Chapter 15 - The Hospital Corridor ChaseI burst through the heavy fire door of the hospital’s ground-floor service hallway, gasping for air, my heart hammering against my ribs.
The sub-basement exit had brought me out near the laundry and maintenance wing—directly behind the emergency department. If I could make it up the central staircase to the third-floor pediatrics ward, I could grab Sofia, Mateo, and Lucía, get them to the underground ambulance bay, and escape before Katherine’s mercenaries locked down the facility.
“Attention all hospital personnel. Code Black in the west wing. Facility lockdown initiated.”
The automated intercom crackled to life, its cold, synthetic voice echoing down every hallway. Red emergency strobe lights began to flash along the ceiling, painting the white walls in sweeping arcs of crimson.
"Damn it," I muttered, ducking behind a laundry cart as two men in dark tactical gear trotted past the intersection twenty feet ahead of me, carrying heavy tactical gear and sidearms.
They were securing the main stairwells. Every primary exit was cut off.
I needed an alternative route.
I darted down a narrow maintenance corridor leading toward the old radiology department—a section of the hospital that had been undergoing remodeling and connected directly to the upper-floor pediatric wing via an old service elevator shaft.
As I rounded the corner, a hand suddenly shot out from the shadows, grabbing the collar of my lab coat and yanking me hard into a dark supply closet.
I gasped, raising my fist to strike, but a familiar hand clamped firmly over my mouth.
"Shut up, Doctor! Do you want them to hear you?"
The emergency strobe light flashed across her face.
Nurse Lupita.
She slammed the closet door shut, her chest heaving, holding a ring of master keys in her trembling hand.
"Lupita?" I whispered, pulling her hand away from my mouth. "What are you doing here? You need to get out of the hospital! Katherine’s men are hunting everyone connected to the children!"
"I know," Lupita whispered fiercely, grabbing my arm. "I saw them corner the security guards in the lobby. They've locked down the entire upper floor, Daniel. You can't go up the main stairs. They're waiting for you."
"I have to get to Sofia and the twins," I insisted, my voice tight with panic. "They're going to take them, Lupita. You don't understand—the whole hospital is part of Vance’s bio-research network. Sofia is their primary target."
Lupita’s eyes widened in horror, but she didn't hesitate. She unlocked a secondary panel on the back wall of the supply closet, revealing a rusted vertical ladder leading straight up into the dark masonry of the ventilation network.
"This is the old incinerator flue," Lupita said, handing me a small, heavy-duty crowbar from the shelf. "It hasn't been used in thirty years, but it bypasses every security checkpoint on floors two and three. It comes out right inside the utility room of the pediatric ward."
I took the crowbar, looking from the dark ladder to Lupita’s determined face.
May you like
"Thank you," I breathed.
"Go," she whispered. "And bring my kids back safely."
