Page 8 of Forged in Deception

Dr. Bajwa shook his head. “It’s your file. I need your signature.”

“You’re asking me to fudge research data so that we can give a psychedelic drug to mentally ill patients?”

Her voice seemed to echo against the sleek walls of the conference room.

“Please keep your voice down,” Dr. Bajwa said firmly. “Think about the big picture, Karlin. Medical research isn’t for the faint of heart. We can’t let miniscule anomalies get in the way. It’sslightlyelevated hematocrit in two patients who have just spent two weeks in the North Texas desert. In summer. Think about it.”

She gripped the edge of her chair. He did have a point. Dehydration was by far the most likely explanation for the test results, especially in two healthy young men. But that didn’t justify lying to regulators.

“I can’t do that,” she said, forcing her voice to lower. “We need to account for every potential risk factor that comes up. We can’t just pick and choose because the executives are getting impatient.”

“You think I care about the executives?” he snapped. “You think it’s about a nice bonus and a bigger office?”

“I didn’t say that, I–”

“Good. Because that’s nonsense, and you know it. No. This is about this life changing, life saving, incredible medicine. It’s about making the world a better place. I thought you believed in the work we’re doing here.”

Karlin swallowed hard. “I do. But we’ve had safety issues a lot worse than elevated hematocrit.”

“We have had one death connected to DX8,” Dr. Bajwa replied slowly, his voice low and dangerous. “One. A decade ago. It was a tragedy, but we have no idea what role, if any, DX8 played.”

Easy for him to say. He hadn’t been working at Senera then. He hadn’t met the victim. He hadn’t seen pictures of the husband and the little girl that she had left behind.

“I just want to make sure nothing like that comes close to happening again. That’s all.”

“Good. We’re in agreement. When I interviewed for this job, I demanded to see Amira’s file,” Dr. Bajwa said, his eyes softening as he leaned against the conference table. “I examined it thoroughly. I agree that her suicide was a tragedy. But you should know better than anyone else here that tough decisions must be made when it comes to furthering the greater good.”

He paused, allowing his words to hang in the silence.

Suddenly, the conference room felt cold.

All at once, Karlin was the terrified junior researcher she’d been ten years ago. Back then, she’d been scared of not being able to pay back her student loans. Now, she had John to take care of.

She had personally signed off on allowing Amira to enter that Phase I trial despite the woman’s history of severe depression. Whether or not she’d been manipulated into doing it was irrelevant. She had blood on her hands.

And Senera–and apparently, Dr. Bajwa–knew it.

If she refused to fiddle with the research data, would they punish her for crossing them?

They could blacklist her in the medical research field. Senera was powerful. All they had to do was spread a rumor or two, and she’d never work in a research lab again.

And that was far from the worst thing that could happen to her.

After Amira’s death, Senera had managed to successfully argue in court that a lightning strike had damaged their computer servers, creating a ripple effect that had led to the destruction of much of their trial data.

Karlin had never believed them, especially considering the company’s penchant for keeping what she considered an excess of paper records. She suspected there was evidence that implicated her, hidden away somewhere in case they ever needed someone to sacrifice.

She was trapped.

But still, every so often, a small ray of hope flickered in the back of her mind.

The slightest possibility of a way out, always there in the background, waiting for her, just in case the time came when she really needed it.

Maybe that time was now.

The thought filled her with dread, but she forced herself to ignore her feelings. If she could keep her emotions in check, she could think. She could at least get an idea of what her options were.

All she had to do was make a call.

---