A Delicate Covert Operation

Percy glanced at the clock. 4:47. He needed to get out of here before Roman left because if his brother-in-law suggested they walk out together, his plan would be ruined. He needed to end this conversation in the next five minutes.

They ended up chatting briefly about the type of escape room Harry had chosen for the evening's entertainment. Apparently the theme revolved around finding clues to diffuse a bomb within an hour.

Not the best theme but not the worst either. Percy had once done an escape room when his cousins were in town that involved trying to escape from a hoarder's attic. There was so much stuff in there to deal with that they made it out with less than a minute to spare on the timer.

He preferred the pure puzzle version to those with themes but could acknowledge that everyone had their own tastes. He had never really been into things with themes.

"I should probably get going. Have fun with your friends," Percy said before making his way toward the door.

"…you don't want to wait a few minutes for me to finish up? I can walk you out," Roman offered.

He shook his head. "I would only serve as a distraction. Have a nice weekend, Roman."

Percy made his escape before he could try to persuade him. It wouldn't matter if his behavior seemed odd because his brother-in-law had always accepted him at face value, not unlike Penny did.

"You too!" Roman called after him as the door swung shut.

He was a nice person; Penny had chosen her spouse well. It didn't seem like he was suspicious of his wife being replaced by an imposter yet but who knows how much longer that other Penelope's acting would hold out? He needed to get this done today.

Percy made his way into a bathroom and changed into the scrubs, using a cap to hide his rather striking hair. The backpack would be a problem if he got caught so he had to find a storage closet or something to hide in fast.

He tried to think of the place that would have the least foot traffic. A janitorial closet probably wouldn't be safe because cleaning tended to happen when things were less busy.

However…visiting hours here were 8 AM to 8 PM. He might be okay hiding in one until they were over but then he would have to find a new place to go. And there was one on this floor, which was higher up and out of the way. It might be his best option for now.

Percy picked the lock on the nearest one after making sure the coast was clear and pulled out his laptop, grateful that the hospital offered free WiFi. He had work to do.

===

Percy ended up having to move twice and had a close shave getting caught by a janitor before he finally felt secure to move around. His backpack would stick out like a sore thumb so he left it in Roman's office.

He stuck the EMF meter and spectrometer in his pockets with his phone. He would need to record the data from each device there so he could analyze it all later.

The spatial disturbance could have technically occurred anywhere in this hospital so he had to take as much data as he could. But he planned to take extra care investigating the room Penelope had stayed in post-surgery and the operating rooms since the switch was most likely made in one of those two places.

It was 2 AM; unless there was a serious emergency going down the operating rooms should be empty. Percy was more concerned about someone staying in the room she had and catching him.

Stealth wasn't his area of expertise but getting caught would probably land him in jail even if he was related to the hospital director. This was a delicate covert operation.

Percy started taking data in as many areas of the top floor as he could since it was deserted. There were eight total so this might take a while.

Belatedly, he wondered if he should have taken some control samples by going to a different hospital with similar equipment and lighting. What if the entire building was different and he had nothing to measure it against?

He cursed himself for not formulating his experiment correctly. He was a scientist! He shouldn't be making these sorts of rookie mistakes even if he was going into uncharted territory.

The problem was that there was no way he would be able to break into a hospital where he didn't have connections. What he had would have to do.

Percy was meticulous—he recorded multiple sets of data with each device to make sure there weren't any errors in the numbers, took pictures of the scanners with the readings on it, and then wrote down where each data set was taken with the numbers next to it in his phone's notes.

His work was slow-going but ultimately uneventful for the top two floors, which focused on administration, oncology, cardiology, and neurology. The doctors from those three wards had more stereotypical working hours so no one was there.

The maternity ward had doctors and nurses milling about because babies had no sense of time. Percy had to be very, very careful and take minimal data here since he was fairly certain the disturbance hadn't occurred in this part of the hospital.

The same went for the intensive care unit. Those who needed around the clock care had medical professionals swarming them even if it was the middle of the night. He kept to the shadows and took less data on these busier floors.

Thankfully, the operating rooms were all empty—he got really lucky—so he was able to take his data in peace there. But he got much less lucky with Penelope's recovery room because it was currently occupied by an octogenarian.

The old man was out cold but there was no guarantee he would stay that way, especially because his equipment made small beeps when recording things. Percy was screwed.