Happy New Year!!! (Better late than never).
And what better way to start the year than with an earthquake in Mexico and the United States' 'freedom and democracy' suppository for Venezuela (To all my Venezuelan readers, who according to demographics there isn't a single one reading this, congratulations on the fall of your dictator and much strength in the times to come), 2026 is coming in hot, hold on to whatever you can.
Anyway, sorry for the delay and the length of the chapter (it's because of the cold this never happens, I swear) it's 2500 words, enough to satisfy the reader's appetite a bit, but I hadn't had the chance to sit in front of my computer until now.
Without further excuses or bad jokes.
Enjoy.
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After Dr. Wilson, on my way back with Diane I didn't run into anyone I couldn't get away from after a greeting.
Finally upon reaching the hallway that led to Danny's office, making sure there was no one who could see me, I knocked on the door using the code I had agreed on with Diane, a couple of seconds later, Diane opened abruptly, nervously looking behind me, as if she were expecting someone to be following me. "Everything okay?" she asked me immediately.
Entering the office quickly, closing the door behind me. "A piece of cake" I assured her.
Sighing, visibly relieved. "Good" Diane murmured, "I found a couple more" she added a second later, seriously pointing at the desk in the middle of the room.
"Show me" I said.
Following Diane to Danny's desk I noticed, only at that moment, how all the printers in the room, previously inactive, were working, spitting out pages every few seconds, nervous because there could easily be hundreds of pages, I didn't notice when Diane took a couple of sheets.
Without thinking, placing the folder I was carrying with me on the desk, I took the sheets immediately noticing small paragraphs underlined on both.
Whoever was writing the clinical reports had made a mistake again duplicating part of the medical comments under two different doctors in two reports months apart.
Pressing the sheets in my hands. "I can't believe it" I murmured slowly, it was incredible the lack of interest in bringing quality medications to the market and to the people who needed them.
Nodding, surely also understanding the implications of finding more evidence. "I only had to read twenty-seven pages to find that" Diane declared seriously, "and I still have a lot to read" she added a moment later pressing her hand on the well organized stack of papers on Danny's desk, it was almost comical to see the difference between the rest of the office and the small space Diane had been using.
"Yeah" I said focusing once more on the printers, even with Diane's reading speed, at the rate documents were being printed it would take us just under an hour to finish all the files, I didn't know if I had that much time.
With growing anxiety, since I really hadn't thought before about ways to use the evidence against Vogler. "All right, what do you need me to do?" I asked seriously, deciding to leave it for the future while handing the sheets back to Diane.
Following Diane's orders, specifically maintaining her system of organization, I immediately began moving between the printers taking sheets, organizing them into folders that I then left in front of Diane, who read in silence and at a speed surely impossible for a normal person, underlining very rarely, sometimes just a couple of words and other times entire sections, occasionally stopping for a fraction of a second tilting her head, surely recalling everything she had already read.
In a short time, enough for Diane and I to work with brutal efficiency, all the printers finished spitting out documents and what had previously been an extremely messy desk was now sectioned with the different Vogler files.
As I had thought, when Diane finished reading the last page of the pile slowly returning it to its corresponding folder, just over an hour had already passed.
Again staring into nothingness, Diane remained silent for a couple of seconds until finally, blinking hard, possibly with tired eyes, she nodded confidently. "Thirty" she declared seriously, "thirty independent instances throughout all the documents in which the structure of a sentence is repeated in the medical comments" she added seriously, "there's no other coincidence like the one I found at your house" she continued with visible disappointment.
Nodding slowly I absorbed the information.
Thirty might seem like a very high number of coincidences, but taking into account that all the reports were third phases in a pharmaceutical study, the number of patients in the studies exceeded the hundreds and with that the number of records also increased exponentially.
I had no idea about laws but even I knew that thirty out of a sample of hundreds, even thousands of people, was extremely easy to mask as coincidences.
In silence I closed my eyes feeling a small emptiness in my stomach, I couldn't think of a way to use the information against Vogler, I knew the man well enough to know that without better evidence I wouldn't be able to intimidate him enough to save anyone's job.
Finally breaking the silence. "There's something else" Diane declared, abruptly catching my attention. "Do you know Benford's law?" she asked me slightly narrowing her eyes.
