Chapter 9 - THE FIRE IN THE EVIDENCE ROOM
Hospital staff moved patients away from the east corridor while sprinklers burst overhead.
Marcus refused to leave Khloe’s floor.
“Get her to the secure elevator,” he told Gabriel.
Two officers escorted Khloe’s bed toward the private maternity wing. She grabbed Marcus’s sleeve.
“Come with me.”
“I will.”
He kissed her forehead, then ran with Owen toward the evidence room.
Smoke filled the hallway. A masked figure emerged from a side door carrying a metal case.
“Stop!” Owen shouted.
The figure sprinted.
Marcus chased him through the service corridor, down one flight of stairs, and into the loading dock. The man threw the case into a waiting car.
Marcus caught the rear door before it closed.
The driver accelerated.
He was dragged several feet before Owen pulled him free.
The car smashed through the exit barrier and vanished into the night.
Police recovered the masked man’s discarded jacket. Inside was a key card registered to Victoria’s attorney, Malcolm Sloane.
Back upstairs, firefighters contained the blaze.
Most of the physical evidence was damaged.
But Owen smiled grimly.
“They burned copies.”
He opened a cloud storage console.
“The originals uploaded automatically.”
Then his smile disappeared.
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A new login had accessed the cloud from inside Khloe’s secure maternity room.
Marcus stared at the alert, then ran. Behind him, Owen ordered the elevators locked and every stairwell covered. The attacker had not broken into the hospital from outside. Someone with trusted access had walked through the doors while everyone watched the fire.
