CHAPTER 7: THE EMPTY BED
The corridor exploded into motion.
Victor was already running before the nurse finished her sentence.
His footsteps thundered across the polished hospital floor.
Behind him came Marcus, six Blackwood guards, and two hospital security officers.
Lily reached Ethan's room first.
The door stood wide open.
Her heart stopped.
The bed...
Was empty.
The blanket had been thrown onto the floor.
The heart monitor still beeped rhythmically.
The IV line dangled over the side of the mattress, ripped loose.
For one terrifying second, Lily couldn't breathe.
"No..."
She staggered toward the bed.
"Ethan?"
Her voice was barely a whisper.
No answer.
Victor entered a heartbeat later.
His eyes swept across the room.
Three seconds.
That was all he needed.
The window was still locked.
No broken glass.
No signs of forced entry.
The bathroom door stood open.
Empty.
The ventilation duct was far too small for a child to pass through.
Someone hadn't escaped through the room.
They had walked out.
Which meant...
Someone inside the hospital had helped them.
Victor pressed the emergency button on the wall.
Within seconds, every hospital alarm changed.
A mechanical voice echoed through the building.
"Code Black. Complete lockdown. All exits sealed."
Steel security doors slammed shut throughout the hospital.
Elevators froze.
Parking gates locked.
Every entrance became inaccessible.
Patients and visitors looked around in confusion as armed Blackwood guards spread across every floor.
Marcus knelt beside the empty bed.
"Boss."
Victor looked down.
Marcus pointed to the floor.
A tiny blue plastic dinosaur.
Victor frowned.
"Ethan's."
Lily nodded immediately.
"He never sleeps without it."
Victor picked it up.
Something rattled inside.
His expression changed.
He twisted the toy carefully.
The bottom compartment opened.
Inside...
A folded piece of paper.
Marcus stared.
"How..."
Victor unfolded it.
Only six words were written.
YOU'RE LOOKING IN THE WRONG ROOM.
Lily gasped.
"What does that mean?"
Victor didn't answer.
Instead, he sprinted into the hallway.
"Check every operating theater."
"Every storage room."
"The morgue."
"No room stays unopened."
Guards scattered instantly.
Five floors below...
Inside a dark supply corridor...
A hospital orderly pushed a laundry cart toward the service elevator.
His cap sat low over his eyes.
His surgical mask hid most of his face.
No one paid attention.
Hospitals were full of people moving equipment.
He reached the elevator.
Pressed the button.
Nothing.
The lockdown had disabled it.
He cursed under his breath.
Then turned toward the emergency stairwell.
Inside the laundry cart...
Hidden beneath folded sheets...
Tiny fingers moved weakly.
Ethan wasn't awake.
But he was alive.
Back on the pediatric floor...
Marcus received a radio call.
"Sector Three clear."
Another voice.
"Operating rooms clear."
Another.
"Morgue clear."
Victor's patience was evaporating.
He grabbed a radio.
"Check the CCTV."
The security technician answered immediately.
"We are."
"And?"
A long pause.
Then...
"Boss..."
Victor narrowed his eyes.
"What?"
"The last three minutes of footage..."
"...have been erased."
Marcus muttered under his breath.
"Again."
Victor looked toward the hospital director.
A frightened man in his sixties stood trembling near the nurses' station.
Victor approached him slowly.
"Who has access to your surveillance servers?"
The director swallowed.
"Only my IT department."
"Bring them."
"Immediately."
Meanwhile...
Lily stood alone inside Ethan's room.
She couldn't stop staring at the empty bed.
Her mind replayed every moment.
The flowers.
The power outage.
The nurse.
Something felt wrong.
Very wrong.
Then...
She remembered.
"The flowers."
Marcus looked up.
"What?"
"The bouquet."
Victor turned toward her.
"You said someone left flowers."
"Yes."
"They arrived just before the blackout."
Victor's eyes sharpened.
"Where are they?"
"The reception desk."