Snorting lightly. "No" I replied, although I could infer it had something to do with mathematics.
"Benford's law describes the distribution of significant digits in many real data sets" she explained slowly, "in a sample not taken artificially numbers should never appear uniformly, even when there is no conscious preference for certain values," she added calmly.
Slightly narrowing my eyes. "Okay" I murmured not fully understanding.
Possibly noticing my lack of comprehension. "When you have a very large sample of non artificial data it is much more likely that there is a one at the beginning of the digit than a nine" she explained easily, "look" she added taking one of the folders on the desk searching among its pages, "this section" she added.
The specific section Diane was pointing to was the table of data measured in patients, in every study required by the FDA for the development of a medication, it is necessary to constantly note procedural levels, plasma concentration, liver enzymes, creatinine, cell counts, hormonal levels, etc.
"I can't be completely sure without having on hand a specific real sample, but it is proven that when people invent data sets they tend to overuse the numbers five and zero, avoid one and nine and sometimes round unconsciously" Diane said quietly at my side, generally pointing at the data on the sheet.
Impressed, because even when Diane pointed it out to me the data seemed completely normal that anyone could obtain. "Are you saying that all the data is made up?" I asked incredulously.
Apparently not entirely sure of her answer Diane slowly shook her head. "There are dozens of different numerical data in this" she said placing her hand on the papers, "percentage reductions of symptoms in patient groups, days of remission, biomarker levels, individually adjusted doses, ages, weights and heights" she added, "Benford's law excludes certain types of data, specifically data that is bounded, those found in a narrow range and those that have artificial peaks, even so, with the few data that do fit, the sample is very close to not fitting Benford."
Already getting an idea of what Diane was implying. "And that means..." I said slowly.
"There is a high probability that the vast majority, not all, of the data is generated by hand" Diane replied nodding.
Even though it was somewhat more solid evidence than thirty coincidences and a single exact copy, I didn't see Vogler especially worried about mathematical proof of a crime in his company, possibly it would be enough for a newspaper, or the FDA itself, to dig more until finally finding something, then they would truly affect Vogler, unfortunately that would take time, and with Dr. Wilson off the hospital board, I doubted quite a bit that there was anyone else with the intention of defending House.
Defeated, feeling a knot in my throat. "All right" I said, slowly returning the documents to their folder, "let's organize everything inside one of those boxes" I added pointing at a stack of paper boxes in the corner of the office.
With a small pout of disappointment on her face. "Isn't it enough?" Diane asked me.
After all Vogler was a person with a lot of money, money that gave him power, I knew that if I wanted to confront him with something I would need to find evidence with enough weight to stop him from trying to retaliate against me in any way.
Shaking my head gently. "No, I don't think so" I murmured.
With what looked like shame on her face, Diane lowered her head a bit. "I'm sorry."
Holding her arm gently. "No, you have nothing to apologize for" I said immediately, "you did everything I asked and more, I should be the one apologizing for making you waste your time" I added with an amused smile.
Still visibly disappointed Diane shook her head. "It wasn't a waste of time" she assured me, "we were trying to save your stay at the hospital" she added seriously, "now you're going to lose your mentor," she declared pressing her forehead to my chest, "you love being here and now you surely lost it."
Not knowing what to say, still feeling the small emptiness in my stomach I hugged Diane gently.
I definitely enjoyed coming to the hospital and learning from House, and I knew I would miss him, but I also knew it wasn't the end and it would do no good to get lost in the 'what ifs,' I needed to look forward and continue on my path, because this was only the beginning.
Maintaining the embrace with Diane for several more seconds, determined to anonymously send the documents to the FDA and to some newspaper with specifications of Diane's findings, we finally separated to begin organizing the sheets into the box, which fortunately despite easily being hundreds of pages, with a bit of work everything would fit into a single box.
Placing the last folder into the box I immediately lifted it to check its weight, which fortunately was not heavy enough to be a problem to carry to my car.
Nodding much calmer with the idea of what might come in the future, I turned just in time for Diane, with her brow furrowed, to point directly in front of me, at the corner of Danny's desk, to a folder. "What is that?" she asked puzzled.
