Margo Holland's Arc

Chapter 10 of 13

Chen left at midnight, citing supply routes and timing. Margo watched the headlights disappear down the dirt road, then locked the hospital doors and returned to her desk. The classified documents Chen had brought sat in a sealed folder, still unread. Margo opened it. The first page listed three names under a column marked "Authorization." The second page was stamped with a commemorative seal showing officer insignias and dates. Margo recognized two of the names from her original report's distribution list—the same officers who'd received her transmission risk findings three weeks before the facility went dark. The third name belonged to someone higher up the chain, someone with enough authority to bury the entire investigation. Chen hadn't just brought proof. She'd brought accountability. Margo flipped to the next section and found photographs of a loading dock. The images showed metal crates stacked under bright work lights, each one labeled with arrival dates from the past six months. The timestamps proved Lab Three had been receiving regular shipments long after it was supposedly sealed. One photo showed a stone marker near the dock entrance with fresh chisel marks—initials carved into weathered rock, the lighter stone beneath exposed and recent. Someone had been documenting deliveries the old way, keeping records outside the official system. Margo closed the folder and checked her medical kit. The documents named the officers, showed the active operation, and confirmed Chen's intelligence was solid. But they also meant Margo was walking into a facility that wasn't just contaminated—it was being deliberately maintained by people who'd already proven they'd bury evidence. She packed the folder into her kit next to the remaining keys. Tomorrow she'd enter the depot with Chen, retrieve the diagnostic equipment, and get tissue samples from whatever was still running inside Lab Three. The mission hadn't changed. But now she knew exactly who she'd be working against when she got there.