Chapter 6 - WHEN THE LIGHTS WENT OUT
The hospital went black.
Emma’s monitor gave one sharp electronic beep before the emergency battery switched on.
A dim red light appeared above the door.
Everyone in the room froze.
Then footsteps rushed past in the hallway.
Michael Grant turned toward the two federal agents.
“Lock the door.”
One agent moved immediately.
The other pulled the curtain across the window.
Detective Harris reached for his radio.
Only static answered.
“What happened?”
I asked.
Grant checked his phone.
“No signal.”
Rachel stepped closer to Emma’s bed.
“Is this a hospital outage?”
Grant looked at the dark hallway beyond the glass.
“No.”
The certainty in his voice terrified me.
A nurse shouted somewhere outside.
A cart crashed against the wall.
Then someone began pounding on a nearby door.
Emma stirred beneath the blanket.
“Mommy?”
I bent over her.
“I’m here.”
“Why is it dark?”
“The power stopped for a minute.”
My voice sounded calm.
My hands did not.
Grant approached me.
“We have to move Emma.”
“She has a head injury.”
“I know.”
“She cannot be dragged through a dark hospital.”
“If Northbridge caused this outage, this room is the first place they will check.”
Harris looked toward him.
“How would they know she is here?”
Grant gave him a hard stare.
“They knew about the recordings.”
“That does not answer my question.”
“It means someone inside this hospital told them.”
Rachel glanced toward the door.
“A staff member?”
“Or someone with access to the admission system.”
The handle moved.
Everyone turned.
A voice came from the hallway.
“Maintenance.”
Grant raised one finger.
No one spoke.
The handle moved again.
“Emergency electrical inspection.”
The agent beside the door looked through the narrow security glass.
He shook his head.
Grant whispered.
“Do not open it.”
The person outside knocked harder.
“Hospital maintenance.”
Harris called back.
“Slide your badge under the door.”
Silence followed.
Then the footsteps moved away.
Grant exhaled slowly.
“They are checking rooms.”
I looked at Emma.
“We need a wheelchair.”
“She needs the bed.”
Grant pointed toward the rear wall.
“Service corridor.”
“There is no door.”
“There is behind that cabinet.”
The agent moved a supply cart aside.
A narrow gray door appeared.
Rachel stared at it.
“How did you know that was there?”
Grant did not answer.
He opened it.
A dark service hallway stretched behind the room.
“You planned this.”
I said.
“We planned for Daniel’s testimony.”
“Not for my daughter.”
“No.”
The answer was honest.
That made it worse.
The agents disconnected the portable monitor from the wall power.
Harris helped release the bed brakes.
I stayed beside Emma.
The service hallway smelled like bleach and dust.
Only the red emergency strips near the floor gave us light.
Grant led the way.
One agent pushed the bed.
The second stayed behind us.
Rachel walked close to Emma’s injured side.
Harris kept looking over his shoulder.
We moved past linen carts and locked supply rooms.
Somewhere above us, an alarm began to pulse.
Emma reached for my hand.
“Are the bad people here?”
I looked at her.
She had asked the question too quietly.
As if she already knew the answer.
“No one is going to touch you.”
Grant glanced back at me.
He did not correct me.
We reached a service elevator.
The panel was dark.
“No power.”
Harris said.
Grant pointed toward a stairwell.
“We go down two floors.”
“With the bed?”
“We transfer her.”
Rachel shook her head.
“She has a concussion and a fractured shoulder.”
Grant looked down the hallway.
“We do not have another option.”
A metallic clang sounded behind us.
The agent at the rear raised his weapon.
The sound came again.
Closer.
Harris stepped beside him.
“Who is there?”
No answer.
Grant opened the stairwell door.
“We move now.”
The agent pushed the bed inside.
The stairwell was narrow.
There was no way to take it down.
Rachel and the agent carefully lifted Emma onto a rigid emergency board.
Emma whimpered.
“I know, baby.”
I whispered.
“I know.”
They carried her down one step at a time.
The building seemed unnaturally quiet.
Then a man appeared at the landing below.
He wore blue hospital scrubs and a surgical mask.
“Stop.”
He said.
Grant raised his identification.
“Federal agents.”
The man did not look at the badge.
His right hand moved toward his pocket.
The agent beside Emma reacted.
“Show me your hands.”
The man turned and ran.
Harris chased him down the stairs.
Grant cursed.
“We keep moving.”
I looked after Harris.
“What if he needs help?”
“He knows what he is doing.”
We reached the lower level.
A metal door opened into the underground loading area.
The emergency lights flickered.
Two black vans sat near the loading dock.
Grant stopped.
“Those are not ours.”
One of the vans started.
Its headlights came on.
The agent moved in front of Emma.
The van accelerated.
Grant pulled me behind a concrete support column.
The agent pushed Emma’s emergency board toward the wall.
The van swerved before reaching us and slammed through a lightweight barrier.
Its side door opened.
Two masked men jumped out.
The federal agents raised their weapons.
“Federal agents.”
“Get on the ground.”
The men scattered in opposite directions.
One ran toward the loading dock exit.
The other moved toward Emma.
I stepped in front of her without thinking.
The man grabbed my arm.
I drove my knee into his leg.
He lost his balance.
The agent struck him from behind and forced him to the ground.
The second man escaped through the exit.
Grant pulled off the captured man’s mask.
I had never seen him before.
Grant had.
His expression changed.
“Who is he?”
I asked.
The man smiled through a split lip.
Grant looked at me.
“He worked security for Gerald.”
My stomach turned.
The man laughed softly.
“You are already too late.”
Grant crouched beside him.
“Where is Daniel?”
The man looked toward Emma.
Then back at me.
“He was never in protective custody.”
Grant grabbed his jacket.
“What did you say?”
The man smiled again.
“Ask him who created the witness file.”
Grant’s face went pale.
I stared at him.
“What is he talking about?”
Grant said nothing.
I stepped closer.
“You told me Daniel entered federal protection.”
“He did.”
“Then why is this man saying he did not?”
“He is trying to create confusion.”
The captured man began to laugh.
“No.”
He said.
“I’m trying to tell her that Daniel wrote the entire story.”
I looked at Grant.
“What story?”
The man answered for him.
“The whistleblower story.”
Grant stood.
“Stop talking.”
“He did not discover Northbridge’s crimes.”
The man continued.
“He helped build them.”
The loading bay doors suddenly began to rise.
Bright headlights flooded the room.
Three more vehicles waited outside.
Grant turned toward us.
“Get Emma into the transport van.”
I did not move.
“Tell me the truth.”
“Not here.”
“You keep saying that.”
The first vehicle entered the loading dock.
Grant grabbed my shoulder.
“Sarah, move.”
I looked toward the incoming vehicles.
Then I looked toward Emma.
The little girl who had been used by everyone around her.
I climbed into the federal van beside her.
The doors slammed shut.
As the vehicle pulled away, the captured man shouted one final sentence across the loading bay.
“Daniel did not disappear.”
I pressed my palm against the rear window.
Grant looked at him.
May you like
The man smiled.
“He went home.”
