Chapter 5 - SARAH DISAPPEARS
The ICU room was empty.
Not abandoned.
Not chaotic.
Empty.
Sarah’s bed had been stripped.
Her monitor disconnected.
The IV line removed cleanly.
There was no blood.
No broken equipment.
Nothing suggesting a struggle.
Someone with medical knowledge had taken her.
Detective Lewis locked down St. Catherine’s within minutes.
Every elevator stopped.
Security guards covered exits.
Cameras were pulled.
Victoria stood in the hallway shaking with rage.
“How?”
Mara didn’t answer until security footage appeared.
At 9:06 p.m., a hospital transport worker entered Sarah’s room pushing an empty bed.
At 9:11, he left.
Sarah lay beneath a blanket.
The man wore a surgical mask.
Badge turned backward.
But when he entered the service elevator, he looked directly at the camera.
Victoria whispered:
“Dr. Warren.”
Patrick Warren had returned.
Mara slammed her fist onto the desk.
“Track every exit.”
A second camera showed Warren moving through the underground parking area.
He transferred Sarah into a white medical van.
The license plate was stolen.
The van disappeared at 9:19.
Mara called state police.
Roadblocks went up.
Lucas and Ethan were moved immediately.
This time, even Victoria wasn’t told where.
Daniel Mercer escorted them under police protection to a secure pediatric facility.
Before leaving, Ethan grabbed Victoria’s hand.
“Bring Mom back.”
“I will.”
“You promise?”
Victoria looked into his frightened eyes.
“I promise.”
For the first time in her life, she understood promises could feel heavier than mountains.
Across the city, Sarah woke inside darkness.
Her head throbbed.
Her arms felt heavy.
The first thing she heard was an engine.
She opened her eyes.
Van.
Medical straps held her across the chest.
Patrick Warren sat beside her.
He looked older than Sarah remembered.
Smaller too.
“You.”
Warren glanced up.
“You should still be unconscious.”
“You should be in prison.”
“That may happen.”
His answer surprised her.
Sarah tried moving her hands.
Loose.
He hadn’t restrained her wrists.
“You kidnapped me.”
“Yes.”
“For Henry?”
Warren looked out the window.
“No.”
Sarah studied him.
Then why?
Warren removed his glasses.
“Henry plans to kill me.”
“Good.”
“I suppose I deserve that.”
“You murdered my father.”
Warren’s face tightened.
“I helped.”
“Difference?”
“Not much.”
Sarah lunged at him.
Her body failed.
She barely lifted herself before collapsing.
Warren didn’t stop her.
“I was twenty-nine,” he said.
“I don’t care.”
“Henry told me Charles was going to destroy decades of research.”
“You murdered him for a patent?”
“For what I believed would save millions of lives.”
Sarah laughed bitterly.
“You always say that, don’t you?”
“What?”
“Men like you. You hurt the person standing in front of you while talking about all the imaginary people you’re saving.”
Warren looked away.
Sarah closed her eyes.
“Where are we going?”
“To keep you alive.”
“I was alive in the hospital.”
“Not for long.”
Warren reached into a bag.
He handed her a photograph.
It showed a hospital security guard.
Sarah recognized him.
“What?”
“He works for Henry.”
Another photograph.
A nurse.
Another.
A senior administrator.
“You were surrounded.”
“So your solution was kidnapping?”
“My solution is buying enough time for Detective Lewis to understand what she’s dealing with.”
Sarah stared at him.
“You expect me to trust you?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Warren’s phone rang.
He answered.
Rebecca Shaw’s voice came through.
“Where are you?”
“Driving.”
“You have her?”
“Yes.”
“Henry wants confirmation.”
“Tell Henry she’s unconscious.”
Sarah looked at Warren.
He raised one finger to his lips.
Rebecca continued.
“Bring her to the lake house.”
“I thought Henry wanted her at the airfield.”
“Plans changed.”
Warren’s eyes sharpened.
“Why?”
Silence.
Then Rebecca said:
“Because Victoria found the storage unit.”
Warren ended the call.
He looked terrified.
Sarah understood.
“They’re cleaning up.”
“Yes.”
“Including you.”
“Yes.”
“Then stop driving toward them.”
“I’m not.”
Warren leaned forward and knocked twice on the divider.
The van turned.
Sarah stared at him.
“Where are you taking me?”
“To someone Henry doesn’t know is alive.”
Sarah felt cold.
“Who?”
Warren opened a hidden compartment.
Inside was an old photograph.
Charles Sterling stood beside two men.
One was Henry Vale.
Sarah recognized the second.
“Uncle Robert?”
Robert Sterling.
Her father’s younger brother.
He had supposedly died in a plane crash sixteen years earlier.
Sarah looked at Warren.
“He’s dead.”
Warren shook his head.
“No.”
Sarah stared.
“What?”
“Your uncle discovered what Henry had done.”
“Then why didn’t he go to the police?”
“He tried.”
Warren looked ashamed.
“Henry controlled the investigation.”
Sarah remembered the wall in her storage unit.
Police officers.
Politicians.
Executives.
“Where has Robert been?”
“Living under another name.”
“For sixteen years?”
“Yes.”
“And you knew?”
“I helped him disappear.”
Sarah laughed in disbelief.
“You murdered my father and saved my uncle?”
“I told you.”
Warren’s eyes filled with something Sarah did not expect.
Regret.
“I have spent nineteen years becoming a man I don’t recognize.”
The van slowed.
They entered an industrial district.
Warren looked through the rear window.
Then froze.
A black SUV had turned behind them.
“Hold on.”
The SUV accelerated.
Sarah gripped the side rail.
“Henry?”
“Probably.”
The SUV rammed the van.
Metal screamed.
The driver fought the wheel.
Another impact.
Sarah was thrown sideways.
Warren grabbed her before her head struck the wall.
“Get down!”
Gunshots shattered the rear window.
Sarah screamed.
The van swerved into an abandoned warehouse yard.
The driver hit the brakes.
Warren opened the rear door.
“Run!”
“I can barely walk!”
“Then lean on me.”
They stumbled between shipping containers.
Behind them, doors slammed.
Men shouted.
Sarah’s legs shook.
She forced them forward.
Then someone stepped from behind a container.
Tall.
Gray-haired.
Holding a shotgun.
Sarah froze.
The man stared at her.
His face was older.
Scarred.
But unmistakable.
“Sarah?”
Her breath disappeared.
“Uncle Robert?”
The man’s eyes filled with tears.
“God.”
He lowered the shotgun.
“You look just like your father.”
Gunfire cracked behind them.
Robert pulled Sarah into cover.
Then he looked at Warren.
“You brought trouble.”
Warren panted.
“Henry found us.”
Robert’s expression changed.
“Then hiding is over.”
He reached into his coat and removed a phone.
“Who are you calling?” Sarah asked.
Robert looked at her.
“Every honest person we have left.”
“Is that enough?”
Robert chambered a round.
“No.”
Another SUV entered the yard.
“But your father prepared for that.”
Sarah stared.
“What does that mean?”
Robert smiled grimly.
“Charles Sterling knew Henry might kill him.”
Sarah stopped breathing.
“And before he died…”
May you like
Robert handed her a small brass key.
“…your father hid something Henry has spent nineteen years trying to find.”
