Chapter 3 - The Venom of the Serpent
Two days later, Amelia was sitting in her small, rented apartment when her phone rang. It was an unknown number. Usually, she ignored them, but a strange premonition made her answer.
"Amelia... please..."
The voice was weak, slurred, and breathless. It was Leo.
"Leo? Where are you? What’s wrong?" Amelia stood up instantly, her heart hammering against her ribs.
"I... I don't know," Leo muttered. "I was at the café... some men came... they said they had a message from Nathan. Then I woke up here... in an alley. I feel sick, Amelia. My chest... it hurts so bad."
"Leo, listen to me," Amelia said, her forensic training instantly kicking in, overrides of panic transforming into cold, analytical action. "Do not move. Tell me what you see. Is there a street sign? A landmark?"
"A sign... red neon... 'The Rusty Nail'..."
Amelia’s blood ran cold. The Rusty Nail was a notorious dive bar in the industrial district of the city.
"I’m coming, Leo. Stay on the line."
Amelia grabbed her coat and keys, rushing out the door. She knew this was a trap. The timing was too perfect. She was scheduled to testify again in forty-eight hours. But Leo was her only remaining family, the boy she had protected since their parents died in a car crash when she was twenty. She could not, would not, abandon him.
As her car tore through the rainy city streets, she called Sarah. "Sarah, they’ve done something to Leo. I’m heading to the industrial district. If I don't call you in twenty minutes, send the police to The Rusty Nail."
Ten minutes later, Amelia pulled into the dark, rain-slicked alley behind the bar. The neon sign buzzed overhead, casting a sickly red glow over the puddles. She found Leo slumped against a metal dumpster, shivering violently, his eyes rolled back.
She knelt beside him, checking his pulse. It was dangerously rapid. His pupils were pinpoint.
"Opiates," Amelia muttered to herself, checking his arms. There was a fresh injection mark on his left forearm—but it was sloppy, jagged. It wasn't the mark of an experienced user. It was forced.
Suddenly, headlights flooded the alleyway.
Amelia blocked her eyes as a sleek black sedan pulled up, blocking her exit. The doors opened, and two men in heavy coats stepped out, followed by Chloe Reynolds—Nathan’s young, ambitious assistant.
Chloe held up a smartphone, its camera recording.
"Well, well, Dr. Carter," Chloe said, her voice dripping with artificial pity. "Look at this. The great forensic specialist, caught in a dark alley, administering illegal narcotics to her junkie brother. I wonder how the medical board will feel about this? Or the judge?"
Amelia did not stand up. She remained kneeling beside her brother, her hand resting on his neck to monitor his pulse. She looked up at Chloe, her expression terrifyingly calm.
"You injected him," Amelia said, her voice as cold as the rain falling around them.
"We didn't do anything," Chloe smirked. "Leo had a relapse. He’s an addict, after all. And you, being the loving sister, used your medical access to supply him. That’s the story the media is going to run with tomorrow morning. By the time you get to court on Friday, your forensic evidence won't mean a thing because you’ll be facing felony distribution charges."
One of the men stepped forward, tossing a small, clear plastic bag containing white powder onto the ground next to Amelia’s car keys. "A little extra proof, just in case."
"You think you’ve won," Amelia said softly.
"We know we have," Chloe laughed. "Nathan sends his regards. He told me to tell you: 'You'd be nothing without me.' Now, you’re just a disgraced doctor with a deadbeat brother."
Chloe and her thugs got back into the sedan and backed out of the alley, leaving Amelia in the dark with her shivering brother.
May you like
But as the sound of their engine faded, Amelia did not cry. Instead, she reached into her trench coat pocket and pulled out her own device. It wasn't a standard phone. It was a high-grade, military-spec digital audio and video recorder, disguised as a button on her coat, linked directly to a secure cloud server.
She looked down at Leo, her eyes softening. "Hang on, Leo. The ambulance is already on the way. And they just handed us the final nail in their coffin."
