Chapter 13 - The Hospital Room With No Windows
Saint Catherine’s east wing had once housed infectious disease patients.
The corridors were narrow, the walls thick, and many rooms had been designed without exterior windows. After renovations, most of the wing became storage.
Room E-17 had become something else.
Daniel, Eleanor, and Agent Vance entered wearing protective coverings. Chloe remained at Whitmore House with Claire, Owen, and Lily.
The room contained a medical chair, restraint straps, monitoring equipment, and a wall of locked cabinets.
Photographs of children covered one board.
Some were infants.
Others appeared to be teenagers.
Dates and blood types were written beneath their faces.
Several photographs carried red lines through them.
“What do the red marks mean?” Eleanor asked.
Vance did not answer immediately.
“Likely failed subjects.”
Eleanor looked away.
On another wall hung corporate charts connecting hospitals, funeral homes, adoption agencies, pharmaceutical laboratories, and private foundations.
The Vale Foundation stood at the center.
But several lines extended upward toward a black circle labeled only C.
“The Chairman,” Daniel said.
Vance photographed everything.
“Victoria was not exaggerating. This network operates in multiple countries.”
“What were they doing with Chloe?” Eleanor asked.
A technician opened the refrigerated cabinet.
Blood samples filled the shelves.
One drawer contained genetic testing reports.
Daniel read the first page.
“Chloe has a rare regenerative marker.”
“What does that mean?”
The technician answered.
“Certain cells in her blood reproduce unusually efficiently. It could make her valuable for experimental treatments.”
Eleanor felt nausea rise.
“They planned to sell her blood?”
“Possibly more than blood.”
Another report referred to bone marrow extraction, tissue compatibility, and long-term harvesting.
Eleanor gripped the edge of the cabinet.
Victoria had not merely planned to kill Chloe.
She planned to erase her identity and keep her alive somewhere no one would look for a dead child.
Daniel understood at the same moment.
“The casket was not only about the trust.”
“No,” Eleanor whispered. “It was a delivery system.”
Vance found a digital access panel on the rear wall.
It required biometric authorization.
The technician tried Victoria’s recovered fingerprints.
Access denied.
Dr. Keller’s identification.
Denied.
Then Eleanor remembered Chloe’s words.
My blood could open a door.
“We need Chloe.”
Daniel shook his head.
“We are not bringing her here.”
“A sample may be enough.”
The hospital still held blood taken during Chloe’s examination that morning.
A technician placed one drop on the panel.
The wall opened.
Behind it was another room.
No windows.
No furniture.
Only a screen and a camera.
The screen activated automatically.
Sophie appeared.
This was the third video.
She looked thinner and more frightened than in the earlier recording.
“If this file has opened,” she said, “then Chloe’s blood has been used.”
Eleanor stepped closer.
Sophie continued.
“The genetic marker in Chloe’s blood comes from Henry Whitmore’s family. Samuel Vale discovered it while reviewing old medical records. He built a private research operation around it.”
Eleanor’s heart pounded.
Henry had died after a long illness diagnosed as aggressive pancreatic cancer. His decline had been unusually rapid.
“Samuel did not act alone,” Sophie said. “The Chairman provided doctors, laboratories, and false identities. Henry was their first Whitmore subject.”
Eleanor’s knees weakened.
Daniel caught her arm.
The video continued.
“Julian does not know everything. He believes Victoria wants the company and the trust. He does not know she has been collecting Chloe’s blood for the Chairman.”
Sophie looked directly into the camera.
“If Chloe is declared dead, do not assume they intend to kill her. They may transport her through a funeral network and keep her alive for years.”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
It had almost happened.
“There is one final warning,” Sophie said. “The Chairman is connected to our family. Henry discovered his identity shortly before he died.”
The video distorted.
Sophie’s next words were broken by static.
“The Chairman is Eleanor’s…”
The screen went black.
Daniel swore.
Vance called the technician.
“Recover the damaged section.”
“I’ll try.”
An alarm sounded.
Red lights flashed above the door.
The screen displayed a countdown.
03:00.
02:59.
02:58.
“Bomb,” Daniel said.
They ran.
Hospital security began evacuating the wing.
Eleanor reached the corridor as an explosion tore through E-17.
The blast threw them against the wall.
Smoke filled the passage.
Daniel pulled Eleanor toward the service stairs.
Behind them, the hidden room collapsed in flames.
The third video was gone.
But Vance’s team had recorded most of it externally.
Most.
Not the missing word identifying the Chairman.
Outside the hospital, Eleanor sat in an ambulance while a medic examined a cut on her forehead.
Daniel stood nearby, covered in dust.
Vance approached with a recovered fragment of the genetic report.
“There’s another problem.”
Eleanor looked up.
“What?”
“The compatibility study does not list Chloe as the only primary subject.”
Vance handed her the page.
Two identification numbers appeared beneath the heading.
SUBJECT C. WHITMORE.
SUBJECT E. WHITMORE.
Eleanor stared at the second name.
“There is no E. Whitmore.”
Daniel looked over her shoulder.
May you like
Vance spoke carefully.
“According to the genetic data, Chloe has a sibling.”
