Chapter 40 - The Woman in the Control Room
Clara entered Sofia House first.
Not Roman.
That was the plan.
Roman hated the plan.
Therefore Clara knew it was probably good.
She wore scrubs beneath a paramedic jacket.
Marcus entered through the ambulance bay disguised inside a maintenance team.
Rhodes coordinated federal units.
Roman waited outside in full view, giving Luca exactly what he expected.
Clara moved through the basement.
The hospital smelled normal.
Disinfectant.
Coffee.
Anxiety.
That somehow made the danger worse.
Marcus whispered through the restored analog radio.
“Control room thirty yards.”
Clara nodded.
They found two guards.
Marcus handled one.
Clara used a fire extinguisher on the other.
He dropped.
Marcus stared.
“What?”
“You hit him hard.”
“He kidnapped doctors.”
“Fair.”
Inside the control room sat a young woman.
Not armed.
Terrified.
She raised both hands.
“Please.”
Clara stopped Marcus.
“Who are you?”
“Naomi.”
“Last name?”
“Crane.”
Clara froze.
“Elliot Crane?”
The woman shook her head.
“Luca used my father’s identity.”
She was twenty-three.
Computer engineer.
Hospital systems consultant.
“My mother worked for Moretti Security,” Naomi explained. “Luca paid for my education. I thought he was helping us.”
Marcus asked, “You locked the hospital?”
Naomi began crying.
“He said it was a federal emergency drill. Then men brought guns.”
Clara moved closer.
“Can you open the building?”
“Not completely.”
“Why?”
“Luca installed an override five years ago.”
Marcus looked at Clara.
Five years.
The exact period since Roman left the criminal empire.
Luca had been preparing from the moment Roman became legitimate.
Naomi pointed to the system.
“I restored local camera loops. That’s how I signaled your people.”
“You sent the blinking light?”
“Yes.”
Clara touched her shoulder.
“Good.”
Naomi swallowed.
“There’s more.”
She opened a maintenance diagram.
“Luca’s men placed devices in the emergency oxygen distribution system.”
Marcus’s expression changed.
“Explosives?”
“No. Incendiaries.”
Clara felt sick.
Oxygen-rich environments.
Fire would spread catastrophically.
“Triggers?”
“Linked to his tablet.”
Marcus radioed Roman.
“Boss, new problem.”
Roman replied, “How bad?”
Marcus looked at Clara.
She answered.
“Very.”
Outside, Roman listened while Luca’s deadline approached.
Nine minutes.
Clara studied the control map.
“Can we isolate sections?”
Naomi nodded.
“But shutting oxygen risks ICU patients.”
“Adrian can coordinate.”
“He doesn’t have communication.”
“We give him communication.”
Clara picked up the old hospital intercom handset.
Naomi rerouted a private channel.
Adrian’s office phone rang inside the auditorium.
Luca looked toward it.
Nobody moved.
It rang again.
Luca signaled.
Adrian answered.
“Hello?”
Clara’s voice came through.
“Dr. Shaw, environmental services needs instructions regarding oxygen isolation.”
Adrian understood instantly.
Luca watched him.
“What is it?”
Adrian covered the receiver.
“Routine emergency protocol. If oxygen systems are compromised, facilities needs physician authorization.”
Luca’s eyes narrowed.
“Put it on speaker.”
Adrian did.
Clara changed her voice slightly.
“Doctor, wings A through D require temporary isolation.”
Adrian answered carefully.
“Keep neonatal and ICU lines active. Shut noncritical surgical lines first.”
“Estimated five minutes.”
“Proceed.”
Luca listened.
Nothing sounded suspicious.
He turned away.
Adrian whispered before hanging up.
“Clara?”
She replied in her normal voice for half a second.
“We’re here.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
Then hung up.
Luca stared.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Outside, Roman’s phone rang.
Clara.
“Five minutes.”
Roman looked toward the sealed hospital.
“And you?”
“In the control room.”
“I told you to stay outside.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“I thought it aggressively.”
“Your thoughts remain nonbinding.”
Despite everything, Roman almost smiled.
Clara became serious.
“When Luca calls you in, go.”
“What?”
“He expects control.”
“Clara—”
“We take it away piece by piece.”
Roman looked at the hospital.
“Can you guarantee the explosives?”
“No.”
Silence.
“Then I’m not risking patients.”
“Neither am I.”
She softened.
“Trust me.”
Roman closed his eyes.
Years ago, trust had been the hardest thing anyone asked of him.
Now it was still hard.
But possible.
“Always,” he said.
Clara ended the call.
Marcus glanced at her.
“He said always?”
“Yes.”
“Disturbingly romantic for a hostage crisis.”
Clara smiled.
Then Naomi gasped.
On the screen, one oxygen-sector icon turned red.
Luca had noticed the shutdown.
His tablet initiated the first incendiary.
Countdown:
Marcus swore.
Clara grabbed the controls.
May you like
“Naomi, tell me how to kill it.”
And forty floors above them, the children’s hospital began counting down toward fire.
