Chapter 15 - The Archive Intruder
Midnight at Chicago Memorial had a specific kind of dread attached to it.
The corridors were bathed in dim green emergency lights, the floor tiles buffed to an unnatural, mirror-like gloss.
Armed with the master keycard Arthur had reluctantly handed me, I took the service elevator down to Sub-Basement 4.
This was where the paper records from the late 1990s and early 2000s were stored, far beneath the digital servers.
The air down here was thick with mildew, dust, and chilled freon.
I followed the narrow aisle toward Bay 14, where the proprietary research logs were kept under biometric lock.
As I turned the corner, a beam of yellow light sliced through the darkness.
The glass door to Bay 14 was cracked open.
The biometric keypad hung by exposed copper wires, sparks fizzing quietly against the concrete wall.
I froze, pulling myself back behind a row of metal shelves.
Inside the room, the sound of tearing cardboard broke the dead quiet.
A figure in dark surgical scrubs was frantically pulling red-labelled storage bins down from the steel racks.
"Looking for these?" I asked, stepping into the doorway and flicking the overhead fluorescent switch.
The lights buzzed to life with a deafening hum.
The intruder spun around, dropping a leather document pouch onto the floor.
It wasn't Daniel.
It was Dr. Marcus Finch, the Chief Medical Officer and Arthur Whitaker’s closest confidant on the hospital board.
In his gloved hand, Finch held a miniature document scanner.
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"Emma," he said, breathing hard, his face pale under the harsh light.
"You shouldn't have come down here."
