Chapter 7 - Escape Beneath the Hospital
Richard locked the room door.
The men outside did not rush. They spread across the corridor with the confidence of people who controlled the building.
One raised an identification badge to the glass.
“Court-authorized transfer. Open the door.”
The federal agents drew their weapons.
“Remain where you are.”
The supposed custody officers continued advancing.
Lucy pulled open Ethan’s bedside cabinet.
“What are you doing?” Richard asked.
“Looking for a red handle.”
She found one behind a stack of towels and pulled.
A panel beside the bathroom slid open, revealing a narrow maintenance passage.
Richard stared at it.
“How did you know that was there?”
“All Nightingale rooms had an exit for doctors.”
The first impact struck the main door.
Richard lifted Ethan from the bed. His son was thin but heavier than Richard expected. Ethan wrapped his arms around his father’s neck.
Lucy entered the passage first.
The federal agents remained behind to delay the men.
Richard carried Ethan into darkness as the room door splintered.
The passage descended by a steep metal staircase. Pipes hissed overhead. Dust covered the steps except for a line of recent footprints.
“Someone uses this,” Richard said.
Lucy pointed downward.
“They never stopped.”
They reached a concrete corridor beneath the surgical center.
Ethan coughed against Richard’s shoulder.
“I can walk.”
“No.”
“Dad, you can’t carry me forever.”
Richard tightened his hold.
“I can carry you tonight.”
Lucy glanced back at them.
For one second, longing crossed her face.
Then she turned away.
The corridor ended at a circular steel door. A nightingale symbol had been cut into its center.
Lucy removed the worn hospital card from Richard’s pocket.
“You kept it.”
“It was evidence.”
“It is a key.”
She slid the card into a narrow slot.
Nothing happened.
Ethan lifted his hand.
“The ring.”
“What ring?”
“The one in my dream. Daniel pressed a bird into the wall.”
Richard remembered Owen’s signet ring.
They did not have it.
Lucy examined the symbol and pressed her thumb into the bird’s eye.
A hidden needle pierced her skin.
The mechanism beeped.
SUBJECT SEVEN VERIFIED.
Ethan shivered.
A second message appeared.
SECONDARY SUBJECT REQUIRED.
Richard carried him closer.
Lucy took Ethan’s hand and pressed his thumb beside hers.
SUBJECT ONE VERIFIED.
The steel door opened.
Cold air poured from the chamber beyond.
Rows of inactive monitors lined the walls. Child-sized beds stood beneath plastic covers. Cabinets held faded patient files.
At the far end was a glass room with yellow stars painted on the ceiling.
Lucy walked toward it as though pulled by a string.
“This was our room.”
Ethan looked around.
“I remember.”
Lucy opened a drawer beneath one bed.
Inside lay a red knitted cap, a toy ambulance, and a wooden block marked with the letter D.
She held the block against her chest.
Richard began searching the files.
Most names had been replaced by numbers. Subject One belonged to Ethan. Subject Seven belonged to Lucy. Subject Six contained Daniel’s medical history.
The final page listed his status.
TRANSFER COMPLETED.
BIOLOGICAL TERMINATION CONFIRMED.
Richard closed the folder before Lucy could see it.
A computer activated in the center of the room.
INSERT MEMORY KEY.
Lucy touched the scar beneath her collarbone.
“There’s no time to remove it surgically.”
Richard searched the nearby cabinets.
“We are not cutting anything out of you.”
Ethan pointed toward a scanner beside the computer.
“It doesn’t need to come out.”
Lucy stood near the scanner. A green beam passed across her chest.
KEY DETECTED.
SECONDARY NETWORK REQUIRED.
Ethan placed his hand on the console.
The machine began to hum.
Images appeared across the monitors.
Children in hospital beds.
Doctors administering injections.
Margaret observing behind glass.
Victoria arguing with Owen Pike.
Then a final video appeared.
Daniel lay motionless beneath surgical lights.
Lucy stood behind a window, pounding on the glass.
Ethan cried out.
His heart monitor, still connected by portable leads, began sounding rapidly.
Images flashed faster.
Daniel screaming.
Victoria shouting to stop the transfer.
Margaret ordering the surgeons to continue.
Richard pulled Ethan’s hand away.
The monitors went black.
Lucy stared at him.
“We needed to see it.”
“It was hurting him.”
“It was Daniel’s last memory.”
“He is not Daniel.”
Lucy flinched.
Richard regretted the sharpness immediately.
Before he could apologize, a hidden speaker crackled.
Margaret’s voice filled the locked wing.
“You were always too sentimental, Richard.”
May you like
A steel barrier dropped over the exit.
Gas began seeping through the ceiling vents.
