Chapter 10 - The Man With the Blanket
Ashley moved in front of Emily.
Michael raised the gun.
“Get away from her.”
“You first,” Ashley replied.
Michael looked exhausted. A bruise darkened one side of his face, and blood ran from a cut near his temple.
Behind him, the laundry room was empty.
“Those men?” Sarah asked.
“Alive.”
“Did Father send them?”
Michael did not answer.
He held out the yellow blanket.
“I recovered this.”
Emily looked at it.
“From Ashley?”
“No. From the man who stole it from Ashley.”
Ashley stared at him.
“You knew?”
“I followed him.”
Ruth looked toward the barricaded stairwell door.
“We have less than a minute.”
Michael lowered the gun slightly.
“There’s a delivery van in the basement.”
“The garage is controlled,” Ruth said.
“Not the old loading dock.”
Sarah stepped through the doorway.
“Why should we trust you?”
Michael laughed bitterly.
“Because Father just tried to have all of us sedated.”
“He wouldn’t hurt me.”
“He told Cole to take you too.”
Sarah’s confidence disappeared.
Michael turned to Emily.
“The blanket contains copies. The original files are gone.”
“Where?”
“My father has them.”
“Then this proves nothing.”
“It proves enough to keep you alive.”
Emily held out her hand.
“Give it to me.”
Michael hesitated.
Ashley stepped closer.
“She asked you.”
Michael handed Emily the blanket.
It felt heavier than she remembered.
She unfolded one corner and saw the black flash drive still sewn into the lining.
The documents were there.
But the letter was missing.
“Where’s Monroe’s letter?”
“I never saw it.”
“It was inside.”
“Then whoever took the blanket removed it.”
A violent impact struck the stairwell door.
The cart shifted.
Ruth moved through the laundry room.
“Now.”
Michael led them to a freight elevator at the far end.
He entered Richard’s code.
The doors opened.
They crowded inside.
Emily’s contraction returned.
She gripped the rail.
Ashley looked at her.
“Are you okay?”
“No.”
Ruth checked her watch.
“Seven minutes.”
“What does that mean?” Sarah asked.
“Seven minutes since the last contraction.”
Michael pressed the basement button.
“We can reach the county hospital in fifteen.”
“No Carter facility,” Ruth said.
“I know.”
The elevator descended.
Emily looked at Michael.
“Who is the biological mother?”
He stared at the floor numbers.
“I told you I don’t know.”
“Then why did your father choose me?”
Michael remained silent.
“Because of Anna?”
“Yes.”
“How is my mother connected to this embryo?”
“I don’t know.”
Ashley stepped toward him.
“You always know more than you admit.”
Michael raised the gun again.
“Back up.”
“Stop pointing that at people.”
“It’s the only reason Cole let me leave.”
The elevator stopped suddenly.
Lights flickered.
Sarah looked upward.
“What happened?”
Michael pressed the basement button again.
Nothing.
A speaker crackled above them.
Richard’s voice filled the elevator.
“Michael, you have disappointed me before.”
Michael’s face hardened.
“But never so completely.”
“Let us go,” Michael said.
“You are holding property that belongs to Carter Medical Holdings.”
Emily clutched the blanket.
“I am not property.”
Richard paused.
“I wasn’t speaking about you.”
Emily looked down at her belly.
Richard continued.
“The embryo was created under a private agreement. Its genetic material belongs to the company.”
Ashley stared at the speaker.
“You can’t own a child.”
“Ownership is an emotional word. Custodial rights are legal.”
Ruth stepped toward the control panel.
“You altered the trust.”
“I clarified it.”
Michael struck the elevator door with his fist.
“You told me guardianship would transfer to me.”
“It would have, had your wife signed.”
“I did everything you asked.”
“You fell in love with the subject.”
Emily looked at Michael.
He closed his eyes.
Richard’s voice softened.
“Bring Emily to the clinic. I will forget tonight.”
“No.”
The word came from Michael.
For the first time, it carried no hesitation.
Richard sighed.
“Then you have chosen poverty, prosecution and death.”
The elevator jolted.
Sarah screamed.
They dropped half a floor before the emergency brakes caught.
Emily fell against the wall.
A sharp pain tore through her abdomen.
Warm liquid spread down her legs.
Ruth looked at the floor.
“Her water broke.”
Michael immediately forced his fingers between the elevator doors.
Ashley joined him.
Together they pulled.
The doors opened onto a narrow concrete gap between floors.
Below them was darkness.
Above them, the basement landing was less than four feet away.
Ruth climbed first.
Then Sarah.
Ashley helped Emily upward while Michael supported her from below.
Another contraction seized her halfway through.
She cried out.
Michael held her steady.
“I’ve got you.”
Emily looked down at him.
For one second, she saw the man she had married.
Then a gunshot echoed through the shaft.
Michael jerked.
His grip loosened.
Emily screamed as Ashley pulled her onto the landing.
Michael fell backward into the elevator.
The gun slid from his hand.
The elevator doors began closing.
Emily crawled toward him.
“Michael!”
He looked up.
Blood spread across his shoulder.
“Go,” he said.
May you like
The doors shut between them.
The elevator dropped.
