SAMMY HAD CRIED FOR DAYS AFTER hearing what happened to Xavier Carter on the evening news. Watching that people were celebrating Carter’s demise was just revolting in every way to her. This was something they had both feared, which was why Xavier took many precautions and made back-ups to his back up plans. About a week after the incident in Washington, Sam gathered herself up and packed for her trip. She got into her car and drove to a specific airport as instructed by Carter. She was told to be there at a specific time to meet with someone, but he never really told her who. She left most of her luggage in the car and took only one bag with her into the airport. She didn’t buy a ticket but instead went downstairs to the arrivals gate and pretended to be waiting for someone to arrive. There were a lot of people waiting in the terminal, so she blended right in with them. Carter even asked her to hold up a sign, so she’d stick out and she did exactly as he instructed. Sammy was standing at the gates, holding a sign and hoping that the person she was waiting for would show up and not make her look like a fool. About fifteen minutes after the exact time Sammy was supposed to meet someone there, she was finally approached. She looked up at him with a shocked look on her face, and she would have run but was too scared to move.
“What are you doing here?” She asked him.
“Well, that’s an odd question to ask,” The man replied, “Considering that you’re holding a sign with my name on it.”
Sammy paused for a moment. “You’re Bruce?”
Bruce Kern had flown in from Virginia and smiled as he offered Sam his hand. “It’s nice to see you again, Sammy.”
Sammy didn’t know what to say. This was the very same FBI agent that had tried to apprehend them in Connecticut during the Smallpox outbreak, and the man who had saved them from the thug that tried to kill them at the hospital. Now he was standing before her, the guy Carter had sent to meet her.
“I think I need a drink,” Sammy declared.
“That’s a good idea,” Bruce concurred as he walked with her to the nearest bar.
They ordered a few drinks and found a table where they could have a little privacy. The television near them was showing a college football game so the noise from it drowned out their conversation. Bruce only had a single bag with him, which he set down beside Sammy’s.
“How much time do we have?” Sammy asked.
“My connection departs in a few hours,” Bruce informed her, “I’m going to spend a few days at my sister’s house and see how she’s doing. After that I’m going to fly off to where my new station is.”
“How is your sister doing?” Sammy inquired.
“She’s made a full recovery,” Bruce informed her, “But I’m sure you already knew that was going to happen.”
“Well, that same serum took care of my tumors,” Sammy confessed, “Xavier told me that his cure had already worked on this kind of cancer before. I was more than confident it would save your sister.”
“Words cannot express how grateful I am,” Bruce added, “There are three kids that are not going to lose their mother, and two relieved parents who don’t have to bury their daughter. In return for that miracle, I’m here to help Carter’s plan succeed.”
“I believe you,” Sammy replied.
“This serum can save many other people who are suffering like my sister,” Bruce said, slowly nursing his drink. “We need to make sure it goes public.”
“I still can’t believe he’s dead.” Sammy said, ready to cry again.
“Xavier knew it would never be over until they silenced him.” Bruce reminded her, “He had to put on a good show to assure the people chasing him that the chase was over and make it convincing enough to let them believe they had won.”
“Seems like too high a price to pay,” Sammy muttered.
“I agree,” Bruce said, “But Carter was thinking big picture. By the time the bitch and her scientists realize the stuff they took stole from him at the garage is fake, the real serum will already be in the right hands.”
What everyone was unaware of was just after Bruce had given his sister the serum, Carter called him first before calling Tony to start setting up his surrender. The plan was to let Audrey or her goons, whoever showed up that day get away with the fake package he was going to try to give to Tony when he surrendered. Even if no one attacked him at the parking lot, Carter was confident someone would try to take him out while in custody, or the fake serum would conveniently disappear from the evidence lockers. Either way, Xavier wanted to make it look like his attempt to surrender the serum to the FBI was a complete failure. It took Carter little time to make up a fake serum that would take their labs weeks to authenticate, and that would buy them all the time they needed. The real serum was going to be delivered to two different medical institutions on opposite ends of the Earth. Bruce was going to deliver one package to an ex-colleague of Carter’s in France while Samantha was going to fly the other to New Zealand in case the first doesn’t make it to its desired destination.
Bruce had asked the Bureau for a transfer after what happened to Tony in the garage. Given their successful apprehension of Carter and the massive cover up in progress, Bruce knew he would be allowed to ask for any assignment he wanted and took full advantage of it. Delivering the Serum to France for Carter was the least he could do, given the fact that his sister was saved by the man.
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“When do you fly out for New Zealand?” Bruce asked her.
“I’m actually not going straight there,” Sam answered, “I’m going to fly to three different countries and spend a week in each one. I have four different passports made up to give people the slip. At certain points I’m going to fly out under a different name and then retrace my steps on the way back. In the end it will look like I spent the entire three weeks in Hawaii, which is not that hard to believe. So, even if someone figures out that I’m involved, they will all assume that I dropped the Serum off there and not in another country.”
“Carter really left no stone unturned for this plan,” Bruce said, as while part of him thought it was overkill, but another knew it was the way to go. “I don’t foresee any problems getting my package to France.”
