Chapter 7 - The Asylum at Blackwood CliffDawn was breaking, painting the jagged cliffs of the northern coast in a pale, sickly orange light. Perched on the edge of the precipice was Blackwood Cliff Sanitarium—a sprawling, gothic brick facility surrounded by barbed wire and security gates.
This was where Arthur Vance and Richard Sterling had buried Maisie Vance thirty years ago.
Elliot’s Maybach bypassed the main security gates entirely, ramming straight through the automated arm with a deafening crash of shattered glass and twisted metal. Behind them, two tactical support vehicles carrying Viktor and a private security detail fanned out, neutralizing the perimeter guards before they could sound the general alarm.
Elliot stepped out of the car, his shoulder bandaged tightly beneath a fresh black shirt, carrying Lily in one arm and clutching the rag doll in the other.
"Stay close to Viktor, sweetheart," Elliot told Lily gently, setting her down behind a reinforced concrete barrier. "I have to go find someone very important. Someone who has been waiting a very long time for us."
"Is it my mama?" Lily asked, her big eyes searching his face.
Elliot’s throat tightened. "I hope so, Lily. I truly hope so."
He kicked open the heavy iron doors of the sanitarium lobby. The interior smelled of antiseptic, floor wax, and eternal despair. Pale blue walls peeled in long strips; fluorescent lights buzzed with a maddening, high-pitched whine.
Orderlies scattered in panic as Viktor and his men secured the hallways, clearing rooms one by one.
Elliot didn't stop until he reached the restricted sub-level beneath the facility—the isolation ward.
There, at the very end of a sterile, windowless corridor, stood a heavy steel door labeled Patient 404: Vance, M.
Elliot’s hands shook as he punched in the override code Marcus’s confiscated smartphone had unlocked.
May you like
Beep. Beep. Click.
The heavy steel door swung open.
