The policeman’s words hung in the cold air of the emergency room… – BICHNHU

—Emma… is an experimental compound.

The type of substance that is only found in one place.

A medical laboratory.

Marcus remained motionless for a few seconds after saying that sentence, as if he knew he had just opened a door that could never be closed again, while the machines around Leo continued to mark the fragile rhythm of his breathing.

I felt a deep chill run down my spine, because in the hospital there was only one place where they worked with experimental compounds of that type, and I knew that place better than almost anyone.

“What kind of compound?” I finally asked, trying to keep my voice steady as my mind began to review every possibility with the desperate precision of a doctor and the brutal anguish of a mother.

Marcus hesitated for a moment before answering, as if he were deciding how much to say in front of the police officers who were now watching our every move from the other side of the curtain.

“It’s a synthetic neurotoxin,” he explained cautiously, “originally designed for medical research related to the control of severe seizures, but in incorrect doses it can paralyze the nervous system in a matter of minutes.”

The words hit me with devastating clarity, because I knew exactly what substance she was describing even before she said its name.