Chapter 56: Get Down! Sniper!

Samantha's POV

"Wait," I said, sitting up straighter in the booth. "Leo, you need to be careful about what you're saying. A company? A company that never had any involvement in military contracts? The files show their products were completely unrelated to weapons manufacturing. Are you sure you're not talking nonsense?"

Both Matthew and I leaned forward, our casual demeanor evaporating. This wasn't just about hidden money anymore.

Leo's eyes went wide, his coffee cup trembling in his grip. "Of course I'm not making this up! After that, I kept watching the company's internal operations. I discovered that some of those materials would always get shipped to unknown locations. My suspicions kept growing stronger."

A pharmaceutical company secretly manufacturing weapons? This sounds like conspiracy theory territory, but Leo's fear is too real. He doesn't seem like he's lying.

Matthew's voice carried new intensity. "So you're telling us a drug company was moonlighting as an arms dealer?"

"Not moonlighting," Leo said, his knuckles white as he gripped his cup. "That was their real business. The pharmaceutical side was just cover."

I felt ice settle in my stomach. "What kind of weapons?"

Leo glanced around the restaurant, making sure no one was within earshot. The lunch crowd had thinned to a few truckers and an elderly couple by the window. Still, he lowered his voice to barely above a whisper.

"Chemical weapons. Biological agents. Things that could wipe out entire cities without leaving a trace."

The words hit like a physical blow. Matthew's casual expression vanished completely, replaced by something I'd only seen when Vincent had him at gunpoint.

"As Marcus got older and reached retirement age, I used health problems as an excuse to resign too. We left the company with substantial retirement packages."

Leo's hands trembled as he set down his coffee. His eyes kept scanning the restaurant like he expected assassins to emerge from the kitchen at any moment.

"I told Marcus and the others about my suspicions. We were all terrified the company would send people to silence us, so we decided to hide out in Malibu."

"So a bunch of scientists just gave up normal lives?" Matthew's tone carried disbelief. "Walked away from careers, families, everything?"

"We didn't have a choice!" Leo's voice cracked. "Later we heard the company went bankrupt, and for a while we thought we were safe. Thought maybe we'd been paranoid."

His expression shifted to bitter regret as old memories surfaced.

"But after the company went bankrupt, everything about it vanished. All the records, products, executives, employees - gone, like they never existed in the first place."

I leaned forward. "What do you mean? Bankruptcy records? Employee files?"

"Completely scrubbed clean. Any evidence that Parker Family Pharmaceuticals ever existed was erased. That kind of cleanup requires massive power and resources."

Matthew whistled low. "Sounds like someone wanted to bury that history permanently."

Leo nodded, fear flickering in his eyes again. "In Malibu, we were terrified. That retirement money we didn't dare touch, much less spend. We lived in the worst places, sealed away our cash, didn't even dare interact with too many people."

The desperation in his voice painted a picture of brilliant minds reduced to cowering shadows. "Poor Marcus was too old, his health kept getting worse. Without alcohol he couldn't cope anymore, but we were afraid he'd spill company secrets when he was drunk. We couldn't talk him out of drinking, just prayed he'd stay coherent."

"Until one day he didn't show up at the bar," Leo continued, his voice beginning to shake. "That's when we knew - they'd found us."

The restaurant suddenly felt too bright, too exposed. I found myself checking the windows, the exits, anywhere a threat might emerge.

"After that, we started calling each other regularly. But as days passed, more and more phones went unanswered. I knew I was the only one left alive."

Leo's laugh was hollow, completely without humor. "I thought, why not gamble everything? Take the money, sell the house, flee America, start fresh somewhere else. But then..."

His eyes moved between Matthew and me. "I ran into you two."

Matthew and I stared at each other in stunned silence. The air in the restaurant seemed to thicken around us.

"You're saying a company really had connections to weapons manufacturing?" I struggled to process this. "And the government had no organization that could discover this? Just let it develop unchecked?"

Matthew shook his head with dark amusement. "This is America, sweetheart! Been a while since I felt this kind of absurd-enough-to-laugh feeling."

I pulled out my phone, scrolling to the photo Benjamin had sent. "David Miller. Do you know this person?"

Leo looked at the screen and immediately shook his head. "Never seen him before. Why? Does this person have something to do with our situation?"

"This man was carrying a list with all your names on it. We investigated his identity and found he was supposedly an art collector, but if what you're saying is true, his identity obviously needs re-verification."

Leo's face cleared with sudden understanding. "That must be him." Relief flooded his expression. "What do you mean?"

"This David Miller must be the assassin they sent to eliminate us. I don't know if the others recognized him, but I definitely didn't. For him to have information on all of us, he must have had special channels. I can only assume he was coming to kill us."

My eyes went wide, the coffee cup nearly slipping from my fingers. If Leo's telling the truth, that's incredibly ironic. David Miller wasn't an innocent victim - he was a professional killer. But on the island, he became the first casualty of Vincent's revenge.

Matthew let out a dark chuckle. "So we just helped bury a professional assassin? Almost tried to avenge him? You sure you're telling the truth?"

"I swear to God, everything I'm saying is true!" Leo suddenly grabbed my hand, his fingers ice-cold with fear. "And since David's dead, they'll definitely send new killers!"

I tried to calm him, patting his trembling hand. "Easy. We found you through normal investigative channels, not 'their' methods. But you need to tell us - what exactly was this company developing?"

Leo took a deep breath, gathering himself to explain in detail.

"The official research was legitimate pharmaceutical development. Cancer treatments, neurological medications, things that could genuinely help people." His voice grew harder. "But there were always side projects. Labs that required special clearance. Materials that arrived without documentation."

I felt my training kick in, questions forming automatically. "What kind of materials?"

"Compounds that had no medical application. Delivery systems designed for maximum dispersal. We weren't making medicine - we were weaponizing everything we touched."

Matthew's face had gone completely serious now. "How long did this go on?"

"Years. Maybe decades before I got there." Leo's hands clenched into fists. "The worst part was how normal they made it seem. Regular paychecks, company picnics, health benefits. Like we were just another boring corporate job."

The casual evil of it hit me harder than outright malice would have. Making weapons of mass destruction with the same bureaucratic efficiency as manufacturing aspirin.

"Who was running this operation?" I pressed. "Corporate executives? Government contractors?"

"That's what we never figured out." Leo's frustration was evident. "The company had layers within layers. Most employees never saw the big picture, just their small piece. But someone with serious power was pulling strings."

I was about to ask another question when something caught my eye. Across the street, sunlight glinted off something on a rooftop. The angle, the position...

That's not normal reflection.

My FBI training recognized it instantly - the distinctive flash of a scope lens. My blood turned to ice.

"Get down! Sniper!"

I shoved Matthew sideways and lunged across the table, tackling Leo to the floor just as the window behind us exploded. The bullet passed through the exact spot where I'd been sitting, shattering glass that rained down like deadly confetti. Coffee cups erupted in sprays of hot liquid and ceramic shards.