“How come?” Sammy inquired.
“If anyone gives me a hassle,” Bruce responded, “I can flash my new credentials and call my supervisors. They don’t even have the right to search my bags because my new position is with the Embassy, another of Carter’s bright ideas. My new position included diplomatic immunity, which means they can’t even search my bags. If any non-official resistance gets in my way, I have my own ways of removing them from the equation.”
“What about the people that did all those bad things?” Sam inquired, “They killed a lot of people trying to get to Carter. When are they going to get what they have coming to them?”
“Sooner than you think,” Bruce said with a smile. “I spoke with Tony before I left, and he was a little upset with my new position. He honestly believes I’m running away but has no idea why I’m really going to France. He would understand if he knew what plans we have in motion here.”
“So, better to ask for forgiveness than permission?” Sammy asked.
“Pretty much,” Bruce confirmed.
“He’ll get over,” Sammy said, taking the last sip of her glass. “Once the serum is delivered, I think he’ll love that it’s not in the hands of those evil pricks.”
“Oh, I’m sure he’ll be delighted when the truth comes out,” Bruce agreed, “We just need to keep everyone else in the dark for the time being.”
“What is Tony doing now?” Sammy asked.
“He’s been keeping himself busy,” Bruce answered, “But my gut tells me Tony is going to pursue the people who are responsible for what happened in the garage. Given that they’re also responsible for the limp he’s carrying, Special Agent D is properly motivated. I believe we’ll be seeing them do a handcuff shuffle in front of the cameras sooner rather than later.”
“Thanks,” Sammy said, smiling at the thought. “Picturing that makes me feel a little bit better.”
Bruce stood up to go but instead of picking up his own bag, he took the bag Sammy had put down beside his own. This was the sole reason they were at this airport in the first place. Sammy had driven for over a day to meet him at this airport and make the handoff that could change the world.
“This package is in good hands,” Bruce informed her, “I will make sure Carter’s work carries on, and that more people are saved by his cure.”
“Thank you,” Sammy said, as she stood up and gave Bruce a big hug.
“I’m the one who should be thanking you,” Bruce reminded her, “You and Carter did the impossible for me, and I will make sure my sister isn’t the last person to benefit from this amazing breakthrough. This cure will change lives and bring down the industry and depends on making us suffer.”
“Now it will be their turn to suffer,” Sammy said, in full agreement.
“Let them go under,” Bruce concurred, “They deserve nothing less.”
“Good luck, Bruce,” Sammy said, hoping success for his journey.
“To you as well, Samantha,” Bruce replied, “We’ll do it for Carter, and the ultimate sacrifice me made for the human race even if no one ever finds out what he did for them.”
“Given the choice he’s prefer results over credit,” Sammy said, “Making that cure changed him in more ways than one. It made him a real doctor who was willing to do anything to save a person, even if it meant burning down the industry.”
“It’s still going to burn,” Bruce reminded her, “And we’re lighting the match.”
“Bon Voyage,” Sammy said, as that was the only French she knew.
“To you as well,” Bruce said.
Sammy watched as Bruce strolled out of the bar back into the terminal to walk over to the gate where his connection was leaving. She took his bag and walked out of the airport to start the long drive back to her own city. A week later, Sammy would make her trip to Hawaii to start her own adventure.
Bruce was true to his word and delivered the serum and Carter’s work to the doctors in France less than two weeks later. A little over a year after delivering the serum to a medical institution of Carter’s choosing, that same institution would announce to the world the medical breakthrough of the millennium. A serum that could mutate to combat most illnesses that plague humanity and cure people rather than just treat them repeatedly. That same medical institution would also reveal that most of the work and the creation of this cure was done by the late Dr. Xavier Carter. The release of his name came with the true account of why he was really being hunted down, and they let the result of his work verify his legacy rather than the propaganda that had been smearing him for years. Carter’s cure would change the world as diseases that people thought they had to live with were cured in mere days. Upon learning about his discovery investigations into his manhunt were held, as countless corrupt officials were exposed, and arrests were eventually made.
A year after the amazing release of what the industry was calling “Carter’s Cure”, a thankful Senator is sworn in as the next President of the United States. The first pardon his administration issued that same day was for the late Doctor Carter. By then millions of people had been cured, major outbreaks were all coming to an end, and pharmaceutical companies were losing their best products as cancer patients no longer needed treatments that were almost as painful as death itself. Some companies managed to adjust and pivot to survive while many companies were unable to recover and quickly went bankrupt.
Despite the way he was treated before his passing, people would start to look back at Xavier Carter as a doctor that risked everything to change the world. A man who sacrificed everything to make sure his work wasn’t swept under a rug by people who wanted to make billions off people’s suffering rather than let them be cured. A man whose work finally put a spotlight on the greed and corruption of the pharmaceutical industry through the discovery of the last thing they ever wanted released into their market. A cure that put the patient before profits and ended the suffering that was being tolerated in favor of the almighty dollar. Carter’s sacrifice would forever been seen as a beacon of hope for doctors whose medical field would never be the same, and that was a good thing. That serum was a legacy and a cure that was worth dying for.
The End