Chapter 5 - The Man Who Was Supposed To Be Dead
The handwriting on the whiteboard made my entire body freeze.
Three words.
Three simple words.
But they carried the weight of a nightmare.
"I SAW EVERYTHING."
Emily stood beside me, gripping my arm.
"Mom..."
Her voice was barely audible.
I looked at the handwriting again.
Not because I didn't understand the words.
Because I understood them too well.
Someone wanted us to know they were watching.
Someone wanted us to know they had been watching for a long time.
I pulled Emily back into the room and closed the door.
"Stay here."
Her eyes widened.
"No."
The answer surprised me.
She shook her head.
"I'm not hiding again."
I looked at my daughter.
The same woman who had walked into this hospital broken.
The same woman who had whispered that nobody would believe her.
Now she was standing straight.
Still scared.
But standing.
Something had changed.
"You don't have to be afraid anymore," I said.
She looked at me.
"I know."
A pause.
"But I'm still scared."
That honesty hurt more than anything.
Because courage was never the absence of fear.
It was moving anyway.
I grabbed my phone and took a picture of the message on the whiteboard.
Then I sent it to my military contact.
Within seconds, he replied.
"Do not move. Wait for extraction."
I stared at the message.
That wasn't normal.
I had spent years giving orders.
I knew the difference between advice and warning.
This was a warning.
Someone with authority was afraid.
I looked at Emily.
"We're not leaving yet."
Her expression changed.
"Why?"
"Because someone wants us to run."
I pointed toward the message.
"And when someone wants you to run, sometimes the first question isn't where you should go."
I looked at the memory card.
"It's what they're trying to keep you away from."
Emily slowly nodded.
The room became silent.
Then the hospital intercom came alive.
"Attention all staff..."
Static filled the speaker.
Then a voice.
"Colonel Victoria Hart, please report to the main lobby."
Emily looked at me.
"How do they know you're here?"
I didn't answer.
Because I already knew.
The hospital wasn't compromised.
It had been entered.
Someone had access.
Someone powerful enough to move through the system without raising alarms.
I opened the drawer beside the bed.
Inside were Emily's personal belongings.
Her wallet.
Her keys.
Her broken phone.
I picked up the phone.
The screen was cracked.
But it still turned on.
"Did they give this back to you?"
Emily shook her head.
"No."
"Then who did?"
She looked confused.
"I don't know."
I examined the phone carefully.
The damage looked intentional.
Not broken from a fall.
Destroyed.
Someone had wanted something inside it.
I checked the charging port.
Nothing.
The case.
Nothing.
Then I noticed something.
A small gap near the back cover.
I removed it.
Inside was a tiny piece of paper.
Emily gasped.
"I didn't put that there."
I unfolded it.
One sentence.
"THE FIRST VIDEO WAS A WARNING."
My heartbeat increased.
First video.
Not the video.
The first video.
I looked at Emily.
"How many recordings were there?"
She shook her head.
"I only found one card."
"Where exactly?"
"In Ethan's office."
"Show me."
Her face changed.
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because the office wasn't the only room."
She looked down.
"There was another door."
I waited.
"Behind the bookshelf."
My eyes narrowed.
"Did you open it?"
"No."
"Why?"
Emily looked at me.
"Because Ethan came back."
The room went quiet.
"What happened?"
She swallowed.
"I was inside the office. I found the card."
Her hands started shaking.
"Then I heard him outside."
"What did you do?"
"I hid."
"Where?"
"In the room behind the bookshelf."
My expression changed.
"You found the hidden room?"
She nodded.
"But I only saw it for a few seconds."
"What was inside?"
Emily looked terrified.
"Pictures."
"Of what?"
She looked at me.
"People."
I waited.
"People Ethan had been watching."
A cold feeling moved through me.
"How many?"
"I don't know."
She closed her eyes.
"But there were dozens."
Before I could ask more, someone knocked.
Not the slow knocks from before.
A normal knock.
Three times.
I moved toward the door.
"Who is it?"
A man's voice answered.
"Colonel Hart."
I recognized it immediately.
Dr. Samuel Reeves.
Again.
I didn't open the door.
"What do you want?"
"I know who wrote that message."
I looked at Emily.
She looked back at me.
"How?"
Silence.
Then:
"Because I wrote the first one."
My hand tightened.
"What?"
"I was trying to warn Emily."
The anger inside me rose.
"Then why did you help them?"
A long pause.
The answer came quietly.
"Because they had something on me."
I opened the door slightly.
Dr. Reeves stood alone.
No security.
No staff.
Just fear.
Real fear.
He looked older than he had hours ago.
Like he had been carrying something for years.
"I need to tell you the truth."
I stepped into the hallway.
"Start talking."
He looked at Emily.
Then at me.
"The Prescott family has been hiding evidence for years."
"Evidence of what?"
He hesitated.
Then whispered:
"People who disappeared."
My expression hardened.
"You said that before."
"I know."
"Then explain."
Dr. Reeves looked around the hallway.
"They don't just destroy reputations."
His voice lowered.
"They destroy identities."
I stared at him.
"What does that mean?"
He reached into his coat.
Slowly.
Carefully.
And pulled out a folder.
Inside were photographs.
The same kind of photographs that had been on the memory card.
People.
Locations.
Dates.
Records.
But one picture made me stop.
A woman standing beside Ethan.
A woman I recognized.
Not because I knew her.
Because I had seen her face before.
On a missing person's report.
My fingers tightened around the photo.
"Who is this?"
Dr. Reeves looked away.
"Someone who tried to expose them."
"Where is she now?"
He didn't answer.
That was the answer.
Emily stepped closer.
"Mom?"
I flipped the photograph over.
There was writing on the back.
A name.
And a date.
The date was from six months ago.
The same month Emily disappeared from everyone's lives.
My phone suddenly vibrated.
Unknown number.
A new message.
One sentence.
"Ask Dr. Reeves why he signed Emily's death certificate."
I slowly raised my eyes.
Dr. Reeves had gone completely pale.
May you like
Because he knew.
He knew exactly what I had just received.
