Chapter 4 - The Unseen Ally
Disappearing from a high-security hospital wing while under subtle family surveillance required help. I couldn't rely on security guards paid through Greystone accounts, nor could I trust the hospital administration.
I needed the one person who owed no allegiance to the Marlowe name: Thomas Reed, the maintenance worker who had dragged me through the shattered rear window of my burning car.
Through a secure message routed to his personal phone, I requested a meeting in the hospital’s basement service bay. At 3:30 AM, dressed in a borrowed nurse’s scrub top over my bandaged frame, I met him near the freight elevators.
Thomas looked startled when he recognized me, his eyes dropping to the raw burns visible beneath my collar.
"Miss Marlowe," he whispered, looking around anxiously. "You shouldn't be out of bed."
"Thomas," I said, my voice quiet but unyielding. "The people who locked me in that car are coming back to finish the job if I stay here. I need your help to get out unnoticed."
He stared at me for a long moment, the memory of that burning garage floating between us. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a keycard.
"My cousin drives an medical transport van," Thomas said simply. "We can get you to a private facility in the suburbs where nobody looks for missing executives."
"Why are you helping me?" I asked.
"Because I watched your sister smile while that car burned," Thomas replied, his jaw tightening. "Nobody deserves that. Tell me what you need."
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Together, we orchestrated my departure before dawn. By the time the morning shift arrived and discovered an empty bed, I was miles away in a secure, non-networked apartment, sitting before three monitors with the full corporate ledger of Greystone Holdings laid bare.
The countdown to the board meeting had reached forty-eight hours.
