Chapter 4 - Eleven Seconds of Darkness
The darkness lasted only eleven seconds.
It was enough.
Emergency lights flashed red along the floor.
Someone screamed.
Jace heard Evelyn calling Maisie’s name.
He pushed through bodies toward the bed.
When the main lights returned, Maisie was gone.
The oxygen line lay across the empty mattress.
The window beside the bed was open.
Cold rain sprayed across the floor.
Evelyn stared at the empty bed.
“No.”
Her voice broke.
“No, no, no.”
Jace reached the window.
A narrow service roof extended below the second-floor emergency wing.
A man in hospital scrubs was running across it with Maisie in his arms.
“Lock the building.”
Jace climbed through the window.
Dr. Shah grabbed his coat.
“You’ll fall.”
Jace tore free.
The wet ledge was barely wide enough for his shoes.
The man ahead looked over his shoulder.
Maisie was awake.
Her small hand stretched toward Jace.
“Daddy!”
The word struck him harder than the rain.
The man reached a maintenance ladder.
Jace jumped down two steps at a time.
His shoulder slammed against the metal railing.
Pain shot down his arm.
He kept moving.
Below them, a white medical transport van waited in the alley.
Its rear doors were open.
A driver stood beside it.
The man carrying Maisie reached the ground.
Jace landed behind him.
“Put her down.”
The man turned.
His hospital badge bore the name Stephen Cole.
Jace knew every senior employee in the building.
He had never seen him before.
Stephen held a syringe near Maisie’s neck.
“Stay back.”
Maisie was crying silently.
Jace forced himself to stop.
“What did my father promise you?”
Stephen’s eyes flickered.
That was enough.
“You do not know who you are working for.”
“Mr. Mercer said the child was being abducted by her mother.”
“I am Mr. Mercer.”
The driver started the van.
Jace saw the logo on its side.
Mercer Family Medical Transport.
His father’s private company.
Stephen backed toward the vehicle.
“Your father has legal custody.”
“My father does not need a syringe to enforce a court order.”
The alley door burst open.
Evelyn ran into the rain.
“Maisie!”
Stephen turned toward her.
Jace moved.
He struck Stephen’s wrist against the van door.
The syringe fell.
Maisie slipped from the man’s arms.
Evelyn caught her before she hit the ground.
The driver accelerated.
Jace grabbed the rear door.
The van dragged him several feet across the wet pavement.
He saw boxes inside.
Sedatives.
Restraints.
A child-sized wheelchair.
And a black folder marked M. MERCER — TERMINAL TRANSFER.
Jace released the door before the van reached the street.
It disappeared into traffic.
Security officers restrained Stephen.
Evelyn held Maisie against her chest.
Jace picked up the fallen syringe using a cloth from the ground.
Dr. Shah arrived seconds later.
She examined the label.
Her face changed.
“What is it?”
Jace asked.
“This dosage could stop a child’s breathing.”
Evelyn looked toward the hospital entrance.
Conrad was gone.
So were his attorneys.
Maisie reached beneath her dress.
She pulled out a folded piece of paper.
“The man put this in my pocket.”
Jace opened it.
Three words had been typed in the center.
SIGN BY MIDNIGHT.
Below them was a photograph of Evelyn’s younger brother, Noah.
May you like
He was tied to a chair.
A digital clock beside his face was counting down.
