THE CAST THAT SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN OPENED

The photograph had been taken from above Emily's bed. Marcus found the camera inside a smoke detector.

It was not hospital equipment.

Ortiz ordered the ICU sealed and reviewed every person who had entered since Emily arrived. Forty-three names appeared on the access log. One belonged to Dr. Adrian Vale, an orthopedic surgeon whose badge had opened the service corridor at 12:41 a.m.

Adrian Vale was Lily's former research director.

He was also the doctor Daniel claimed had treated Emily after her fall.

Security footage showed a man in surgical scrubs walking into the ICU with a mask covering his face. He spent ninety seconds near Emily's room and left carrying nothing. His height and build matched Adrian, but his badge photo was seven years old.

Sarah remembered the message written beneath the cast. LILY VALE. ROOM 614. It could identify a prisoner, a location, or a trap.

Emily's condition worsened. Although the pump had been removed, the poison had already destabilized her heart. Sarah ordered an experimental antibody treatment and explained the risk to Emily when she briefly regained consciousness.

"Do it," Emily murmured.

"I also need to ask about Adrian Vale."

Fear tightened Emily's face. "Lily trusted him."

"Do you?"

"No."

The answer triggered an alarm in the hall. A patient had collapsed two rooms away. Staff rushed toward the code, leaving Emily's corridor briefly thin.

Sarah saw the janitor first.

He pushed a cleaning cart toward Emily's room, but his shoes were polished black leather, not the nonslip pair issued by environmental services. One hand remained hidden beside the cart.

"Stop," Sarah called.

He moved faster.

Marcus stepped between him and the door. The man swung a syringe toward Marcus's neck. Sarah knocked his arm aside with a metal clipboard. The syringe hit the floor and shattered. Ortiz and an officer tackled him before he reached the stairwell.

Under the janitor's shirt, they found a Halcyon security badge. In his pocket was a photograph of Lily, alive, standing beside a window covered in wire mesh.

On the back, someone had written: TRANSFER BEFORE DAWN.

The attacker refused to identify himself. When Ortiz mentioned Daniel, he smiled.

"Mr. Carter does what he is told."

"By whom?"

"Ask the doctor."

His eyes moved toward Sarah.

She felt the entire room turn toward her.

"I have never seen him," she said.

The man laughed. "Not you. The other doctor. The one who chose which patients were worth saving."

Before Ortiz could question him further, he convulsed. A capsule hidden inside a dental crown had released poison into his mouth. Despite immediate treatment, he died within minutes.