Chapter 10 - Resurrection
Saint Mercy Hospital stood on the edge of the river district.
Broken windows.
Boarded entrances.
A rusted cross above the roof.
It had closed after a flood destroyed the lower floors.
Or that was the official story.
Grant obtained a tactical warrant before sunset.
This time, he did not ask me to remain behind.
Lily stayed at the hospital under armed protection.
Rachel came with us because she recognized Richard’s files and systems.
The front doors had been welded shut.
We entered through an ambulance bay.
Inside, the air smelled of dust and old water.
Fresh footprints marked the floor.
Someone still used the building.
We followed power cables into the basement.
Behind the old laundry room, we found a modern steel door.
A keypad glowed beside it.
Rachel entered Richard’s favorite six-digit code.
The door opened.
The corridor beyond was clean.
Bright.
Air-conditioned.
Rooms lined both sides.
Not hospital rooms.
Offices.
Interview spaces.
Storage vaults.
On one wall hung photographs of politicians, contractors, judges, and wealthy donors.
Each photo had a number.
Grant stared.
“Blackmail files.”
Rachel opened the nearest cabinet.
Inside were signed confessions.
Secret contracts.
Copies of medical records.
DNA reports.
The little boy Lily had seen was not Richard’s son.
He was the child of a city councilman.
Richard had hidden the boy’s paternity in exchange for zoning approvals.
Every person who entered Saint Mercy had a secret.
Richard collected them.
Mason protected them.
Margaret financed them.
The Easter gatherings were not charity meetings.
They were annual renewals of silence.
Rachel found the Resurrection folder on a central server.
This time, the access key from the silver egg worked.
Files opened across the screen.
Videos.
Hundreds of them.
Richard threatening inspectors.
Margaret paying judges.
Mason attacking witnesses.
Daniel coaching guests before police interviews.
Then we found the building-collapse footage.
A security recording showed Richard inside the apartment basement three days before the disaster.
He ordered a contractor to remove support columns to create underground parking.
The contractor warned him the building could fail.
Richard replied,
“Then make sure the insurance policy is active.”
Grant stood motionless.
Six deaths.
Recorded clearly.
Rachel copied the files to three encrypted drives.
Then the monitors went black.
A red countdown appeared.
05:00.
04:59.
04:58.
Mason’s voice came through the speakers.
“Commander Cole.”
“You always were difficult to kill.”
Grant shouted for evacuation.
Rachel kept copying.
“We need another minute.”
“You have thirty seconds,” Grant said.
The steel doors slammed shut.
Ventilation fans started.
A sweet chemical smell entered the room.
Not smoke.
Gas.
Mason continued.
“Richard wanted you dead.”
“Margaret wanted Lily broken.”
“But I wanted something better.”
“I wanted you to understand what it feels like to lose your family because one man decided he was righteous.”
I grabbed a chair and smashed the nearest vent.
Grant’s deputies searched for manual releases.
Rachel coughed.
The countdown reached three minutes.
I looked at the sprinkler pipes.
Then at the electrical panel.
“Shoot the main transformer.”
Grant stared.
“That could seal every electronic lock.”
“It could also trigger the fire suppression system.”
“And if you’re wrong?”
“We die with the lights on.”
Grant fired twice.
The transformer exploded.
Darkness swallowed the corridor.
A second later, water blasted from the ceiling.
The gas fans stopped.
The locks clicked open.
We pushed into the stairwell.
Behind us, the server room erupted.
Not a full explosion.
A controlled burn.
Mason was destroying the site remotely.
Rachel clutched one drive against her chest.
“I got it.”
Grant looked at the other two.
Their casings had melted.
“One copy?”
She nodded.
“One copy.”
A shot cracked from above.
The drive flew from her hand.
It struck the railing.
Then dropped through the stairwell.
We watched it fall four floors into the flooded basement.
Mason stood above us with a rifle.
He smiled.
“Now you have nothing.”
May you like
Then the lights went out completely.
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