6. Loch
Right. Josh’s childhood friend who worked at the hospital. Darren? Darrell? Fen had asked him to discreetly inquire about which company the hospital utilized for their archived records. Something about needing a back door. Loch couldn’t imagine what that might tell Fen, but he’d learned quickly that his mate’s brain was a complicated place. He was often working on ten things at once, and at least nine of those things were way over Loch’s head.
He pulled Fen in until his back rested against his chest, murmuring, “Let us all hear it.”
Fen nodded, burrowing closer into Loch, tucking his head beneath his chin. He answered the phone, immediately saying, “Full disclosure: I’ve got you on speaker phone.”
The man scoffed, his voice coming through clenched teeth as he said, “Oh, now you’re gonna disclose something to me?”
Fen stiffened in Loch’s arms. “What do you mean?” he asked, sounding both alarmed and confused.
The man snorted. “I only did this ‘cause Josh and I were cool in high school. You royally fucked me.”
Loch frowned, tightening his grip on Fen, that telltale heat entering his limbs. Loch was usually unflappable. That was why he was often leading. He didn’t get mad, he didn’t get even. He just got the job done and made sure they all got home in one piece. But Fen was his. His omega. His to protect. And the man on the other line was talking to him in a way that set Loch’s teeth on edge.
The others clearly didn’t like it either. They crawled in close with the exception of Seth who was curled up asleep in Saint’s lap.
“I… What do you mean, Derek?”
Derek made another sound of derision. “What do you mean, what do I mean? You asked me to look into Jayden Stirling’s medical records.”
Fen sucked in a breath, his sudden panic souring his pretty wildflower scent. “ No . No, I didn’t. All I asked was that you tell me the name of the company who archives your billing records. Derek…tell me you didn’t access his actual medical record online?”
There was a long pause, then he said in a stage whisper, “I wanted to be thorough.”
His tone was bitter, like he had been promised he could be the main character in their spy movie and they hadn’t delivered.
Loch tried to focus on calming Fen’s racing heart, pushing calming pheromones through their connection.
“Why are you whispering like that?” Fen asked.
“‘Cause I don’t know who’s listening,” he shot back.
Loch pictured Derek hiding under his covers, clutching his phone and flashlight like the boogeyman was after him.
“It’s just my pack,” Fen said.
Loch’s heart kicked at the use of the word pack.
“I mean on my end. They’re trying to track my IP address. People keep trying to login to my accounts. Hell, I’m pretty sure they fucking broke into my house a few days ago and ransacked the place. What did you get me into?” he asked again, this time in a much more nasally whine.
Loch didn’t know how Derek could blame Fen for any of this. He tried to calm himself down but he could feel his breaths coming faster. Who the fuck did this man think he was talking to his mate like that?
“Okay, Derek I need you to focus,” Fen said sternly. “First things first. Tell me what you found. In detail.”
“Our archives are kept off property like you said. So, I asked the records department how I would get a copy of an older medical record. She told me that anything from the archives would take a formal request submitted to her and then could take eight to ten weeks to receive the record. She said she’d email me the form.” He was rambling now. “But the form didn’t have the name of the archives on it, just the hospital. I figured if you were looking for the records anyway, it would be okay if I accessed them because I work there. I have to access patient files all the time.”
“What happened?”
“Our system has a…failsafe built into it. Administrators have the ability to put a designation on charts, a sort of marker that lets them know if certain high-profile patient records have been accessed. You know, so employees don’t snoop in their co-workers charts or try to find out the medical information of celebrities.”
“And Jayden’s chart had this…designation?”
“That’s what they told me… when they fired me !” he spat. “I’ve had that job for ten years and they fired me on the spot. I tried to say I’d entered the wrong patient’s medical record number but, apparently, they also keep keyloggers on all of our keyboards.”
Loch didn’t know if that was excessive or hospital protocol everywhere, but it was odd that it was on Jayden Stirling’s chart. Maybe because his father was the police commissioner? It didn’t seem a big enough reason to have that designation. He wasn’t a big name politician or celebrity. Loch bet he could walk outside and poll a hundred people and not a single one would be able to tell him the name of their police commissioner, let alone the police commissioner’s kid.
“It’s kind of weird for a police commissioner’s son to be treated like a celebrity, no?” Binnie asked, verbalizing Loch’s thoughts.
“That’s why I didn’t think it would be a big deal. I mean, we use it for the charts of senators and congressmen. I didn’t even know who this kid was. I still don’t know why his chart is locked. Is he the son of someone famous?” Derek asked.
“He’s the son of the police commissioner,” Fen said, voice hollow like he couldn’t believe all this was happening because of one innocent favor.
“The police commissioner? Holy shit. No wonder they didn’t give a fuck that my house was broken into.”
“I’m so sorry, Derek. I didn’t expect it to…go this way.”
