Chapter 8 - The Vacation Car
Two police vehicles and an ambulance blocked the driveway.
Theresa ran directly toward the rental car.
An officer shouted for her to stop.
She ignored him.
David followed her onto the porch.
“Mom!”
Theresa opened the driver’s door.
The first officer reached her before she could enter. He caught her arm and pulled her away from the vehicle.
She screamed as if she were the victim.
“My daughter-in-law is psychotic! She tried to kill her baby!”
The second officer rushed into the house with the paramedics.
Valerie barely saw their faces.
Everything became movement.
Gloved hands lifted Ethan.
A mask covered his tiny mouth and nose.
Someone lowered Valerie onto a stretcher.
A paramedic cut through the blood-soaked fabric near her abdomen.
“She’s hemorrhaging.”
“Blood pressure dropping.”
“Newborn pulse weak.”
David stood in the center of the kitchen, pale and useless.
An officer ordered him to keep his hands visible.
The hidden phone remained on the floor, still recording.
Theresa shouted from outside.
“David, say something! Tell them she refused medical care!”
David looked toward his mother.
Then at Valerie.
His mouth opened.
Valerie expected another lie.
Instead, he said, “My wife asked me to call for help.”
The officer watched him carefully.
“And did you?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
David’s eyes moved toward Theresa.
“Because I was trying to force her to sign a financial document.”
Theresa screamed, “Shut your mouth!”
David continued.
“My mother disabled the phones. She may have drugged the baby’s formula.”
“You ungrateful coward!”
The officer turned to the paramedics.
“Preserve anything that may be evidence.”
Valerie was wheeled toward the ambulance.
As she passed David, he stepped closer.
“I’m sorry.”
She looked at him.
There were apologies that came from remorse, and apologies that came from fear of consequences.
She did not yet know which one lived inside him.
“You left him,” she said.
David’s face collapsed.
The ambulance doors closed.
Inside, a paramedic worked over Ethan while another inserted an IV into Valerie’s arm.
“Stay with us,” the paramedic said.
“Save my baby.”
“We’re doing everything we can.”
Through the rear window, Valerie saw police pulling Theresa toward a patrol car.
David stood alone on the lawn.
Then the rental car exploded.
The blast lifted the rear of the ambulance slightly.
Glass shattered across the driveway.
Flames climbed from the trunk.
Officers dragged Theresa to the ground.
David disappeared behind a wall of smoke.
The ambulance accelerated away.
Valerie tried to rise.
“David…”
“Stay down.”
“My husband was near the car.”
“Police are there.”
The hidden phone was still in her hand.
She did not remember picking it up.
A message appeared.
THE EXPLOSION WAS A REMOTE CLEANUP ATTEMPT.
Daniel.
“Who did it?” Valerie whispered.
A reply appeared.
CROWN CIRCLE OPERATIVE WITHIN POLICE RESPONSE TEAM.
Valerie’s eyes moved toward the paramedic beside Ethan.
He wore a hospital badge, not a fire department identification card.
His name tag read NOAH PRICE.
She looked at the driver.
The route display showed they were not heading toward St. Matthew’s Hospital, the nearest neonatal center.
They were turning toward the industrial district.
“Where are we going?” Valerie asked.
The paramedic beside her avoided her eyes.
“Traffic diversion.”
“There is no traffic at this hour.”
“Please remain calm.”
The phone vibrated.
Daniel sent another message.
THE AMBULANCE IS NOT REGISTERED.
Valerie looked at Ethan.
The paramedic called Noah adjusted the oxygen mask.
Then his thumb pressed down on the tube.
The air flow stopped.
Valerie grabbed his wrist.
“What are you doing?”
Noah turned toward her.
His expression was no longer concerned.
“You should have signed the authorization.”
Valerie drove the IV pole into his shoulder.
He shouted.
The second paramedic lunged.
Valerie pressed the emergency release on the stretcher rail and kicked outward. The rail struck his knee.
The driver swerved.
Ethan’s equipment shifted.
Noah grabbed Valerie by the throat.
“You have no idea what you opened.”
Valerie struck him with the hidden phone.
Once.
Twice.
He released her.
She reached for the rear door handle.
It was locked.
Daniel’s voice suddenly came through the phone speaker.
“Valerie, press the red icon.”
She saw it.
A small emergency override symbol had appeared.
She pressed it.
The ambulance’s rear doors unlocked.
At the same moment, the vehicle slowed for a turn.
Valerie grabbed Ethan’s portable carrier, pulled him against her body, and kicked the doors open.
Wind rushed inside.
The road moved beneath them.
A black SUV followed twenty feet behind.
Its passenger door opened.
A man leaned out.
For one terrifying second, Valerie thought another attacker had arrived.
Then the man shouted, “Jump!”
May you like
She recognized the voice.
Daniel Mercer.
