Chapter 6: The Baby in the Locked Wing
The crying came through the speaker.
Tiny.
Panicked.
Unmistakable.
Noah.
My entire body went rigid.
“That’s my son.”
I lunged toward the nearest door.
Daniel caught my arm.
“Judge Carter, wait.”
“Let go of me.”
“We don't know what's on the other side.”
“I know what's on the other side.”
My voice broke.
“My baby.”
Ethan grabbed my shoulder.
“We're getting him back.”
Karen was already running toward the vault entrance.
“There has to be another way out.”
Daniel looked at the countdown.
11:42:16
“We don't have time.”
I stared at him.
“How do we get upstairs?”
He pointed toward a narrow maintenance tunnel.
“According to the original hospital plans, this connects to the old surgical wing.”
“Then take us there.”
He hesitated.
“You're still bleeding.”
“I'll deal with it later.”
He looked at my face.
Then nodded.
“Move.”
We entered the tunnel.
It was barely wide enough for one person.
Ethan stayed beside me.
Every few steps, pain ripped through my abdomen.
I ignored it.
Nothing mattered except Noah.
Then Karen stopped.
“Wait.”
Everyone froze.
She pointed toward the floor.
A thin red line crossed the concrete.
Blood.
Fresh.
Daniel crouched down.
He touched it.
“Someone was dragged through here.”
Ethan's face went pale.
“Could be Noah.”
“No,” Karen said.
She looked closer.
“Too much blood.”
I felt sick.
“Then who?”
Karen didn't answer.
Daniel followed the blood trail.
It led toward a steel door.
He opened it.
Inside was a small room.
A chair.
A table.
And a security monitor.
The monitor showed the hospital nursery.
My heart stopped.
Noah's bassinet was empty.
Nora was still sleeping beside it.
A nurse was standing over her.
I stared at the screen.
“Where is my son?”
Nobody answered.
Then the camera shifted.
Someone had taken control remotely.
The image changed.
A man appeared.
Black suit.
White shirt.
Gray hair.
Judge Malcolm Reed.
He looked directly into the camera.
“Hello, Mara.”
I stepped toward the screen.
“Where is my son?”
Reed smiled.
“Safe.”
“Put him back.”
“Not yet.”
“Where is he?”
“Somewhere you can't reach.”
I clenched my fists.
“You're holding a newborn.”
“Yes.”
“You'll answer for this.”
Reed laughed.
“That's what makes this so interesting.”
He leaned closer to the camera.
“You're still thinking like a judge.”
“Because I am one.”
“No.”
His smile disappeared.
“You're thinking like someone who believes the law protects everyone.”
He paused.
“It doesn't.”
Daniel stepped beside me.
“Release the child.”
Reed looked at him.
“You should be dead already.”
Daniel's expression hardened.
“You'll have to try harder.”
Reed smiled.
“I already did.”
Daniel's phone suddenly rang.
He looked at the screen.
His face changed.
“What?”
He answered.
A woman's voice screamed through the speaker.
“Chief! They're inside the pediatric wing!”
Gunshots exploded in the background.
Daniel immediately turned.
“Everyone move!”
We ran.
The tunnel opened into an abandoned stairwell.
Daniel climbed first.
Ethan followed.
Karen stayed behind me.
I heard another burst of gunfire above.
Then screaming.
Then silence.
We reached the pediatric floor.
The hallway was chaos.
Two security officers were down.
A nurse was hiding behind a cart.
Glass covered the floor.
Daniel crouched beside one of the officers.
“Are you alive?”
The man nodded weakly.
“Three men.”
“Where?”
“Nursery.”
My heart stopped.
I ran.
“Mara!”
Ethan shouted after me.
I pushed through the doors.
The nursery was empty.
Nora was gone too.
I froze.
“No.”
Ethan reached me.
“They took both babies.”
My knees nearly gave out.
“Noah.”
Then I saw something on the floor.
A small pink blanket.
Nora's blanket.
Beside it was a note.
I picked it up.
There were only six words.
ONE BABY FOR THE MOTHER. ONE FOR THE FATHER.
My hands began shaking.