With all the adrenaline from my 'mission' to Vogler's office, Dr. Wilson's resignation and the fact that Diane had news as soon as she arrived at the room, I had many things on my mind, making me completely forget the document I had sent by fax, the same document that I had left on the desk completely out of Diane's reach.
Embarrassed. "It's a physical document that Vogler had in his office" I replied.
"You took a physical document?" Diane asked me anxiously, surely thinking I had physical proof of corporate espionage.
Opening the folder, I shook my head. "No" I replied, "I sent it by fax to the office of-" I was saying, but I stopped when I read the content on the first page, a memo, dated that same day, sent by Vogler to a certain Raymond Sackler who apparently was the company's CMO.
The legal language in which the memo was written was too heavy for me to fully understand, but there was a small section that said everything I needed to know.
"What?" Diane asked, calling my attention.
"This is it" I declared heavily, "Given that the study was not formally requested by the FDA" I began to read, "I instruct that, one, the complete report remain internal and classified, two, any future reference be limited to aggregated analyses already included in the approved dossier, three, the generation of additional documentation that could be interpreted as confirmatory of this signal be avoided" I finished, turning the page.
Slightly furrowing her brow. "I don't understand" Diane murmured.
"It's a memo with instructions to bury a study, an... Early Post-Marketing Safety Signal Review" I said, reading the title of the next page, "Statistically significant increase in fatal arrhythmias in a specific subgroup" I added a moment later as I turned the page, it was the study carried out by a CRO.
It wasn't just a memo, but also a complete study, in which, if the abstract was correct, it established that there should be fatality warnings on the medication packaging for groups with heart failure, concomitant use of diuretics or severe renal failure.
Being honest, I knew that any cardiologist worth their salt would know that a person within that risk group, if necessary, should be on a treatment that did not involve ACE inhibitors, but deliberately hiding it.
Stepping closer to my side to read the document over my shoulder. "Is that illegal?" Diane asked me.
"Yeah" I replied, snorting dryly.
I wasn't entirely sure of the legal implications Vogler or his company might face, but I was absolutely certain that hiding such delicate information was not a minor offense.
"Is there any mention of something similar in the dossier?" I asked Diane just to be sure.
Completely focused on reading the new document now in her hand. "No" Diane replied immediately.
Nodding slowly, feeling a slight loss of balance, I leaned against Danny's desk, I knew that with this I could definitely confront Vogler directly, there was no doubt about it and I would have no problem doing so, after all he was voluntarily putting people's lives at risk for material gains.
There weren't many pages, allowing Diane to finish reading in a few seconds, enough time for me to know what to do with the document. "Isn't it done by Vogler's company?" she asked puzzled.
"No" I replied immediately, "it's a CRO, they're companies that are subcontracted to do adjacent studies, they speed up the process" I added.
Even though I didn't fully know the process that pharmaceutical companies followed, I knew that one of the best jobs an unqualified medical student to work with patients could aim for was at a CRO.
Placing the folder very carefully on top of the rest of the documents in the box. "What are you going to do?" Diane asked me.
My final goal all along had been to prevent Vogler from taking away my opportunity to continue learning at the hospital, but in reality to do that, I would have to. "I'm going to save House's job" I replied with an amused snort.
Preparing everything I needed, together with Diane we left Danny's office making sure beforehand that there was no one in the hallway.
Moving at a brisk pace through the hospital corridors, we reached the hospital reception ready to lie about the contents of the box in my hands, because... "PJ" Mandy called, who was already at her post.
Letting her eyes wander clearly interested in Diane at my side and especially in the box in my hands. "Did you hear?" she asked practically vibrating with excitement.
Noticing the nurse's attitude. "What?" I asked puzzled.
Smiling broadly. "Vogler is out" she replied immediately.
For a second I felt like my brain shut off. "What?" I asked a moment later, "how?" I added completely incredulous.
"We don't know, Dr. Cuddy calmly walked out of the room and twenty minutes later Vogler followed her, obviously upset, without stopping until he left the hospital" she replied excitedly, "Bella says that Olivia cleared out Vogler's office and ran out of the hospital and left without saying anything" she added, shaking her head as if she couldn't help it, "what I would give to have been there" she added dreamily.
Stunned, I suddenly felt all the weight of the box and, unable to help it, I snorted laughing a second later in a mix of relief and embarrassment.
