Chapter 6 - The Visitor In The Parking Garage
The dim subterranean lighting of the hospital parking garage flickered overhead, casting an eerie yellow glow over the rows of parked sedans and SUVs. Adrian walked briskly beside Detective Vance, their footsteps echoing off the concrete pillars as they headed toward Vance’s unmarked cruiser.
"Why are we coming down here?" Adrian asked, keeping his hand pressed against the digital recorder in his pocket.
"Because we can't talk freely inside the building," Vance replied, pulling a set of keys from his trench coat. "The hospital's internal network has been compromised. Someone inside administration is routing our medical logs to an outside server."
"Who would care about my daughter's medical records?" Adrian demanded, stopping dead in his tracks.
"The same people who paid off your mortgage and jammed your home cameras," Vance said, unlocking the passenger door of his sedan. "Get in."
Adrian hesitated, looking back toward the stairwell that led up to Lily's room.
"I need to go back up there with Clara," Adrian argued.
"Clara is being watched," Vance said flatly, holding the door open. "When I left her room a few minutes ago, a nurse handed her a sealed envelope with no return address. Do you really think that's a coincidence?"
Adrian’s stomach dropped. He scrambled into the passenger seat, slamming the door shut just as the overhead fluorescent lights buzzed violently and went completely dark, plunging the entire level into absolute blackness.
"Stay in the car," Vance hissed, drawing a dark service pistol from his holster with practiced smoothness.
A heavy, mechanical whirring sound echoed from the far end of the garage, followed by the crunch of tires on gravel. A pair of high-beam headlights suddenly flashed on, cutting through the darkness and blinding Adrian through the windshield. A massive black SUV—the exact same model and year as the one parked at Adrian’s house—slowly rolled out from the shadows, blocking the exit ramp.
"Vance, that's the car," Adrian whispered, pressing his back against the seat.
The driver's door of the black SUV creaked open, and a tall figure stepped out into the glare of the high beams, wearing a dark hoodie that completely obscured his face.
"Step away from the vehicle, hands where I can see them!" Vance shouted, aiming his weapon over the hood of his cruiser.
The hooded figure didn't speak. Instead, he reached into his jacket, pulled out a small black remote, and clicked a single button.
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Suddenly, every car alarm in the underground garage began to wail simultaneously, creating a deafening wall of sound. In the blinding strobe of hazard lights, Adrian looked down at the digital recorder in his pocket. It had just started vibrating violently against his leg, playing a looping audio file of a crying baby.
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