by Jan Eira
“That’s right. Isotopes are very common in nature. The air you inhale and exhale will have slightly different isotopes for each of you. I analyzed your oxygen and carbon dioxide isotopic signatures that you left behind as you traveled here. They’re very different from, say, the trees’ signatures. So, I took my analyzer and followed your trail here.” He placed his small device into his backpack.
“How did you escape the police?” asked younger Brent.
“Neural synapse depolarizer.”
“I thought you were going to turn yourself in,” said Valerie.
“I thought about it for a second. I was going to claim to be a man without identification, but I then thought differently of it. Too complicated. Besides, they think I killed those three men in the parking lot.”
“Did you erase their memories, too?” asked William.
“Yes. They’ll be back to normal soon but won’t remember what they saw.”
“How long do we have?” asked Ellie.
“I set the neural synapse depolarizer to two hours. But I’m sure other policemen will be looking for these cops soon when they don’t answer their radio transmissions.”
“We need to get by them to get to the car and bikes,” said younger Brent.
Valerie was listening to her cell phone. “My dad’s looking for me. I got a voice message from one of the ER nurses. He’s beginning to treat a patient there with a heart attack. I’m sure he’ll be using Enoxa-something-or-other. What should we do?”
“You kids have to get to the hospital and find a way for that not to happen,” said older Brent. “Enoxadin should either not be used or fail miserably. Let’s hurry. Get to the hospital. We have no time to waste.”
CHAPTER 19
“It was a good thing the cops didn’t find the bikes or the Lexus,” said younger Brent.
“Let’s leave the bikes under those bushes,” said older Brent. “They’re pretty well hidden. You kids get going. I’ll stay back in the cave. I’ve programmed and configured my communicator to work with the present-day cell phone digital signals. You can call me from your mobile anytime. I’ve texted you a number that’ll allow you to reach me, Valerie.”
She looked at her mobile and nodded.
Older Brent continued. “Now, go. And hurry.”
The teenagers got into the car and soon were on their way back to the hospital.
“Any ideas as to what we’re going to do when we get to the hospital?” asked William.
“None, whatsoever,” said Ellie. Brent bit his lower lip.
“We can try to convince the patient not to get Enoxadin,” said William.
Valerie rolled her eyes. “Why would they listen to a bunch of high school kids if a well-respected cardiologist told them they should do it?”
“Good point,” said William.
“I heard the pharmaceutical rep tell my dad that he had a couple of dosage packets ready to use at the hospital and that more would arrive on Monday,” said Valerie.
“Where do they keep these dosage packets?” asked Brent.
“In the pharmacy. The company rep said they’d keep the drug packets in the pharmacy. If we destroy these packets, we can buy some precious time.”
After a few minutes, Valerie pulled the car into the doctors’ parking Lot, and the kids rushed into the hospital’s main lobby. Valerie was still wearing her white lab coat.
“Can you point me to the hospital’s pharmacy?” she asked the attendant at the Information kiosk.
“Down this main hall right behind you, on the left,” said a pleasant older woman. “You can see the sign from here.”
The teenagers headed toward the sign. Many people awaited their turn, some standing by the main counter, others sitting on nearby benches.
“May I help you, kids?” asked a man behind the counter, wearing a white lab coat. Attached to his coat pocket was a name tag: Jay Martin, PhD, Director of Pharmacy.
“We’re medical students,” said Valerie. “We’d like to learn more about Enoxadin. Do you have any information on this agent?”
“Enodaxin?” asked the pharmacist. “Is it E-N-O-D-A-X—”
“No,” said William. “It’s Enoxadin. E-N-O-X-A-D-I-N.”
“OK, let me look that up. I’ve never heard of it. Is it something new?”
“Yes, it’s a research drug for heart attack patients,” said Valerie.
“Research drug, huh? You don’t want this pharmacy. This is retail pharmacy where patients come to get outpatient meds, like at a CVS. You want the hospital’s Pharmacy Department, which is down in the basement. Take those steps over there or the elevator down one and turn right.” He pointed down the hall.
The group hurried downstairs and soon found themselves in front of a large counter. Behind it sat a heavyset woman apparently in her late sixties. A sign over the window declared they were at the Pharmacy Department.
“Yes?” said the woman when she noticed the teenagers.
“Hi, I’m Valerie Rovine. We’re med students.” She extended her hand toward the woman. “I’m sure you know my dad, Dr. Rovine.”
“No, I don’t know the doctors personally,” said the woman, unemotionally. “Now, what do you want?”
“No, you just push the drugs,” whispered Ellie to the boys behind her.
“And aren’t you all too young to be medical students?”
“Do you have an Enoxadin dosage packet?” asked Valerie. “We’re supposed to take it upstairs to the ER to administer to a heart attack patient. Did they call for it yet?”
“Not only did they call for it, but they picked it up over twenty minutes ago. Is there a second patient?”
“Yes, third today, to be exact,” said Brent. “We tried it on a patient this morning. Two more now. Busy day.”
