The Romance Revival(83)

I briefly consider lying. I could say that I accidentally had Luca’s phone with me when I came into the lab to check on the subjects and must have misplaced it somehow. If I managed to convince them, I could still lose my job but might not face further action.

Unfortunately, given the people who are here in the room with me, I’m positive the phone isn’t all they have.

Lying isn’t going to help me here.

“First, I want to say that Dr. Rodriguez had nothing to do with this. I forced her into cooperating with me. Violently. Any and all guilt here is mine alone.”

“Emery,” Annie hisses at my side.

“Noted,” Leonard says.

“I had the phone in my jacket pocket,” I say.

“I see. And what day was this?”

Again, I could lie, but they already know the answer. “July seventeenth.”

“This was the day of your presentation to the board where it was revealed that you have been doing research on resurrection.”

Fucking Vince.

Tightly, I answer, “Yes.”

Leonard nods but doesn’t look up from his paper. “Jeffrey, please continue.”

“My team was instructed to analyze security data from the night in question.” Lopez taps another handful of keys, and a monitor flickers to life on the wall behind him. “At first glance, there were no events that flagged the system. In fact, there was nothing in the system. But when searched manually…” A few more keystrokes and the video monitor flickers to life. On the screen is security footage of Annie and me looking like a couple of cartoon characters maniacally rolling a blanket-covered gurney down the hall. It is very clearly not a Great Dane under that blanket. Carl really isn’t that great at his job.

Leonard squints up at the screen. “Dr. Rodriguez doesn’t seem to be under any duress here,” he says, before peering at me over his glasses. “Unless I’m missing something?”

“I wasn’t,” Annie says before I can stop her.

“I see. Jeffrey, what did you mean when you said there was nothing in the system?”

Lopez points at the monitor. “AISS records visual footage from several vantage points. But those feeds seem to have been wiped. Fortunately, we were able to recover them in the Delta drive.” With a few more keystrokes the screen splits into a collage of squares, each showing a different angle of the two of us rolling Luca’s body down the hall.

I narrow my eyes. “Holy shit,” I whisper to Annie. “I look unhinged.”

“You’ll get no argument from me.”

“Along with visual data,” Jeffrey continues, “the system also documents vital signs of each person passing through the sensors. On July seventeenth at approximately 9:19 p.m., AISS registered two people going into Lab Two. But approximately four and a half hours later, it registered three people leaving.”

Fucking Robert Pattinson. I knew he’d get us in the end.

A murmur of hushed conversation fills the room.

“Was there documentation of any other staff currently in the lab, Jeffrey?” Leonard asks. “Perhaps someone who might have been in the building and exited with them?”

“No, sir. Every BioNEX employee is accounted for.”

Leonard turns to me, lowering his glasses on his nose. “Care to explain, Dr. Martín?”

“After I left Friday night,” I say, closing my eyes, drawing in a breath, and trying to calm my racing heart, “my husband was out jogging and was hit by a car. The vehicle fled the scene. Luca sustained several injuries, including a severed femoral artery that proved to be fatal. I witnessed the accident and immediately began emergency first aid.”

“And did you notify the police?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because he was technically dead and I didn’t have time.” I take another deep breath. I can practically feel the pressure of Annie’s gaze on the side of my face and her silent Don’t do it, do not do it is screaming in my brain. “I initiated the BioVIVE protocol.”

Annie’s head falls forward and the room erupts in chaos. Leonard has to shout above the noise to get everyone under control.

I mean, how bad can prison really be? I’ll finally have some spare time. Maybe I can even pick up a hobby. I hear crocheting can be very relaxing.

“Emery,” Leonard says evenly, “I’m sure everyone here is interested in knowing how you had Compound Y readily available to you at that moment, but first I want to make sure I understand. You initiated an unproven, experimental, and largely untested procedure on a live human subject?”

“He wasn’t a subject, he was my husband, and he was fucking dead,” I say, and regret it immediately, owing to the way the room falls silent in a shocked hush. I take another deep breath. “As you can imagine, I was desperate and not thinking objectively.”

He stares at me, disappointment turning his features down at the corners.

“Leonard,” I say quietly. “It fucking worked. Luca was clinically dead, but Compound Y kept his body stable enough for the BioVIVE protocol to repair the damage. His heart started again on its own and he’s alive. And not just alive but thriving. We brought him back. You’ve seen the data,” I remind him. “You know I’m telling the truth.”