Chapter 7 - THE NIGHT THE HOSPITAL WENT DARK
Emergency lights flickered on in the hallway.
Andrew ripped the monitoring leads from his chest.
Natalie pushed him back.
“You can’t move.”
“He’s here.”
“We don’t know that.”
“The power doesn’t fail by accident when Malcolm Vale wants a child.”
Mason spoke into his radio.
No response.
Static filled the channel.
Natalie checked her phone.
No signal.
A hospital announcement crackled overhead.
“Attention. A technical failure has affected power and communications. Staff should remain in designated areas.”
The voice was calm.
Too calm.
Andrew swung his legs over the side of the bed.
Pain twisted his face.
“You’ll tear your stitches,” Natalie said.
“Then stop him before I have to.”
She turned to Mason.
“Stay here.”
“I’m coming.”
“You’re guarding Andrew.”
Andrew laughed without humor.
“He doesn’t want me guarded. He wants me trapped.”
Natalie entered the hallway.
Half the ceiling lights were dark. Nurses moved between rooms carrying flashlights. Patients called from behind curtains. An elevator alarm rang continuously.
The pediatric ward was two floors above.
Natalie took the stairs.
At the first landing, she found one of the officers assigned to Ashley unconscious beside the door.
A puncture mark showed on his neck.
His weapon was missing.
Natalie drew hers.
She climbed silently.
The second officer lay inside the pediatric hallway. Alive, but bleeding from the head.
Ashley’s room was empty.
The window stood open.
Rain blew across the floor.
Natalie ran to it.
A maintenance platform had been raised beside the building. Its metal basket descended slowly toward the ground.
A man in a dark coat stood inside with Ashley in his arms.
Ashley struggled weakly.
The man looked up.
Even through the rain, Natalie saw his gray eyes.
Malcolm Vale.
She aimed through the window.
“Put her down!”
Malcolm smiled.
Then he raised the stolen police weapon and fired.
The window exploded.
Natalie dropped behind the wall.
Screams filled the hallway.
She crawled toward the broken opening and looked again.
The platform reached the ground.
Malcolm carried Ashley toward a black sedan parked beside the service road.
Natalie fired at the vehicle’s front tire.
The bullet struck metal.
Malcolm fired back.
A round tore through the wall beside her head.
Then another shot came from below.
Malcolm stumbled.
Someone had fired from the hospital entrance.
Andrew stood beneath the awning wearing a blood-soaked hospital gown, one arm immobilized against his body. He held a security officer’s pistol in his right hand.
“Put her down!” Andrew shouted.
Malcolm dragged Ashley behind the sedan.
“You still believe she belongs to you?”
Andrew moved into the rain.
“She does.”
“You stole thirteen years of research.”
“She’s a child.”
“She is proof.”
“She’s my daughter.”
Malcolm aimed at Andrew.
Natalie fired first.
The bullet struck Malcolm’s shoulder.
He dropped the weapon but did not release Ashley.
A second man emerged from the driver’s side.
Brown eyes.
Limping.
Elias Voss.
He opened the rear door.
Malcolm shoved Ashley inside.
Andrew ran toward them.
Elias fired.
The bullet struck Andrew’s upper chest and threw him backward.
“Ashley!” he screamed.
The sedan accelerated.
Natalie reached Andrew.
Blood spread across his gown.
He tried to rise.
“Go after them.”
“You’ve been shot.”
“Go!”
Mason arrived with two security officers.
Natalie pointed toward the road.
“Black sedan, south service exit. Get every unit moving.”
Mason ran.
Andrew gripped Natalie’s sleeve.
“They’ll take her north.”
“To Hartley?”
“Not the house. The clinic.”
“What clinic?”
“Rachel found records before the fire. There was another facility under Lake Mercer.”
“Under the lake?”
“An old hydroelectric station. Hartley converted it.”
Natalie pressed cloth against Andrew’s wound.
“Stay conscious.”
“You have to find her.”
“I will.”
“If Malcolm gets blood from her…”
“What happens?”
Andrew’s eyes began to close.
“He’ll know whether it worked.”
“Whether what worked?”
Andrew’s grip loosened.
“The children who died in the fire…”
May you like
His voice faded.
“They weren’t the first group.”
