Chapter 6 - The Vanishing Files of Ward Four
Marcus instantly released Darius’s hand and stepped back toward the IV stand just as the door burst open.
Dr. Sterling entered, flanked by Chief of Hospital Security Arthur Vance—a burly, humorless man with an earpiece and a sidearm beneath his jacket.
"Dr. Johnson," Sterling said, his voice dripping with condescending menace. "Why is this door locked? Hospital safety regulations strictly forbid locking patient suites from the inside."
"I was performing a sensitive cranial reflex examination," Marcus replied evenly, not blinking. "External corridor noise disrupts the patient's sensory response baseline."
Sterling walked slowly toward Darius’s bed, his cold gaze scanning the firefighter’s face. Darius lay perfectly still, his eyes closed, his breathing artificially slowed, his hand resting limp once more. The firefighter had slipped back behind his mask of stone.
"Your clinical concern for a lost cause is touching, Marcus," Sterling said, checking the IV line with casual indifference. "However, your services on Ward Four are no longer required. The board has approved Darius Williams’s immediate transfer to our long-term hospice affiliate in Savannah. Transport arrives at 7:00 p.m."
"Savannah?" Marcus countered, his voice rising. "He is medically unstable for long-distance transport! Moving him now could cause fatal respiratory collapse!"
"The family has signed the paperwork," Sterling lied smoothly, offering a fabricated digital signature on a tablet. "And as Chief of Surgery, the decision is final. Furthermore, Marcus, you have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into missing pharmaceuticals from the central dispensary."
Marcus let out a dry, bitter laugh. "Missing pharmaceuticals? Is that the best you can fabricate, Roger?"
"Security will escort you to your office to pack your personal belongings," Sterling snapped, his mask of gentility slipping to reveal the ruthless monster beneath. "If you set foot on hospital property again without authorization, you will be arrested for criminal trespassing."
Vance stepped forward, his heavy hand resting on his taser holster. "Doctor. Let’s go."
Marcus held Sterling’s gaze for three long seconds. "You think you've buried this. You haven't."
May you like
Marcus walked out under armed guard, his mind racing. They were clearing the board. Darius was being shipped off to die in a remote hospice; the five nurses were being shipped off to a locked mountain compound; and he was being silenced.
The entire operation was coming to a head tonight at 8:00 p.m.
