Chapter 1 - THE FORBIDDEN DEVICE
The object in my hand was a black electronic injector no bigger than a lipstick tube.
Owen Hartley's face went completely white.
"Put it down, Emily."
I'd never heard anyone say my name with such terror.
I carefully placed the device on the bedside table. A tiny green light blinked beneath its cracked casing.
"What is it?"
"Something that was never supposed to be found."
Owen tried to sit up, but his muscles trembled after two years of immobility. I rushed forward to support him, and he caught my arm.
"Listen carefully. If anyone asks whether I woke up tonight, you tell them nothing happened."
"You're asking me to lie to doctors?"
"I'm asking you to stay alive."
Before I could respond, footsteps approached the suite.
Owen immediately closed his eyes. I pulled the blanket over him and grabbed my cleaning cloth, pretending to wipe the bedside table.
The door opened.
Dr. Victor Shaw, the hospital's chief neurologist, entered with a nurse carrying a medication tray.
"Everything all right here, Miss Carter?"
I forced a smile. "Just finishing up, Doctor."
His eyes moved toward the bed.
Then toward the injector.
My heart nearly stopped.
He walked closer, picked up the device, and slipped it into his pocket without asking a single question.
"You're finished for tonight," he said.
I pushed my cart toward the exit.
Just before I reached the door, Dr. Shaw spoke again.
"Emily?"
I turned.
He smiled pleasantly.
"Whatever you think you saw tonight, forget it."
Behind him, Owen's fingers curled into a fist beneath the blanket.
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And I realized the most dangerous man in that hospital wasn't lying helpless in Suite 914.
He was the doctor holding the key to Owen's survival.
