilities.
From what she’d gathered, Henry and Margaret had been arrested. Stephanie had been taken in for questioning, though Olive didn’t anticipate she’d be held.
Paramedics had gone to check out Mrs. Potts also. Olive assumed authorities had told her about her husband, and she couldn’t imagine how the woman might be taking that news.
As Olive took a sip of water from a bottle a police officer had given her, Principal Denarau stepped from the building and walked toward them.
She was curious what this conversation would hold.
“I want to thank you for what you did, for stopping Henry and Margaret and these terrible experiments.”
“You didn’t know about them?” Olive questioned, watching his face for any signs of deceit.
He shook his head. “No. I knew about the supplements, but Dr. Wells assured me everything was fine and that the supplements were safer than actual pharmaceuticals would be.”
