The Night Shift

“Linnea gave me a copy. I want the original.”

She arrived after midnight. The club was loud enough to hide a gunshot.

Linnea waited behind the bar.

“You brought him,” she said.

Adrian stood near the entrance.

“He insisted.”

“He looks like a man who insists often.”

Mara went upstairs.

The storage room still held her mattress. A black envelope sat beneath it.

No one had put it there before she left.

Inside was a photograph of Julian outside the hospital.

The back contained a time and address.

Linnea saw it over her shoulder.

“That’s the old loading dock.”

“Who knew I slept here?”

“The staff.”

“And the creditors.”

The music stopped below.

A second later, the emergency lights came on.

The club doors locked.

Men entered through the rear.

Adrian’s security moved to intercept them, but the attackers wore club uniforms.

Linnea shoved Mara toward the stairs.

“The original footage is in the office.”

Mara ran.

She reached the security room as the first glass shattered downstairs.

The archive cabinet was open.

The original drive was gone.

Only one file remained on the computer.

It was labeled JULIAN CROSS.

Mara opened it.

The screen showed a hospital corridor.

Julian stood beside Q-17’s locked room.

Behind him, a man in a Mercer Crown badge lifted a syringe.

The video timestamp was three minutes in the future.