Chapter 2 - THE CAMERA INSIDE ROOM 914
Daniel did not announce what he had received.
That was instinct.
Information was safest when the enemy did not know you possessed it.
He studied the photograph one more time.
The angle was elevated.
Approximately nine feet above the floor.
Slight downward perspective.
The image showed his left profile, Lily’s bed, Torres beside the door, and part of Reed’s shoulder.
Daniel followed the geometry with his eyes.
Smoke detector.
Air vent.
Television mount.
Ceiling camera housing used for patient observation.
His gaze stopped.
A small dark dome sat above the medical supply cabinet.
“Does this room have remote patient monitoring?” Daniel asked.
The nurse answered too quickly.
“Yes.”
Torres turned toward her.
“For what?”
“Fall prevention. Some rooms have cameras.”
“Does this patient require fall monitoring?”
The nurse looked toward unconscious Lily.
“No.”
Daniel stared at the camera.
“Who enabled it?”
“I don’t know.”
Reed pulled a chair beneath it.
Daniel stopped him.
“Don’t touch it.”
Reed looked down.
Daniel held up his phone.
“Someone is watching.”
Torres drew closer.
“We can have hospital security trace the feed.”
“No.”
Daniel pointed toward the nurse.
“Call whoever manages these cameras. Tell them nothing unusual happened. Tell them the room remains occupied.”
The nurse hesitated.
Torres watched her closely.
“What’s your name?”
“Melissa Grant.”
“Melissa, do exactly what Mr. Walker requested.”
Grant looked offended.
“I don’t work for him.”
Torres opened her credential wallet.
“Tonight you’re cooperating with me.”
Grant left reluctantly.
Daniel waited until the door shut.
“Run her.”
Torres raised an eyebrow.
“You think she’s involved?”
“I think she was frightened before Reed identified the bag.”
“That could mean she realized a patient almost died.”
“It could.”
Daniel glanced at the door.
“Run her anyway.”
Reed stepped closer to Lily.
His entire demeanor changed when he looked at her.
He was no longer the operations officer who had once coordinated extractions under missile fire.
He was Uncle Reed.
Lily had called him that since she was four.
“You should have called me earlier,” he said quietly.
Daniel looked at his daughter.
“I thought it was a campus assault.”
“And now?”
“Now someone tried to finish it.”
Reed clenched his jaw.
“Any chance the kids did this?”
“No.”
“You’re certain?”
“No.”
Daniel looked toward the hallway.
“But Ethan was genuinely surprised by the IV.”
“He could be acting.”
“Ethan Cole has spent his life being protected from consequences. Men like that rarely learn acting.”
Torres returned to the doorway.
“I’ve got something.”
She held her tablet toward Daniel.
“Melissa Grant. Thirty-eight. Registered nurse. Twelve years here. No criminal history. No obvious financial issues.”
Daniel waited.
Torres scrolled.
“But six months ago her husband’s construction company received a subcontract worth eight hundred thousand dollars.”
“From?”
“Whitmore Urban Development.”
Tyler’s family.
Reed muttered something unpleasant.
Daniel remained still.
“Doesn’t prove anything.”
“No.”
Torres continued.
“But it gives us a reason to look.”
Daniel pointed at Lily’s damaged phone.
“Start there.”
Torres put on gloves and picked it up.
The screen had been shattered.
Tyler had tossed it onto Lily’s chest as if it were garbage.
“What if they already wiped it?”
“Lily backs up everything.”
“To cloud storage?”
Daniel shook his head.
“My daughter doesn’t trust clouds.”
Reed almost smiled.
“You taught her well.”
“I taught her enough to make her annoying.”
The memory hit harder than Daniel expected.
Lily at thirteen, standing in his kitchen after modifying the family router password and locking him out.
Lily at sixteen, accusing him of checking the oil in her car too frequently.
Lily at eighteen, refusing to let him carry boxes into her college dorm because she did not want everyone thinking she was “the girl with the giant terrifying dad.”
She had hugged him for six full seconds before walking inside.
Daniel remembered because he counted.
