Chapter 12 - The Person Behind the Camera
The suite lights went dark.
Emergency lighting glowed along the floor, turning everyone into shadows.
The investigator tapped his tablet.
“I have lost access to the security network.”
Dr. Shaw knelt beside Khloe.
“The baby’s heartbeat is still strong, but we need to move her now.”
The doors would not open.
The hospital security officers tried their radios.
Only static answered.
Marcus stared at the message on his phone.
Khloe watched him.
“You know who sent that.”
“No.”
“You are lying.”
Marcus looked genuinely shaken.
“I know what they are capable of. I do not know which one of them is here.”
“One of who?”
Before he answered, the television switched on.
A live camera feed showed Noah standing in the upper corridor beside Owen Price.
Owen held a gun low against his side.
Isabella moved toward the staircase.
Marcus blocked her.
“If you go up, Owen will panic.”
“He took Noah.”
“He is following orders.”
“Whose orders?”
Marcus said nothing.
A distorted voice came through the television.
“Marcus Vale failed to protect the network.”
Marcus looked at the screen.
The voice continued.
“He allowed Thomas Arden’s daughter to discover restricted records. He allowed Isabella Laurent to access the archive. He allowed the hidden heir to learn his identity.”
Noah looked directly into the corridor camera.
“Khloe, do not give them the recorder.”
Owen struck him across the shoulder and pulled him out of view.
Isabella screamed his name.
The screen changed.
A list of financial accounts appeared. One by one, they were emptied.
Marcus rushed toward the tablet.
“My accounts.”
The investigator looked at him in disbelief.
“You are worried about money?”
“That money funds safe houses, legal teams, medical facilities.”
“Prisons,” Isabella said.
Marcus turned on her.
“You think your mother survives without those facilities?”
“She survives despite them.”
The distorted voice returned.
“Bring the Arden evidence to Suite 14 before sunrise. Marcus must come alone.”
Khloe looked at the clock.
They had less than two hours.
“Who is in Suite 14?” she asked.
Dr. Shaw’s face changed.
“It has been sealed for years.”
“Why?”
“A patient died there during the original maternity wing opening.”
“Which patient?”
Dr. Shaw opened an offline medical directory on her tablet.
The name appeared.
SAMUEL REED.
Adrian’s voice suddenly came through the investigator’s radio.
“I heard that. Samuel Reed did not die in Suite 14.”
The investigator pressed the transmit button.
“Where are you?”
“Trying to restore the doors.”
Victoria spoke in the background.
“Do not take Marcus to Suite 14. It is where the network tests loyalty.”
Khloe looked at Marcus.
“What happens there?”
He stared at the live feed of Noah’s empty corridor.
“My father took me there when I was sixteen.”
“What did he make you do?”
Marcus’s face became unreadable.
“He made me choose which patient would leave the hospital.”
No one spoke.
“And the other patient?” Khloe asked.
Marcus’s eyes lifted toward hers.
“The other one disappeared.”
The doors suddenly unlocked.
Dr. Shaw and the investigator moved Khloe onto a wheeled medical chair.
Marcus reached for her.
She pushed his hand away.
“You are coming with us.”
“Khloe, you need treatment.”
“And Noah needs help.”
“You cannot walk into Suite 14.”
“I am not letting you go alone.”
Isabella stepped beside her.
“Neither am I.”
Marcus shook his head.
“They asked for me alone.”
Khloe looked toward the hidden camera.
“No. They asked for the Arden evidence.”
May you like
She held up her father’s file.
“And I am the only person who decides where it goes.”
