Chapter 10 - THE HOSPITAL LOCKDOWN
Whitmore Memorial Hospital stood forty minutes from the coast by helicopter.
The federal rescue team returned with Ethan, Claire, and Olivia.
Smoke machines had been placed near the west wing to imitate a gas leak.
Staff were moved outside.
Eleanor controlled the remaining security system through the board’s emergency access.
Richard had been taken to the executive treatment suite.
The brass key hung from a chain around Ethan’s neck.
“What does she think it opens?” Olivia asked.
“The room beneath the library,” Claire replied.
“No.”
Olivia touched the key.
“Father had another one.”
“He wore it after the crash.”
Ethan examined the teeth.
A tiny number had been engraved along one side.
427.
The hospital’s oldest wing contained a private vault numbered 427.
Richard built it when Whitmore Memorial opened.
It held original patents, company shares, and emergency succession documents.
Eleanor needed both Richard’s signature and the key.
Ethan entered the hospital with Claire and Olivia while agents moved through service corridors.
The elevators had been disabled.
They climbed six flights.
Claire’s breathing became painful.
Ethan stopped.
“You cannot continue.”
“I spent ten years reaching this room.”
“I am not stopping on the stairs.”
Olivia took her arm.
Together, they continued.
The executive floor was silent.
A nurse lay unconscious near the reception desk.
She was breathing.
A syringe rested beside her.
The treatment suite doors were locked.
Ethan inserted the brass key into a wall panel.
The lock released.
Eleanor stood beside Richard’s bed.
Charles Denning held a gun.
Judge Arthur Bell sat at a table with legal papers arranged before him.
Ethan stared at the judge.
“You signed the search delay.”
Arthur smiled.
“I have signed many useful things for your family.”
Richard opened his eyes.
He looked toward Ethan.
“My son.”
Ethan crossed the room.
Charles raised the gun.
“Stop.”
Eleanor held a document toward Ethan.
“Transfer your voting shares to me.”
“Then your father receives treatment.”
“He is already in a hospital.”
“The medication keeping his heart stable is controlled from this pump.”
Her hand rested beside the switch.
Claire looked at the monitor.
Richard’s heart rhythm was weak.
Eleanor continued.
“Sign.”
Ethan picked up the pen.
Claire watched his face.
Ten years earlier, she had left because she believed sacrifice would protect someone she loved.
Now Ethan was about to make the same mistake.
“Do not,” she said.
Eleanor smiled.
“He finally understands family.”
“No.”
Claire stepped forward.
“He finally understands fear.”
Charles aimed at her.
“You should have stayed gone.”
Claire looked toward Judge Bell’s papers.
The transfer document carried Richard’s old corporate seal.
But the seal had expired nine years earlier.
The agreement was worthless unless another document existed inside Vault 427.
Claire whispered to Ethan.
“She needs the key after you sign.”
He understood.
Ethan signed the transfer.
May you like
Eleanor relaxed.
Then he broke the brass key in half.
