Chapter 3 - BLACKOUT
Darkness hit the emergency department like a physical blow.
The monitors died first.
The hallway lights vanished a heartbeat later.
Then the red emergency strips near the floor flickered on, bathing the department in a low crimson glow.
Abigail heard someone shout from a treatment room.
A ventilator alarm began screaming on battery power.
A child started crying behind a closed curtain.
Every medical instinct in her body pulled her toward the patients.
Every survival instinct told her Warren was still somewhere inside the building.
"Abby."
Caleb's voice came from less than three feet away.
"I'm here."
"Stay low."
A security officer activated a flashlight.
Caleb immediately pushed the beam downward.
"Don't silhouette everybody."
The officer frowned.
"Who are you?"
"Her husband."
"That's not what I meant."
Caleb looked toward the dark corridor.
"Then ask later."
Abigail moved to the nearest treatment room.
An elderly man with chest pain was staring at the dead monitor above him.
"The power's out," he whispered.
"The backup system is coming online."
She hoped that was true.
Emergency generators normally started within seconds.
They had not.
Abigail checked his pulse manually.
Strong.
Regular.
"You're okay for the moment."
The lights remained red.
Caleb appeared in the doorway.
"Generator should already be up."
"I know."
"That means somebody touched it."
Abigail looked toward the ceiling.
"Warren?"
"Maybe."
Mason was sitting against the wall with a security officer beside him.
Ethan remained cuffed near the nurses' station.
His face looked ghostly beneath the emergency lights.
"Chief knows the service corridors," Ethan said.
Caleb turned toward him.
"How?"
"We trained here twice."
"In the hospital?"
"Mass-casualty drills."
Mason nodded.
"Warren ran one of them."
Abigail felt another chill.
He knew the floor plan because the hospital had trusted him with it.
Caleb crouched in front of Ethan.
"Did he ever take you into maintenance areas?"
Ethan hesitated.
"Once."
"Where?"
"Generator room, loading dock, oxygen manifold, stuff like that."
Abigail stared at him.
"Why would a training chief need cadets near the oxygen manifold?"
Ethan shook his head.
"He said we needed to understand hospital vulnerabilities for emergency planning."
Caleb's expression hardened.
"Of course he did."
A nurse ran toward Abigail.
"We have three patients on pumps and pharmacy's electronic locks are down."
"Use the manual override protocol."
"Security has the key."
"Then get security."
"Half of them are at the entrances."
Abigail looked at Caleb.
"I have to work."
"I know."
"Don't tell me to hide."
"Wasn't going to."
That was why she loved him.
He understood that protecting her did not mean treating her as helpless.
Caleb picked up the black sleeve with two gloved fingers.
"We need this secured."
One of the hospital officers stepped forward.
"I'll take it."
Caleb looked at his badge.
"Name?"
"Raymond Shaw."
"Do you have a body camera?"
"Yes."
"Is it recording?"
Shaw tapped the device on his chest.
"It is now."
Caleb handed him the sleeve.
"State for the camera that you received it from me at approximately three-seventeen."
Shaw did.
Abigail watched carefully.
Caleb rarely distrusted people without a reason.
Tonight he trusted almost no one.
A muffled crash sounded somewhere beyond the radiology corridor.
Everyone went silent.
Caleb looked toward the sound.
Then his phone vibrated.
He took it out.
One message.
UNKNOWN NUMBER: YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED RETIRED.
Caleb showed Abigail.
"Retired from what?" Shaw asked.
Caleb did not answer.
Abigail did.
"The Teams."
Shaw looked at Caleb's wrist.
Understanding crossed his face.
"SEAL?"
Caleb slipped the phone back into his pocket.
"Used to be."
"How long?"
"Long enough."
Another crash echoed through the corridor.
This time it was followed by running footsteps.
Shaw drew his weapon.
Caleb put a hand on his arm.
"Wait."
A figure burst from the darkness.
Shaw nearly fired.
It was a respiratory therapist pushing a portable oxygen cylinder.
"Don't shoot!"
Shaw lowered the weapon.
The therapist was breathing hard.
"Someone locked the main oxygen control room."
Abigail's stomach dropped.
"From the inside?"
"I don't know."
"Pressure?"
"Still stable, but if somebody shuts the valves, we've got minutes before some lines start dropping."
Caleb looked toward Ethan.
"Where's the manifold room?"
Ethan pointed.
"Basement level, west utility corridor."
Mason spoke from the wall.
"There's a stairwell behind radiology."
"Warren knows it?"
Mason nodded.
Caleb stood.
"Shaw, keep these two here and protect the evidence."
Shaw frowned.
"You're not hospital security."
"You're right."
"Then you're not going anywhere."
Caleb looked at him.
"If Warren is shutting down oxygen, patients die."
"Police are coming."
"They're outside locked doors during a power failure."
Shaw said nothing.
Abigail grabbed a flashlight from the emergency cart.
"I'm going with you."
Caleb turned.
"No."
Abigail stared at him.
"You just said you weren't going to tell me to hide."
"This isn't hiding."
"The utility corridor connects to the clinical wing, and I know the hospital better than you do."
"Daniel has a gun."
"And he knows you."
Caleb's jaw tightened.
Abigail stepped closer.
"If he sees you first, he'll shoot."
"If he sees you first, he might do worse."
"Then don't let him see me first."
Shaw muttered something under his breath.
Caleb finally nodded.
"Stay behind me."
"Fine."
"And if I say run—"
"I run."
"No argument."
"No argument."
They moved into the radiology corridor.
The red emergency lighting made every doorway look deeper than it was.
Abigail could hear her own breathing.
Caleb moved without sound.
That frightened her almost as much as the darkness.
At the stairwell door, he paused.
A thin line of light glowed beneath it.
"Someone's down there," Abigail whispered.
Caleb nodded.
He opened the door one inch.
Voices drifted upward.
One was Warren's.
The second voice was deeper.
Older.
"You should never have gone upstairs yourself," the older man said.
Warren answered.
"The boys were losing control."
"Then you should have let them take the fall."
Abigail's pulse quickened.
Caleb leaned closer to the opening.
The older voice continued.
"Hale wants the report gone before sunrise."
Warren sounded angry.
"I brought the retraction."
"And now security has it."
"I'll fix it."
"You've been fixing things for fifteen years."
A pause followed.
Then Warren said something Abigail could barely hear.
"Preston is here."
Silence.
The older man's tone changed completely.
"Caleb Preston?"
"Yes."
"Then this is no longer a hospital problem."
Caleb's eyes narrowed.
The man below spoke again.
"Get out through the service tunnel."
"What about the nurse?"
"If Preston is here, she is leverage."
Abigail stopped breathing.
Caleb gently closed the stairwell door.
For several seconds neither of them spoke.
Then his phone vibrated again.
This time the message contained a photograph.
It showed their house.
Taken from across the street.
The porch light was on.
Beneath the image were four words.
WE KNOW WHERE HOME IS.
Abigail looked at Caleb.
"Who is doing this?"
He stared at the photo.
"I don't know yet."
Then the emergency power surged back on.
The corridor lights flashed bright white.
At the same instant, the stairwell door below slammed open.
Footsteps started racing upward.
Caleb grabbed Abigail's hand.
May you like
"Run."
