Chapter 8 - The Voice in the Darkness
The basement remained completely black.
Richard’s growl deepened until it vibrated through the narrow room. Olivia could hear the security officer breathing beside her, fast and unsteady, while Emily pressed one hand against the wall to keep her balance.
“Who are you?” Olivia demanded.
The unseen person did not answer immediately.
Instead, slow footsteps crossed the corridor outside.
One.
Two.
Three.
Then they stopped directly beyond the doorway.
“Move away from the envelope,” the voice repeated.
It belonged to a woman.
Older.
Calm.
Almost familiar.
The security officer drew his flashlight from his belt and struck it twice against his palm. Nothing happened.
“My equipment is dead,” he whispered.
“So is my phone,” Emily said.
Olivia reached beneath the cabinet and closed her fingers around the sealed letter.
The woman heard the paper move.
“That would be a mistake.”
Richard suddenly lunged toward the entrance.
A small red light flashed in the darkness.
The dog stopped before crossing the doorway and backed away, whining.
“A frequency barrier,” Emily whispered. “Something is hurting his ears.”
Olivia held the envelope against her chest.
“Turn it off.”
“Put the letter down.”
“Turn it off first.”
For several seconds, neither woman moved.
Then the high-pitched sound disappeared.
Richard shook his head and immediately positioned himself between Olivia and the doorway.
Emergency lighting flickered on.
A woman stood outside wearing a dark blue hospital uniform.
She appeared to be in her late seventies. Her silver hair was tied neatly behind her head, and a surgical mask covered the lower half of her face.
But Olivia recognized her eyes.
She had seen them in an old framed photograph hanging near the hospital director’s office.
“Dr. Margaret Cross,” Olivia whispered.
The woman removed her mask.
Margaret Cross had officially retired eighteen years earlier.
She had also reportedly died six months ago.
Emily stared at her.
“You’re supposed to be dead.”
Margaret gave a tired smile.
“That was the safest thing the hospital could say.”
The security officer stepped forward.
“You need to come with us.”
Margaret lifted a small device from her pocket.
The officer suddenly collapsed.
Emily rushed toward him.
“He’s breathing.”
“It will wear off,” Margaret said. “I have no interest in hurting hospital staff.”
“You attacked Samuel,” Olivia accused.
“No.”
Margaret’s expression hardened.
“I was trying to reach him before the person who did.”
She looked at the envelope.
“That letter is not a confession. It is a map.”
“To what?”
“To a room that should never have existed.”
Richard continued growling.
Margaret slowly lowered herself to one knee.
“I knew your grandfather,” she whispered to the dog.
Richard’s ears lifted.
Olivia frowned.
“His grandfather?”
Margaret looked toward her.
“Richard was not chosen by accident.”
A metal door opened farther down the corridor.
A tall shadow appeared beneath the emergency light.
Margaret stood immediately.
“We have less than a minute.”
“Who is that?” Emily asked.
Margaret pointed toward the steel cabinet marked with the red circle.
“Open it.”
“Harold told us not to.”
“He was protecting you from what was inside.”
The shadow began walking toward them.
Margaret’s voice became urgent.
May you like
“But now what is outside is far worse.”
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