“The patient this morning died. He never got it. Good thing, since I had only two dosage packets. And one of them is probably a placebo. What’s the third patient’s name?”
“Name?” asked Valerie.
“David Beckham…hmm…son,” said Brent. “Beckhamson.”
The woman got up from her chair and returned a moment later with a small container in her hand that had a large red label: enoxadin research study, supreme pharmaceuticals, inc.
“Date of birth?” asked the woman. She exuded the personality of a rotten potato. She noticed the group’s hesitation. “If you don’t have it, I’ll look it up on the computer or call upstairs.”
“No, no need,” said Ellie. “Got it right here. Zero three, one five, thirty-one.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, writing numbers on a piece of paper in front of her. “That would make the patient eighty-one. The research protocol specifically prohibits the use of Enoxadin in patients over eighty.” The woman looked up at Ellie. “I’ll have to call upstairs to the ER. Something’s very fishy here.”
“Oops,” said Ellie, pretending she was looking at a paper underneath the woman’s line of vision and beneath the counter. “It’s a seven, not a one. My bad. Nineteen thirty-seven.”
“This is starting to feel awfully fishy,” said the woman. “I’m going to call upstairs to the ER and verify all this—”
Valerie grabbed the container from the woman’s hand and began running down the hall. The others looked at one another in surprise and soon ran after her.
“Come back here with that dosage packet, you thieves!” yelled the woman. “I’m calling security right now!”
CHAPTER 20
“Mr. Andrews began to have severe chest tightness again,” said the ER nurse, Peggy. “The EKG shows new ST elevation in the anterior leads.”
“OK,” said Dr. Rovine. “Get the Cath Lab ready for a stat intervention. I’ll be in room three.” He walked briskly down the hall and entered the small cubicle. Mr. Andrews had his right hand on his chest and was breathi
ng rapidly. Perspiration beaded on his forehead. He grimaced with pain and his breathing quickened for a beat. His wife looked even more apprehensive as she held his left hand.
“His BP is dropping,” said a tech in the room. “Eighty-six over fifty. Pulse rate up to one hundred and ten.”
Dr. Rovine analyzed the EKG tracing and placed it on the bedside table. “Your heart attack is extending. We no longer have the luxury of time. I’m going to take you to the Cath Lab urgently.”
“What about the new research drug, Dr. Rovine?” asked Mrs. Andrews. “Will he still get it?”
“I think that it is now even more important to administer Enoxadin. If you’re still agreeable, that is.”
“Whatever you think is best, Dr. Rovine,” said Mrs. Andrews.
“Please hurry,” said Mr. Andrews. “It feels like there’s an elephant sitting on my chest.”
In the hospital’s basement, the absconders entered a small closet.
“Good thing the basement is just about deserted,” said William.
“Now what?” asked Ellie. “I can’t believe you did that, Valerie. Now we’re fugitives.”
“Will you ever think what I do is right?” asked Valerie.
“I don’t know. Try me. Do the right thing for once, and let’s see how I feel about it.”
“It’s done,” said William. “Water under the bridge now. What’s our next move?”
Brent held the box. “We have one of the only two available Enoxadin dose packets. The other dose packet is upstairs in the ER. It may or may not have been given to the patient already. Let’s go see if we can steal the other one, too.”
“What about security?” asked Ellie. “Are they looking for us?”
“Probably,” said Valerie.
William motioned to the box. “Open it, and let’s see what’s in there.”
Brent looked inside it. “There’s a small IV bag labeled Enoxadin Research Study. How can we tell if this is a placebo or the real McCoy?”
Ellie smiled. “You can’t, silly. That’s why it’s called a double-blinded study. The patient and the caregivers can’t find out what they’re getting, get it? Not until after the study is completed.”
“I bet the old me could tell us with his gadgets from the future,” said Brent.
“But he’s not here, is he?” said Valerie. “We’re on our own now.”
“What’s this number?” asked William.
Ellie looked at it. “It’s the reference number. It should identify the true identity of the contents of the IV bag.”
“How do you know all this?” asked Valerie.
“Because, Ellie knows everything,” said Brent. “We call her Dr. Brainiac.”
“My dad is a medical researcher,” said Ellie. “I’ve shadowed him and helped out with a few research studies.”
“So, how do we find out what’s in this bag?” asked William.
Ellie thought for a second. “Let me make a call and see if I can find out. I’ll call Supreme Pharmaceuticals.”
“Call Darren Owen,” said Valerie. “He’s the local rep. Here’s his card.” She fished out the business card and her cell phone from her purse and handed both to Ellie. “Tell him you’re me. He had lovesick eyes for me earlier when I met him. He’d do anything for me.”
“Why don’t you call him?” asked Ellie. Brent nodded.
“I’m going to see where my dad is and see if I can get rid of the other Enoxadin dosage packet. Hopefully, the heart attack patient he’s working on now hasn’t received it yet.” Valerie opened the door slightly and peaked at the hall right outside the closet. She silently closed the door again.
They heard a man’s voice over a walkie-talkie. “All security guards, be on the lookout for four teenagers. Two boys and two girls in their late teens stole some drugs from the pharmacy down in the basement. All available officers to the search.”
