Chapter 12 - The Wrong Hospital
Ashley tried the handle.
It did not move.
“Unlock the door.”
The driver did not respond.
Ruth knocked on the divider.
“Who are you?”
The nurse beside Emily reached for the medical bag.
Ashley caught her wrist.
She pulled away and produced a syringe.
Sarah reacted first.
She struck the nurse’s hand.
The syringe flew across the van.
Ruth grabbed the nurse from behind.
“Stop the vehicle!”
The driver accelerated.
Emily’s contraction hit with crushing force.
She doubled over.
The fetal monitor alarmed.
“Her blood pressure is dropping,” Ruth said.
Ashley kicked the divider repeatedly.
The driver swerved.
Everyone was thrown sideways.
Sarah’s head struck the wall.
The laptop slid across the floor.
Its screen flickered back on.
Daniel’s recorded face reappeared.
“The embryo was switched because Richard’s original sample carried a fatal genetic defect,” he said.
Emily struggled to focus.
“I replaced it with an embryo from a second sealed donor pair. Only Anna’s mitochondrial line was preserved.”
Ashley grabbed the laptop.
“So Richard isn’t the father.”
Daniel continued as though answering him.
“The child is not genetically Richard Carter’s.”
A sound came from the front of the van.
The driver was speaking into a phone.
“Yes, sir. We have her.”
Richard’s voice answered through the speaker.
“Bring her to Ward Nine.”
Ruth looked at Sarah.
“Does St. Matthew’s have a Ward Nine?”
“No.”
“Carter Medical does,” Sarah whispered.
Ashley kicked the divider again.
This time the panel cracked.
The driver looked back.
The van crossed into an intersection against a red light.
A truck horn blared.
The driver turned sharply.
The van struck a curb and tilted onto two wheels.
Emily heard Sarah scream.
Then metal tore against pavement.
The world spun.
Glass shattered.
The monitor struck the ceiling.
Emily wrapped both arms around her belly.
The van crashed onto its side and slid to a stop.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Rain entered through the broken rear window.
Ashley lifted his head.
“Emily?”
“I’m here.”
Ruth pushed herself upright.
The nurse beside her was unconscious.
Sarah lay against the wall, bleeding from the forehead.
The driver’s compartment was crushed.
Ashley kicked the rear doors.
They opened onto the wet street.
Sirens sounded in the distance.
Ruth checked Emily.
“We need an ambulance.”
“No Carter hospital,” Emily whispered.
“I know.”
Sarah opened her eyes.
“Ward Nine.”
“What about it?” Ashley asked.
She tried to sit.
“It was closed fifteen years ago.”
“Why?”
“My father used it for private research.”
Ruth looked at her.
“Where?”
“Beneath the old east wing.”
The laptop chimed.
A message appeared.
THE LETTER IS IN WARD NINE.
Emily remembered the missing page from the yellow blanket.
Dr. Monroe’s letter.
The one piece someone had deliberately removed.
Another message followed.
MICHAEL IS ALIVE.
Emily stared at the words.
Ashley looked toward the approaching ambulance.
“This could be Richard.”
“It could be Daniel,” Ruth said.
“It could be anyone.”
Sarah pressed a hand to her forehead.
“If Michael survived, Father will take him there.”
Emily looked down at her wet dress.
Her labor was advancing.
She could barely stand.
“We go to a different hospital first.”
Ashley nodded.
“Good.”
Emily looked at the laptop.
“Then we find Ward Nine.”
Ruth’s expression changed.
“You cannot go back there.”
“My mother’s records are there.”
“So are Richard’s men.”
“And Michael.”
Ashley knelt beside her.
“Emily, he helped do this to you.”
“I know.”
“He lied to you for years.”
“I know.”
“He trapped you.”
“I know.”
“Then why risk your life for him?”
Emily looked at the place where the elevator had disappeared beneath his feet.
“Because he may be the only person who knows who switched the embryo.”
The ambulance stopped beside the wreck.
Two paramedics ran toward them.
The first was a woman.
Her name badge read LENA RUIZ.
Ashley stared at her.
“You’re not a paramedic.”
“No,” she said. “I’m a police officer.”
May you like
She opened the side door of the ambulance.
“And we need to leave before Richard’s real ambulance arrives.”
