Chapter 11 - The Empty Bassinet
The pediatric unit had not been breached from the hallway.
No alarms sounded.
No unknown person entered.
The security camera showed a respiratory therapist carrying Lily into a treatment room.
She never returned.
The therapist’s badge belonged to a staff member who was home sick.
A laundry chute inside the room led to the lower service floor.
Police found the empty carrier beside a loading dock.
Rachel’s scream echoed through the hospital corridor.
I had never heard a sound like it.
The kidnapper left a phone inside the carrier.
Victor Dane called.
“Complete the trust transfer.”
“Then the child comes home.”
The detective demanded proof of life.
A video appeared.
Lily slept inside a portable bassinet.
A monitor showed a steady heartbeat.
Beside her stood Martin Cole.
He was wearing surgical gloves.
Rachel reached for the phone.
“If you touch her, I will destroy the company before you get one share.”
Victor laughed.
“You sound like Thomas.”
“That is not a compliment he would have given lightly.”
The trust attorney explained the problem.
The transfer could not be completed without Lily’s blood sample and Rachel’s voice authorization.
Victor had Lily.
He believed he could take another sample.
He still needed Rachel.
A meeting was arranged at an abandoned Bennett Medical research center.
Rachel was too weak to go.
She insisted.
“I am her mother.”
I caught her shoulders.
“You are also recovering from attempted murder.”
She looked at me.
“So is she.”
The plan used a false transfer document.
Federal agents would surround the building.
Rachel wore a transmitter.
I remained in the command vehicle with the detective.
At the research center, Martin met Rachel near the entrance.
He looked frightened.
“Victor changed everything.”
“You poisoned my father.”
“Judith ordered the dose.”
“You signed the prescription.”
“I can help Lily.”
“Where is she?”
Martin pointed toward the lower laboratory.
Before Rachel moved, a gunshot sounded.
Martin fell.
Victor Dane stepped from the shadows.
“You brought police.”
He pressed a remote.
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Steel shutters closed across every exit.
Then gas began entering the laboratory where Lily was being held.
