Invisible Justice

by Kim Jewell

  “I’m following you. That’s why you wanted me to do the research at the hospital. Do you think we were tampered with as babies?”

  “I do. But I needed to rule out any other ways we could have possibly been connected. So I researched our family trees – no connection. I timelined our school days and extracurricular activities – nothing. I even tried to figure out if there was any health or genetic anomaly that may be connected – but found nothing there either.”

  “Do you think that someone did this to us?”

  “Maybe,” her expression was a bit sour.

  “When we were babies?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Who do you think would do this, and what could they have possibly done?”

  “This I don’t know yet. But I think it has to be some sort of neurological tampering of some kind.”

  His eyebrows creased in concentration. “But you went through this like a year and a half ago, and I’m just now having flashes. Even if we were tampered with at the same time, what triggered the timer? That doesn’t make any sense… How do you explain that?”

  “My theory is it was designed to kick in when our bodies were done growing – when we reached complete physical maturity. I finished growing – at least getting taller and filling out – about a year and a half ago. You, on the other hand, said your doctor just told you last month that your growth finally topped off, right?”

  I suppose that makes sense. Girls usually mature faster than boys.

  “Right. Okay, I’ll bite on that theory.” Sam thought about this for a minute, turning his attention to the who part of this theory. “Who would be capable of doing something like this?”

  “Well,” Leesha turned to his manila envelope, “I’m hoping your research may fill in some of the gaps. With that, she opened it up and started pulling out the pages he neatly clipped and filed inside. “Were you able to find staffing records?”

  “Yes,” he reached and took the paperwork from her. “There’s tons of information online, and I can print off more detailed information if we can figure out exactly who we want more specifics on. This stack here is the entire list of doctors on staff seventeen years ago.”

  Leesha nodded approvingly.

  “This stack is the list of four doctors specifically on the OB wing, and here is the list of nurses and residents. This one here is basically the rest of the staff, the hospital administration and business personnel. And this list is all the patients treated in the hospital the entire month surrounding our birthday. Happy birthday, by the way,” Sam added sheepishly. He overlooked the small detail of her birthday in all the excitement of the week.

  “Thanks, you too!” Leesha turned to the detail of his hard work. “Good job, Sam. How did you get all of this?”

  “I ended up having to go to the hospital and interview a couple of people. I couldn’t find anything prior to eight years ago on their current online server, so ended up doing a little research on the premises.” He looked down at the last stack of papers that had not yet been addressed. “Oh, and this is actually the first thing I was able to find – it’s the birth and death records for the two weeks around our birthday from the newspaper’s website archives. I figured it might be a good place to start, if we weren’t able to find anything from the hospital records.”

  “Good thinking,” she agreed.

  “So, if you are thinking that you and I were messed with while we were staying in the hospital, do you think any other patients were too?”

  “I suppose there’s no way of knowing, but I’m guessing – even seventeen years ago – the hospital would have been a pretty regulated environment. It’s not like anyone could just come in and start testing and tampering with the patients in the hospital, especially if it was the baby ward.”

  “So where do we start, Leesha?”

  “I guess we start with our birthday, researching the list of babies in the ward, the other patients in the hospital, and the doctors on staff. I can’t imagine that anyone else on the staff would have the access or the scientific experience to pull off something like this.” She started scanning the birth records that Sam handed over to her and suddenly stopped. “Sam… How do you spell your last name?”

  “D-I-X-O-N.”

  “There’s another baby Dixon on this list…”

  Sam’s blood turned to ice. His whole body froze, except for his eyes, which snapped up to hers. Shit.

  She continued: “A baby girl?”

  His expression was stone solid with fear. “Mom and Dad didn’t name Lexi, my twin, until three days later when we were home from the hospital.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “You don’t ‘spose she’s gonna… You know?” Leesha looked at Sam as he asked the question, and realized his neck was flushing as his blood pressure rose.

  “I don’t know, Sam,” she started, and instantly knew she needed to tread lightly on this one. “But if she is, first of all, you know what will happen. You can watch her and help her through the process. She doesn’t have to do this alone.”

  “I know, but…”

  “Sam, let’s take it one step at a time. We don’t even know anything about her yet, and whether she’s a factor in this.” Leesha was getting more worried at his expression by the minute. “Have you seen anything weird with her lately? How close are the two of you?”

  “We’re pretty much like any typical brother and sister. We fight sometimes, but I know she’s always got my back if I need her to. Oh my gosh! She was with me when I had a flash!”

  “And you haven’t told her anything yet, have you?”

  “No.”

  “Do you think we need to?”

  “I don’t know. What do you think?”

  “Well,” Leesha continued, “my first instinct is to say let’s not tell her. I don’t want to worry her yet. Plus, I think that if she were going to go through this, her body would have done it a year or so ago, like mine did.”

  Sam’s color started to normalize again as his brain began to analyze the facts more scientifically. “Yes, you would think… But, do you remember when I told you she had thyroid problems several years ago?”

