Chapter 1: The Door Opens

By midnight, the plan has already failed in the most useful possible direction.

a surgeon released after serving six years for an operation he did not perform

The evidence survives, but reaching it requires a choice that exposes the group to a new enemy.

Dr. Gabriel Cross keeps the larger goal in view: clear his name while treating the victims no institution will admit exist. The immediate problem is smaller, sharper, and impossible to postpone.

They disagree without leaving. For both of them, that becomes a more intimate choice than agreement.

Dr. Gabriel Cross accepts that the impossible event is real and cannot be ignored.

The recurring signs of scalpels, rain, hospital lights return with a different meaning, linking this choice to what came before.

Before the first night ends, the danger speaks Dr. Gabriel Cross's name.