Chapter 4: The Coordinates
The coordinates led to a building outside the city.
It had once been a private rehabilitation clinic, but the sign had been removed and the windows were covered with dust.
Maya wanted Adrian to remain in the car.
He refused.
Caleb walked beside his wheelchair as they entered through a side door.
The clinic appeared abandoned, but the electricity was still running. Medical equipment stood beneath white sheets. A security monitor glowed behind the reception desk.
Someone had used the building recently.
Maya found a stairwell leading to the basement.
There was no elevator.
Adrian stared down the steps.
For nine years, stairs had been walls.
“I’ll go,” Maya said.
Caleb remained beside Adrian.
“Mom said there was another way.”
He walked behind the reception desk and pressed a hidden switch beneath the counter.
A section of wall opened, revealing a freight lift.
Maya looked at the boy.
“How did your mother know this place?”
“She used to work here.”
The lift descended into a brightly lit underground room.
Rows of filing cabinets lined the walls. An old rehabilitation platform stood in the center.
Adrian recognized it immediately.
He had trained on that platform after the crash.
His family had told him the clinic was destroyed in a fire eight years earlier.
Maya opened a cabinet labeled A. COLE.
Inside were medical reports, video recordings, and medication schedules.
One file had been stamped CONFIDENTIAL—RECOVERY RESPONSE.
Adrian inserted a recording into the old monitor.
The date was six months after his accident.
On the screen, a younger Adrian stood between two parallel bars.
His legs shook violently, but he was standing.
The video Adrian remembered from that day ended with him collapsing.
This recording continued.
A therapist helped him back to his feet.
“You’re improving,” the therapist said. “The nerve pathways are responding.”
Dr. Hale entered the frame.
“Turn off the camera.”
The therapist refused.
“Mr. Cole deserves to know he may walk again.”
Hale stepped closer.
“He will know what we decide he needs to know.”
The video cut to darkness.
Adrian sat frozen before the screen.
Someone had hidden his recovery.
A door slammed behind them.
Maya turned.
Dr. Marcus Hale stood at the entrance with two security guards.
May you like
He looked at Adrian, then at Caleb.
“You should never have brought the boy here.”
