Page 72 of Cole

"And the water samples you collected?" Penson's eyes had gone cold. "Those were all part of your climate research?"

Janice's heart hammered, but she kept her voice steady. "Environmental contamination can have multiple sources. Natural mineral deposits, historical mining from decades ago, even volcanic activity can introduce heavy metals into water systems. As a veterinarian, I'm trained to investigate potential causes of illness or death when I find sick or dead animals. That includes ruling out various forms of poisoning."

"Ruling out," Penson echoed. "Or documenting?"

"The scientific method requires comprehensive analysis," Janice said, falling back on academic language like a shield. "You can't draw conclusions without proper evidence. Every sample needs to be tested, every result needs to be verified, every finding needs to be peer-reviewed before⁠—"

"Enough." Penson stood abruptly, his patience clearly exhausted. "I don't care about your scientific method or your peer review process. I care about whether you've gathered evidence that connects the contamination to my operation, and whether that evidence has been shared with anyone who might actually do something about it."

Janice met his glare steadily, buying herself a few more seconds to think. The truth was that she had evidence. Strong evidence. Evidence that was currently en route to her parents' lab for detailed analysis. Evidence that would prove beyond a doubt that Northern Summit Resources was poisoning the watershed.

"The animals are dying," she said quietly, shifting tactics. "Whatever the source of the contamination, wildlife is suffering. As someone who dedicated my life to protecting animals, I can't just ignore that⁠—"

"I don't give a damn about your dead animals!" Penson slammed his hand on the desk, making Janice flinch despite herself. "Those animals, this land, all of it exists to serve human needs. We need the minerals I'm extracting. Society needs them. Your precious wildlife is collateral damage in the service of progress."

There it was—the truth beneath the expensive suit and cultured voice. Charles Penson genuinely believed that his profit mattered more than the ecosystem he was destroying, and that human greed justified any amount of environmental destruction.

Janice felt her carefully maintained composure crack, anger flooding through the fear. “You can’t find those minerals anywhere else? Or at least take responsibility for the runoff that goes straight into the water?”

"How idealistic." Penson's smile was cruel. "And how utterly naive.”

"Those animals have as much right to exist as you do," she said, her voice shaking with fury. "They were here first, they'll be here long after we're gone, and they deserve better than to be poisoned by someone who thinks money is more important than life."

“Let me tell you how the world actually works, Dr. Lynch. Money buys influence. Influence buys protection. I have both in abundance. Whatever evidence you think you've gathered, whatever reports you think you've filed… none of it matters. I own people at the EPA. I have senators on speed dial. The university you work for has been very grateful for my generous donations."

"You can't buy everyone," Janice shot back.

"I don't need to buy everyone. Just the people who matter." He moved around the desk, looming over her. "So I'll ask you one more time, and I suggest you answer honestly. Who else knows what you found? And where are your samples?"

Janice's mind raced. If she told him the samples were already in transit, he might panic, might decide she needed to disappear immediately. But if she claimed they were still at the cabin or the hotel, he'd send people to retrieve them, and when they didn't find anything, he'd know she'd lied.

"I want legal representation,” she said instead, knowing it sounded ludicrous. "You're holding me against my will, which is kidnapping. I'm not saying anything else without legal representation."

Penson laughed, the sound sharp and humorless. "A lawyer. She wants a lawyer." He turned to his men who were standing near the door. "You hear that? She thinks this is some kind of legal proceeding."

The miner shifted uncomfortably, and Janice caught unease in his expression, maybe even guilt. They'd signed up to work at a mine, not to participate in kidnapping and whatever came next.

"Mr. Penson," the employee said hesitantly. "Maybe we should⁠—"

"Take her to the camp," Penson interrupted coldly. "Keep her secured there until I decide what to do with her. And make sure she has no way to communicate with the outside world. No phone, no computer, nothing."

The camp. The illegal mining site. The remote location where no one would hear her scream, where evidence could be disposed of without witnesses.

Terror spiked through Janice's chest, but she forced it down. She'd bought herself some time but not much. The conversation had lasted maybe fifteen minutes. Hopefully long enough for Cole to realize she was missing. Long enough for the tracker to start broadcasting her location.

She just had to stay alive until rescue arrived.

As the other two miners walked in and pulled her to her feet, Janice took one last look at Charles Penson. He'd already dismissed her, turning back to his desk and his laptop as though she were just another problem to be filed away.

"The evidence is already out there," she said quietly. "Whatever you do to me, it won't stop what's coming."

Penson looked up, his expression unreadable. "We'll see about that."

Then she was being dragged from the office, back through the beautiful house built on corruption, and toward whatever waited at the mining camp.

But she'd spoken the truth. The samples were safe. The photographs were backed up to the cloud. Her parents knew what she'd been investigating. So did Cole and LSIMT.

Charles Penson might have money, influence, and political connections, but Janice had something more powerful… evidence. And people who wouldn't stop fighting until the truth came out.