Chapter 10 - The Empty Hospital Bed
Police reached Lily’s room before Claire.
The officers assigned to the door were unconscious but alive. Both had been injected with a fast-acting sedative.
The room was empty.
Lily’s intravenous line lay on the floor.
A wheelchair had disappeared from a nearby storage area.
Hospital cameras showed a nurse transporting Lily through a service corridor. The nurse wore a mask, cap, and glasses.
The stolen badge identified her as Maria Vale.
Maria Vale had worked at the hospital for three years.
She had called in sick that morning.
Police entered her apartment and found her dead.
She had been killed approximately twelve hours earlier.
The woman moving Lily was using the identity of another victim.
Claire stood beside the empty bed, unable to hear anything beyond the violent pounding of her heart.
Daniel arrived minutes later.
He saw the abandoned intravenous line and nearly collapsed.
“This is my fault.”
Claire turned on him.
“Do not make this about your guilt.”
“I took us to the estate.”
“And we found the room.”
“We left Lily.”
“She was surrounded by police.”
“Police who were compromised.”
Grant entered with new information.
The woman had left the hospital in a laundry truck owned by a contractor connected to the Bennett Foundation.
Traffic cameras tracked the vehicle for six miles before it entered an underground tunnel beneath a private medical complex.
The complex belonged to Vale Research Laboratories.
The company had been founded by Dr. Miriam Vale, Maria’s mother.
Miriam Vale had served as medical director of Project Thirty-Six.
She had officially died in 2002.
“Officially?” Claire asked.
“Her death certificate was signed by the same medical examiner who handled Laura Bennett’s case.”
Grant showed them an old staff photograph.
Dr. Miriam Vale stood beside Charles and Evelyn Bennett.
She had dark hair and gray-blue eyes.
Around her wrist was Rachel’s bracelet.
The picture had been taken two days earlier.
The image quality was poor, but the security camera at the estate had captured her entering the underground office.
“The woman is alive,” Daniel said.
“And she has Lily,” Claire replied.
Police surrounded the research complex.
The building’s public floors were empty. Computers had been wiped. Medical equipment had been removed.
A hidden elevator led underground.
Grant would not allow Claire to join the tactical entry.
She waited inside a command vehicle with Daniel while officers descended.
Every second felt like an hour.
Then Grant’s voice came through the radio.
“We found the laundry truck.”
Claire gripped the edge of the table.
“Any sign of Lily?”
Static followed.
Then another officer answered.
“We found a pediatric recovery room.”
Claire stopped breathing.
“Room is empty.”
Daniel punched the wall.
Grant continued searching.
The underground complex connected to old service tunnels beneath the city. Miriam could have taken Lily in any direction.
On a medical tray, officers found a vial of Lily’s blood.
Beside it was a note addressed to Claire.
YOUR DAUGHTER WAS NEVER THE TARGET.
CLAIRE WAS.
Daniel read the message over Claire’s shoulder.
“What does that mean?”
Claire thought of the file created before she met him.
Potential maternal carrier.
Someone had selected her.
Her marriage had not been accidental.
Lily’s birth had not merely been observed.
It had been anticipated.
Grant’s team found Rachel in a locked examination room.
She was injured but alive.
Claire rushed inside once the building was secured.
Rachel lay beneath a gray blanket with an oxygen mask over her face.
Her eyes opened.
“Lily,” Claire said. “Where is she?”
Rachel pulled off the mask.
“She took her through the tunnel.”
“Who?”
“Miriam.”
“Why?”
Rachel began crying.
“I’m sorry.”
Claire took a step back.
“For what?”
“I was supposed to watch you.”
The room went silent.
Rachel tried to sit up.
“I didn’t know they would hurt Lily.”
Claire’s voice became dangerously calm.
May you like
“How long?”
“Since before you met Daniel.”
