Chapter 5 - Lower Level B.
The second impact rattled the glass panel in the hospital door.
Thomas immediately pushed a chair beneath the handle.
Dr. Mercer dragged the injured police officer into the room and locked the door behind him.
The officer had blood running from his temple but remained conscious.
"Vanessa's gone."
He forced the words through clenched teeth.
"Someone in scrubs helped her."
Thomas stared at the hallway camera.
"Then she still has people inside the hospital."
Emma slid out of bed before anyone could stop her.
The room tilted around her.
She had been admitted that morning after fainting at school, and the weakness in her legs had not disappeared.
Dr. Mercer caught her elbow.
"You are not going anywhere."
Emma looked directly at him.
"My sister is under this hospital."
"We don't know that."
"Papa knew."
The certainty in her voice silenced him.
The officer reached for his radio and discovered it had been damaged in the fall.
Thomas pulled a small flashlight from his pocket.
"Lower Level B used to house records, storage, and part of the old neonatal unit before the renovation."
Dr. Mercer frowned.
"It has been sealed for years."
"Officially."
The pounding at the door stopped.
That silence was worse.
Thomas looked toward the bathroom.
"There is a service access panel behind the plumbing wall."
Dr. Mercer stared at him.
"How do you know that?"
"Because Arthur paid me to learn every hidden route in this building."
The officer tried to stand but nearly collapsed.
He handed Dr. Mercer his backup radio.
"Take the girl."
"Absolutely not."
"If Vanessa thinks the evidence is below us, this room is no longer safe."
Emma clutched the bunny and climbed down from the bed.
No one argued after that.
Thomas removed a metal panel inside the bathroom and revealed a narrow maintenance passage crowded with pipes.
The air smelled like rust and dust.
They moved single file through darkness while the officer remained behind to call for help.
Emma heard footsteps in the hospital room less than a minute after they entered the passage.
Someone had opened the locked door.
Thomas switched off the flashlight.
They waited in complete darkness.
A woman's voice drifted through the wall.
Vanessa.
"Find the rabbit."
Emma pressed the bunny against her chest.
Another voice answered.
"If the child has the card, we need the child."
Dr. Mercer stiffened.
Thomas motioned for silence and led them deeper into the passage.
The tunnel ended at a rusted ladder descending below the main floor.
Emma's bare feet shook against the cold metal rungs.
At the bottom was a corridor blocked by a chain-link gate.
A faded sign hung above it.
LOWER LEVEL B - AUTHORIZED STAFF ONLY.
Thomas cut the old padlock with bolt cutters hidden behind a pipe.
Emma gave him a suspicious look.
"Grandpa really planned all this?"
Thomas managed a sad smile.
"Your grandfather planned for betrayal because he had already survived too much of it."
They entered the lower level.
Dust covered most of the floor.
Except for one trail of fresh footprints.
Small footprints.
A child's footprints.
Emma followed them around the corner.
At the end of the corridor stood a steel door with light shining beneath it.
Someone was humming behind the door.
Emma knew the melody.
Her father used to hum it when she could not sleep.
She reached for the handle.
Thomas grabbed her wrist.
"Wait."
A shadow moved beneath the door.
May you like
Then a girl's voice whispered from the other side.
"Emma?"