Holding my arm. "That's great" Diane said excitedly.
Exhaling. "Yeah it is" I said, lifting the box that was slowly slipping from my arms.
Nodding happily, Mandy quickly shifted the focus of her attention from Diane to me. "Now..." she said dragging out the word, "what is this I heard about a cute couple alone in the printer room?" she asked smiling, visibly excited by the gossip.
Once we managed to get away from Mandy, I quickly put the box in the trunk of my car and practically pulling Diane along I headed to the diagnostic lounge.
In the room, with a couple of bottles of champagne, the same ones that had been at Vogler's drug presentation, Dr. Wilson, Chase, Foreman, and House were clearly celebrating.
Raising a glass smiling with genuine emotion. "Hey! look who is here" House exclaimed, "the kid and he brings Ramanujan with him" he added, making the rest of the people notice our presence, "just because we're celebrating I'm not going to stop thinking about your punishment for losing a case" House warned me.
Ignoring everything House said. "What happened?" I asked genuinely interested in how Dr. Cuddy had managed to convince the board.
"Oh, you didn't hear? Vogler is dead" House exclaimed, making the rest of the doctors raise their glasses celebratorily.
"Yes I heard" I clarified immediately, "how?" I asked a moment later.
"Well Cuddy is a genius, she convinced four people on the board to give up a fortune to save our sorry asses" House said and again the doctors in the room raised their glasses celebrating.
Without Dr. Wilson and Cuddy in the vote, there were only eight people on the board, somehow the woman had convinced half the board to give up a hundred million dollars to save what House did.
Cutting off my train of thought. "Doctor Cuddy, the man of the hour" he said, making us all turn toward the door.
"Hey! hey! hey!" Chase, Dr. Wilson, and Foreman said at the same time as the doctor walked in.
Smiling in a visibly forced way, Dr. Cuddy barely caught a ball that Chase threw at her. "What are you doing?" she asked, keeping the forced smile on her face.
"We're drinking" House replied plainly, "I would have
thought that was pretty obvious" he added sarcastically as he poured another glass.
Taking the glass from House. "Oh, to the great champion" Dr. Cuddy murmured, with each second that passed looking more annoyed, "saved you, saved Wilson, saved the whole team" she declared dryly before drinking the entire glass that House had poured for her, "of course none of them would have needed saving if you could actually get along with another human being" she added with contempt, frowning at House.
"Thank you, Miss Buzz Kill" House murmured sarcastically.
Nodding slowly. "Well, you only cost us a hundred million dollars" Dr. Cuddy declared falsely disinterested, "could have saved some lives, could have made a few jobs, helped a few people" she added ironically.
"You voted to get rid of him" House shielded himself.
"The lesser of two evils" the doctor countered, "you should be mourning" she added a few seconds later seriously, "I know I am" she added softly and turning on her heels she walked out of the office smiling politely for a second as she passed next to Diane.
A few seconds after Dr. Cuddy left the room, the office was left in complete silence, at least until House opened his mouth again. "Well that turned dark pretty fast, fortunately it's not something a drink can't fix" he declared pouring more champagne into his glass.
The rest of the doctors, with a bit of reluctance, nodded and followed House, instead of a celebration, thanks to Dr. Cuddy's real words, it seemed like everyone was drowning their sorrows.
Snorting incredulously. "See you tomorrow" I said taking Diane's hand again.
With effort swallowing a sip of his drink. "If I were you I'd get here early, something tells me tomorrow I won't be able to work at one hundred percent" House declared.
Ignoring House, in silence I said goodbye along with Diane to the doctors who were still becoming aware of my existence.
In one of the hospital hallways, heading toward the exit. "What are you going to do now with the tests?" Diane asked me in a low voice.
"I'm still going to send them" I replied, I couldn't allow Vogler's company to get away with it completely unpunished.
"And the memo?"
"I'm going to do what I have to and I'm going to return it to Vogler" I replied.
Gathering information with the best information network in the hospital, I made one more stop in one of the hospital's administrative offices where I managed to ask a couple of figurative questions to one of the lawyers and without more Diane and I headed out to the already darkened hospital parking lot back toward home.
On Meemaw's porch. "Are you sure?" Diane asked me worried, "he can't do anything in the hospital, you don't have to do it, you can just send it along with the rest."