"Take me."
The lobby had become a command center.
Armed guards questioned everyone inside.
Doctors protested.
Patients cried.
No one was allowed to leave.
The bouquet still sat on the counter.
Victor examined it closely.
White lilies.
Freshly cut.
Expensive.
He lifted the vase.
A small black object was taped underneath.
Marcus carefully removed it.
"A transmitter."
The technician nearby connected it to his laptop.
Within seconds, a blinking map appeared.
Marcus frowned.
"It transmitted a signal..."
"To where?"
The technician enlarged the map.
Everyone leaned closer.
The signal ended...
Inside the hospital.
Victor smiled for the first time that night.
Not with relief.
With realization.
"They're still here."
The hospital security chief rushed over.
"We've searched every floor."
Victor shook his head.
"No."
"We searched rooms."
"We didn't search movement."
The chief looked confused.
Victor turned toward Marcus.
"Show me every service route."
Within seconds, a digital blueprint covered the screen.
Maintenance tunnels.
Laundry corridors.
Supply elevators.
Waste disposal systems.
Victor's finger stopped on one narrow passage.
"The laundry service."
Marcus nodded.
"It connects directly to the underground loading dock."
Victor's voice became ice.
"They're using hospital logistics."
He grabbed his radio.
"Seal every service exit."
"No vehicle leaves."
"No cart leaves."
"No garbage truck moves."
A dozen voices answered at once.
"Copy."
In the basement...
The disguised orderly heard footsteps.
Too many.
He peeked around the corner.
Blackwood guards.
Searching.
His pulse quickened.
He reached inside the laundry cart.
Pulled out a syringe.
Injected something into Ethan's IV line.
The child stirred slightly.
Then became still again.
The orderly whispered,
"Almost there."
He pushed the cart faster.
Marcus suddenly stopped walking.
"Boss."
Victor turned.
Marcus pointed toward a security monitor.
One camera had briefly reconnected before shutting off again.
Only three seconds of footage.
But it was enough.
A laundry cart.
One orderly.
Heading toward the basement.
Timestamp:
Forty-seven seconds ago.
Victor didn't hesitate.
"Basement."
Every guard broke into a sprint.
The underground loading dock echoed with footsteps.
Rows of industrial laundry bins lined the walls.
Delivery trucks waited behind locked steel gates.
Victor's men spread out.
"Clear!"
"Nothing here!"
"South corridor clear!"
Then...
Lily heard something.
Very faint.
Almost impossible to notice.
A tiny sound.
Not crying.
Not speaking.
Just...
A weak little cough.
She spun toward a row of laundry carts.
"There!"
Victor reached the nearest cart in two strides.
He threw the sheets aside.
Empty.
Second cart.
Nothing.
Third.
Nothing.
The cough came again.
Weaker this time.
Fourth cart.
Victor ripped away the blankets.
There...
Curled into a tight ball...
Lay Ethan.
His skin was pale.
His lips tinged blue.
An oxygen tube rested beside him, disconnected.
Lily burst into tears.
"Ethan!"
Victor carefully lifted his son into his arms.
The little boy's eyelids fluttered.
His tiny fingers weakly clutched Victor's coat.
For the first time...
He whispered a single word.
"D...Da..."
Victor froze.
It was the first time Ethan had ever tried to call him...
"Dada."
Before anyone could react...
A gunshot exploded through the loading dock.
The bullet shattered a pipe inches from Victor's head.
Water sprayed everywhere.
Marcus shouted,
"Sniper!"
A second shot rang out.
Then a third.
The lights burst overhead, plunging half the basement into darkness.
Amid the chaos...
A shadow slipped through a maintenance doorway.
Marcus fired twice.
The figure disappeared.
One of the guards chased after him.
Seconds later, his scream echoed through the tunnel.
Victor handed Ethan to Lily.
"Protect him."
Then he drew his pistol.
May you like
And stepped into the darkness.
END OF CHAPTER 7
