Chapter 37
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Noah met Maya in the quiet of the foundation’s archive room later that evening. The room was lined with secure filing cabinets, isolated from the bustling activity of the main clinics.
"Maya, I need your help, but I have to be completely honest with you," Noah said, sitting across from her at a small reading table. "If you help me take down Aegis, Silas Mercer will likely try to destroy your career. He has endless resources. I cannot force you to do this."
Maya looked at him, her dark curls falling around her determined face. She didn't hesitate.
"I became a physical therapist to heal people, Noah," Maya said firmly. "Watching those early trial patients scream in pain because of the AT-7 spasms, and then being forced by Aegis executives to sign non-disclosure agreements... it broke my heart. I won't let them do that to the kids here. Tell me what you need."
"I need the names of the patients who suffered the severe adverse reactions," Noah requested. "We need someone willing to break their NDA and testify publicly about what AT-7 really does."
Maya pulled a small, encrypted USB drive from her purse. "I couldn't sleep after I saw Mercer on the news this morning. I kept a hidden backup of my personal clinical notes before I left Aegis. The names are here."
Noah plugged the drive into his laptop. A list of twenty names appeared on the screen.
"Most of them were desperate, low-income adults looking for a miracle," Maya explained sadly, pointing to the screen. "Aegis paid them off handsomely to stay quiet about the spasms. But there is one patient... David Collins. He is a former firefighter who was paralyzed in a building collapse. He was furious about the side effects. He only signed the NDA because Aegis threatened to bury his family in legal fees."
"Where does he live?" Noah asked, a surge of adrenaline hitting him.
"Just outside of Boston," Maya replied.
"I'm going to Boston tomorrow," Noah decided, closing the laptop. "I am going to look David Collins in the eye and ask him to stand with us."
May you like
"I'm going with you," Maya insisted. "He knows me. He trusts me. If I ask him, he might actually listen."
Noah looked at her, seeing a fierce, unwavering courage that mirrored his own mother's. "Okay. We leave at dawn."
