Veena didn’t talk. With a somber expression, she merely waved for Cal to follow her and started back toward his library office.

When Cal walked into the library, Veena was standing just inside the door. She closed it behind him, which he found curious. “What’s going on?” he asked. For the first time he sensed something was decidedly wrong. He looked at her more closely. From his perspective and most everyone else’s, Veena was an extraordinarily beautiful combination of both angular Aryan and rounded Hindu features, with exotically shaped, strikingly blue-green eyes, blacker-than-night hair, and golden bronze skin. Normally, she appeared quite peaceful. But not now. Her usually full, dark lips were pressed together and pale. Cal couldn’t tell if it reflected anger, determination, or some combination. “Is it done?” he questioned again.

“It’s done,” Veena said handing him a keychain with a USB storage device containing Maria Hernandez’s medical record. “But there was a problem.”

“Oh?” Cal questioned, eyeing the storage device, wondering if it was the problem. “Was there trouble getting the data?”

“No! Getting the woman’s medical record was easy.”

“Okay,” Cal said, extending the word. “So, what’s the problem?”

“Hernandez woke up and spoke to me.”

“So?” Cal questioned. He could tell Veena was highly upset but didn’t think the fact that the woman spoke with her was so unusual. “What did she say?”

“She thanked me,” Veena said, as tears welled up in her eyes. She took a deep breath and looked off, trying to keep her emotions in check.

“Well, that was nice,” Cal said in an attempt to lighten the conversation.

“She thanked me just before I injected her,” Veena added angrily. Her eyes blazed as she turned back to Cal.

“Calm down!” he half urged and half ordered.

“It’s easy for you to say. You didn’t have to look into her eyes or watch her face contort. You didn’t tell me she was going to twitch grotesquely and turn purple as she suffocated in front of my eyes.”

“I didn’t know.”

Veena glared at Cal and shook her head in apparent disgust.

“The people who told me how to do it implied the patient would just die peacefully because they would be completely paralyzed.”

“Well, they lied.”

“I’m sorry,” Cal said with a shrug. “I’m proud of you anyway. And like I promised, I heard just a few minutes ago that the conversation my colleagues had with your father went very well. They are very, very confident he will follow their advice to the letter. So from now on, you don’t have to worry about him misbehaving with you, your sisters, or your mom. The men I sent are utterly convinced, but they’re still going to check in every month or so to remind him he’d best behave. You’re free.”

For several beats Cal returned Veena’s glare. He had expected some positive reaction from her, but it wasn’t forthcoming. Just when he was about to question why she wasn’t more pleased to be free, she shocked him by hurling herself at him. Before he knew what was happening, she grabbed his shirt at the collar with both hands and proceeded to tear it open. Buttons popped off with explosive force.