Chapter 11 - THE POISONER'S ACCOMPLICE
Deep in the woods of upstate New York, near the town of Lake Placid, a secluded medical clinic sat behind high wrought-iron gates. Snow began to fall over the pine trees as three unmarked federal sedans parked along the winding driveway.
Agent Miller and Arthur stepped out of the lead vehicle, accompanied by a tactical team wearing cold-weather gear. They walked up the stone steps of the clinic, where a sixty-year-old doctor in a white lab coat was frantically destroying paper records inside an industrial incinerator.
"Dr. Henry Sterling," Agent Miller called out, her weapon drawn as she entered the basement laboratory. "Step away from the incinerator and keep your hands visible!"
Dr. Sterling froze, his face turning pale as he dropped a stack of medical files onto the concrete floor. He looked at Arthur with a mixture of shame and deep-seated resentment.
"I knew she would mess it up," Dr. Sterling muttered bitterly, raising his hands slowly above his head. "Victoria was always too impatient to execute a long-term protocol."
Arthur stepped forward, inspecting the glass vials of synthetic toxins lined up on the laboratory shelves. "You were my personal physician for fifteen years, Henry. Why would you sell your soul to a woman like Victoria?"
Dr. Sterling let out a hollow laugh, his shoulders slumping in total defeat. "She didn't buy my soul with money, Arthur. She bought it with the gambling debts my son accumulated with the European syndicate."
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Agent Miller clicked handcuffs around the doctor's wrists, while tactical officers began securing the chemical evidence for transport to the FBI laboratory in Quantico.
"Your son is already in federal custody in Miami, Doctor," Miller informed him dryly. "And now you are going away for the rest of your natural life."
