Page 31 of Toxic Truth
Epilogue
A year later…
Kenzie finished packing her luggage,Bullet watching her from his spot on the bed.
“This sucks, doesn’t it, baby?”
Head on his paws, he whimpered
“Aw, sweetie, don’t be sad. Mama’s gonna be okay.” She hoped. Seated next to him, she scratched behind his ears. His tail wagged.
If only something as simple as a massage could make the bad go away for her, preferably on a permanent basis. She’d fought the powers-that-be for so long, yet each battle ended with the goal farther from reach.
The night Lucas caught Xavier Zelnick, the assassin sent to kill her, the future seemed beyond promising. Especially when he’d admitted everything to save his sorry ass, the details in his confession expected yet horrific.
Since he’d suspected she was close to where the tracking device last placed her, he’d arrived on the property via the creek where Lucas had thrown the instrument. For days, Zelnick searched for her and the best way to approach the cabin without detection.
NSP’s CEO Maxwell Swift had sent him as her executioner. Or rather, he’d set the plan into motion, not wanting to ruin his pristine reputation, and had ordered the hit through his proxies. Some were in government. Sadly, there were also a few military personnel.
Lucas didn’t want to believe it, but hard data supported the facts. When money and power were involved, everything changed. Rarely for the better.
She excluded his friend Dave in her beliefs.
He’d taken Zelnick’s confession to the FBI. The agency investigated NSP, Swift, the board, and those in the government, and military. Public corruption, white-collar, and organized crime their focus. They eventually threw in terrorism, given the threat against her life.
She’d expected 24-hour coverage and major public outrage when news broke about NSP’s role in soldiers developing physical or mental ailments, some dying, while others passed on genetic illnesses to their children.
Some in the media—whose relationship with the government was cozy rather than objective— buried the stories in their newspapers’ back pages or during low-viewing times on cable. The so-called patriotic stations either downplayed what her research discovered or called it a conspiracy against the government, military, and business, specifically Big Pharma.
During those reports, advertisements for NSP’s best-selling products aired.
Too many in the country raged against her rather than NSP, calling for her imprisonment or death, preferably the latter, as a traitor.
Those military men and women who bore lasting effects from toxic meds came to her rescue, led by Lucas, Hank, and others at Brotherhood Protectors.
In the beginning, they were small voices against the insistent shouts of innocence from Swift’s and the others’ high-priced criminal attorneys. They and their clients became media darlings. Hosts on numerous shows conducted softball interviews meant to put them in the best light. Again, NSP’s advertisements broadcast during those segments.
Their sales skyrocketed.
Internet personalities noticed the con and joined her side, doing the real reporting the others ignored for profit or stock market gains. Strange times though not unknown. During the run-up to the Iraq war, when most news agencies cheerleaded the search for Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, Knight Ridder dug deep for the truth and found it. There were no WMDs, the war unnecessary, too many lives lost on both sides for something that never existed.
Gradually, public sentiment shifted toward that undeniable truth.
Lucas insisted her testimony during Congressional hearings would do the trick for the toxic meds.
Where are you?
He’d promised to be here an hour ago. Together, they’d fly to DC, as they had during the previous hearings. While she took a seat at the witness table, he supported her from the gallery.
She didn’t want to testify without him being there. Oh hell. If he’d gotten hurt on his latest assignment…
No, no, no. Phone in hand, she punched in Hank’s number.
The front door opened. “Hey,” Lucas said. “I’m here. Sorry I’m—”
Her fierce caress and kiss stopped him.
He didn’t play dead.