Page 4 of Forged in Deception

“Sorry I’m late,” Gabe Jr. said, handing several paper bags of still-steaming food to Reilly, Cameron, and Ben.

Asher couldn’t help but notice he wasn’t entrusted with any of the Screaming Peach Cafe’s delicacies. Fair enough, he supposed. He probably wouldn’t have been able to resist digging in right then and there. The local coffee shop mostly served breakfast food, but Iris was always willing to adapt the menu for some of her most loyal customers.

“Don’t worry about it,” Gabe Sr. said easily, pulling back to look his son up and down as though he hadn’t seen him in years. “I’m just glad to see you stepping foot on the property. Especially with Iris’s catering in hand.”

“But please make sure you’re on time for the actual wedding,” Cameron joked.

Gabe Jr. smiled, but Asher could see that his blue eyes were troubled. “In my defense, I was stuck at the office trying to finish up some paperwork for the Fairman file. It’s due tomorrow, but honestly, I think I’m going to have to admit defeat and break the news to our lawyers that we’ll need an extension.”

Gabe shot Asher a brief glance that filled his stomach with lead.

He looked down at the twins playing in the grass, surprised that his oldest brother hadn’t yelled at him in front of the others, which he probably deserved. He was supposed to have had that paperwork done by Friday, but instead he’d forgotten about it completely.

And then proceeded to spend most of the weekend at a music festival, having also forgotten his phone back at the house he shared with Ben.

Oops.

“Don’t worry about the paperwork,” he said quietly to Gabe as the men began to file into the house. “I’ll eat fast and go finish it. I was gonna be up too late tonight, anyway.”

“I appreciate it, bro,” Gabe said as he followed the others. “At least dad will be ticked at you for leaving early instead of being mad at me for… everything he’s always mad at me for.”

Asher wanted to say more, but Gabe had already slipped into the house and let the screen door fall shut behind him.

KARLIN

Karlin McKenna fiddled with the photograph in the pocket of her white lab coat as she walked, turning the worn paper over and over between her fingers.

She’d started carrying the photo of her older brother, John, a few years ago. Now, the picture felt like it had become a part ofher. During her most difficult hours at work, it was a reminder of why she kept pushing, no matter how much she wanted to give up.

Fighting back the nervous urge to stare down at her feet, she kept her chin high and gave a curt nod as she passed a group of interns, who scurried out of her way immediately.

So far, she hadn’t seen anyone else down here on the lowest lab floor of Senera Pharmaceuticals.

It was getting late, and most of her colleagues who had gotten stuck working on a Sunday had long since gone home for the night. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt that bubbled up every time she took even the shortest break. Despite the fact that she was now a senior research scientist, a small part of her still felt like the terrified newbie she’d been a decade ago.

Karlin pushed through a set of swinging doors, wincing at the sudden glow of artificial light in the wide hallway beyond. Finding the space empty as well, she brushed a stray wisp of red hair behind a freckled ear and stood a little taller.

Maybe she owed her past self a little bit of self-confidence now. If she hadn’t been so terrified to do what was right back then, perhaps she wouldn’t be carrying so many regrets.

She nodded to another passing scientist, an Asian man she didn’t know very well, and picked up her pace. There was no point in dwelling on her mistakes.

She had to get outside and call John. Surely he was out of the insurance office by now and, hopefully, he had good news.

She headed for the elevator at last, pausing for a moment to glance over at the nondescript but heavy door that led toward the most secure area in the entire facility.

She could almost see the small room in her mind, lined with tall refrigerators, cryo freezers, warming trays, and room-temperature cabinets, all filled with little vials of DX8.

She’d been in and out of the high-tech storage space what felt like a million times, retrieving sample after sample in pill, liquid, and powder form. She had spent countless hours recording data, analyzing and refining chemical properties, and every now and then, procuring doses of DX8 for research on animal and human test subjects.

Years and years of research, pools of sweat and tears, all for a powerful psychedelic that would revolutionize the treatment of mental health disorders.

A familiar shiver of unease wound its way up her spine as she continued on her way, instinctively quieting the clicking of her heels on the cold tile as though someone was waiting to jump out of the storage room and grab her.

Ever since Senera Pharmaceuticals had hired Dr. Daman Bajwa as head of research and development, he’d been running her and her colleagues ragged. Their hours had never been so long, but, to the man’s credit, Senera had never made so much progress on so many medical products.

But there was nothing that Dr. Bajwa cared about more than DX8. When it came to that drug in particular, he was single-minded. Sometimes even to the point of cruelty. Nothing else mattered. Not his employees’ personal lives, not labor laws, not his reputation as a boss, none of it.

On the other hand, his enthusiasm for DX8 was often inspiring. It was easy for most of Karlin’s colleagues to forgive his eccentricities. They never doubted that Dr. Bajwa was genuine in his belief that the drug was deeply important to the future of humanity. He wanted to see DX8 being widely prescribed as soon as possible.

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