Loch’s chest felt tight. Why was Fen apologizing to this man? He was the one who took it upon himself to break into a medical chart and look around. He was the one who’d decided to bring the whole damn building down on his own head and he was also the weakest link should someone want to know why he accessed Jayden’s chart.
“My husband left and he took our daughter. They’re staying at my mother-in-law’s and she hates me. I am holed up in some fleabag motel, afraid to use my credit cards. I feel like I’m being watched every minute of the day.”
This Derek guy was being so fucking dramatic. Loch understood being a bit rattled that he’d had his house broken into but this seemed an extreme overreaction. He had to know Fen could have easily hacked those medical records himself. He had to know he worked for the NSA. Was that what this was? Was he trying to have his own Cloak and Dagger moment? Did he just want to feel like he was part of some kind of mission?
Loch gently took the phone from Fen’s fingers. “Derek, this is Lochlan Clafferty. I was Josh’s direct superior at Cerberus. It’s imperative that you tell us everything you found in that chart.”
Saint, Binnie, and Ollie snickered at Loch’s sudden change in demeanor, but Fen craned his head around to gape at him like he was a stranger.
“Oh, right. Hello, sir. What do you need to know?” Derek asked, his voice suddenly filled with confidence.
Fen rolled his eyes, turning sideways to watch him.
“Everything. You clearly saw something of importance in there if you’re this certain you’ve been compromised. Tell us what you saw.”
He felt like an idiot talking like this but it was working, so he would sacrifice his dignity for Fen…and for Josh, too, of course.
Derek hesitated. “Uh, yeah, okay.” When he spoke again, he seemed mollified. “Um, so something is really weird about this kid’s chart. I mean, I’m no doctor or anything, but I do all the billing for the surgical department and a thirteen-year-old who’s already undergone two transplants is unusual, but he’s received three sets of lungs.”
“Three?” Binnie and San said at the same time.
“Yeah,” Derek said without missing a beat. “The first set didn’t perfuse. They just never started working, so they needed to find another set of lungs within twenty-four hours or he would’ve been dead. That’s usually a death sentence by itself. But, miraculously, they found another donor and he lived for six more years with only the usual visits. But then something happened. His lungs started to fail. And just like last time, he received another set of lungs.”
“Is that, like, super weird?” Deke asked, his hand rubbing Ollie’s stomach absently.
“Not like winning the lottery levels of unlikely, but most kids with his condition don’t get one new set of lungs, never mind three.”
“Could it be because his father is the commissioner?” San asked. “Like special treatment?”
“That’s the thing. There’s not supposed to be any special treatment. Organ donation is a sacrosanct system. People aren’t chosen based on who they are or who they know or how much money they have. It’s based on need and certain patient criteria. UNOS is very highly regulated.”
“So, is that everything?” Loch asked.
“No, not at all,” Derek said, now sounding more like he was gossiping with the ladies at the hair salon rather than giving a debriefing. “The donor records were all sealed so I couldn’t see where they came from. According to my nurse husband, that’s not unusual at all. He said it’s to preserve the confidentiality between the donor family and recipient so things don’t get too weird.”
“Then why bring it up?” Binnie asked, sounding as irritated as Loch felt.
“Because of the surgeon,” Derek said.
“The surgeon?” Fen echoed.
“Yeah, the same surgeon performed all three surgeries. Victor Harlan.”
He let the name hang in the air like it was some kind of mic drop moment, but Fen could tell by the looks on everyone’s faces that they were as confused as he was.
“Who?” Loch asked.
“Victor Harlan. The Victor Harlan,” Derek said, like he was waiting for light to dawn.
“We don’t really run in the same circles, so why don’t you just let us in on who he is,” Loch said.
Derek scoffed. “Well, that depends on who you ask. Some people will say he’s a star. On paper, he looks great. Ivy league schools, world renowned, tons of papers published, performed the first ever in utero organ transplant. He is like a rockstar. His face is plastered on every hospital billboard in this city.”
“I’m not seeing the issue,” Loch said.
“Then you’ve never picked up a newspaper. Throughout his three decade career, he’s been in the news multiple times after being accused of many nefarious things. Manipulating waitlists, black market organ procurement, destroying medical records.”
“How does someone who’s commonly known to be involved in stuff like that still have a job?” Deke asked. “Much less have patients?”
“That’s a great question,” Derek said. “Why would a city like Washington DC, home of some of the biggest names in politics, want a doctor that can be bought off? I can think of a few reasons.”
“You think people keep him around because organs can be bought through him?”
“I’m just saying, Harlan has some very, very powerful friends. Stirling might not be a celebrity, but some of his other patients are.”
Fen frowned. “Like who else?”
Derek sighed. “Brock Fontenot, for one.”
The name didn’t ring a bell to him but Binnie sat up straighter. “Great.”
“Who is he?” Loch asked Binnie.
“Someone who makes my dad look soft. He’s a congressman out of Louisiana. Practically a fossil. Should have retired thirty-five years ago. He had a transplant?”
