Chapter 7 - Room 614
The east service door opened at exactly 1:10 a.m.
Captain Cho had copied an access credential from a legitimate maintenance contractor. Lieutenant Reyes disabled the contact alarm for ninety seconds.
Mara, Trent, and Agent Price entered first.
They wore plain clothes beneath lightweight protective vests. Cho remained outside to monitor security communications.
The corridor smelled of antiseptic and old concrete.
At the first intersection, Reyes pointed toward a security camera.
“Reset cycle is ending.”
They moved into a supply room before the camera returned online.
Through the narrow glass panel, Mara saw two hospital orderlies pushing a bed toward the freight elevator.
A young woman lay beneath a gray blanket.
Mara’s heart stopped for one second.
“Nadia.”
Trent reached for the door.
Mara caught his arm.
One of the orderlies wore a white badge.
The other carried no hospital identification at all.
Agent Price whispered, “We follow them.”
The freight elevator descended.
Reyes connected a device to the service panel.
“Lower private level.”
They took the stairs.
At the bottom, the security door had been left open.
Beyond it lay a quiet medical corridor with no patient names, room numbers, or windows. Every door required an electronic key.
The orderlies pushed Nadia’s bed toward the far end.
Then a woman stepped from a side room.
Vivienne Vale.
Mara had seen her photograph in newspapers and military charity reports. Vivienne had funded veterans’ programs, hospital renovations, and scholarships for military families.
She had once stood beside General Rowe at a ceremony honoring wounded soldiers.
Now she touched Nadia’s forehead as if comforting a child.
“She still hasn’t signed?” Vivienne asked.
“No,” one orderly said.
“Then the next facility can persuade her.”
Mara started forward.
Agent Price held her back.
“We need to know where they are taking her.”
Mara’s eyes remained on Nadia.
“She may not survive another transfer.”
“We do not know her condition.”
“I do.”
Nadia’s right hand was hanging over the side of the bed.
Her fingers moved in a repeated pattern.
Three taps.
Pause.
Two taps.
Pause.
Three taps.
A signal Mara had taught her when she was a child.
I am awake.
Mara watched carefully.
Nadia’s fingers moved again.
Do not act.
Nadia knew her mother was nearby.
Mara did not understand how, but she trusted the warning.
Vivienne walked beside the bed as the orderlies pushed it through another secure door.
The team followed from a distance.
The door opened into an underground vehicle bay. A private medical van waited with its engine running.
Caleb Mercer stood near the rear doors.
Beside him was Dr. Simon Keel.
Caleb handed Vivienne a folder.
“We have another problem,” he said. “General Rowe is alive.”
Vivienne’s expression turned cold.
“Where?”
“Room 614.”
Mara exchanged a look with Price.
The message had been accurate.
“What does he know?” Vivienne asked.
“Enough to destroy the hospital.”
“Then why is he still alive?”
“Because he encrypted the master ledger. We need the code.”
Vivienne looked toward Nadia.
“And you believe the girl has it?”
“Her access logs show she opened Rowe’s private archive three days before the transfer.”
Mara felt a surge of confusion.
Nadia had never mentioned contacting Rowe.
Vivienne opened the van door.
“Move her.”
Nadia suddenly rolled from the bed.
She hit the floor, pulled the hidden phone from beneath the blanket, and threw it beneath the van.
Caleb shouted.
One of the orderlies grabbed Nadia’s arm.
Mara stepped from the shadows.
“Release her.”
Every person in the vehicle bay froze.
Nadia looked up.
“Mom.”
Vivienne recovered first.
“Colonel Harrison. You were told to come alone.”
“I was also told my daughter signed herself into your hospital.”
Mara glanced at the forged identification band.
“It appears your instructions are unreliable.”
Caleb moved toward the emergency exit.
Agent Price stepped into his path and displayed his badge.
“Federal agent. Do not move.”
Dr. Keel raised both hands.
Vivienne remained calm.
“You entered a restricted medical facility without a warrant.”
Price produced a folded document.
“We have one.”
For the first time, Vivienne’s confidence weakened.
Then a gunshot echoed from the corridor behind them.
The overhead lights shattered.
In the darkness, the van engine roared.
Mara reached for Nadia.
Someone struck her from behind.
When the emergency lights came on, the van was gone.
So was Nadia.
On the floor where the vehicle had been stood General Elias Rowe.
His hospital gown was stained with blood from a wound near his shoulder, but he was conscious.
May you like
He looked at Mara and spoke one sentence.
“Your daughter took the ledger.”
