Chapter 4 - The Ticking Clock
"You put a mafia ledger in my hospital?"
Lily’s voice barely rose above a whisper, but the fury in it was absolute. She stared at Mercer, the blood-soaked gauze in her hand completely forgotten.
"I didn't have the luxury of renting a safety deposit box, Lily," Mercer said, his face pale but his voice steady. "I was bleeding out. I needed a secure, temporary location that my enemies couldn't access."
"It's a hospital, not a Swiss bank!" she snapped, tossing the ruined gauze into the wastebasket. "Do you have any idea how many people walk through those doors every day?"
"Exactly," Cole interjected from across the room. He was leaning against the exposed brick wall, cleaning his Glock with methodical precision. "It's chaotic. It's public. Volkov’s men can't just storm the place and tear up the floorboards without drawing the National Guard."
Lily pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes, trying to stop the room from spinning.
"Housekeeping empties the red bins on Fridays at 5:00 a.m.," she muttered, her brain automatically calculating the logistics. "Today is Thursday. It's currently..." She glanced at the wall clock. "11:00 a.m. We have eighteen hours before that ledger goes into a medical incinerator."
"If it burns, we lose our leverage," Mercer said, sitting up slightly. "If Volkov finds it first, he scrubs his name clean, and I die. Along with anyone who helped me."
"Including me," Lily finished bitterly.
"Including you," Mercer confirmed without an ounce of pity. "Which is why we need to retrieve it tonight."
Suddenly, a sharp, vibrating buzz interrupted the heavy silence.
Lily jumped. The sound was coming from her scrub pocket.
It was the prepaid burner phone she had bought from a convenience store just three hours ago. Nobody had this number. Not even the hospital registry.
She pulled it out, staring at the glowing unknown number on the screen.
Cole instantly crossed the room, his gun lowered but ready. He nodded at her. "Answer it. Put it on speaker. Do not confirm your location."
Lily swallowed hard, swiping the green icon. "Hello?"
"Hayes, thank God," a familiar, panicked voice crackled through the tiny speaker.
It was Arthur Vance.
Lily frowned, exchanging a bewildered look with Mercer. "Arthur? How did you get this number?"
"You listed it as your emergency contact update in the HR portal this morning before you left," Vance said, his breathing heavy, as if he had been running. "Listen to me carefully, Lily. I saw the news about your apartment. Are you safe?"
"I'm fine," she lied smoothly, her heart hammering. "I'm staying with a friend out in the suburbs."
"You need to come back to the hospital. Right now."
"What? Why?"
"Detective Miller was back an hour ago," Vance whispered urgently. "He has a judge's warrant for your locker. He thinks you're hiding contraband from the unregistered patient. You need to come clear out your personal items before they break the lock."
Lily’s blood ran cold. The biohazard bin in Trauma Bay 2 was exactly thirty feet away from the staff locker room.
"Arthur, why would Miller care about my locker? He wanted the security footage."
"He's grasping at straws, Lily! Just get here. I can sneak you in through the south loading dock. If you don't clear it out, they’ll suspend your license pending investigation."
The line clicked and went dead.
Lily stared at the phone in her hand. "He sounded terrified."
"He's terrified of Ivan Volkov," Cole said flatly. He holstered his weapon. "It's a trap."
"How can you be sure?" Lily argued. "Vance has been my supervisor for three years. He covers for the nurses. He hates the police."
"Vance has a crippling sports betting addiction," Mercer said from the couch, his eyes dark. "My men have tracked his debts. He owes eighty thousand dollars to a bookie in the South Side. A bookie who works exclusively for the Volkov syndicate."
Lily felt the air leave her lungs. "He sold me out."
"Volkov knows the ledger is in the hospital," Mercer deduced, pushing himself into a sitting position despite the pain. "He just doesn't know exactly where. He's using Vance to lure you into a controlled environment."
"If Vance lets them in, they'll tear the ward apart until they find it," Cole said, stepping toward the kitchen to grab more ammunition.
"Then we have to get there first," Lily said, her voice trembling but resolute.
Mercer looked at her, a strange mix of respect and concern flashing in his ice-blue eyes.
"Not 'we'," Mercer said. "Cole will go."
"Cole looks like a heavily armed hitman," Lily shot back. "I look like a nurse who forgot her stethoscope. I know the keypad codes. I know the patrol routes of the night security guards."
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"It's too dangerous," Mercer said, his voice dropping an octave.
"You burned down my apartment, Mercer!" Lily yelled, pointing a trembling finger at him. "My life is already over! If getting that book is the only way to get Volkov off my back, then I am going in there to get it."