“Yeah, a liver transplant,” Derek confirmed. “It was all over the news. A lot of people were hoping he died.”
“And you think that this Fontenot is who keeps him out of trouble?” Ollie asked.
“I think that Fontenot is the one who brought Harlan here for the sole purpose of having him get him a black market liver. He was a terrible risk and an alcoholic. He never would have been put on the list.”
“So, he bought himself a doctor who could procure him an organ some other way?” San asked, shivering.
“He bought himself a whole department,” Derek said. “Whenever Harlan moves hospitals, he doesn’t go alone. He takes his whole department, from the surgical coordinator to the surgeons who work under him. It would probably be a lot easier to hide what you’re doing if your entire team was in on it.”
“But a lot riskier, no?” Deke asked.
“Money can buy a lot of loyalty,” Fen said.
“And a lot of enemies,” Derek muttered.
“I’m sorry this is happening to you,” Fen said again, looking miserable.
Binnie cleared his throat, then moved closer to the speaker. “Derek, Corbin Raider here?—”
“His son, not the psychopathic omega hater,” Fen blurted, then gave Binnie an apologetic look.
“Yeah, not that guy,” Binnie said, amused. “The app you’re using has end-to-end encryption. Send me your bank details and I’ll wire you money for your trouble.”
“You gonna pay for me and my family to flee the country?” Derek snarked.
“If necessary, sure,” Binnie said, unbothered.
There was a long pause and then the man said, “Oh, uh, okay. Yeah, so, I hope that helped and please don’t ask for my help ever again. Sorry about Joshie, by the way. He was the best of us hooligans in high school.”
Fen’s pain twanged through their mating mark like a rubber band snapping against skin, sharp and lingering. “Yeah, thanks,” Fen managed before disconnecting.
They all sat there for a while listening to Seth and Wolf both snoring softly. At some point, Wolf had relocated to higher ground and now laid on the edge of the nest, tongue hanging from his mouth like the world’s most domesticated dog.
“Okay, that was a lot of information,” Deke said.
“Yeah, more than I was expecting,” Fen admitted. “I really hope they don’t hurt Derek or his family. Do you think he’s on their radar?”
Loch and Binnie exchanged looks. Finally, Loch said, “They’re probably rattling his cage a little. Seeing if he starts having clandestine meetings or visiting shady sites on the internet. Once they see he’s just a billing guy, they’ll let it go. It’s not worth risking an investigation.”
“Even if the cops are in your pocket?” Fen asked.
“We’re in DC, sunshine. A guy gets fired for accessing the police commissioner’s son’s medical records and then turns up dead? They’re not going to let the local cops anywhere near a case like that. And, as far as we know, the Feds aren’t in Dresden’s pocket,” Loch said.
“Do we even know that Harlan and Fontenot have anything to do with Stirling or Harlan?” Deke asked, his face adorably scrunched in confusion.
“No, not specifically,” San said. “Right?”
“One step at a time,” Ollie chimed in. “We need Stirling on our side, not off the board, remember? We might not have enough to take out Dresden but we can use Stirling to our advantage.”
“You think Stirling is going to risk turning against the man keeping his son alive?” San asked.
“Dresden’s money is what’s keeping Stirling’s kid alive,” Binnie corrected. “Money I’ve got.”
“How do we know that, if we show our hand to Stirling, he won’t just tell Dresden?” Saint asked, finally speaking.
Loch was surprised he’d heard a word the way he’d been watching Seth sleep and petting him like he was Wolf.
“That’s where Fennie comes in,” Ollie said.
Fen frowned. “How so?”
Ollie gave him an almost apologetic look. “You’re going to get us irrefutable proof that Harlan is on the take.”
“How will getting rid of the kid’s surgeon make him help us?” Deke asked.
“We don’t get rid of him…we just threaten to. As long as Stirling does what we want, Harlan can keep his little black market operation—” When the others started to protest, Ollie held up his hand to silence them. “For now.”
None of them seemed to like that answer, but Ollie just…Ollie’d. “Look, we’re playing the long game here, guys. If we want to put Dresden in checkmate, we’re going to have to do some really shady things. Including temporarily letting a dirty surgeon keep buying his black market organs. It sucks but it’s the only way to get Dresden put in prison once and for all.”
“Can’t we just kill him?” Seth asked, voice raspy from sleep…and other activities.
“Killing him will be over too quickly,” Fen said. “I want him to suffer. I want him locked in a cell with no friends, no resources, nothing. I want him to know that I took everything from him.” When they all continued to stare, he sheepishly added, “Sorry. I got carried away.”
“I thought it was hot,” Seth said, struggling to sit up. “Very anti-hero.”
“Yeah,” San agreed. “Like witnessing a villain’s origin story from the ground up.”
Fen blushed but smiled.
“Uh, I did have one question, though,” Seth said hesitantly. “How, exactly, is Fen supposed to prove that Harlan is dirty?”