Chapter 4 - Room 614
Hospital administrators insisted Mara had never been scheduled for a transfer.
Her room was on the sixth floor.
Room 614.
When William, Dennis, and Eli reached it, the door stood open.
The bed was empty.
The heart monitor had been unplugged.
A cup of tea was still warm beside the window.
Eli touched the pillow.
“She was here.”
A nurse hurried into the room.
Her name badge read Angela Ruiz.
She was breathing hard.
“They took her.”
William stepped toward her.
“Who?”
“Two men with federal credentials.”
“What agency?”
“They said Department of Defense.”
Dennis held up his security identification.
“Did you verify them?”
Angela looked ashamed.
“The credentials scanned as valid.”
“When did they leave?”
“Less than ten minutes ago.”
“Was Mara conscious?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
The nurse looked at Eli.
“She kept asking for her son.”
Eli’s face crumpled.
William put a hand on his shoulder.
Eli pulled away.
“Don’t.”
The word was quiet.
But it cut deeply.
“You don’t get to act like you care now.”
William lowered his hand.
“You’re right.”
Eli had not expected agreement.
For a moment, the anger left him speechless.
Dennis examined the unplugged monitor.
“There’s no sign of a struggle.”
Angela shook her head.
“Ms. Ellison could barely stand.”
“Then she may have believed the transfer was real.”
William looked at the nurse.
“What illness does she have?”
Angela hesitated.
“I can’t release—”
“I’m her son,” Eli said.
Angela’s eyes softened.
“Your mother has advanced heart failure.”
The room became silent.
Eli stared at the floor.
William’s face went blank.
“How advanced?”
“She needs surgery.”
“Then why hasn’t she had it?”
Angela glanced at William.
“Because she lost her insurance six months ago.”
William closed his eyes.
Eli laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“You give speeches about veterans.”
William looked at him.
“My mom served too.”
“I know.”
“She worked two jobs until she collapsed.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You never asked.”
William had no defense.
Dennis’s radio crackled.
A security analyst had recovered the checkpoint footage.
The woman who touched Eli’s backpack had entered using a temporary press credential.
The credential belonged to a local television producer.
But the real producer was found unconscious inside a parking garage.
The footage showed the thief leaving through a service corridor.
She handed the folder to Rebecca Sloan.
William listened without speaking.
Then Dennis received another message.
His expression darkened.
“What is it?” William asked.
“The hospital cameras caught the men who took Mara.”
“Can you identify them?”
“One of them.”
Dennis turned his phone around.
The image showed a broad-shouldered man with gray hair.
A scar crossed his left cheek.
William recognized him immediately.
So did Eli.
Eli pointed at the screen.
“That’s the man who came to our apartment.”
William’s voice changed.
“Colonel Marcus Vale.”
Dennis frowned.
“I thought Vale died in Afghanistan.”
William stared at the photograph.
“So did I.”
A phone began ringing inside Mara’s bedside drawer.
Eli opened it.
An old prepaid phone lay inside.
He answered.
“Hello?”
A distorted voice spoke.
“Put Senator Harlan on.”
Eli handed William the phone.
William pressed it to his ear.
“Where is Mara?”
The voice laughed softly.
“You still ask the wrong question.”
“What question should I ask?”
“Ask why your father was willing to destroy three lives to hide what happened at Fort Leonard Wood.”
The call ended.
A second later, the phone screen displayed a photograph.
May you like
Mara was tied to a chair.
And behind her stood Rebecca Sloan.
