Chapter 22 - The Forgotten Operating Room
The hidden corridor narrowed until only one person could walk through at a time.
Richard led the way.
Olivia followed.
Emily supported Elizabeth while Margaret remained behind them, listening for pursuit.
The sound of boots echoed somewhere in the darkness.
Closer every second.
After nearly five minutes, Richard stopped before another rusted steel door.
Unlike every other entrance below the hospital...
This one still bore its original sign.
OPERATING THEATER B
Emily slowly pushed the door open.
Inside, time had stopped.
Old surgical lamps still hung from the ceiling.
Metal instruments rested exactly where someone had left them decades earlier.
Patient charts covered an entire wall.
Most had turned yellow with age.
Olivia stepped toward a blackboard.
Names had been written in white chalk.
Many had been crossed out.
Others circled.
One remained underlined.
HAROLD BENNETT
Emily looked at Margaret.
"They were tracking him."
"They always were."
Richard moved toward the far corner.
He began scratching beneath an old examination table.
Olivia knelt.
Another loose floorboard.
She lifted it carefully.
Inside lay a small metal case.
The iron key from the bell tower fit perfectly.
The lock opened.
Inside rested three objects.
A pocket watch.
A blood-stained military badge.
And an undeveloped roll of photographic film.
Margaret inhaled sharply.
"The negatives..."
Elizabeth nodded.
"The real evidence."
Emily looked confused.
"Evidence of what?"
Margaret didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she picked up the military badge.
On the back someone had engraved six words.
We chose children over orders.
Silence filled the operating room.
Olivia slowly looked toward Harold's name on the blackboard.
"So he wasn't alone."
"No."
Margaret's voice trembled.
"There were seven of them."
Richard suddenly raised his head.
Footsteps.
Very close now.
Then came Daniel Voss's calm voice from the hallway.
"You've reached the end."
Olivia quietly extinguished her flashlight.
The operating room disappeared into darkness once again.
Richard did not growl.
He stared instead at an old ventilation grate near the ceiling.
May you like
As if remembering...
Another way out.