“The pharmacist said the kids ran this way,” said a man said right outside the closet.
Brent placed his index finger on his own lips.
Another man spoke. “By now, they’re already driving out of town. They’re not hanging out at the hospital.”
The teenagers held their breaths.
A few minutes later, Valerie dared to reopen the door. “The coast is clear now.” She left.
Ellie looked at the business card and the mobile phone.
“We’ll go scope out the exit strategy,” said Brent. “You make the call, and we’ll come back for you in a few.”
Ellie nodded. The boys closed the closet door behind them. They looked right and then left. No one was in sight. They tiptoed to the left, away from the pharmacy. The hall took a turn to the right. At the corner, the boys looked down that corridor. They spied the entrance to the staircase. When they arrived, they peered through the small window in the door. No one was in sight there, either. They climbed the stairs to the first floor.
“They’re looking for four kids,” said William.
“Follow me,” said Brent. He opened the door and quickly got behind an older man and woman who were walking slowly toward the lobby. Brent nodded toward the couple. William nodded toward the main hospital foyer, where three security guards were conversing and looking all around the crowded main entrance. The older couple took a left toward one of the wings. The boys followed them, despite the painfully slow pace. They were now going away from the outside door. Conspicuously, Brent looked behind his shoulder. Two more guards had joined the others.
“They’re not suspicious of us,” whispered Brent. “As long as we stay behind these two.”
The older couple walked into an office labeled Business Office. As they entered, Brent looked back again. They had remained unnoticed by the guards, who were beginning to scatter in different directions.
“Let’s go back and get Ellie,” said Brent. The boys took two steps back toward the main foyer but stopped when they realized a group of men had entered the main atrium in a hurry. The men slowed their fast pace and looked side to side into the multitude of people walking in all directions in the large lobby.
“This way,” said Brent, grabbing William’s shirt and pulling him toward another hall. A sign with an arrow said Medical Office Building. The boys saw a door down the corridor. Their eyes lit up when they saw the Exit sign. They went through the door and closed it behind them. They found themselves alone in a narrow walkway between the side of the hospital building and another large structure.
“This way,” said William, running to the right. “There’s got to be a loading dock or some back entrance into the hospital we can use.”
They turned the corner of the building.
“Deserted,” said Brent. “You were right; there’s a loading dock. Let’s go.” They ran toward the dock and climbed onto the ledge.
“Here’s the entrance back into the hospital,” said William. They walked to that entrance and tried to open the door.
“It’s locked,” said Brent.
They turned away from the door and saw that five men had trapped them.
“Hello, boys,” one of them said. “We’ve been looking for you.”
CHAPTER 21
Dr. Rovine approached the nurses’ station. “Peggy, have you been able to reach Valerie?”
“I left her a voice message, but she hasn’t answered. I’m not surprised, since the cell phone coverage within the hospital is so patchy. When she listens to her voice messages, she’ll know you’re looking for her.”
“If she comes back to the ER, please tell—”
“Here I am, Dad,” said Valerie. “What’s the cashola up to?”
“Fifty buckaroos. Where have you been?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you? What’s happening with you, Dad?”
“I have another heart attack patient. I’m taking him dow
nstairs to check his coronary arteries.”
“Is he a candidate for the new, magical research drug?”
“Enoxadin? Yes.”
“Are you going to give it?”
“Yes. Why are you so interested in the drug all of a sudden?”
“My own dad is making history by giving a brand-new drug treatment that may stop heart attacks from happening, and he’s wondering why I’m so interested?”
“Hmm. Let’s make that seventy-five dollars.”
Valerie smiled. “That works for me.”
Dr. Rovine’s pager went off. He read its display. “The Cath Lab is ready for me. Want to come along?”
“I’m shadowing you, aren’t I? I’m here to observe and learn to take it all in.”
He smiled. “You drive a hard bargain. Make it a hundred.”
In a few minutes, Dr. Rovine and Valerie reached the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory.
They entered the room, both dressed up in scrubs.
“So, this is the stuff, huh?” Valerie spied the container—labeled enoxadin research study, supreme pharmaceuticals, inc.—on a back-wall counter.
“Yes, that’s it. Stay back there while we work up the patient. I don’t want you to get in the way or receive any more radiation from this than you have to.”
Noticing that no one was looking at her, all busy with their assignments, Valerie retrieved the small IV bag and examined it. It looked identical to the one she saw before, and a similar reference number was evident. She placed the IV bag back into the box. Everyone on the Cath Lab was focusing intently on the task. Valerie found herself in the background, with her hand on the research drug. A rubber port was at the bottom of the IV bag. She noticed a nurse taking a similar IV bag—labeled Heparin—and stick a sharp, plastic apparatus into its rubber port. This instrument was attached to a clear tube that allowed that medication to flow into the patient’s intravenous line.
While no one was noticing, Valerie took her car key and pushed hard on the rubber port, disrupting it. She placed the research drug bag back on the counter, with the rubber port up, and slowly walked away.
