Chapter 7 - Lockdown and Shadows
The heavy pneumatic doors of Trauma Room 3 hissed automatically, attempting to seal themselves per the hospital’s emergency lockdown protocol. But before the magnetic locks could click into place, a heavy steel boot wedged itself into the frame.
“Hold the door!” a voice barked from the corridor.
I spun around, my heart leaping into my throat. I expected armed men in tactical gear, or whatever syndicate Sterling was terrified of. Instead, a tall, broad-shouldered man in a damp civilian jacket shouldered his way into the room.
It was Dominic Moretti—the senior freight executive whose shipping records had been manipulated, and whose name had hovered over the background of every corporate document I had seen in my hospital inbox earlier that morning.
“Dominic?” Sterling gasped, his eyes widening in horror as he slumped against the security guard. “What are you doing here? Did you—did you send them?”
Dominic ignored him entirely. His piercing gaze swept the room, landing instantly on me, then on the young girl struggling for breath on the gurney, and finally on the shattered glass of the automated door frame.
“You’re Barbara Miller,” Dominic said, his voice deep, gravelly, and entirely controlled despite the chaos echoing down the hallway.
“Who are you, and how did you get past lockdown?” I demanded, stepping defensively between him and the gurney, my hands still gloved and stained with sterile prep iodine.
“My name is Dominic Moretti,” he said, flashing a dark, weather-worn ID card before sliding it back into his pocket. “And the men who threw Maya into the river are currently clearing the ground floor security desk. They aren't looking for police, nurse. They’re looking for the digital ledger Arthur’s daughter managed to copy onto a thumb drive before they chased her down the docks.”
Arthur Sterling let out a broken, wheezing sob from the floor. “She took it? She actually downloaded the manifests?”
May you like
“She’s smarter than her father,” Dominic replied coldly. He looked back at me, his eyes softening just a fraction. “And if you want to keep everyone in this room alive, you need to help me move her out of this trauma bay right now. The public elevators are disabled under Code Silver, but there’s an old maintenance lift behind the surgical supply room.”
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