Agent Williams showed up at the clinic twenty minutes before my first session. He had that look, tight jaw, tired eyes, that told me I wasn’t going to like what he had to say.
"Elena, you’re risking too much by refusing extraction," he said. No hello, no soft landing.
"I know what I’m risking," I said. "I’m risking us. I’m risking safety. But I can’t just walk away without giving these patients some kind of closure."
His mouth flattened. "You’re risking Brennan’s cooperation. Federal cases. Exposing corruption at the highest levels. All of that, because of four patients."
I shook my head. "No. Because of what it means to them. Because if I vanish without a word, I’ll be proving witnesses can’t hold onto their ethics when it matters most."
He leaned closer, his voice quiet. "There are
