Chapter 6 - The Trap at Dawn
At 5:15 AM, the rain began to ease, leaving behind a thick, suffocating fog over the city.
In the executive office on the top floor of St. Jude’s Hospital, Victoria Carter was pouring herself a cup of black coffee. Her coat was neatly folded on the leather sofa, and her expression was relaxed as she looked down at the city grid.
Suddenly, her desk phone rang.
She picked it up. “Yes?”
“Mrs. Carter,” a voice spoke over the line. It was distorted, but filled with urgent panic. “This is the head archivist in Room 714.”
Victoria’s posture stiffened instantly. “What is it?”
“The girl... Emma. She came back with the nurse. They didn't just take her father’s file. They unlocked the vault beneath the floorboards.”
Victoria dropped her coffee cup. The porcelain shattered against the hardwood floor. “What did you say?”
“They found the primary ledger, Mrs. Carter. The one from four years ago with your original name on it. They’re taking it to the press right now!”
“Block the exits!” Victoria screamed into the phone. “Do not let them leave the building!”
“They aren't in the building, ma'am. They’re in the sub-basement boiler room trying to force the emergency exit to the street!”
Victoria slammed the receiver down, her face contorted in pure rage. She grabbed her leather coat, pulled a small pistol from her desk drawer, and stormed out of her office, neglecting to call security in her blind desperation to retrieve the ledger herself.
Down in the dark, cavernous sub-basement of the hospital, pipes hissed with steam, and the low rumble of the central heating furnaces filled the humid air.
Victoria’s heels clicked sharply against the damp concrete floor as she navigated the maze of rusted machinery. Her hand gripped the weapon inside her coat pocket.
“Emma!” she called out, her voice echoed through the dark vault. “You can't escape me! This hospital is mine! The police are mine! You have nowhere to go!”
A silhouette stepped out from behind a glowing boiler unit.
Victoria raised her weapon. “Hand over the ledger, you ungrateful little bitch.”
The light flickered, illuminating my face. I wasn't running. I was standing next to a massive iron valve, holding the dark leather ledger in my hands.
“You killed my mother,” I said, my voice steady, echoing in the humid room.
Victoria sneered. “Your mother was weak. She sat on millions of dollars of family trust funds and spent it on art galleries while your father slaved away in surgery. She deserved to die.”
“And my father?”
“He served his purpose,” Victoria said coldly, taking three steps closer, pointing the gun straight at my forehead. “He bought the hospital for me. Now, give me the book.”
“I don't think so,” I said softly.
Before Victoria could pull the trigger, a heavy iron pipe swung out from the steam clouds behind her, striking her violently across the knees.
Victoria screamed, falling hard to the concrete floor, her gun skittering across the room into a drain grate.
Julian Vance stepped out of the shadows, kicking her handbag away and grabbing her phone from her coat pocket. He immediately pressed her thumb against the biometric scanner.
ACCESS GRANTED.
“Transaction decrypted,” Julian said calmly, plugging the flash drive into the phone. “Uploading master files to the Federal Financial Crimes Unit right now.”
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Victoria gasped in pain, clutching her shattered knee, looking up at us with wide, horrified eyes. “You... you set me up!”
“No, Victoria,” I said, leaning down until my face was inches from hers, pulling out the small voice recorder Arthur had given me—which had been live-recording her entire confession. “You set yourself up.”
