Chapter 1 - THE LOCKED CORRIDOR
Evelyn Mercer woke to the sound of scissors.
No.
Shears.
Heavy metal blades opening beside her ear.
She tried to lift her hands.
Could not.
Her wrists were strapped to the arms of a heavy metal chair.
Her ankles were restrained too.
Her hospital gown was thin against the cold industrial air.
Richard stood behind her.
Her husband.
Black suit.
White shirt.
Perfect collar.
He grabbed a fistful of her long dark-brown hair.
Then cut.
A thick section fell across Evelyn’s lap.
She jerked against the restraints.
“Richard—stop!”
He laughed.
“No one will recognize you now.”
Another section.
Cut.
Dropped.
Paula Reed stood behind the chair in a white psychiatric-nurse uniform.
Her face was pale.
“Richard, we need to—”
“Push.”
Paula gripped the handles.
The chair began moving.
Industrial corridor.
Concrete walls.
Harsh light.
Evelyn fought the sedation still sitting behind her eyes.
“What is this?”
Richard walked beside her.
“You should’ve stayed quiet.”
Ahead stood a large cremation chamber.
Closed.
Dark metal.
Evelyn’s mind finally cleared enough to understand fear.
“No.”
Paula pushed faster.
“No!”
They stopped several feet away.
Paula reached toward the controls.
Evelyn screamed:
“Please! Don’t! Somebody help me!”
Paula hesitated.
Then pounding exploded against the locked corridor door behind them.
Once.
Twice.
Again.
“EVELYN!”
Dr. Adrian Keller.
Evelyn stopped struggling.
Richard spun around.
The pounding became harder.
“EVELYN!”
Richard’s face drained.
He pointed toward the chamber.
“Push her in! Now! Hurry!”
Paula grabbed the chair.
Shoved.
Evelyn braced both feet against the floor.
The chair rolled forward.
Stopped inches from the chamber entrance.
Then the corridor door burst inward.
Richard turned.
Dr. Keller stood there with two security officers behind him.
May you like
And Keller said the sentence Richard had spent forty-eight hours trying to prevent anyone from hearing.
“She is not a patient here.”