"I think I have to do it" I declared seriously, it wasn't up for discussion, Dr. Cuddy was right and even though Vogler was an idiot who deserved to be jailed, his money could immensely help the hospital.
Nodding slowly. "All right, just be careful please" Diane murmured hugging my torso tightly.
"Of course" I declared with false confidence, after all I planned to extort a billionaire.
Saying goodbye to Diane, I quickly drove toward the only hotel with more than three stars at least near Medford, which wasn't close at all.
Almost half an hour later, enough time to get an idea of what I would do when I met Vogler, even coming to imagine entire conversations in my mind, I finally arrived at the hotel.
Parking my car in front of the building, I handed my keys to the only valet working, an older man who was visibly exhausted who without more welcomed me to the hotel.
Unlike the Tipton, which even from afar screamed luxury, the hotel, at least the exterior facade and the lobby, were like any other commercial hotel, not frugal but not luxurious either.
Exhaling quickly, nervous and with no intention of overthinking it, I moved forward without stopping until the lobby desk, where a teenager who couldn't be many years older than me was reading a magazine.
Noticing my presence, the girl lowered her magazine immediately. "Yeah?" she asked smiling.
Smiling awkwardly. "Good night" I said, "I'm looking for Edward Vogler" I declared and from the girl's immediate reaction I immediately knew she knew who he was, "he's expecting me" I lied quickly before she could ask or add anything.
Nodding slowly. "Okay" the girl murmured, dragging out the word.
Awkwardly since we had fallen into complete silence. "I'm PJ Duncan" I blurted out a second later feeling like an idiot for not having introduced myself, "I brought some papers from the hospital that he forgot" I added raising the folder in my hand.
Frowning slightly, as if she didn't know what I was talking about. "Oh okay" she said a moment later, "you can take the elevator, it's the last button" she added pointing to the side of the lobby.
Surprised since I thought I would have to lie my way to the room, perhaps taking advantage of Vogler's arrogance, I nodded slowly. "All right, thanks" I said scratching my neck, walking stiffly toward the elevator.
"Yeah of course" the girl replied immediately, "you know, I get off in ten minutes" she added a moment later checking a clock behind her.
Stopping in my tracks. "Great" I said uncomfortably, "I'm still on the clock" I added falsely disappointed.
With a smile that she was obviously trying to hide her embarrassment. "Oh okay" she murmured lowering her head slightly, "I won't stop you anymore, then" she added a moment later.
With no intention of adding more to her embarrassment, patting the folder against my hand, I nodded before continuing my way to the elevator.
It didn't take long from when I pressed the button before the metal doors opened in front of me, feeling the receptionist's gaze stuck to my back, without thinking I stepped into the elevator, and shortly after I pressed the button.
As the metal box rose through the floors, the nervousness inside my chest grew in parallel, but fortunately before I could realize how nervous I was the doors opened and suddenly I felt as calm as before any fight.
Knocking on the door of the only suite on the top floor of the hotel, I only had to wait a couple of seconds before Olivia, wearing an elegant black dress, with an exasperated expression, opened abruptly. "Yes?" she asked distractedly while adjusting some shiny silver bracelets on her wrist.
Raising my eyebrows, surprised. "Olivia" I said with exaggerated surprise.
Immediately the secretary, opening her eyes wide, turned abruptly, looking at me like a deer in headlights. "You" she murmured.
Snorting. "Yeah, me" I said amused, "by any chance is Edward here?" I asked a moment later pressing my jaw into a friendly smile, "I have some documents he forgot" I added ironically lifting the folder in my hand.
Without daring to make eye contact but maintaining a facade of pride, Olivia raised her hand ready to take the folder.
Completely dodging Olivia's hand, I smiled sweetly. "I'd like to deliver it myself if that's not a problem" I said softly, "I heard he's not coming back and I want to say goodbye."
With contempt on her face Olivia was obviously about to refuse, but at that moment. "Who is it?" Vogler asked appearing behind the secretary, gently holding her shoulder.
Taking advantage of Olivia being distracted, I slipped into the room. "Ed" I said amused when I saw the surprise on Vogler's face.
Wearing a clearly expensive suit, keeping his face completely expressionless. "PJ, I see you share the same contempt for authority as your mentor" he said slowly, silently signaling to Olivia who nodded and closed the door, heading into one of the suite's rooms a moment later.
