Chapter 7 - The Poisoned Line
The sterile air of the cardiac floor suddenly tasted like ash.
I stared at the plastic evidence bag in Callum’s hand, my mind racing through the timeline of the morning. “The oxygen regulators are locked inside the hospital’s integrated maintenance chase. Only certified floor technicians and senior administrative staff have master keys to those panels.”
“Or someone who bought a master key,” Callum muttered, his eyes narrowing into two dark slits of pure, frozen fury. He looked up at Vance. “Malcolm?”
“Malcolm was in the building until twenty minutes ago,” Vance confirmed, stepping closer. “My men tracked his lead attorney meeting with the hospital’s chief operating officer in the basement parking garage right before the code dropped.”
My stomach churned. An internal sabotage executed through the hospital’s own infrastructure meant someone on the administrative payroll had sold out.
“We need to secure the security footage from the basement corridor and the west stairwell immediately,” I said, stepping forward.
Callum looked at me, his gaze shifting from the cold rage of a mob boss back to the man standing in front of a colleague. “You shouldn't be involved in this, Audrey. This is my family’s garbage. It shouldn't splash onto you.”
“Your family’s garbage just tried to murder my patient in a room I am personally responsible for,” I fired back, my voice rising slightly. “Don't talk to me about staying out of it, Callum. I’m the one who brought him back when his heart stopped thirty seconds ago. If you want to find out who spiked his oxygen line, you need someone who understands this hospital's layout better than your enforcers do.”
Callum studied my face for three long seconds. Then, slowly, a grim, dangerous nod replaced his hesitation.
“Vance, get the IT logs and the security feeds from the third-floor substation,” Callum ordered, handing the evidence bag back to his man. He turned his full attention back to me. “Where do we start?”
“The administrative annex,” I said, stripping off my latex gloves and tossing them into the nearest biohazard bin. “The chief operating officer’s office is on the ground floor. If Malcolm’s lawyer bought a master key card, there’ll be a digital footprint in the electronic badge reader log.”
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As we strode toward the elevator bank, the hospital hummed around us, completely unaware of the war playing out beneath its pristine white lights. But as the elevator doors slid open, revealing two of Callum’s armed men waiting to secure the lower level, I realized something fundamental had shifted.
I had stepped across the line. I wasn't just the nurse with the glasses anymore.
