Chapter 3 - Don’t Talk About Him Like He’s Dead
No one spoke for several seconds.
Tessa wasn’t certain Luca had truly said Renzo’s name.
The sound had been barely more than breath.
But Marco had heard it.
Renzo had heard it.
And Luca’s fingers remained around hers as though letting go might allow the darkness to pull him under again.
Renzo approached slowly.
“Luca?”
Luca gave no response.
“Can you hear me?”
Nothing.
Marco looked at Tessa.
“What does it mean?”
“It means he’s showing signs of awareness.”
“No. I mean the name.”
Tessa’s patience thinned.
“He woke after major surgery, respiratory failure and an attempted poisoning. Maybe he said the first familiar name his brain could find.”
Marco’s gaze remained on Renzo.
“Maybe.”
Renzo noticed.
“So now I’m a suspect?”
“Nobody said that.”
“You didn’t need to.”
Tessa immediately regretted allowing the conversation to continue around Luca.
“Out.”
Neither man moved.
She pointed toward the glass door.
“Both of you. Now.”
Marco actually laughed once.
Not warmly.
“You don’t order us out.”
“I absolutely do while I’m assessing him.”
Renzo surprised everyone by stepping backward.
“Give her the room.”
Marco looked at him.
Then at Tessa.
Then followed.
Tessa closed the glass door.
She dimmed the overhead light and lowered herself beside Luca.
His grip weakened.
“Luca, listen to my voice.”
His breathing remained mechanically supported but regular.
“You’re at St. Vincent Medical Center. You had surgery. There was a complication, but you’re stable right now.”
His forehead tightened.
“That’s enough. Don’t force it.”
Tessa watched him for signs of distress.
“Can you squeeze once for yes?”
Nothing.
She waited.
His fingers pressed faintly against hers.
Tessa felt a strange rush of relief.
“Good.”
She glanced through the glass.
Marco and Renzo were arguing.
Quietly.
Violently, in the way powerful men sometimes argued when raising their voices would reveal too much.
Tessa turned back.
“Do you know where you are?”
One squeeze.
“Do you remember what happened before surgery?”
No response.
“That’s okay.”
His breathing changed.
His pulse increased.
Tessa leaned closer.
“You don’t have to solve anything right now.”
His fingers tightened.
“Tessa.”
Her own name sounded strange coming from his damaged voice.
She froze.
“I’m here.”
His eyelids trembled.
For one second, dark eyes appeared beneath them.
Then closed again.
“You…” he whispered.
“Yes?”
“Stopped…”
Tessa understood.
“The syringe?”
His fingers squeezed once.
“Yes. I stopped it.”
His grip loosened.
“You need to rest.”
His mouth moved.
She leaned closer.
“Don’t…”
“Don’t what?”
He forced the words.
“Trust… badge.”
Tessa’s heartbeat changed.
Not Renzo.
Not Marco.
Badge.
He had heard something.
Or remembered something.
“Which badge?”
His face tightened as though the effort hurt.
“Black…”
His pulse began climbing.
Tessa immediately stopped.
“Enough.”
Luca tried to speak again.
“No. You’ve given me enough.”
She adjusted his sedation under the physician’s standing order and watched until his body relaxed.
Then she went to the doorway.
Marco approached first.
“What did he say?”
Tessa hesitated.
Luca had not told her to keep it secret.
Yet she was suddenly aware that whatever he knew might be the only advantage he possessed.
“His mental status is improving.”
Marco’s expression hardened.
“Tessa.”
“That’s the medical information you need.”
Renzo stepped closer.
“Did he say my name again?”
“No.”
“What did he say?”
“He needs rest.”
Marco leaned toward her.
“You think protecting information protects him?”
“I think broadcasting the first coherent words of a man someone has already tried to kill twice is reckless.”
Renzo studied her.
“You don’t trust us.”
“I met both of you hours ago.”
“Fair.”
Marco did not appear to agree.
Renzo glanced at Luca.
“Who do you trust?”
Tessa thought about it.
“Right now?”
“Yes.”
“Myself.”
For reasons she could not explain, Renzo looked sad.
“That may be the wisest answer in this building.”
At 6:12 a.m., a hospital administrator arrived with a list of everyone whose ID had been used on the secure floor during the previous twelve hours.
Tessa recognized most of the badge colors.
Blue for clinical personnel.
White for physicians.
Green for maintenance.
Gray for administrative access.
One category stood out.
Black.
“What does black mean?” she asked.
The administrator frowned.
“Executive security override.”
Marco turned.
“Hospital security?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then who gets one?”
“Senior executives. Emergency management. Certain outside protective details when approved.”
“How many were issued?”
The administrator checked.
“Four.”
Tessa felt the back of her neck tighten.
“To whom?”
The woman read the list.
The chief medical officer.
The hospital’s emergency director.
Marco Bellini.
And Renzo Vesceri.
Nobody moved.
Marco stared at the administrator.
“I didn’t request a badge.”
“It was requested by your organization.”
“By whom?”
She turned the page.
“There’s no individual name. Just an authorization code.”
Renzo spoke quietly.
“Mine?”
“Same authorization.”
Marco and Renzo looked at each other.
Tessa understood immediately.
Someone had created override credentials in their names.
Or one of them was lying.
Marco took out his wallet.
He removed a black access badge.
“I was handed this when Luca arrived.”
Renzo produced one as well.
The administrator scanned both.
“Both legitimate.”
“Could there be duplicates?”
“Yes.”
“How easily?”
“Not easily.”
Marco gave her a look that suggested the distinction had ceased to matter.
Tessa remembered Luca’s whisper.
Don’t trust badge.
Black.
Someone had wanted him to identify the badges.
Perhaps he had seen one before he lost consciousness.
Perhaps he had known someone close to him was using hospital access.
Renzo turned toward Tessa.
“What did Luca tell you?”
She met his eyes.
There was no point hiding everything now.
“He said not to trust a badge.”
“What kind?”
“Black.”
Marco swore under his breath.
Renzo’s face remained still.
Too still.
Tessa noticed.
“You know something.”
Renzo looked at her.
“I know Luca gave very few people emergency override authority.”
“How few?”
“Three.”
Marco answered.
“Me. Renzo. And Luca.”
Tessa looked toward the bed.
“Then somebody is using authority that came from inside his organization.”
Renzo slowly nodded.
That was when another security officer appeared at the doorway.
“Marco.”
“What?”
“We checked the original footage.”
“And?”
“The false physician didn’t enter alone.”
Tessa’s stomach tightened.
The officer held up a tablet.
A grainy security frame filled the screen.
The man in the white coat stood near the loading dock.
Beside him was someone wearing a dark jacket.
Face turned away.
Around his neck hung a black access badge.
Marco enlarged the image.
A silver ring became visible on the stranger’s hand.
Renzo suddenly turned pale.
Tessa saw it.
“So you do recognize something.”
Renzo looked at Marco.
Marco looked back at him.
Neither spoke.
Tessa stepped between them.
“Who wears that ring?”
Renzo answered quietly.
“Everyone Luca trusts at the highest level.”
“How many?”
Renzo’s eyes remained on the photograph.
“Seven.”
Tessa looked toward Luca.
Seven people.
Seven trusted insiders.
May you like
One had just opened a hospital door for a killer.
And Luca, barely conscious, might be the only person who knew which one.
