Chapter 5 - The Silent Partner
The revelation sent a chill through the quiet office. Jonathan Reed’s face darkened, his eyes narrowing as he stared at the digital logs.
"Who else has that level of clearance?" he asked, his voice dangerously low.
"Only three people," I replied, my mind racing through the possibilities. "Myself, the chief of medicine, and..."
I stopped. The third person was someone I had trusted implicitly. Someone who had been like a mentor to me since my residency.
"Arthur Sterling," I whispered.
Jonathan’s jaw tightened. "The board chair? The man who just helped us freeze the Mercer assets?"
"Think about it," I said, the pieces of the puzzle suddenly falling into place with terrifying speed. "Arthur was the one who insisted on bringing the Mercer Group in as the primary investors for the pediatric wing. He was the one who pushed for the merger. And tonight, he was far too quick to agree to the freeze. He didn't hesitate. It was almost as if... he wanted to cut his ties with the Mercers before they could point their fingers at him."
"If Arthur is involved, he’s going to destroy the evidence the moment he realizes we're looking into the server logs," Jonathan said, rising to his feet. "We need to get to the hospital's central mainframe in the basement. Now."
We slipped out of my office, navigating the quiet, sterile corridors of the hospital. The late-night shift was in full swing, nurses moving quietly between rooms, the soft beep of monitors the only sound.
We took the service elevator down to Sub-basement 2, where the massive server stacks that powered St. Catherine’s were kept. The air down here was cold, smelling of ozone and metal.
As we approached the heavy, keycard-locked door of the server room, we noticed something that made us freeze.
The electronic lock was glowing green. The door was already slightly ajar.
Jonathan pulled me back behind a concrete pillar, gesturing for me to stay silent. He reached into his jacket, his hand resting on what looked like a concealed carry holster. I held my breath, my heart hammering in my ears.
A soft, frantic clicking sound echoed from inside the room. The sound of a keyboard.
Jonathan stepped out from behind the pillar, pushing the door open with a sudden, violent shove. "Step away from the console!" he commanded.
A figure in a dark tailored suit spun around, startled. The blue light from the server screens illuminated his face, casting deep, villainous shadows across his features.
It wasn't Arthur Sterling.
It was Dr. Marcus Vance, the chief of medicine. My direct supervisor.
"Marcus?" I gasped, stepping out from behind Jonathan. "What are you doing?"
Marcus looked at us, his eyes darting to the USB drive plugged into the main terminal. He let out a dry, humorless laugh, realizing he was caught red-handed.
"Evelyn," Marcus said, his voice smooth and devoid of any remorse. "You always were too smart for your own good. I told Richard you would notice the discrepancy in the logs. I told him he should have waited until after the honeymoon to execute the transfer, but the old man was desperate."
"You helped them try to kill Noah," I said, my voice trembling with rage. "A child, Marcus! You swore an oath!"
"An oath doesn't pay off a ten-million-dollar gambling debt to East European syndicates, Evelyn!" Marcus snapped, his facade cracking. "Do you have any idea the kind of pressure I've been under? The Mercers offered to clear my debt if I gave them access to the donor registry database. It was supposed to be a simple rerouting! Nobody was supposed to know!"
"Except Noah Reed would have died on my table because his heart never arrived," I said, taking a step toward him. "You were going to let a boy die for your debts."
"It's a business, Evelyn! It has always been a business!" Marcus yelled. He lunged toward the console, grabbing the USB drive to pull it out and destroy the evidence.
But Jonathan was faster. He tackled Marcus to the ground, the two men crashing into the metal server racks. The USB drive snapped in half in the struggle, but the data on the screen was still actively transferring to an external cloud server.
"Evelyn! Lock down the terminal!" Jonathan shouted, pinning Marcus’s arms behind his back.
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I rushed to the keyboard, my fingers flying across the keys. I entered my administrator override code, my hands shaking, but the system prompted me with an error: ACCESS DENIED. SENIOR ADMINISTRATIVE OVERRIDE REQUIRED.
"It's too late, Evelyn!" Marcus laughed from the floor, his face pressed against the cold concrete. "Arthur Sterling authorized my override. He’s already in Switzerland. By tomorrow morning, the hospital’s entire financial system will be wiped clean, and you’ll be left holding the bag!"
