Chapter 8 - The Road to Saint Orla
Elena knocked on the partition.
“This isn’t the way to the hospital.”
The paramedic beside her checked the monitor without looking up.
“Road closure.”
“There is no road closure.”
“Please remain calm.”
Elena reached for her phone.
The paramedic took it from her hand.
“Electronic devices can interfere with the equipment.”
“Give it back.”
“You need to reduce stress for the baby.”
The second paramedic was driving.
Through the front window, Elena saw the city buildings disappear behind them.
Trees lined both sides of the road.
She pressed the emergency call button Miriam had attached to the card. It was a small wireless device connected to Nora Grant’s private security system.
A green light blinked once.
The paramedic noticed.
“What is that?”
Elena closed her hand around it.
“My medical alarm.”
He reached for her wrist.
The ambulance suddenly slowed.
A black vehicle had stopped across the road ahead.
Two hospital-security cars approached from behind.
The driver cursed.
Nora Grant stepped from the black vehicle wearing a dark security uniform. Four officers moved with her.
The ambulance driver attempted to reverse, but the security cars blocked the road.
Nora opened the rear doors.
“Elena Vale?”
“Yes.”
“Saint Matthew’s security. You are not under arrest, and you are free to refuse this transport.”
The paramedic stood.
“We have medical authorization.”
“Show me.”
He handed her the form.
Nora examined it.
“This authorization was canceled twenty minutes ago.”
“By whom?”
“The actual patient.”
The officers removed both paramedics from the ambulance.
Ethan’s car arrived moments later.
He ran toward Elena.
She reached for him as he climbed inside.
“I thought I lost you.”
“I’m all right.”
“Why were they taking you east?”
Nora held up a navigation device taken from the driver.
“The destination was Saint Orla House.”
Ethan’s expression hardened.
“Who hired them?”
“The ambulance belongs to a private company controlled by a Vale Meridian subsidiary.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“It was purchased three months after Arthur Vale died.”
Elena looked at Ethan.
“Malcolm’s shell companies.”
Nora nodded.
“We searched the ambulance. There was a sedative kit, neonatal identification bands, and an unsigned admission form.”
“What admission form?” Ethan asked.
Nora handed it to him.
The document authorized involuntary psychiatric observation for Elena.
Vivian was listed as the requesting family member.
Elena felt suddenly unsteady.
Ethan put his arm around her.
“They were going to have me declared unstable,” she said.
“And take the baby after the birth,” Ethan replied.
Nora’s phone rang.
She listened for several seconds.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“Dr. Bell reported the ambulance stolen. He claims the drivers abducted Elena without hospital knowledge.”
“That’s a lie,” Elena said.
“It may be, but he filed the report before we stopped them.”
Ethan understood immediately.
“Those men will be blamed. Bell and my mother walk away.”
“Unless one of the drivers talks.”
Nora looked toward the road.
The two paramedics were being questioned separately.
The younger driver appeared terrified.
The older paramedic remained calm.
Then the calm paramedic collapsed.
An officer knelt beside him.
“He’s not breathing!”
Nora ran toward him.
The younger driver began shouting.
“I didn’t do anything! They told us it was a family transfer!”
“Who told you?” Ethan demanded.
The driver looked toward the unconscious paramedic.
“He arranged everything.”
“Who paid him?”
“I don’t know. I only heard a name.”
“What name?”
The driver swallowed.
“Lark.”
Ethan remembered the password on Arthur’s flash drive.
Arthur called the child he could not save Lark.
Before he could question the driver again, Elena doubled over.
Pain crossed her abdomen.
Ethan caught her.
“Elena?”
Her breathing became uneven.
Nora called for the medical team.
Elena gripped Ethan’s jacket.
“Don’t let them take me to Saint Matthew’s.”
“I won’t.”
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But the nearest safe hospital was forty minutes away.
And the monitor inside the ambulance showed the baby’s heart rate beginning to fall.