Nodding I snorted ironically. "Definitely not the worst thing I've been told" I murmured tilting my head.
The suite, unlike the rest of the things I had seen of the hotel, was finely decorated with art pieces and expensive looking furniture, clearly Vogler had done a complete remodel of the room.
Noticing how I studied the room. "Do you like it?" Vogler asked.
"Ah, if I had to describe it I'd say it's extremely presumptuous" I said seriously, taking a seat on a leather sofa that despite its expensive appearance was extremely uncomfortable, "I don't know who decorates the rooms in this hotel but they're clearly compensating for other things" I added clicking my tongue with pity while shifting my ass on the seat, looking for a good position.
Walking to a minibar at the edge of the room, where he slowly poured himself a drink of some surely very expensive beverage, Vogler walked to the sofa in front of me and sat down casually. "Ah, not only his contempt for authority, also his sense of comedy" he said smiling amused.
Shaking my head defeated, "Yeah, I've been hearing that a lot lately" I murmured.
Nodding silently for a couple of seconds. "Yeah, I'm sure you have" Vogler murmured sarcastically and in a complicated movement leaned on the armrest of his sofa, "now, why are you really here?" he asked holding his chin with a fist, saying each word with an uncomfortable pause between each one, "to gloat at my defeat?" he added smiling widely, pretending he really didn't care.
But I could see it clearly, Vogler was about to explode.
Clicking my teeth, I denied it amused. "No, although I very well could" I said snorting, "I mean a hundred million and they still voted to kick your ass out of the hospital" I added exhaling a lot of air to avoid laughing, "speaking of things money can't buy huh?" I asked raising my eyebrows.
Laughing falsely, in a clear effort not to show how annoyed he was. "Yeah, there comes a point when you discover that no matter how much you want, sometimes idiots carry much more power than you can buy" he declared pressing his hand against his eyes.
"Wow, that must feel so emasculating" I said with pity, "sucks to be you, I guess" I murmured loud enough for him to hear.
Snorting clearly exasperated thanks to my comments, Vogler nodded with his jaw clenched. "Now, now I wouldn't say that" he said slowly while checking his watch, "I don't want to be rude PJ, and as much as I'm enjoying our chat I'm afraid I have things to do" he added preparing to stand up.
Pointing at the man to make him stop. "Oh yeah sorry, I was having so much fun I almost forgot" I said pretending to be embarrassed, "so, actually I'm here to do you a favor" I declared after a couple of seconds of silence.
"A favor?" Vogler asked interested.
"Yeah" I replied immediately, "it's a life saving favor, in fact it'll look quite good on you and you're going to need it" I added saying the last part as if it were a secret.
Visibly uninterested. "Sounds important" Vogler commented.
"Oh, it is" I said seriously.
"I can't wait to hear it then" Vogler murmured again walking to the room's minibar.
Allowing Vogler to pour himself a drink, since he would definitely need it, I waited until he came back before speaking. "Fun fact, I was going to use this 'favor' to save House's job and the team" I commented making Vogler snort ironically "but now I think I want to use it so the hospital doesn't lose a very generous donation" I added emphatically.
Taking a sip of his drink, Vogler shook his head. "Oh that's it" he said, "of course it's the money" he added amused.
"Well of course, a hospital with money can help many people" I said plainly.
"Well you should have told that to Dr. Cuddy and House, it was up to them, not to me" he commented sarcastically.
"Oh but this is up to you-" I said, but Vogler interrupted me.
"Oh PJ, I can assure you that there is no favor on the face of the earth that you specifically could do for me to make me reconsider the idea of withdrawing the donation" Vogler declared with contempt practically dripping from his lips, "and the fact that you didn't know that makes me question the intelligence that everyone seems to believe you have."
Lowering my head pretending disappointment, I nodded slowly. "It's my fault" I admitted with a slight smile lifting my head a moment later, "I shouldn't have called it a favor" I added, "I should have called it an exchange" I said lightly hitting my head, as if I regretted a foolish mistake.
Shaking the sleeve of his suit, Vogler sighed visibly exasperated, obviously not expecting to hear anything interesting.
