Chapter 2 - The Locked Room
The temperature in the master bedroom seemed to drop ten degrees.
Twelve highly educated medical specialists were now hostages in a brutalist fortress.
Leo Rossi stood in front of the locked mahogany doors.
He still held the Glock in his right hand.
"Line up against the far wall," Leo commanded.
The doctors hesitated for a fraction of a second.
Leo fired a single bullet into the ceiling.
Plaster rained down onto the expensive Persian rug.
The doctors scrambled immediately, pressing their backs against the expensive wallpaper.
Olivia remained on her hands and knees near the spilled bucket of dirty water.
She wanted to disappear.
She wanted to go back to scrubbing floors and ignoring the violent world around her.
"You," Leo said, pointing the gun down at her.
"Get up."
Olivia slowly rose to her feet, her legs shaking uncontrollably.
"You spotted the chemical interaction," Leo stated.
"Yes," Olivia whispered.
"How does a maid know about QT interval prolongation?"
Olivia swallowed hard.
"I was a pharmacology student before my father died."
Leo stared at her with cold, calculating eyes.
"Check the medical tablet," Leo ordered.
"Find out which one of these geniuses authorized the override."
Olivia slowly walked over to the bedside table.
She picked up the expensive tablet with her raw, chemical-burned hands.
She opened the electronic health record system.
She navigated through the complex administrative menus with practiced ease.
"The override requires a unique digital signature," Olivia explained to the silent room.
She clicked on the medication authorization log.
Her eyes scanned the digital footprint.
"The signature belongs to Doctor Brent," Olivia announced.
Every eye in the room immediately turned to the cardiologist.
Doctor Brent raised his hands defensively.
"That is a lie!" Doctor Brent shouted.
"Someone must have stolen my login credentials."
Leo cocked the hammer of his weapon.
"Step forward, Doctor."
Doctor Brent began to weep.
"I swear to you, I did not do this!"
Suddenly, the lights in the master bedroom flickered.
The low hum of the estate's central air conditioning unit ground to a halt.
The medical monitors beeped frantically as they switched to internal battery power.
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The entire fortress plunged into absolute, pitch-black darkness.
Someone had just cut the main power grid.
