A phone rings.
“Hey hun. Yeah, I’ll be home soon. Mitchell’s taking over for the night shift.” The guard keeps on talking and I glance down at the filing cabinet. I’ve almost got it, just one more pin.Fuck it.I wriggle the lock pick, feeling for that tell-tale click.There.
The drawer screeches as I open it, the sound like chalk down a board. I cringe.
The guard’s boots slap against the floor and my muscles coil, firing up to fight, but then the footsteps stop again. “Alright, tell Jenny I’ll be there to tuck her in.” A door opens and the footsteps fade away.
Close call, Flynny.
I turn my attention to the now open cabinet. There’s only one folder inside, the tag marking it asProject Zeus. I pull the file out, rushing now because even I’m only willing to push my luck so far.
I flip through the pages. There are at least a dozen patients, all women. Each patient has what looks like their entire medical history listed, along with contact details and an address. Without my phone I can’t take a photo, but I memorize the names as best I can.Hannah Kozak, Letty Jones, Ana Zhang, Hope Lawson?—
I stop turning the pages, caught in Hope’s gaze as she looks up at me from the file. The word deceased is printed under her date of birth. The pressure in my brain grows violent.
Outside the office, a door bangs. I hurry up and tuck the pages with Hope’s details into the pocket of my hoodie. Then I close the file, compartmentalizing like a pro because now is not the time to lose it.
I return everything else to the filing cabinet and go to the door, pulling back the blinds covering the narrow window. The guard comes out of the bathroom, wiping his hands on his pants. I wait till he’s disappeared around the corner then slip out of the office, locking it behind me once more.
I turn the radio back on and pace down the hall. “Heading out now. Going to need a distraction because the guard’s back outside.”
“No, he’s not.” Lachlan’s sharp voice cuts down the line seconds before I hear footsteps coming back this way. Adrenaline spikes and I dive to the right, ducking inside the nearest room and pressing the door closed as quietly as possible.
“Fucking phone,” the guard grumbles on his way past, back to the bathroom.
My heart patters against my ribs.
“Are you out?” Lachlan asks.
I look around the room, taking in the large MRI machine in the center. “Not exactly.” I have a feeling I’ve just chosen the only room in this entire clinic without a window. I push off the door in frustration only to send a trolley crashing to the floor. I stare at the medical trolley. “Well, that’s not good.”
“Hello?” The guard’s voice is just outside the door. “Anybody there?”
My gaze skates over the room, landing on the MRI machine, which would be a great idea if I wasn’t claustrophobic as fuck because Lachlan decided to lock me in a closet one day when we were kids.
The door handle jiggles and I tear myself away, gritting my teeth and slipping inside the tiny ass tunnel of the MRI machine just as the door opens.
Sweat pricks above my lip, the white surface of the tunnel inches from my nose. Fear is usually a muted emotion for me. I know it’s there, but it doesn’t bother me. Unless I’m in a confined space. Someone tell me why these machines have to be so damn small.
I can’t see anything from this angle, but heavy footsteps track around the room.
I close my eyes and try to focus on breathing. I picture Hazel scowling up at me, her anger far too adorable to be threatening. I try to remember how it feels when she laughs, how I get this feeling in my chest like maybe I could smile forever.God, I want that feeling back.
The guard stops. I know without looking that he’s close and I’m relying on shadows and luck to keep me hidden right now. I hold my breath. Tell myself I’m not being buried alive. I have killed people with my bare hands, I will not die in an MRI machine. That is, as long as it doesn’t turn on and rip the metal watch straight through my wrist.
A radio crackles and my eyes flick open. I think for one second it’s mine but then a voice with a heavy accent comes through. “You back out front Mac?”
The guard moves away. “Be there in a second, thought I heard something. Damn creepy half-built building.” His voice fades and finally the fucking door closes behind him.
I shuffle out of the tunnel and decide I’m going to spend the rest of the night watching Hazel sleep because I deserve an award for that shit. Stupid small spaces.
Hiding inside the MRI makes the rest of my escape feel like child’s play. I go into the next room with a window and climb out into the parking lot. The guard hasn’t made it back outside yet so all I have to do is stroll across the street, dropping the keys to the clinic where the van was parked. The builder will probably find them tomorrow and assume they fell out of his pocket.
I slip into Lachlan’s Mercedes and take off my cap.
“You look like shit.”
I flip him the bird.
