Chapter 4 - The screens shut off one by one.I felt that familiar cold sensation crawl up the back of my neck.
Someone had planned this.
They knew Jax.
They knew my name.
They knew we would come here.
And somehow they had known exactly how Jax would react to Evan.
“Get the boy out,” I told Sarah.
She grabbed Evan's hand.
He refused to move.
“Not the elevator.”
“Why?”
“They'll be waiting.”
He pointed toward a narrow service tunnel.
“There.”
I looked at Sarah.
She understood immediately.
We moved.
Jax led.
The tunnel was cramped enough that I had to turn sideways.
Water dripped somewhere above us.
Every few seconds, the red emergency light flashed.
Then came a metallic sound behind us.
A door opening.
Someone was entering the hidden ward.
“Go.”
We moved faster.
I heard footsteps.
One person.
Then two.
Maybe more.
Jax suddenly stopped.
He stared at the floor.
A small plastic bead lay on the concrete.
Blue.
Evan saw it.
“He dropped it.”
“Who?”
“My brother.”
I froze.
“Your brother?”
Evan nodded.
“He was here.”
“How old?”
“Ten.”
“What happened?”
“He told me to hide.”
The boy's voice cracked.
“Then Dr. Voss found him.”
A distant metal door slammed.
I grabbed Evan.
“Move.”
We reached the end of the tunnel.
A ladder led upward.
Sarah climbed first.
Then Evan.
I followed.
We emerged inside an abandoned wing of the hospital.
The lights were off.
Furniture was covered in plastic.
Dust coated everything.
Jax sniffed the air.
Then he moved quickly down the corridor.
He stopped outside a locked room.
The sign read:
MORGUE ACCESS
My stomach twisted.
I opened the door.
The room was empty.
Except for one refrigerator drawer.
It was pulled open.
Inside lay a folded red winter cap.
Identical to Evan's.
I turned.
“Where is your brother?”
Evan stared at the drawer.
Then he whispered:
“He isn't dead.”
“Why are you sure?”
“Because he called me yesterday.”
My heart stopped.
“From where?”
“The phone in my room.”
“What did he say?”
Evan looked toward the security camera in the corner.
“He said…”
The boy hesitated.
“He said not to trust the nurse.”
Sarah went pale.
I turned.
“What nurse?”
Evan slowly lifted his hand.
He pointed directly at Sarah.
The hallway went silent.
Sarah stared at him.
“No.”
I didn't move.
“Evan, are you saying Sarah works for Voss?”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“She's the nurse who helped me.”
“Then why did your brother tell you not to trust her?”
“Because he said…”
Evan swallowed.
“She wasn't the real nurse.”
Sarah stepped backward.
“I don't understand.”
Jax growled.
Not at Sarah.
At the ceiling.
I raised my flashlight.
Nothing.
Then a small red light appeared above the air vent.
A camera.
Recording us.
I reached for my radio.
No signal.
I tried again.
Nothing.
Sarah whispered:
“We need to leave.”
The hallway lights suddenly came back on.
A hospital announcement echoed through the wing.
“Security alert. Unauthorized personnel in restricted area.”
Then another voice followed.
Dr. Voss.
“You have ten minutes, Officer.”
I stared at the speaker.
“Ten minutes for what?”
His answer was almost cheerful.
“To find the boy's real mother.”
Evan grabbed my hand.
“Don't listen to him.”
“Why?”
“Because she's already dead.”
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The speaker clicked off.
And somewhere behind the morgue wall, a woman began screaming.
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