He had always counted.
Now she lay unconscious because he had believed distance would give her a normal life.
Reed placed a hand on Daniel’s shoulder.
“We’ll get them.”
Daniel did not look at him.
“I don’t want them.”
Reed frowned.
“I want the system around them.”
Outside, one of the black SUVs pulled away.
Torres noticed.
“That’s our mobile surveillance team. Ethan’s leaving.”
Daniel nodded.
“Who did he call?”
“His father first. Then attorney Malcolm Pierce.”
Daniel knew the name.
“Cole family counsel.”
“Correct.”
“Brandon?”
“His father’s chief of staff.”
“Tyler?”
Torres looked at the tablet.
“Nobody.”
Daniel turned.
“Nobody?”
“No outgoing calls.”
Daniel finally looked interested.
“Track him.”
Torres exhaled.
“I cannot unlawfully track a civilian without legal authority.”
Daniel met her gaze.
“I didn’t ask you to.”
Reed took out his phone.
Torres pointed at him.
“And neither can your retired friends.”
Reed put the phone away.
“Terrible country.”
Torres almost smiled.
Daniel did not.
“What happened the night Lily was injured?”
Torres opened another file.
“At 11:38 p.m. emergency services received a call from University House Delta. Caller reported a female student had fallen down exterior stairs after drinking.”
“My daughter doesn’t drink.”
“Blood alcohol test was negative.”
Daniel’s eyes hardened.
“So police knew.”
“Yes.”
“And still called it an accidental fall?”
“Initial responding officer noted conflicting witness statements. Campus security then provided video allegedly showing Lily entering the stairwell alone.”
“Allegedly?”
“The original footage file is missing.”
Reed glanced at Daniel.
“Convenient.”
Torres continued.
“Three witnesses gave statements. Ethan Cole said Lily confronted them about an offensive joke and became aggressive. Brandon Hale said she tried to strike Ethan. Tyler Whitmore said he didn’t see the fall.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“And her roommate?”
“Maya Chen. Nineteen. Biomedical engineering student.”
“Missing.”
“Her parents say she called them at 2:14 the morning after Lily’s hospitalization. She sounded frightened and said she was coming home.”
“But never arrived.”
“No.”
“Phone?”
“Off.”
“Car?”
“Found at a bus terminal.”
Daniel considered it.
“What did Maya tell police?”
“She was never formally interviewed.”
“Why?”
“Campus police claim they couldn’t locate her.”
Daniel slowly looked toward Lily.
“She was standing beside Lily when the ambulance arrived.”
Torres nodded.
“You already knew.”
“I spoke to a paramedic.”
Torres stared.
“You’ve been investigating this yourself.”
“I’m her father.”
“That is not what I meant.”
Daniel finally faced her.
“What did you think I would do?”
She did not answer.
Daniel stepped closer.
“You looked me up before coming upstairs.”
“Of course.”
“You found the classified gaps.”
“Yes.”
“You found enough old decorations and vague government language to understand there are things you cannot access.”
“Yes.”
“So you’re wondering whether I called people who still operate outside normal channels.”
Torres did not flinch.
“Did you?”
Daniel held up the encrypted phone.
“I pressed a button on equipment I was told had been permanently decommissioned.”
“And three black SUVs appeared.”
“I’m as interested in that as you are.”
That answer bothered her.
Daniel could see it.
Because it meant Ghost had not been sleeping.
Someone had maintained it.
Someone had waited for Daniel Walker to reactivate it.
Reed’s phone buzzed.
He checked the screen.
“Daniel.”
“What?”
“Tyler Whitmore just entered the parking garage.”
Torres glared.
“I told you not to track him.”
“I didn’t.”
“Then how do you know?”
Reed held up the screen.
“Hospital garage plate reader.”
Torres paused.
“Why do you have access?”
“I don’t.”
Reed showed Daniel.
A message had appeared from an anonymous encrypted sender.
WHITMORE. LEVEL B3. ALONE.
Daniel’s encrypted phone vibrated almost immediately afterward.
A second message.
