Page 90 of Unnatural
It was clear that Mark had wanted him there for a purpose.
The knowledge made her concern climb higher.
She and Sam sat down on the couch, and Mark took the other seat flanking the fireplace.
“I got the results back from the lab my task force works with that I overnighted your blood samples to,” he said, diving right in. “Neither of you were ever exposed to ADHM.”
It felt as if a bomb detonated between Autumn’s ribs. She looked over at Sam, who was staring at Mark, his expression stunned. “How is that… I mean, I suspected it about myself, but Sam…” She was at a loss for words. She reached out, taking Sam’s hand in hers. It was cold from his walk, and it sat limply in her own. “Sam was never exposed either? That must be a mistake because…” Her gaze flew over him. His knees, his ribs, his shoulders, temples.Oh God.Thenwhy?
She looked back at Mark. Both his gaze and Jak’s were on Sam, both men watching him closely as though he might blow at any moment. Her fingers tightened on his.
“No,” Mark confirmed. “It’s not a mistake. Sam, are there any questions I might answer that will make this easier for you?”
“Say anything you want, Sam,” Jak encouraged. “We’re all here. To share this. Yell if you want to, flip a table. We’ll clean it up.”
Sam’s body had grown still. He sat silent and morose now, but his eyes…his eyes were shimmering with what looked like rage and confusion. Grief. “I was sick with something else then,” he said, still obviously trying to find a better explanation than the one he’d just been given, but Autumn heard the uncertainty in his voice. “That’s why I had the surgeries. The surgeries that made me…” His words cut off with a small, choked noise.Oh, Sam. Sam.
“No, Sam. You weren’t sick,” Mark said very gently. “You were never sick.”
“Why did they think I was?”
“They couldn’t have,” Mark said, and Autumn appreciated the directness. “They would have known you were not. We can do more testing to show—”
“No, never again,” Sam growled. “No more tests. No more.” His voice was a strangled yell, and a sob moved up Autumn’s throat.What did they do to you? Oh, Sam.
“Okay, Sam. No more,” Mark said, the same gentleness in his voice, the tone a father would use.
She didn’t blame Sam for his grief, his obvious pain and confusion. She herself had felt similarly when she’d read the words in her folder: suspected ADHM. But Autumn had also been cut free of her incorrect diagnosis—if that was all it was, a big, giantif—many, many years before. Sam’s had gone on and on and to a much more invasive extent.
“If neither of us were ever sick,” Autumn said, “thenwhy?”
Mark sat back. “I located the nurse you were looking for. Salma Ibrahim.”
Autumn drew in a breath. “Salma?” Just the woman’s name on her lips was a soul balm at just the moment she needed one. “Where? How?”
“I have a few more resources than you,” he said, offering a small smile. “She had her license taken from her. She’s working as an in-home day care provider. She’s well, and she misses you. I’ll give you her information.”
“Yes, please.”
“Salma had seen evidence that caused her to question things at Mercy. They fired her before she could copy that evidence or do anything with it. Then they destroyed her reputation and her credibility until she had no choice but to give up and attempt to rebuild her life.”
“Oh my God,” Autumn said.
Oh, Salma.She’d helped her when no one else had. To know the woman had suffered for it made Autumn ache.Without you, Salma, I never would have known I was well.She shuddered inside to think of it. To imagine what would have happened to her had shenotgone off her medication.
Sam hadn’t said a word, but she sensed his tumultuous emotions as they rose inside him, his hand growing ever warmer by the moment as, inside perhaps, his blood boiled. “She suspected the truth, that I never had ADHM,” she guessed.
“Yes. And more so that you and several of the others were being used as a control group for the cocktail of medications they had you on, specifically the Mesmivir.”
She blew out a breath. To have it confirmed… God, it hurt. And it fanned a flame of anger, one that was just beginning to flicker. They’d stolen years from her.Years.And double that of Sam’s.
“Your blood tests confirmed Salma’s suspicions,” Mark said. “I’m attempting to pull files that will provide more information, but a lot is sealed. And I assume much has been destroyed.”
“How?” she asked.
“That’s always the biggest question,” Jak said. “And I don’t know that I’ve come to a reason that brings me any peace.” He looked at Sam. “But maybe that’s a good thing, because there should never be peace when it comes to hurting children. So here’s my best guess: greed, weakness, fear, pure evil in some cases, though I think that’s rarer.” He paused for a moment. “I’ve spent a lot of time considering their reasons, but I think it’s time better spent working to rescue those still suffering. You’re not nearly there yet, Sam, but you will be. If I can offer you any hope right now, it’s that you will be.”
Autumn hoped to God Jak’s words were penetrating, though from the look on Sam’s face, too much pain was radiating inside him for any words to make much difference.