  “Yes?”

  “Her growth was stunted because of it – she wasn’t growing, and that’s what initially tipped my parents off. It’s why they took her in to be checked out. It ended up taking a couple years to regulate with medicine, and now she’s back to normal, but is still catching up on some of that missing time. Basically, she’s still growing. Her doctor told her she’d probably level off here soon – any time between now and the next year or so.”

  “Oh. So we won’t know anything about her until her growth evens out and we see if she gets flashes.”

  “Uh-huh. So what do I do?” Sam looked worried again. “Should I tell her?”

  “I wouldn’t tell her just yet. But Sam, I do think you need to keep a close eye on her. That way, if she starts showing signs, you’re there to support her. Think you can do that?”

  “Absolutely.” Sam was never more certain of anything else. If his sister was affected, he would do his best to protect her and keep her safe.

  Now it’s personal, you bastard. If my sister suffers, I’ll find you, and you’ll pay for whatever you’ve done to us.

  Leesha continued: “If she does start having flashes, I want you to call me right away. I can help, too. I want to help.”

  “Okay.” Sam was touched by her compassion and generosity. He then switched gears, “So what do we do next with this information?”

  “I want you to look into the four doctors on rotation in the OB and get more detailed information from the hospital server. My gut says this happened in the obstetrics wing – this could not have been handled across the entire hospital – there are too many areas, too many staff members to sneak this around. So we’ll start there. Find what you can on the server, and then reach out into external news sources for articles and information about these physicians from before and after their tim
e at Sartori. Where did they go to school? Where else have they worked? Any special research projects? Specialties? Lab experiments? See if you can find anything connecting the four doctors to each other beyond their time at Sartori. Do a criminal background check on them and any family member. Find out everything you can about the docs, okay?”

  “Check. I can do that,” Sam agreed.

  “I’m going to focus on the babies delivered – not only on our birthday, but the few days before and after. There has to be some overlap when we shared the nursery and the staff. I’ll find the babies, and who they are, where they are, and if any of them are close enough to talk to. If we can’t visit in person, which I would prefer as I want to see them face-to-face, then we’ll contact them by telephone. If my theory is correct, then you and I aren’t the only ones going through this right now. And we’ve got to find anyone else out there – not only to help them, but we could also use the extra manpower as we get deeper into the search for the cause of all of this.”

  “Good point. When do you want to meet next?”

  “Um… I don’t necessarily want to wait another week. Can you meet Wednesday after school?”

  “Sure,” Sam said, thinking about his assignment. “That gives me tonight, Monday and Tuesday nights to put my research in. I can be ready by Wednesday. This is too important to slow down now.”

  Leesha knew he was thinking about Lexi when he said that. “All right, then. Let’s meet at the coffee shop on Sycamore Street at 4?”

  “Let’s make it earlier – my parents will want me back for dinner by 6:30. Can you do 3:15? I can come straight from school and be there then.”

  “3:15 is fine. See you then.”

  Sam went home and immediately began to dig into his project. He accessed the hospital server to gather all the information they kept on file for Doctors Hart, Blevins, Goldman and Smith. He was able to find complete resumes for Hart and Goldman, and curriculum vitaes for Goldman, Blevins and Smith. Each document told him where they went to school, where they completed their internships, and any facility where they practiced up until their time at Sartori. He printed off this information and started filing in four different envelopes – one for each doctor.

  He then spent a little bit of time on each of the university websites where the doctors had done their studies, searching for news by physician name and then special medical projects that were archived for the time period they were at school.

  Next was a general news search by physician name. He came across several articles, both nationally and internationally. Most were announcements of speaking engagements or news mentions in birth or death records. He bookmarked most of these pages on his laptop and only printed the articles he thought might be relevant in his research. He was able to find retirement dates for Goldman and Smith, the most recent employer for Hart – a hospital in Seattle, but what he found most interesting was a series of news articles that talked about the incarceration of Dr. Blevins for what was termed “improper use of laboratory equipment.”

  Due to the litigation regulations of the court system, he wasn’t able to glean much more than the court dates, attorney names and sentence information regarding the case, but Sam’s interest was peaked enough to know he wanted to dig further into this. He printed all of the articles pertaining to the court case and legal administration, but fatigue wore in and he knew he needed to get some sleep.

  I’ve got a lot done, and know what I need to do tomorrow. I’ll do a criminal background check for all four, but I want to do some extra digging on this Dr. Blevins and why he went to prison. I can’t believe the articles wouldn’t tell me more, but I know there’s more to it than what the news is telling. I’ll find it.

  Sam got frustrated with how slowly classes seemed to be going on Monday. He was ready to get home and continue his research. During class, he tried to make time pass more quickly by keeping a running list of the items he wanted to accomplish in his research that afternoon, and testing his abilities. He noted that the burn finally completely faded away around 11:45 that morning, but his abilities lingered, so he was optimistic.

  I hope this is it... Finally.

