Chapter 10 - The Doctor Without a Name
The man in the white coat appeared to be in his seventies, but he stood with perfect posture.
A silver pin marked with the Meridian symbol rested above his heart.
Marta looked at Elena.
“Who is he?”
Elena backed away from the screen.
“He has used many names.”
Victor answered.
“We knew him as Doctor Vale.”
Adrian placed himself between Vale and Marta’s father.
“You should have left before the doors opened.”
Vale smiled.
“I never leave my work unfinished.”
The lights above the prisoners shifted from red to white.
Immediately, several of them collapsed.
The little girl beside Marta covered her ears and screamed.
A high-frequency sound filled the corridor.
Marta could barely hear it, but pain stabbed through her skull.
Adrian grabbed the metal band around his neck.
Vale lifted a small controller.
“Every subject carries a response device.”
Sofia’s guards fell to their knees.
Sofia remained standing.
Marta noticed a scar beneath her ear.
“You removed yours,” she said.
Sofia gave her a cold glance.
“Years ago.”
Robert pulled the fire alarm lever on the wall.
Nothing happened.
Victor reached the control panel and cut several wires. The white lights flickered, and the sound weakened.
“Move everyone into the maintenance corridor,” he shouted.
Henrik and Robert began helping the prisoners.
David tried to stand but fell.
Marta went to him.
“You cannot stay here.”
He gripped her sleeve.
“The notebook. Do not lose it.”
She tucked it beneath her uniform and helped him up.
On the monitor, Vale approached Marta’s father.
“You have made this unnecessarily dramatic, Anton.”
Anton Kovacs straightened.
“You built a prison beneath my design.”
“I improved your design.”
“You experimented on families.”
Vale’s smile disappeared.
“We preserved valuable minds.”
Adrian attacked.
He moved with shocking speed, striking Vale and forcing the controller from his hand.
The feed shook.
For a moment, the camera showed only the chamber floor.
Then Vale’s hand reached toward a red switch.
Elena screamed.
“Stop him!”
She seized Sofia’s pistol and fired at the monitor as though the bullet could pass through the screen.
The image vanished.
A deep alarm began.
AUTOMATIC PURGE INITIATED.
Victor looked toward the ceiling vents.
“He activated the gas system.”
Pale vapor began entering the corridor.
Robert tore off his jacket and covered the little girl’s face.
“How do we stop it?”
Elena pointed toward Marta.
“Her key.”
Marta held it up.
“The key opens the archive.”
“It also activates the emergency ventilation system,” Elena said. “But only from the central control room.”
“Where is it?”
Sofia pointed toward a sealed black door at the end of the corridor.
“Behind that.”
Marta ran toward it.
The key fit the lock.
Before she turned it, the notebook beneath her uniform began vibrating.
She pulled it out.
A hidden screen inside the back cover had activated.
One message appeared:
DO NOT OPEN THE CONTROL ROOM.
Below it was her father’s name.
Then a second message appeared.
VALE IS NOT THE ONE WHO STARTED THE PURGE.
May you like
Marta turned slowly.
Someone in the corridor was holding another controller.
