Chapter 23 - The Train Beneath the Hospital
Gunfire echoed through Level -4.
Security officers scattered for cover.
Officer Mason shouted toward Daniel.
"Forget the laboratory!"
"They're moving the Ledger!"
Daniel immediately understood.
He grabbed Emily's hand.
"We have to go."
Sarah followed close behind.
They sprinted through maintenance corridors as warning lights flashed across every wall.
The automated rails carrying the archive disappeared into a massive underground tunnel.
Emily stopped abruptly.
Train tracks.
Hidden beneath the hospital.
A sleek black transport train waited with its cargo doors open.
Workers hurried to load sealed archive cases aboard.
The Black Ledger was already inside.
Emily stared in disbelief.
"How can an entire railway exist beneath the city without anyone knowing?"
Daniel answered while running.
"It was built long before the hospital."
"What for?"
"No one ever gave the same answer."
Officer Mason caught up with them.
"The train leaves in four minutes."
Sarah pointed farther down the platform.
"There!"
At the front carriage stood Dr. Hale.
Completely calm.
As though none of the gunfire behind them mattered.
He held a small remote control in one hand.
"The tunnel has only one exit," he announced through loudspeakers.
"And I control it."
Emily slowed.
Something felt wrong.
Too easy.
Too staged.
She looked toward the polished black windows of the train.
Instead of seeing her own reflection...
She saw another version of herself standing inside the carriage.
The woman smiled.
Then she slowly raised one finger to her lips.
A silent warning.
Or perhaps a request.
May you like
The train doors began closing.
And the woman inside never looked away from Emily.