  When he got home, he grabbed a snack and took it up to his room to start his research. First he decided to dig a little into Dr. Blevins’ past – he went to the Naval Academy for his undergraduate work, and so Sam wanted to know what he studied there and if he had any active combat experience in his history.

  Hmm… Interesting. His major was bio-chemical engineering. How did he end up in obstetrics?

  He also noted that Dr. Blevins was required to complete some active duty, as is normal for any of the military schools. He spent a little time in the Middle East working with national and international medical personnel, as well as a few months in China on a biological warfare and chemical engineering study program.

  Before switching gears, Sam did his due diligence and did the same historical background research on the other three doctors, but all three of them received their education through the more traditional route – pre-med undergraduate studies, medical school and then internship rotations at a hospital. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary in the histories of Doctors Hart, Goldman and Smith.

  He then moved on to what Sam hoped would be the most important part of his digging so far – the criminal background of Dr. Blevins. It took him more than an hour to finally tap into the federal archive of information surrounding this legal investigation and litigation, due in part to Dr. Blevins’ military background. Once he found the trial dates and matter numbers in the court archives, he printed all of them and set them on his bed stand to review later.

  Mom is ready for dinner, and she’s getting twitchy. I’d better get down there before she starts yelling.

  After dinner, Sam spent some time trying to figure out what Dr. Blevins’ time in prison was like. He already knew he went to the federal penitentiary in Birmingham to complete his sentence of six years (twelve total, but he was paroled early for good behavior). He was placed in the military wing of the prison, but beyond that, there was virtually no information of activities and information inside the prison walls, since it was a high-security facility.

  The next mystery was what happened to Dr. Blevins after he was released from prison. The more he tried to investigate, the more dead ends Sam ran into. He searched newspaper sites for every known town Blevins had ever lived in – from birth to the time he went to prison. He knew where his family was located throughout his past, and searched those archives as well. He did general searches on the internet for his name, his branch of the military, the court case he was involved in, and the prison he was released from. Nothing came up in any of his searches, and he didn’t know what else to try.

  It’s almost like he fell off the face of the planet. It doesn’t make any sense.

  Sam started to fear they may have trouble physically finding the elusive Dr. Blevins, and wondered if that was by design. He knew his medical license was revoked through the criminal case, so he couldn’t be practicing medicine anywhere.

  At least in his own name. What is this dude up to, and why can’t I find him?

  Chapter Seventeen

  Tuesday’s classes came and went without incident. Sam’s abilities were still with him, and the burn was completely gone. He tried to focus on his class work, knowing he neglected it for much of the past few weeks. But thanks to his new heightened skills, he was doing better in his classes than he was a month ago.

  He tried not to tap into the minds of his classmates during tests again, like he had Jen’s last week – it just seemed like cheating a bit. But he didn’t mind getting an advanced notice of what was going to be covered on the test from the minds of his teachers. The way he saw it, it just helped him prepare for the test better. He did his own studying, and noted his own answers, just got a little help on the front end from those that taught the classes.

  My grades are going up. Mom and Dad are pleased. I am so good!

  After
school, Sam went straight home to get started on more research. He had completed and filed most of what was on his to-do list already, but wanted to double check that he hadn’t missed anything along the way.

  Lexi’s bug was already in the driveway. He pulled in behind her, leaving the rest of the driveway open for his parents who parked in the garage, and headed to the front door.

  As Sam walked up the sidewalk, he could hear her mind screaming first, then the blast of burn hit his forehead in warning. This must be the signal Leesha was talking about…

  He sprinted up the stairs, bolted through the front door, and found Lexi on her hands and knees in the front foyer.

  It’s happened! Stay calm. She needs me! Oh, hell.

  “Lexi? Lex, what’s wrong?” he asked like he didn’t already know. He could see the tears streaming down her cheeks and the agony on her face. Suddenly the burning sensation was fresh in his memory, and he couldn’t have felt worse for his sister.

  “My whole body is on fire,” she panted out, almost as if she was speaking each word as its own sentence.

  “Okay. Okay. Just sit here.” He took her shoulders in his hands and lowered himself to the floor to meet her face to face, trying to rack his brain for whatever he could say to give her comfort. “Breathe in and out as deeply as you can. There you go, slow breaths.”

  Lexi tried to breathe as he instructed, but the pain was searing, and her breaths ended up being shallow and jagged when she tried to follow his advice.

  “Lexi, listen. Just hang in – this will be over in a minute or two.”

  “I. Can’t. Think.” Lexi was crying again, and trying to roll over on her side to lie on the floor.

  Shit!!! What do I do? This is my SISTER!

  Sam watched her for what seemed like an eternity, trying to breathe in and out, all the while her body jerked in pain and tears poured from her eyes. He could hear the terror in her thoughts as this flash raked through her body. She thought she was dying, and she couldn’t find a way to free herself from the pain. Sam thought he might vomit from the stress of watching her go through this.