He looked at his watch, then reached for the handle of my mother’s hospital room door.

I tapped the screen to call the nurse’s station directly.

The line rang three times before a young woman answered.

“Fourth floor west, Nurse Higgins speaking.”

“This is Emily Carter,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “There is a man outside my mother’s room, room 412.”

“Let me check the monitor, Mrs. Carter.”

“Do not let him inside,” I said. “He does not have authorization.”

“One moment,” the nurse said.

Through the live video feed, I saw Vance open the door and step into the room.

“He just went in,” I said, my heart pounding against my collarbone. “Stop him.”

“I am calling security now,” the nurse said.

The line went dead.

I stared at the screen, but the video feed suddenly froze.

The image of the hallway pixelated, turned gray, and went black.

A message appeared on the screen: *Connection lost. System offline.*

I gripped the metal pole of the subway car as the train jolted violently.

The wheels shrieked against the curved tracks.