Chapter 7 - NIGHT AT THE ICU"Get me a scalpel," I told the officer.
"Mrs. Vance, absolutely not—"
"Get me a scalpel!" I yelled, pulling myself out of the bed, ignoring the tearing sensation in my side as my feet hit the cold floor. "They are going to wipe the servers from the hospital mainframe! Mercer didn't run away to escape—he ran to the server room in the basement of this very building!"
Captain Vance froze. "The hospital basement?"
"The Vance Foundation owns the hospital’s IT infrastructure!" I realized, the pieces locking together in a rush of terrifying clarity. "Mercer isn't at the docks! That abandoned car was a decoy! He’s down in the server room right now, purging the evidence and liquidating the trust before the police can freeze the accounts!"
Before Captain Vance could react, the emergency lights in the hospital flickered wildly and died.
The entire facility plunged into pitch darkness, illuminated only by the faint red glow of emergency exit signs. The hum of the life-support machines dropped an octave as backup generators kicked in, chirping in rhythmic panic.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
From the corridor outside, screaming broke out.
"Power's down in the ICU!" a nurse shouted. "Backup generators aren't picking up the third floor!"
I didn't wait for Captain Vance. I grabbed a surgical tray, pulled a sterile scalp blade from its package, and gripped it tightly in my fist.
I stumbled out into the dark hallway, using the wall to support my shattered frame. Every step felt like a dagger being driven into my lungs, but the rage burning inside me was hotter than the pain.
I made my way down the stairwell, heading straight down toward the basement—the place where this nightmare had started at Sunday dinner, and the place where it was going to end.
The basement level of the hospital smelled exactly like the basement of the Vance estate: old dust, cold concrete, and damp copper.
As I rounded the corner toward the mainframe server room, I saw a line of light beneath the heavy steel door.
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Inside, two figures were standing over a glowing blue terminal.
Dr. Evan Mercer... and Judith Vance.
