David checked his watch as he walked out of the hospital. As long as the traffic wasn't bad, he had plenty of time to get to his appointment with Leora. He had been looking forward to it all day. Leora was thriving at the new centre and David was glad that he had listened to Krystal and gotten her out of the Orpheus clinic and out into the world.

David had almost reached his car when he had heard footsteps behind him. He turned and spotted Ben, his old orderly, following him. David slowed his pace and waited for him to catch up.

"Ben… or should that be Martin?"

Ben didn't meet his eye,

"We need to talk." he said, walking past. "It's important. By the ambulance bay…"

He kept walking.

David paused, and did a double take.

He scanned there parking lot, was someone watching? Why was Ben being so furtive?

David checked his watch again.

He had time. He was curious to know what was going on.

David walked past his car and followed the path round to the ambulance bay.

Ben had tucked himself by the dumpsters. David walked over to join him as surreptitiously as possible.

"I'm here." said David. "What's with all the secrecy?"

Ben looked nervously around before pulling him deeper into cover.

"I've got in with a bad group of people. They helped me get my new job but they are asking too much in return."

"What are you talking about?"

"They are interested in Bianca. They got me to test a drug her… and now she's disappeared. I know they are involved!"

"Do you have names?"

"One goes by the name of Mr Salt…" said Ben. "He's a goon."

David's back stiffened. The name was all too familiar. Mr Salt was the man who had tied him up and set the fire in his cabin, almost killing David in the process. They had sabotaged his work, almost killed Bianca and then mounted a violent hospital siege as a distraction in order to blackmail and then steal from him! Now to find out they were behind Bianca and Erica's abduction... why was it not surprising that they would go to these lengths for the sake of his miracle serum? Was that glowing article in the medical journal just a smoke screen? Maybe they weren't as far along with their research as they had claimed. For the first time in a long time David felt a smug surge of satisfaction.

"And Mr Campbell?" David asked, that slimy creep had really set his teeth on edge.

Ben frowned.

"It was something Scottish. They were using me to spy. They want something else from me. I'm to meet them in the park in ten minutes and I don't know what to do…" Ben held his head in his hands for a moment. "I shouldn't even be talking to you. I just didn't know who else I could trust."

"If they are behind Erica and Bianca's abduction you need to go to the police!"

"I can't do that." said Ben. "They will kill me."

David scowled. He had been humiliated by Mr Campbell. He had stolen David's life's work; and then sold it to some faceless global monstrosity. The anger that had followed him since the theft reared up. They had clearly underestimated the genius involved in comprehending his Orpheus masterpiece; that is why they needed Bianca.

If David had been thinking clearly then he would have forced Ben to the police station but he was too keen on the thought of payback and a chance to gloat a little too.

"Where are you meeting them, exactly?" he asked.

"There is a spot in the parking lot. They come to my car. I think they are tracking me."

"Take me to them" said David.

Ben stared at him.

"You are going to confront them? Are you mad?"

David's expression didn't change.

"Take me to them right now." he said firmly.

…

David sat beside Ben in the car.

"How long do we wait?" he asked.

Ben sighed.

"They usually don't take long." he said.

He pulled a tablet from a bag in the back seat and turned it on.

"What's that for?" David asked.

"They send me messages as well." Ben said.

He pressed a few more buttons and then there was the roar of an engine as a van pulled up beside them.

The side door slid open and Mr Salt stepped out.

He lent on the car roof and peered in at the window.

"Dr Hayward. Still alive I see?" He sneered.

"No thanks to you." snapped David.

Mr Salt peered past him towards Ben.

"Well done. You met your side of the deal, you're free to go."

David looked between the two.

"What's going on?"

Mr Salt opened the car door.

"Dr Hayward. I've been authorised to make you an offer you simply cannot refuse."

David glared back at Ben and realised his betrayal.

"I had no choice." Ben said. "I need my life back."

Mr Salt grabbed David's arm and pulled him from the car, forcing him into the van.

"Get in! We are going on a little journey and you don't want to say no. Trust me it would hurt you a lot more than it would hurt me!"

…