Chapter 2 - The Red Alert.
.The doors to the private treatment bay closed between Marcus and his wife.
For the first time since he had entered Suite 47B, he had nothing to do with his hands.
He stood beneath the bright hospital lights with Claire's blood on one cuff and stared at the corrupted security timeline on his phone.
Three minutes had vanished.
Not blurred.
Not interrupted by a technical failure.
Deleted.
A system note beneath the footage showed an administrator credential had been used nine minutes earlier.
The credential belonged to Marcus.
He read the line twice.
Then a third time.
He had not touched the security archive that morning.
Vivian came out of the suite behind him.
She had recovered enough to look offended rather than frightened.
"Are you going to tell me what is happening?" she asked.
Marcus did not turn.
"My access key was used to delete part of the recording."
"That sounds like a problem for your security department."
"It happened while you were in the room."
Vivian folded her arms.
"Then perhaps Claire did it."
Marcus looked at her at last.
"My wife was on the floor."
"She had a phone before you arrived."
"She could barely breathe."
"Pregnancy does not make someone helpless."
The words were technically true.
The tone made Marcus's hands curl into fists.
He forced them open.
"Go home, Vivian."
Her eyes narrowed.
"You are making a mistake."
"No."
Marcus stepped closer.
"I made one already."
"I kept letting you into our lives because my father trusted you, because the board trusts you, because you have spent ten years making yourself indispensable."
Vivian's expression sharpened.
"You needed me."
"Maybe."
Marcus's voice dropped.
"But Claire never did."
The treatment doors opened before Vivian could answer.
A nurse came out carrying a sealed specimen tray.
"Mr. Vale?"
Marcus turned instantly.
"The baby's heart rate dropped after the fall, but it has recovered."
His knees nearly weakened.
"And Claire?"
"She is conscious."
"We are checking for placental separation."
"Can I see her?"
"In a moment."
The nurse glanced toward Vivian and then back at Marcus.
"There is one more issue."
Marcus followed her several steps down the hall.
She lowered her voice.
"Your wife's IV line had been disconnected before we arrived."
Marcus stared at her.
"She wasn't on an IV this morning."
The nurse frowned.
"Yes, she was."
"She had a magnesium infusion ordered at six thirty."
"No."
Marcus felt the air leave his lungs.
"I was here until seven fifteen."
"There was no infusion."
The nurse pulled a tablet from her cart.
"It is in the chart."
Marcus looked at the order.
Magnesium sulfate.
High-risk monitoring.
Signed electronically at 6:22 a.m.
Ordering physician: Dr. Adrian Halden.
Marcus remembered Halden arriving in the suite almost immediately after the emergency call.
Too immediately.
"Where is Dr. Halden?" Marcus asked.
The nurse glanced back toward the bay.
"He went to review imaging."
Marcus's phone vibrated again.
A new alert appeared.
UNAUTHORIZED DEVICE DETECTED ON PRIVATE NETWORK.
He opened the details.
The signal had connected from Suite 47B during the three missing minutes.
The device name made his skin go cold.
VCR-RED-02.
Vivian Cross used the initials VCR on every private device she owned.
Marcus turned toward the hallway.
Vivian was gone.
Marcus called the parking command post and ordered every exit log preserved before anyone could overwrite it.
The officer on duty told him one gate had opened under an executive exception less than a minute earlier.
The exception carried Marcus's own digital signature.
He felt the pattern closing around him.
Whoever had prepared this had not merely planned to lie.
They had planned to make Marcus appear to authorize the lie.
He ran back to the suite.
The broken glass had been swept into a disposal bin.
Her clutch was gone from the chair.
So was the folder Claire had mentioned.
Marcus stepped into the hall and hit the security command line on his phone.
"Lock the west elevators."
A voice answered immediately.
"Mr. Vale, we can't."
"Why?"
"There's a fire-system override."
"Who triggered it?"
"We're tracing."
Marcus reached the elevator bank.
One set of doors was closing.
He caught a glimpse of dark red satin inside.
"Vivian!"
The doors sealed before he reached them.
Marcus jabbed the call button.
Nothing happened.
His phone buzzed again.
This time it was not security.
It was a message from Claire's number.
He opened it.
The text contained only six words.
DON'T LET HALDEN TAKE THE BABY.
Marcus stared at the screen.
Then he realized Claire did not have her phone.
May you like
It was still on the bedside table in Suite 47B.
Someone else had sent the warning.
