Chapter 6 - The General Who Vanished
Mara refused to follow the instruction to come alone.
Instead, she assembled the smallest team she trusted.
Major Trent.
Captain Cho.
Lieutenant Sofia Reyes, a military intelligence officer with experience in medical procurement fraud.
And Special Agent Owen Price, a federal investigator recommended by Captain Cho.
They met inside an abandoned logistics office near the city airport.
Agent Price spread several documents across a steel table.
“The emergency infrastructure fund was established four years ago,” he said. “Authorized budget was two hundred million dollars.”
Mara nodded.
“It financed repairs at military clinics, secure communications upgrades, and emergency care facilities.”
“According to official records, every dollar was properly assigned.”
“But it wasn’t.”
“No. Forty-eight million was sent to subcontractors that either do not exist or share registration information with Vale Health Services.”
Lieutenant Reyes pointed to one company name.
“Northlight Research Group.”
Mara recognized it.
“Northlight advised General Rowe’s office.”
“Exactly,” Price said. “The company’s legal owner died nine years ago.”
Major Trent looked at the documents.
“Who continued operating it?”
“That is what we are trying to determine.”
Captain Cho placed a hospital floor plan on the table.
“St. Catherine’s private wing has two secure levels not shown on public plans. One is used for wealthy patients requiring anonymity. The other is listed as administrative storage.”
“Nadia’s photograph was taken on the lower secure level,” Mara said.
“How can you tell?” Reyes asked.
“The wall panel behind her is part of an older oxygen system. It was installed before the private wing was renovated.”
Cho studied the plan.
“There are only two ways into that level. Main elevator and east service corridor.”
“Both monitored,” Trent said.
“Not all the time.”
Cho showed them a maintenance schedule.
“Every night at 1:10 a.m., the east corridor camera system resets for ninety seconds.”
Price looked at him.
“That is an unusual design flaw.”
“It isn’t a flaw,” Mara said. “It is an access window.”
Price’s phone rang.
He stepped away to answer it.
Mara studied the photograph of General Rowe.
Elias Rowe had known her for fifteen years. He had mentored her after her husband died, supported her promotion, and treated Nadia like family.
If he had built the laundering system, then Mara had spent years trusting the wrong man.
But something about the message bothered her.
The handwriting was careful and evenly spaced.
Too deliberate.
It was meant to create doubt, not communicate information.
Agent Price returned.
“We found Rowe’s vehicle.”
“Where?”
“Abandoned near the river.”
“Any sign of him?”
“Blood on the driver’s seat.”
Mara’s face remained still.
“Amount?”
“Not enough to confirm a serious injury. His phone and wallet were inside.”
Major Trent looked toward the door.
“They want us to believe he was taken.”
“Or killed,” Reyes said.
Mara picked up the photo again.
“What if Rowe knew Nadia found the transfers?”
Price frowned.
“You think he tried to help her?”
“I think he delayed my audit request because he was afraid our internal system was compromised.”
“Then why didn’t he tell you?”
“Because he did not know who to trust.”
Mara turned the photograph over.
The message had been written with a black felt-tip pen.
She held it beneath the desk lamp.
Near the corner was a faint indentation, as if another page had been written on top of it.
Reyes handed her a pencil.
Mara lightly shaded the surface.
A second message emerged.
Not the full words, only partial impressions.
ROOM 614.
TRUST NO WHITE BADGES.
PRICE looked at Agent Price.
“White badges?” he asked.
Mara remembered Aaron Pike and the false investigators in the parking structure.
Their identification clips had been white.
St. Catherine executives also wore white badges.
“Room 614 is not listed on the public hospital map,” Cho said.
“It exists,” Mara replied. “Nadia was born at St. Catherine. The original maternity wing was on the sixth floor. Room 614 was a records office.”
Trent checked his watch.
“The camera reset begins in forty-two minutes.”
Mara placed the photograph inside her jacket.
“We enter through the service corridor.”
Price blocked her path.
“The people inside know you are coming.”
“They expect me to come alone.”
“And when they realize you didn’t?”
Mara looked at the photograph of her daughter.
“They will move Nadia.”
Captain Cho’s phone vibrated.
He read the message and looked up sharply.
“The hospital just issued a transfer order for Nora Harris.”
May you like
Mara understood immediately.
“They are moving her now.”