“What does this mean?”
Karen read the note.
Her face went pale.
“It's a split.”
“What?”
“They're separating the children.”
“Why?”
“Because they need leverage over both of you.”
Daniel grabbed the note.
“Where would they take them?”
Karen looked toward the elevator.
“The secure wing.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
She looked at me.
“What?”
“You said the secure wing was underground.”
“Yes.”
I pointed at the elevator.
“But that elevator goes up.”
Karen's eyes widened.
“That's impossible.”
Daniel checked the control panel.
The elevator was moving.
Up.
Floor 14.
There was no floor 14.
The hospital had thirteen floors.
The elevator stopped.
The doors opened.
We stepped inside.
Daniel pressed the highest floor.
The panel flickered.
Then a new button appeared.
14
Nobody touched it.
The elevator began moving.
Up.
The lights went out.
Ethan grabbed my hand.
“Mara.”
“I know.”
The elevator stopped.
The doors opened.
A hallway stretched ahead.
It looked completely normal.
Too normal.
White walls.
Polished floors.
Soft lighting.
Then we heard a baby crying.
Noah.
I stepped forward.
A speaker crackled.
“Welcome, Judge Carter.”
Reed's voice.
I looked around.
“Where is my son?”
A door opened at the end of the hallway.
Inside was a room filled with surveillance screens.
And in the center was Noah.
He was lying in a transparent medical bassinet.
Alive.
Crying.
A woman stood beside him.
Karen whispered,
“That's not possible.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
“That's Charles's private physician.”
The woman turned.
She was holding a syringe.
My blood ran cold.
“Put it down!”
She smiled.
“Don't worry.”
She raised the syringe.
“It won't hurt him.”
I screamed.
“Step away from my son!”
The woman didn't move.
Then another screen turned on.
It showed Nora.
She was in another room.
A man was holding her.
My heart shattered.
“Where is my daughter?”
Reed's voice answered.
“Choose.”
I stared at the screen.
“What?”
“You have one minute.”
“Choose which child you want released.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“No.”
Reed continued.
“If you choose Noah, Nora disappears.”
“If I choose Nora?”
“Noah disappears.”
I stared at my babies.
Two tiny faces.
Both crying.
Both helpless.
My hands trembled.
“This isn't a choice.”
Reed laughed.
“Exactly.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Don't choose.”
Reed's voice became colder.
“You have forty seconds.”
I looked at Ethan.
He was crying.
I had never seen my husband cry.
Then he whispered,
“Don't choose either.”
I looked at him.
“What?”
He stepped closer.
“Because that's what they want.”
Karen suddenly understood.
“They're testing her.”
Daniel nodded.
“They want to know which child has greater value.”
I stared at the screens.
Then I saw something.
The babies weren't alone.
There were security cameras in both rooms.
And one of them was pointed toward the ceiling.
The camera's red light blinked twice.
Then three times.
A pattern.
I had seen it before.
Seven years ago.
In the Blackwood files.
It was a signal.
A distress signal.
Someone inside the room was sending us a message.
I looked at Karen.
“Can you access the cameras?”
She nodded.
“Maybe.”
“Do it.”
She rushed toward the control panel.
Reed's voice boomed through the speakers.
“Twenty seconds.”
Karen typed furiously.
“Come on.”
“Ten seconds.”
I looked at the camera.
The signal blinked again.
Two.
Three.
One.
Then the screen displaying Noah suddenly went black.
Reed's voice disappeared.
The entire floor went silent.
Karen stared at the monitor.
“What happened?”
Daniel looked toward the hallway.
“Someone cut the system.”
Then the doors behind us locked.
A red emergency light turned on.
And a voice came from the room containing Nora.
A man's voice.
Calm.
Familiar.
Ethan's face turned white.
“No.”
I looked at him.
“Who is it?”
He couldn't speak.
The voice came again.
“Ethan.”
My husband stepped backward.
“Dad?”
Charles Whitmore's voice answered from behind the locked door.
“You should have stayed away from my family.”
I stared at Ethan.
Then at the door.
May you like
The man we believed was dead was standing on the other side.
And he was holding my daughter.
