Page 16 of Toxic Truth
Chapter 4
The momentthe bathroom door closed, Lucas took the phone off speaker and made certain to keep his voice down. “This is fucking serious, Hank.” He told him about the meds fucking up the soldiers’ health.
Hank swore. “Did she tell you how?”
“We hadn’t gotten that far yet. Hold on.” He shut off the burner and oven then returned to his seat. “My first worry was getting her car away from here and securing the roads. She has data on three flash drives, proving what she says.”
“Can you send them to me now?”
“No.” He grabbed a beer and took a swig. “They’re password protected and encrypted. As soon as she freshens up and I feed her, I’ll get additional details to send you.”
Water pounded in the shower.
Clicking sounded on Hank’s side. “What’s the name of the company she worked for?”
Lucas told him.
“Fuck. They’re huge and powerful.”
What else? Only a mega corporation would have enough balls and arrogance to kill an employee without worrying about the authorities caring. As a teen, he’d read how the Mafia ran roughshod on this country during Prohibition. They had nothing on what the corporate class had done these last decades. Fuck, Ivy League guys in thousand-dollar suits had cornered the market on greed and cruelty. “We have to stop them. Our men and women are at risk.”
“I hear you. Did she go to the press yet?”
He guzzled his beer. “She was considering it when the threats against her escalated.”
“Phone? Text? Email?”
“All three.” He slouched in his chair. “As soon as I can, I’ll ask her to bring the emails up, which I’ll send to you as evidence. I’ll try to get the texts, too.”
“Voicemails would also help.”
“I can’t promise, but I’ll try.” He pushed his beer aside. “How serious do you think this will get?”
“Very. My guess is the government contract for these meds is huge. No public company wants to lose that much market share. The Street will destroy them. Once stocks plunge, proverbial heads will roll.”
He’d pay to see that. “Think prison’s also in the future?”
“I wish, but we know how the world works.”
It had happened too often. Company CEOs and higher ups claimed ignorance of what happened at their beloved and trustworthy companies. They selected a scapegoat, generally someone with little power in the organization, and pinned everything on him. Or her.
Shit. “We can’t let Kenzie take the fall for this.”
“Agreed. We’ll do everything in our power to protect her. You know that.”
He did, but wanted nothing less than one-hundred-percent certainty. Those in Brotherhood Protectors were fearless fighters, but they were too few against a mammoth corporation and the government. If the feds were also in on this as Kenzie said, shit could go sideways fast. “When the guys are researching NSP, have them check into political donations for Congress and lobbying. The FDA too. Whatever ties into the corporation.”
“Already on my list. We’ll beat this. Enjoy Kenzie.”
He pushed back his chair. “Excuse me?”
“Don’t play dumb, Rome. I heard how you sounded when you spoke to her.” Hank clucked his tongue. “You’re a goner already and it’s certainly time. If the rest of us have settled down, you should too.”
There was no way Lucas could comment on that without digging himself deeper. Sure, he liked Kenzie. What man wouldn’t? She was great to look at, sharp as fuck, and fun—when she wasn’t trying to run things. Even during those times, he cut her more slack than he had any other woman.
“Hey, you still there?” Rapping noises sounded on Hank’s end. “Or are you and Kenzie taking a moment for yourselves?”
“Want to ask her?”