YOU HAVE FOUR MINUTES.
Daniel headed toward the door.
Torres blocked him.
“No.”
“Move.”
“You do not chase anonymous messages into parking structures.”
“I’m not chasing.”
“Then what are you doing?”
Daniel looked at the countdown that had appeared beneath the message.
03:42.
“Finding out what happens in four minutes.”
Torres swore.
“I’m coming.”
Reed followed.
Daniel stopped at Lily’s bed.
He leaned close enough to touch his forehead against hers without disturbing the bandages.
“I’ll be back.”
No response.
Daniel stood.
The three of them entered the elevator.
The doors closed.
Level B3 was nearly empty.
Cold fluorescent lights buzzed overhead.
Concrete pillars cast long shadows across parked vehicles.
Daniel exited first.
Torres kept one hand beneath her jacket near her weapon.
Reed scanned the ceiling.
Tyler Whitmore stood beside a silver Mercedes forty yards away.
He was arguing with someone.
A man in a dark baseball cap.
Daniel raised a hand.
Wait.
They remained partially hidden behind a concrete support.
Tyler’s voice echoed.
“You said nobody knew!”
The other man answered too quietly to hear.
Tyler shoved him.
“I’m not going to prison for Ethan.”
The man caught his arm.
Tyler pulled away.
“I did what you told me. We scared her. That was it.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
Torres looked at him.
They heard the next sentence clearly.
“I never agreed to kill Lily.”
Daniel stepped from behind the pillar.
“Tyler.”
Both men turned.
The man in the cap ran.
Reed went after him.
Torres sprinted toward Tyler.
Daniel moved directly to the young man.
Tyler backed into the Mercedes.
“Stay away from me.”
Daniel stopped six feet away.
“You said you never agreed to kill my daughter.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You said you scared her.”
Tyler shook his head.
“I want a lawyer.”
“You’ll get one.”
Daniel’s voice remained remarkably calm.
“But Maya Chen is missing.”
Tyler’s face changed.
Daniel saw it.
“You know where she is.”
“No.”
“You do.”
“No!”
Daniel moved one step closer.
Tyler panicked.
“They took her!”
Torres stopped.
“Who?”
Tyler’s breathing became ragged.
“I don’t know.”
Daniel stared into his eyes.
Tyler was terrified.
“They told us it was a prank,” Tyler said. “Just embarrass Lily. Record it. Make her stop asking questions.”
“What questions?”
Tyler glanced around the garage.
“I can’t.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“My daughter has a broken jaw.”
“I didn’t hit her.”
“Who did?”
Tyler’s eyes filled with tears.
That surprised Daniel.
“It wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“Who hit her?”
“Ethan.”
Daniel absorbed it without visibly reacting.
“And Brandon?”
“He filmed.”
“And you?”
“I blocked the door.”
The confession hung in the air.
Torres took a slow breath.
“Tyler, you need to stop speaking until I advise you of your rights.”
Tyler shook his head violently.
“No, you don’t understand. The police are part of it.”
Daniel’s gaze narrowed.
“Which police?”
Tyler opened his mouth.
A sharp crack echoed through the garage.
Tyler jerked.
For a fraction of a second he looked confused.
Then blood appeared on his shoulder.
“Down!”
Daniel slammed Tyler behind the Mercedes as a second suppressed shot shattered the passenger window.
Torres drew her weapon.
Reed shouted from somewhere beyond the concrete columns.
“Shooter east ramp!”
Daniel pressed his hand against Tyler’s wound.
The bullet had entered high.
Not immediately fatal.
Tyler gasped.
“They found me.”
“Stay awake.”
“They know.”
“Who knows?”
Tyler grabbed Daniel’s uniform.
His fingers trembled.
“Lily found the ledger.”
Daniel froze.
“What ledger?”
Tyler’s eyes rolled.
“The Sentinel Ledger.”
A third gunshot sparked against concrete.
Daniel dragged him lower.
“What is Sentinel?”
Tyler stared at him.
May you like
“You are.”
Then he lost consciousness.
