Chapter 25
A Surgeon in the Alley
Julian was not at the hospital.
Mara called him once. He did not answer.
She ran outside.
Adrian caught up at the alley entrance.
“The video is scheduled,” he said.
“You knew?”
“The file was planted. The timestamp is impossible.”
“It showed Julian.”
“It showed a threat.”
Linnea followed them with the backup drive.
“The original footage is not gone,” she said. “The system copied it to the DJ console.”
Mara stopped.
The console had a hidden recording mode. She had installed it herself to protect the club from violent customers.
The footage showed the attackers entering.
The man with the syringe was not one of them.
He had entered earlier, wearing a hospital coat.
His face turned toward the camera.
Julian.
Mara’s stomach fell.
“He was here,” she said.
Adrian took the drive.
“The time stamp?”
“Two hours ago.”
Mara’s phone rang.
Julian’s voice came through.
“Don’t come looking for me.”
She gripped the phone.
“Where are you?”
“I found the child’s mother.”
“Who?”
“I can’t explain.”
“Julian, where are you?”
“The old surgery wing beneath St. Augustine Medical Center.”
A door slammed behind him.
He lowered his voice.
“Mara, listen to me. The person who signed Q-17 into the hospital was not Iris.”
“Who was it?”
“Your father.”
The line went dead.
Adrian looked at Mara.
“We’re going to the hospital.”
“Not without Linnea.”
“She stays here.”
“She is part of this now.”
Adrian glanced at the security drive.
“That is exactly what Victor wants.”