Chapter 447: Heathy Child-1

Ian had spoken to Jeremy about Mina's healthy child profile, but it did not exist. Her sister had one, but it did not include a photo, and her test results were all over the place. Ian knew that the file was likely padded, and someone had tampered with the results. Unfortunately, the lead child research specialist who oversaw the area where Mina lived had died of a heart attack in the middle of the project.

Shortly after, the man's assistant, Doctor Bernard Sancho, took over the research, and Ian had a strong feeling that he was the one who tampered with Mina's file. All children registered as Pan citizens, whether they were legitimate, illegitimate, or adopted, had been included in the initiative, and there was no way Mina was the only one to slip through the cracks.

Zane went with Ian to the office where the once Lee family child development specialist was now working. When the healthy child initiative ended, the man set up a small practice where he served low-income families who were struggling to deal with children with developmental or mental health issues. As soon as they entered Dr. Sancho's office the man's face paled. Ian had never met him before, but he could tell the man was nervous.

"I'm assuming you already know why I am here," Ian said, but the doctor feigned ignorance. In response, Ian dropped a file onto the man's desk and the man's eyes shot to a specific drawer. "Open it," Ian ordered. Dr. Sancho pretended not to understand and opened the file on the desk.

Ian had hoped he would not have to resort to violence, but he did not want to waste time with the man. He drew his gun and lightly tapped the locked drawer with it. Dr. Sancho lost his will to rebel and opened the drawer, which held one dusty file folder with two photos attached to it.

Ian picked up the file and brushed the dust away, revealing a picture of Mina's sister who had honey-colored eyes. He then looked at the photo of Mina, who wore a timid expression, unlike her sister who was smiling ear to ear. Other than their eye color, the siblings had barely any similarities, and having seen images of Mina's parents, Ian wondered who she had taken after in appearance. He handed the photos to Zane as he continued to scroll through the file.

Back then, information was handwritten and then manually added into a secure computer later. It was why doctors were vetted multiple times before being brought into the initiative, but obviously some people were able to get around those checks.

"Start talking," Zane ordered. Ian was still flipping through Mina's file, where hundreds of pages of notes were made about her, well into the program's start.

"You people would have destroyed her," Dr. Sancho responded. "She didn't deserve that."

"Do you know what she is doing now?" Ian asked with a hint of malice in his voice, and Dr. Sancho's eyes grew big.

"Is she alive?" Instead of being given an answer, Dr. Sancho was ordered to start his story from the beginning.

"Mina was five when she came into my office, but her parents insisted that she was six. She was calm and quiet, but she always looked scared. I could tell she wanted to ask questions, but she kept her mouth shut." The man went on to tell the story of his first encounter with Mina, which shocked neither Ian nor Zane.

Dr. Sancho remembered Mina as a curious child, but her parents kept her on a tight leash, not allowing her to speak unless she was spoken to, while allowing their older child to run around freely. He had at first believed it was a form of favorites, but later dismissed it when he saw the way the man and woman interacted with their children.

After testing both girls, they were found to be remarkable, but to the lead researcher, the more interesting child was the older one, who showed early signs of manipulative tendencies. When left in a room with other children, Sadie was able to convince them to do things they would not have thought to do. The only child she did not manipulate into failing the assessment was her own sister.

"Dr. Greaves was obsessed with Sadie. He said she showed true leadership qualities but that did not mean he was not fascinated by Mina as well. She was by far the smartest child we worked with, but she was so docile that Dr. Greaves didn't see much of a use for her."

Dr. Sancho continued his story, saying that once Mina had grown comfortable with him, he tested her IQ, and when she scored off the charts, he hid the information; telling himself that if Mina served in any sort of military branch, her gentleness would have been ruined. He added the fact that it was Mina's sister who showed the most promise.

Dr. Sancho recalled his encounters with Sadie, who somehow knew that the longer a child stayed in the program, the more their parents were paid. It was why she forced the other children out, until eventually only ten children were left. Through observation, the doctors had learned about the girl's anger issues, which was mostly triggered in defense of her sister.

"Sadie was scary when she got angry, and the words that came out of her mouth were pure venom." Ian found the man's story hard to believe, but he saw no reason for the man to lie on the dead. "Later Dr. Greaves decided that he needed to take Mina back to a Lee facility."

"And what of her sister?" Ian asked, still not buying the man's story.

"She wanted to have nothing to do with the program, in fact she was downright hostile about it. Anytime we would come to get Mina she would glare at us as if I were the worst person in the world."

"Your story doesn't make sense. Why did you hide Mina's file?" Zane asked.

"You know what his uncle would have done to Mina. Sadie was smart, as soon as she noticed the children around her disappearing, she started to do worse on her exams, but Mina was far too trusting. I couldn't just let her suffer." Ian was grateful to the man for that, because he could not imagine Mina living her life in a cubicle like Terrence.

"Is there anything else?"

"When Mina lost her sister, I deleted her file and removed Sadie's photos from the system. The plan was to have Mina use Sadie's name if anyone ever approached her about the healthy child initiative."

Ian could tell that the man was holding back, and if it were true that he had worked with Mina up until she lost her sister, then that was well past the point where his uncle's program was shamed and ended. Ian pressed his gun to the man's head and started to countdown. Doctor Sancho shut his eyes tightly. The man realized his mistake by mentioning Sadie's death, and he hoped that his words would not get Mina in any trouble.

"I worked with Mina long after the healthy child initiative ended," the doctor added, but Ian continued to count. That was not the information he was looking for. Doctor Sancho's eyes darted between Ian's and Zane's. "He lied!" The man shouted before Ian's count ended. "Dr. Greaves told Mina's parents that she was a danger to them, and that she would eventually kill them. The couple was ignorant, and they believed him. He even seeded the word around the neighborhood and set Mina up to take the blame for severely injuring another child."

Ian thought back to Mina's words to Doctor Witt, and his heart clenched. Her family had been made to believe she was dangerous, and he could only imagine how people must have treated her when the word got around.