Chapter 9 - Ten Minutes
Steel shutters dropped over the windows.
The outer doors locked.
A mechanical voice announced:
"Decontamination cycle initiated."
Ethan pulled at Margaret's restraints.
I searched the counters.
Victor ran to an electrical panel.
"What happens in ten minutes?" I shouted.
He did not look at me.
"Depends what they used this room for."
That was not comforting.
A hiss started in the ceiling vents.
Margaret began coughing.
Ethan ripped the last strap loose.
"Move!"
We ran into the corridor.
Every exit showed red.
LOCKED.
I heard my mother's voice in my head.
When everybody runs toward the door, look for the boring thing no one notices.
She used to say that during fire drills.
I looked down.
Floor plans.
Every medical building had emergency service access.
I grabbed a wall map.
"Basement."
Victor looked.
"There."
We ran.
The stairwell door was locked.
Ethan kicked it once.
Twice.
On the third hit, the frame cracked.
We descended into darkness.
The hiss above us grew louder.
Margaret stumbled.
I caught her.
She looked shocked that I had.
"Don't read into it," I snapped.
For the first time, she almost smiled.
The basement contained old boilers and storage rooms.
Victor found an emergency tunnel.
It ended at a rusted hatch.
Frozen shut.
Timer over the intercom:
THREE MINUTES.
Ethan and Victor pulled.
Nothing.
Margaret suddenly said, "Move."
She picked up a metal pipe and hammered the hinge.
Once.
Twice.
The rust split.
We pushed together.
Cold air rushed in.
We crawled into the snow seconds before the clinic alarms changed tone.
Behind us, a chemical foam flooded the building.
Police found no explosive.
No poison gas.
Just sterilizing agents strong enough to cause serious respiratory damage.
Gideon had wanted us frightened, not dead.
Not yet.
Margaret sat on the snow, breathing hard.
I stood over her.
"You know him."
She looked up.
"Yes."
"How well?"
Her eyes shifted to Victor.
Victor noticed.
"What?"
Margaret looked ashamed.
"Gideon was the one who recruited Charles into the trial program."
Victor's face hardened.
She continued.
"But Charles wasn't the first person he recruited."
"Who was?"
Margaret swallowed.
"Me."
Ethan stared at his mother.
"You worked for him?"
"I helped find patients."
The words were barely audible.
"People who wouldn't ask questions."
Ethan stepped back.
Margaret covered her face.
"I was twenty-three. I thought it was research. By the time I knew what it really was, I was already part of it."
Victor said, "And Rachel found out."
Margaret nodded.
"Rachel threatened to expose all of us."
I asked, "Who killed her?"
Margaret lowered her hands.
"Not Charles."
"Then who?"
She looked at Victor.
"Your brother."
Victor's face went still.
May you like
Then Margaret added:
"And Linda saw him do it.
