Chapter 7 - The Interrogation Room
The emergency red lighting cast a crimson hue across the reinforced walls of the medical suite. The steel shutters had transformed the luxurious room into an impenetrable vault.
Carmine had Dr. Cole forced into a heavy wooden chair in the center of the room. The surgeon’s white coat was gone, his dark scrubs wrinkled and soaked with sweat.
"I didn't have a choice, Gabriel!" Cole wept, his previous arrogance entirely obliterated. "They contacted me two weeks ago! They had photos of my daughter at her university in Boston! They said if I didn't insert the micro-fibers during your emergency surgery, they would kill her!"
Gabriel stood near the window, a clean black shirt now resting over his shoulders, though unbuttoned. He listened silently, his posture regal and cold.
"Who are 'they', Harrison?" Carmine demanded, stepping into the doctor's personal space.
"I don't know!" Cole sobbed. "The calls were encrypted! The delivery of the altered suture packs arrived at my private clinic via an anonymous courier three days before Gabriel's injury!"
Elena stood quietly near the supply counter, wiping down the stainless-steel instruments. While the men focused on the trembling doctor, her sharp mind was working through the details.
She walked over to the sterile supply crate that Dr. Cole had brought into the estate. She put on a fresh pair of gloves and began inspecting the remaining sealed medical boxes inside the crate.
"Mr. Falcone," Elena called out softly.
Gabriel turned his head toward her. "What is it, Elena?"
"The doctor is telling the truth about the delivery, but he is lying about how it got into this room," Elena said, lifting a sealed cardboard box from the crate. She pointed to a green inventory bar code stamped on the side. "This is a Falcone family internal clearance seal. Medical supplies brought into this mansion must pass through your private security hub at the front gates."
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Gabriel’s eyes narrowed. "Go on."
"This seal was stamped forty-eight hours ago," Elena continued, her voice crisp and logical. "Meaning these compromised medical packs were not brought in secretly by Dr. Cole today. They were authorized, cleared, and placed in your mansion’s inventory by someone on your own security detail."