"In exchange for the donation staying at the hospital..." I said slowly, "you don't end up in jail" I added erasing from my face any trace of the fake smile I had been wearing.
Vogler's reaction was immediate, his previously relaxed posture now completely tensed and the hand that was adjusting his sleeve froze.
Slowly raising his head, with an intrigued expression on his face, Vogler returning to a more relaxed posture. "What are you talking about?" he asked.
Without making any effort to hide the contempt and displeasure on my face, patting once more the folder I had not let go of at any moment, in a quick motion I threw it to the floor between the two of us, making its contents scatter across the floor.
Noticing the expression of surprise on the normally stoic face of Vogler, taking a page from his book I leaned forward resting my chin under my fist and smiling calmly. "I see you recognize it" I commented softly making Vogler lift his gaze, "I'm sure right now you're wondering how I have it in my possession or maybe how you can get out of this" I added slowly, "the answer is that you can't, you can try, paying bribes, hiding evidence maybe using scapegoats" I said maintaining eye contact with Vogler, who had begun to breathe heavily, "but you and I know it's a federal crime and given that it's tied to a multibillion dollar company, I very much doubt you'll get out completely unscathed."
Keeping silent for a few seconds, allowing Vogler to absorb what was happening and come out of what I was sure was an initial shock, I leaned back comfortably hugging the backrest of the sofa and with one leg over the other I drummed my fingers casually.
"Now tell me, does this make you reconsider?" I asked calmly.
Breathing heavily Vogler clenched his fists tightly, slowly stood up, and as if he couldn't breathe properly because of his tie he loosened it while walking to the minibar.
With trembling hands, obviously from all the fury he was trying to repress, Vogler filled almost the entire glass with his amber colored drink, surely whiskey, before downing it in one gulp.
In a quick movement, accompanied by a shout, Vogler threw the glass against the wall, shattering the crystal with force, and now completely uninhibited he spun on his heels again to face me. "You have no idea who you're messing with, my connections go much further than you can imagine, you are nothing, less than nothing" he said advancing toward where I was, in a clear attempt to intimidate me.
Calmly changing my posture without avoiding his furious gaze even once. "I know who you are" I said casually, "a criminal who unless kept in check, surely, the only thing of value he has done in his life, will go to prison much faster than he otherwise would" I declared standing up as I spoke.
Stopping halfway in front of me, I could see desperation in Vogler's eyes, I doubted very much that at that moment he had any plan beyond attacking me.
With my fists beginning to itch. "So what's it going to be?" I asked advancing the last stretch Vogler had left, "do it" I murmured, "I'd love to kick that smug face of yours" I added amused, completely ready to finish him physically if I needed to.
After several seconds Vogler showed what I already knew, he didn't have what it took, taking a step back without stopping his heavy breathing, but much less desperate, he gave me the answer I was looking for.
Nodding slightly disappointed. "You have until tomorrow at noon for me to hear the good news at the hospital" I said with a triumphant smile, "after that if I don't hear anything all the newspapers in the country will receive their own copy, as well as the corresponding authorities" I added calmly checking my watch.
It was late already, I would definitely suffer in training with Case.
Smiling once more at Vogler, achieving my goal when I saw him tense his jaw, I nodded once more turning on my heels ready to leave without saying anything else, but dissatisfied I stopped abruptly turning back again.
"I've wanted to do this since the first day we met" I said and without giving him time to react in any way, setting my foot next to my hip in a fluid movement I struck Vogler squarely in the jaw, making his heavy body hit the floor like a log.
Holding his visibly aching face, surely having never been hit before, Vogler remained in shock for a second.
"Now, get your sorry ass out of my town as far and as fast as you can you damn fat pig piece of shit" I said and turning once more I left the suite without saying anything else.
That's for threatening my mother's job
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Author Thoughts:
As always, I'm not American, not a doctor, not a fighter, not Magnus Carlsen, not Michael Phelps, not Arsene Lupin, not McLovin, not Elliot, not Capone, not Tiger Woods and not Sam Fisher.
Another chapter has passed, so new thanks are in order. I would like to especially thank:
11332223
RandomPasserby96
Victor_Venegas
I think that's all. As always, if you find any errors, please let me know, and I'll correct them immediately.
Thank you for reading! :D
PS: PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW.