Chapter 8 - The Abandoned Hospital
Vale Behavioral Institute stood behind a rusted iron gate forty miles north of Manhattan.
The official records said it had been abandoned in 2016.
The electricity meter said otherwise.
Nathan watched the building from a wooded hill.
Three security vehicles sat behind the eastern wing.
New cameras had been mounted beneath crumbling stone arches.
Elias lowered the binoculars.
“That isn’t abandoned.”
Nathan checked his phone.
No signal.
A jammer was operating nearby.
He had brought six private contractors Elena trusted from military intelligence.
None had ties to Cole Meridian.
Nathan hated bringing armed men near Grace.
But he hated arriving unprepared more.
Elena spoke through the radio.
“Thermal shows eleven people.”
Nathan frowned.
“Only eleven?”
“Above ground.”
“And below?”
“Concrete blocks thermal.”
Nathan looked at the old hospital map.
A network of treatment tunnels ran beneath the property.
Grace could be anywhere.
Elias pointed toward the western service entrance.
“That was the morgue.”
Nathan looked at him.
“How do you know?”
“My firm defended the hospital in a negligence case.”
Nathan’s eyes narrowed.
“When?”
“Fourteen years ago.”
“You seem to have represented everyone involved in my life.”
Elias sighed.
“That is becoming uncomfortable for me too.”
Nathan almost smiled.
Almost.
They entered through the morgue.
The smell of mildew filled the corridor.
Old metal drawers lined one wall.
Someone had installed new locks on two of them.
Nathan stopped.
“Open those.”
Elena’s contractor cut the first lock.
Inside were file boxes.
The second drawer contained clothes.
Women’s clothes.
Some were recent.
Nathan felt sick.
Grace was not the first person hidden here.
Elias opened a box.
Patient files.
No official admission records.
Every patient had been assigned a number instead of a name.
Nathan flipped through them.
Corporate whistleblowers.
Mistresses.
Political staffers.
Witnesses.
People who had become inconvenient.
Nathan looked at Elias.
“This is where they disappeared people.”
A sound echoed down the hallway.
Everyone froze.
Footsteps.
Nathan moved behind the door.
A man in scrubs entered.
Elena’s contractor grabbed him.
Nathan pushed him against the wall.
“Where is Grace Bennett?”
The man shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Nathan tightened his grip.
“Wrong answer.”
“I’m maintenance.”
Nathan pulled Grace’s photograph from his pocket.
The man looked at it.
His expression changed.
Nathan saw it.
“Where?”
“Basement.”
“Room?”
“I don’t know.”
Nathan leaned closer.
“You have three seconds.”
“B-17.”
Nathan released him.
Elena zip-tied the man’s wrists.
They moved toward the basement stairs.
A gunshot exploded from below.
Nathan ran faster.
Another shot.
Then screaming.
Grace.
Nathan recognized her voice.
He reached B-17.
The door was locked.
Nathan kicked once.
Twice.
The frame cracked.
Elena’s contractor rammed it open.
Nathan entered.
Grace was strapped to a chair.
Blood ran from her lip.
A man stood behind her with a pistol.
He turned.
Nathan recognized Samuel Vale from photographs.
Six years supposedly dead had changed him.
His hair was white.
His face was thinner.
But the eyes were unmistakable.
Samuel pressed the pistol against Grace’s head.
Nathan stopped.
Samuel smiled.
“Charles’s boy.”
Nathan’s hands lifted.
“Let her go.”
Samuel laughed.
“You sound exactly like your mother.”
Grace’s eyes met Nathan’s.
She shook her head slightly.
A warning.
Samuel noticed.
He struck the side of her head with the pistol.
Nathan lunged.
Samuel aimed.
Elena fired first.
The bullet hit Samuel’s shoulder.
He spun.
Grace threw herself sideways.
The chair crashed.
Nathan rushed forward.
Samuel disappeared through a side door.
Elena pursued him.
Nathan dropped beside Grace.
“Are you hit?”
“No.”
He cut the restraints.
Grace grabbed his face.
“Lily?”
“Safe.”
Grace closed her eyes.
Nathan hugged her.
For one second, neither moved.
Then Grace whispered.
“We have to leave.”
Nathan pulled back.
“What did he tell you?”
“Everything.”
“About my mother?”
Grace nodded.
Nathan helped her stand.
“Tell me.”
Grace looked toward the side door.
“Not here.”
An alarm began sounding.
Red lights flashed.
Elena’s voice came through the radio.
“He triggered lockdown.”
Metal shutters dropped across the windows.
Nathan grabbed Grace.
They ran into the corridor.
