Chapter 14 - Ghosts of the Third Floor
The air in the decommissioned pediatric wing was thick with the smell of dust, plastic wrap, and stagnant water. The overhead fluorescent lights flickered erratically, casting long, fractured shadows across walls decorated with faded cartoon murals of animals and smiling suns—reminders of children who had laughed and healed in these rooms long before the corporate hospital board decided to gut the infrastructure.
My footsteps echoed hollowly against the cold linoleum floor. I kept my hand inside my coat, gripping the heavy, reassuring weight of my tactical sidearm. Every instinct screamed that I was walking into a trap, but when an empire is built to protect your family, you don't hesitate when someone knocks on the front door.
At the end of the long, narrow corridor, Room 312 stood slightly ajar. A thin strip of amber light spilled out from the crack onto the dark floor.
I paused outside the door, listening.
Inside, the low, mechanical hum of a portable satellite uplink terminal buzzed softly, accompanied by the quiet clicking of a keyboard.
I didn't knock. I kicked the heavy wooden door open with enough force to slam it against the drywall, drawing my weapon and leveling it straight into the center of the room in a single fluid motion.
“Don't move,” I commanded.
Sitting at a folding metal table illuminated by the blue glow of two dual-monitor laptops was not a hardened syndicate assassin or a masked corporate spy.
It was a young woman in a crisp, dark blue designer suit, her auburn hair falling in sharp waves around her shoulders. She was sipping a cup of black coffee as if she were sitting in a luxury café instead of a dark, abandoned hospital wing.
May you like
She didn't flinch. She didn't drop her cup. She slowly turned her chair around, looked down the barrel of my gun, and offered a calm, chillingly familiar smile.
“You know, Mason,” Elena Vance said smoothly, crossing one leg over the other, “for a billionaire real estate tycoon, you certainly have a dramatic flair for making an entrance.”
