Chapter 10 - The Empty Hospital Bed
The armed guard outside Rowe’s room had no memory of opening the door.
Security footage showed him standing motionless for forty-seven seconds while Rowe walked past in a stolen medical coat.
The guard’s blood test later revealed a fast-acting sedative.
Someone inside the military medical facility had helped Rowe escape.
Mara watched the footage twice.
“He can barely walk,” Trent said. “He didn’t plan this alone.”
Agent Price entered the room carrying an authorization packet.
“The warrant is approved. Tactical team is assembling.”
“How long until deployment?”
“Forty minutes.”
Mara showed him Nadia’s scheduled message.
Price read it carefully.
“Do not trust the person who brings General Rowe back.”
“Rowe appeared immediately after Nadia was taken.”
“You think he arranged the van escape?”
“I don’t know.”
“He was wounded.”
“A wound does not prove innocence.”
Trent crossed his arms.
“He gave us Vale Memorial.”
“Which could be a trap.”
Price looked at the map.
“We still have evidence the facility is active.”
“Then we go,” Mara said. “But we assume Rowe may be compromised.”
Captain Cho called from the hospital garage.
“I found something in Rowe’s abandoned clothing.”
He arrived ten minutes later carrying a sealed evidence bag.
Inside was a small white badge.
The same style worn by the hospital administrators and the false federal investigators.
“Room access badge,” Cho said. “Encoded for Vale Memorial.”
Mara examined the back.
There was a handwritten number.
614.
Room 614 again.
Reyes scanned the badge.
“It has a passive tracking chip.”
“Can we trace its history?”
“Possibly.”
She connected it to a laptop.
The access log showed repeated use at St. Catherine, Vale Memorial, and three government buildings.
The most recent access occurred twenty minutes earlier.
Vale Memorial.
Rowe had gone there.
“Either he is trying to reach Nadia,” Trent said, “or he is returning to the people he works for.”
Mara studied the earlier access dates.
One stood out.
The badge had entered Fort Bellamy on the same day her audit request was delayed.
Another entry showed access to Novaris Defense the night before Nadia was taken.
A third entry occurred at a private residence registered to Vivienne Vale.
The badge connected every major location.
But it did not identify who carried it.
Price’s tactical commander entered.
“We leave in five minutes.”
The team traveled in unmarked vehicles to the abandoned railway east of Vale Memorial.
Rain had begun falling when they arrived.
Through the trees, Mara saw the remains of the old hospital.
The upper floors were blackened from the fire nineteen years earlier. Broken windows faced the woods like empty eyes.
But the ground level had new security lights.
Fresh tire tracks crossed the mud.
The tactical team divided into two groups.
Agent Price led the main entry.
Mara joined the east-side team with Trent and Reyes.
Captain Cho monitored communications from the command vehicle.
They approached a metal service door beneath the old laundry wing.
Reyes used the white badge.
The lock opened.
Inside, the abandoned hospital was warm.
Power ran through recently installed conduits. Cameras had been mounted behind old ceiling fixtures.
Mara moved past rusted carts and covered furniture.
A sign on the wall pointed toward patient rooms.
Another pointed toward records.
Then she heard a voice through the ventilation system.
“Mom.”
Mara stopped.
“Nadia?”
The voice returned, faint and distorted.
“If you hear me, don’t come downstairs.”
Trent looked toward the speaker.
“It could be a recording.”
Mara pressed the communication button on her vest.
“Price, did your team hear that?”
Only static answered.
Their radio connection had been blocked.
The lights behind them shut off one section at a time.
Reyes checked the service door.
It had locked.
A new voice came through the speakers.
General Rowe.
“Mara, you need to leave.”
“Where is Nadia?”
“Vivienne has her below the west wing.”
“Are you working with her?”
“No.”
“Nadia warned me not to trust you.”
A pause followed.
“She was right.”
The floor beneath Trent opened without warning.
He fell through the darkness.
Mara grabbed his arm before he disappeared.
Reyes caught Mara’s vest and pulled backward.
Below them was a deep maintenance shaft.
Trent hung over it with one hand gripping Mara’s wrist.
As Reyes helped pull him to safety, Rowe’s voice returned.
“I brought you here because Lighthouse wanted you inside.”
The speakers clicked off.
At the end of the corridor, a steel door opened.
May you like
Nadia stood beyond it.
Caleb Mercer held a gun against her side.