Elias appeared.
“Basement exit just sealed.”
Nathan looked at the building map.
“Tunnel.”
They headed toward the old service tunnel.
A voice came through the overhead speakers.
Samuel.
“You always were predictable, Nathan.”
Nathan stopped.
Grace whispered.
“Keep moving.”
Samuel continued.
“You came for the woman.”
“You inherited that weakness from Evelyn.”
Nathan clenched his jaw.
Samuel laughed over the speakers.
“Do you want to know what your mother’s last words were?”
Nathan turned toward the nearest camera.
Grace grabbed him.
“Don’t.”
Samuel continued.
“She begged us not to hurt you.”
Nathan stared at the camera.
Samuel’s voice softened.
“She never begged for herself.”
Nathan’s breathing changed.
Grace pulled him.
“He wants you angry.”
Nathan finally moved.
They reached the tunnel.
Halfway through, an explosion shook the building.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Elias coughed.
“They’re destroying evidence.”
Nathan ran faster.
They emerged beside an abandoned chapel.
Elena joined them.
“Samuel escaped through an underground vehicle tunnel.”
Nathan swore.
Grace leaned against the stone wall.
Nathan looked at her.
“What did he tell you?”
Grace’s face was gray.
“He said Evelyn survived the accident.”
“I know.”
Grace shook her head.
“No.”
“You don’t know.”
Nathan waited.
Grace’s eyes filled.
“She didn’t die three days later.”
Nathan felt cold.
“What are you saying?”
Grace swallowed.
“She lived for six years.”
Nathan stared.
“That’s impossible.”
“She was kept here.”
Nathan stepped backward.
“No.”
Grace continued.
“Drugged.”
“Isolated.”
“Declared dead publicly.”
Nathan’s breathing became shallow.
“Why?”
“Because she knew where Ledger Nine was.”
Nathan looked toward the burning hospital.
“My mother was alive while I buried her.”
Grace cried silently.
“Yes.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
He remembered standing beside a coffin.
He remembered Charles’s hand on his shoulder.
He remembered the closed casket because the accident supposedly made viewing impossible.
The coffin had been empty.
Or held someone else.
Nathan opened his eyes.
“How did she really die?”
Grace looked toward the hospital.
“Samuel said she escaped.”
Nathan waited.
“She made it as far as Maine.”
Nathan’s heart stopped.
Maine.
The same place where Charles found Grace two months before Lily was born.
Grace understood his realization.
“Yes.”
Nathan stared.
“My mother found you.”
Grace nodded.
“The man who came to my apartment crying wasn’t the only visitor.”
Nathan could barely speak.
“My mother was there?”
“She held Lily inside my stomach.”
Nathan covered his mouth.
Grace’s voice broke.
“She told me you would love your daughter.”
Nathan turned away.
He had missed his mother by months.
Maybe weeks.
“What happened after that?”
Grace looked terrified.
“She told me she was going to confront Charles.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
“And?”
“Three days later, Charles came alone.”
“He said Evelyn was dead.”
Nathan opened his eyes.
“Who killed her?”
Grace shook her head.
“Samuel wouldn’t say.”
Nathan’s phone regained signal.
Dozens of notifications arrived.
One made him freeze.
Security alert.
Elena’s farmhouse.
Nathan opened the camera.
Flames filled the screen.
The house where Lily had been hiding was burning.
Grace screamed.
Nathan immediately called Elena’s backup team.
No answer.
He called again.
Nothing.
Then his phone rang.
Margaret Vale.
Nathan answered.
Her voice was calm.
“Your daughter is with me.”
Grace grabbed the phone.
“You touch her and I swear—”
Margaret laughed.
“The child is perfectly safe.”
Nathan took the phone.
“What do you want?”
“Ledger Nine.”
Nathan looked at Elias.
Margaret continued.
“You have what belongs to me.”
Nathan’s voice hardened.
“It belonged to my mother.”
“She stole it.”
“And you killed her for it.”
Silence.
Margaret finally spoke.
“If I had killed Evelyn, Nathan, you would never have found a body.”
Nathan froze.
Margaret continued.
“Samuel killed her.”
Nathan looked at Grace.
Margaret’s voice became colder.
“And now that my supposedly dead husband has returned, you and I suddenly have something in common.”
Nathan frowned.
“What?”
Margaret whispered.
“We both need Samuel Vale dead before midnight.”
The line ended.
Grace stared at Nathan.
Nathan looked toward the smoke rising from the abandoned hospital.
The woman he believed had orchestrated everything was now claiming she had lost control.
May you like
And Lily was in her hands.
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