Chapter 9 - The Cabinet Marked Red
Emily knelt beside the unconscious security officer while Olivia stared at the red circle painted across the cabinet.
The approaching footsteps grew louder.
Richard barked sharply.
“Open it!” Margaret ordered.
Olivia grabbed the metal handle.
It would not move.
“There’s no lock.”
“There is,” Margaret replied. “You simply can’t see it.”
She pulled the old key marked 1951 from Olivia’s hand and pressed it against the center of the red circle.
A hidden panel clicked open.
Behind it was a narrow keyhole.
The key turned smoothly.
The cabinet door released with a deep mechanical sound.
Inside there were no files.
No medicine.
No weapons.
Only a small reel-to-reel recorder, several glass containers, and a black wooden box.
Margaret lifted the box.
“Take the recorder.”
Olivia removed it while Emily supported the security officer beneath his shoulders.
The shadow reached the doorway.
A man stepped into the light.
He wore a hospital maintenance uniform, but his shoes were polished black leather and his hands were covered by thin gray gloves.
Richard bared his teeth.
The man looked at Margaret.
“You’ve caused enough trouble.”
Margaret stood in front of the others.
“You should have stayed away from Samuel.”
“He contacted Harold.”
“He had every right.”
The man smiled.
“Rights are temporary things.”
Olivia recognized his voice.
She had heard it earlier that week during a hospital board announcement.
“Mr. Voss?”
Daniel Voss was the hospital’s chief financial administrator.
He controlled purchasing, security contracts, private donations, and nearly every restricted area in the building.
He stepped inside.
“Give me the letter.”
Margaret tightened her grip on the black box.
“No.”
Voss looked toward Olivia.
“You are holding stolen property from a restricted medical archive.”
“It was beneath the floor.”
“And you entered illegally.”
“You attacked Samuel,” Emily said.
Voss showed no reaction.
“He arrived under a false identity.”
“So did Margaret.”
“That is different.”
Richard suddenly moved toward him.
Voss pulled a small silver whistle from his pocket.
Margaret threw the black box.
It struck his wrist before he could use it.
The whistle fell across the floor.
Richard charged.
Voss stepped backward and slammed the steel door between them.
The dog crashed against it, barking violently.
Margaret immediately turned toward the cabinet.
“There’s another exit.”
She removed the glass containers and pressed a hidden switch behind them.
The rear wall shifted open, revealing a narrow passage.
Emily stared.
“How many secrets are beneath this hospital?”
“Too many.”
They carried the unconscious officer into the tunnel.
Margaret entered last and pulled the hidden wall closed behind her.
Darkness swallowed them again.
Several seconds later, the cabinet door opened from the other side.
Voss had returned.
His voice echoed through the wall.
“You cannot protect Harold forever.”
Margaret froze.
Then he added something that made her face turn pale.
“He signed the original order.”
Olivia looked at her.
“What order?”
Margaret did not answer.
She simply began moving deeper into the tunnel.
Behind them, Voss struck the wall repeatedly, searching for the switch.
Ahead, a dim yellow light appeared.
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And beneath it stood a door covered in dozens of photographs of golden retrievers.
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