Chapter 5 - THE MAN WEARING A NURSE’S BADGEEthan refused to leave.
Mara sent Jonah and Cal toward Bellweather while she remained at Vanderbilt. Hospital security moved Oliver to a room accessible through only one guarded corridor.
Dr. Lawson replaced every device connected to the boy.
Megan checked every medication personally.
At 9:18 a.m., a male orderly arrived pushing an empty wheelchair.
He wore a valid Vanderbilt badge and carried a transfer authorization signed by Lawson.
Megan looked at the form.
“You’re taking him where?”
“Radiology.”
“He has no imaging scheduled.”
The orderly smiled.
“Emergency abdominal scan.”
“Wrong patient.”
He reached beneath the wheelchair.
Megan slammed the emergency button before he could pull out the concealed syringe.
The man fled into the corridor.
Ethan intercepted him near the stairwell.
The struggle lasted seconds.
The intruder fought with trained precision, striking pressure points rather than swinging wildly. Ethan drove him against the wall while security officers closed in.
A black bird had been tattooed beneath the man’s wrist.
Rook insignia.
“Who sent you?” Ethan demanded.
The man laughed through bloodied lips.
“You did.”
Ethan tightened his grip.
“I’ve never seen you.”
“You called the number.”
“What did the call activate?”
“Homecoming.”
The intruder bit down on something hidden between his teeth. Megan forced his jaw open before he could swallow it.
A small capsule fell onto the floor.
Inside was a microfilm strip containing a list of names.
Ethan.
Mara.
Jonah.
Cal.
Oliver.
Rebecca.
Beside each name appeared a status.
Ethan—ACTIVE
Mara—UNKNOWN
Jonah—EN ROUTE
Cal—EN ROUTE
Rebecca—HELD
Oliver—KEY
The intruder was arrested, but he refused further questions.
Lawson examined the syringe.
It contained enough sedative to suppress Oliver’s breathing without immediately killing him. A second agent would have created symptoms resembling a sudden complication from his injuries.
“They planned to move him after making the hospital believe he was unstable,” she said.
Megan stared at the forged transfer.
The badge belonged to an orderly who had worked at Vanderbilt for seven years. The real employee was found unconscious inside a supply room.
Dominion Response had infiltrated the hospital within hours.
Mara stepped away to answer a call.
Ethan watched her through the glass.
She spoke too quietly for him to hear, then deleted the call record.
“Who was that?”
“Jonah.”
“He calls through the team channel.”
“His equipment failed.”
“Show me.”
Mara’s expression hardened.
“You called us because you needed help.”
“I called a number I thought I understood.”
“And now?”
“Now I know Richard expected it.”
Mara handed him the phone.
The deleted call had left an encrypted trace.
It originated near Bellweather House.
Jonah’s body camera had gone dark three minutes earlier.
Cal’s signal disappeared beside it.
Mara looked toward Oliver.
“Grant is drawing us away one person at a time.”
The boy sat upright, pale and frightened.
He had heard the captured intruder mention Homecoming.
“That’s what the masked man said,” Oliver whispered.
“When?” Ethan asked.
“Before Grandpa took me downstairs.”
“What exactly?”
Oliver closed his eye, trying to remember.
“He said, ‘The father calls Homecoming. The mother opens the door.’”
Rebecca was not merely a hostage.
Grant needed her to activate something at Bellweather.
Ethan contacted the county command center and ordered officers toward the property. The dispatcher responded that federal agents had already taken jurisdiction.
“Which agency?” Ethan asked.
The line disconnected.
Mara checked the authorization code.
It belonged to Rook Team.
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The unit had officially ceased to exist six years earlier.
👉 The secret call had not reunited Ethan’s team—it had legally reactivated the organization that once betrayed them.
