Chapter 6 - THE CELLAR OF GLASS AND IRON
Level B3 smelled entirely different from the drainage pipe.
It smelled of clean bleach, rubber floor matting, and the cold, metallic scent of medical-grade air filtration.
We were standing in a wide, brightly lit subterranean corridor lined with heavy steel utility pipes, electrical breaker panels, and server cabinets. Down the hall to the left was a thick, reinforced glass door marked 'RESTRICTED MEDICAL SUITE 4'.
Marcus pulled himself up through the hatch, panting heavily, his face covered in soot and grease. "Jammer's battery is overheating. We have maybe ninety seconds before their localized backup network reboot kicks in."
I drew a small canister of high-potency pepper spray from my pocket and walked quietly toward the glass door.
Inside the room, sitting in a motorized wheelchair with his arms bound to the padded armrests by heavy leather straps, was Harrison.
My heart shattered into a thousand pieces.
Up close, through the clear glass, he looked far worse than he had on the video. His hair was long, matted, and streaked with white. His skin was gray, his cheeks hollow, and an IV drip bag was connected to a catheter in his left forearm, dripping a clear liquid into his vein.
Beside his chair stood a man in a white lab coat—a tall, bald physician holding a syringe filled with yellow medication.
"Harrison!" I whispered against the glass.
Harrison’s head hung limp against his chest. His eyes were half-closed, glassy, and completely unfocused. He didn't even register my presence.
Marcus stepped up beside me, looked at the digital keypad mounted beside the door frame, and quickly typed in the numbers Harrison had hidden in the doll:
0 - 8 - 1 - 2
BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP.
A bright green light flashed on the panel. The pneumatic seal on the heavy door hissed open.
The doctor in the white coat whirled around in utter shock, dropping his syringe onto the floor. "What the hell?! Who are you—"
Before he could scream, Marcus charged forward, slamming his shoulder into the doctor’s chest, throwing him back against a stainless-steel equipment cart. Trays of medical instruments crashed to the floor with a deafening rattle. Marcus grabbed a heavy steel IV pole and struck the doctor across the temple, knocking him instantly unconscious onto the floor.
"Harrison!" I cried, running to the wheelchair and grabbing Harrison’s hollow cheeks between my trembling hands. "Harrison, look at me! It’s Sarah! Sarah!"
Harrison blinked slowly, his glazed, dark eyes wandering aimlessly across my face. He let out a wet, raspy cough, his lips trembling.
"Sa... Sarah?" he whispered, his voice sounding like dry autumn leaves scraping across stone. "Am I... am I dreaming again?"
"No, baby, you’re not dreaming," tears poured down my face as I pulled a pair of heavy shears from the doctor’s tray and began frantically cutting through the leather straps binding his wrists. "I got the doll. Chloe found the paper. We’re getting you out of here!"
Harrison’s head snapped toward me, a sudden, blinding flash of terror breaking through the fog in his eyes. "Chloe... is Chloe safe?"
"She’s safe! She’s with Marcus’s friends!" I ripped the tape off his left wrist and pulled the IV catheter out of his arm.
Harrison grabbed my forearm with surprisingly desperate strength, his bony fingers digging into my coat sleeve. "Rachel... she has the master servers upstairs... she’s signing the merger papers at 8:00 a.m.... you have to get the physical hard drives from her safe, Sarah... or she’ll kill everyone who knows..."
Suddenly, red emergency lights began flashing silently along the ceiling.
A loud, synthesized female voice echoed through the hallway speakers:
WARNING. PERIMETER BREACH IN UTILITY B3. AUTOMATIC CONTAINMENT DOORS ACTIVATING IN THIRTY SECONDS.
"The jammer died!" Marcus yelled, grabbing Harrison by his collar and pulling him up out of the wheelchair. "Harrison, can you walk?!"
Harrison’s legs buckled beneath him like wet cardboard. "I... I can't feel my feet..."
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"I’ve got him!" Marcus threw Harrison’s left arm over his shoulder, lifting half his weight. "Sarah! The utility hatch! GO!"
Heavy steel containment doors began sliding down from the ceiling at both ends of the hallway, threatening to seal us inside the medical suite forever.
