Chapter 5: The Doctor in the White Coat
The line went dead.
Adrian slowly lowered the phone.
No one inside the SUV spoke.
Outside, the abandoned hospital stood in absolute silence.
Its cracked windows reflected the headlights like empty eyes.
The rusted gate continued opening with a low metallic groan.
Dr. Hayes stared at the building.
His face had lost every trace of color.
"I know this place."
Adrian turned toward him.
"You've been here."
Dr. Hayes nodded.
"Once."
"Fifteen years ago."
"I came as an intern."
"What I saw ended my training here forever."
Celeste's breathing became shallow.
"He's inside."
"Who?"
"Victor Sloane."
She looked toward the illuminated third-floor window.
"He always watched from above."
"He liked watching people before speaking to them."
Vivienne wrapped her arms around herself.
"This place was supposed to be abandoned."
"It was."
Dr. Hayes answered quietly.
"Officially."
The driver reached for the gearshift.
"What now, sir?"
Adrian looked through the windshield.
"My son is somewhere in that building."
"I'm going in."
"You heard him," one of the guards said.
"He wants you alone."
"And he wants Celeste."
Adrian opened the door.
"No."
"He wants us separated."
"We stay together."
Cold wind rushed into the vehicle.
The smell hit them immediately.
Disinfectant.
Old concrete.
Rust.
It was the smell of a hospital that had never truly stopped operating.
The guards spread out.
Weapons drawn.
Dr. Hayes stepped beside Adrian.
"I know you told me to stay."
"I'm not leaving Oliver."
Adrian gave a single nod.
"Stay close."
They crossed the courtyard.
The massive entrance doors stood open.
No lights burned inside the lobby.
Only moonlight filtered through the broken skylight.
Dust covered the reception desk.
Old patient files lay scattered across the floor.
Everything looked abandoned.
Yet Adrian noticed something strange.
No dust covered the footprints leading deeper inside.
Someone had walked here recently.
Many people.
Daniel's deputy crouched near the entrance.
"Fresh."
"Less than an hour."
Adrian followed the tracks.
They led toward the old elevator.
Its doors were already open.
Inside, a single light glowed above the control panel.
Floor B2.
The basement.
Celeste stopped walking.
Her entire body stiffened.
"No."
Adrian looked back.
"What is it?"
"They're below."
"You've been there."
She nodded slowly.
"Once."
"I never forgot the screaming."
Silence filled the corridor.
Vivienne stared at her sister.
"You told me you'd never entered."
"I lied."
The confession barely escaped her lips.
"I saw children."
"I saw families."
"I saw mothers begging."
Dr. Hayes closed his eyes.
"My God..."
The elevator remained open.
Waiting.
As if it had expected them.
Adrian stepped inside first.
The others followed.
The doors slid shut.
Instead of descending immediately, a speaker crackled overhead.
Victor Sloane's calm voice filled the elevator.
"Mr. Blackwood."
"I wondered whether curiosity or fatherhood would bring you."
"It appears fatherhood won."
Adrian looked directly at the camera in the corner.
"If my son is hurt—"
"You still misunderstand."
Sloane interrupted gently.
"The child has always been the experiment."
"The parent is merely the variable."
The elevator began moving.
Down.
One floor.
Then another.
The numbers disappeared.
Only a blinking red light remained.
Celeste's hands shook uncontrollably.
"There weren't this many levels."
"There are now," Sloane replied through the speaker.
"I expanded."
The elevator finally stopped.
The doors opened.
A brightly lit corridor stretched ahead.
It looked nothing like the abandoned hospital above.
The walls were spotless.
The floors gleamed.
Modern security cameras watched every angle.
Someone had invested millions underground.
At the far end stood a pair of reinforced steel doors.
Above them hung a familiar symbol.
The silver cross inside a circle.
Meridian Medical Transport.
"It was never an ambulance company," Dr. Hayes whispered.
"It was a cover."
The steel doors unlocked automatically.
Inside waited a man in a perfectly pressed white coat.
His silver hair was neatly combed.
Wire-rim glasses rested on his nose.
He smiled as though greeting old friends at a dinner party.
"Mr. Blackwood."
"Mrs. Bennett."
He inclined his head politely toward Rose—
Then stopped.
His smile faded.
"Interesting."
He looked around.
"Where is Rosalie?"
Adrian felt his pulse quicken.
"You took her."
Victor Sloane frowned.
"I most certainly did not."
The room fell silent.
Adrian stepped forward.
"The fake ambulance."
"My son."
"The woman who gave birth to him."
"You expect me to believe you know nothing?"
Sloane looked genuinely puzzled.
Then he slowly removed his glasses.
"When did this happen?"
"Forty minutes ago."
His expression changed.
Not guilt.
Annoyance.
He walked to a monitor mounted on the wall and pressed several keys.
Multiple surveillance feeds appeared.
Parking garage.
Laboratory.
Operating room.
Storage corridor.
None showed Rose or Oliver.
Sloane muttered something under his breath.
Then another screen appeared.
The front gate.
A white ambulance.
He froze.
"That's not one of mine."
Adrian stared at him.
"What?"
Sloane zoomed in.
"The logo is correct."
"The vehicle is not."
"The registration belongs to a van destroyed two years ago."
Celeste whispered,
"Then who took them?"
Sloane remained silent for several long seconds.
Finally, he looked directly at Adrian.
"I believe..."
"...someone has decided we have both become inconvenient."
Before Adrian could respond, every light in the underground facility suddenly went out.
Emergency alarms screamed through the corridors.
Red backup lights flashed to life.
One monitor remained active.
On its screen appeared a masked figure standing beside Rose and the unconscious Oliver inside a dark warehouse.
The figure looked directly into the camera.
Then slowly removed the mask.
Adrian's breath caught.
It was a face he had buried eight years ago.
His father.
May you like
Charles Blackwood.
Alive.
