Chapter 4 - BLACKOUT
“Nora!”
Daniel slammed into the door before emergency lighting activated.
The corridor outside was chaos.
Monitors beeped.
Nurses shouted.
Battery-powered lights flickered on above exit signs.
Daniel ran toward his daughter’s room.
Two military police officers followed.
Sarah was directly behind them.
“Nora!”
He reached the doorway.
The bed was empty.
For one terrible second, Daniel’s mind refused to understand what he was seeing.
Then he saw the IV tubing hanging from the pole.
Disconnected cleanly.
The stuffed blanket on the floor.
The bathroom door moving.
Daniel pulled it open.
Empty.
“Lock the building!” he shouted.
One officer keyed his radio.
“No exterior movement! Nobody exits!”
Sarah looked at the monitor leads.
“They didn’t rip them off.”
Daniel turned.
“What?”
“Somebody disconnected her properly.”
That meant medical knowledge.
Or training.
Caldwell appeared carrying a flashlight.
“Where is she?”
Daniel looked like he might break something with his hands.
“Gone.”
Sarah grabbed a portable emergency lamp.
“Which exit isn’t visible from here?”
Caldwell pointed.
“Service elevator at the end of the hall.”
They ran.
The elevator indicator was dead during the blackout.
Sarah pressed the call button anyway.
Nothing.
She opened the stairwell door.
A small sound drifted upward.
Not a scream.
A cough.
“Nora?”
Daniel took the stairs two at a time.
Sarah followed.
One floor up, they found a discarded hospital blanket.
Two floors up, a syringe cap.
Sarah picked it up with gloved fingers.
“Pediatric size.”
Daniel kept moving.
On the fourth-floor landing, they heard footsteps.
Daniel stopped.
Someone was above them.
“Military police!” an officer shouted. “Stop!”
The footsteps accelerated.
Daniel ran.
They reached the fifth floor.
A figure disappeared through the door.
Blond hair.
Sarah shouted, “Rebecca!”
The door slammed.
They pursued her onto an unfinished hospital wing undergoing renovation.
Plastic sheeting hung from the ceiling.
Construction lights were off.
Moonlight entered through uncovered windows.
Daniel saw movement twenty yards ahead.
Rebecca Shaw carried Nora.
The child’s head hung against her shoulder.
Daniel’s heart stopped.
“Nora!”
Rebecca turned.
She held a syringe against Nora’s neck.
“Don’t.”
Everyone stopped.
Sarah’s eyes went immediately to the syringe.
Clear fluid.
Maybe saline.
Maybe sedative.
Maybe something lethal.
Daniel raised his hands.
“Put my daughter down.”
Rebecca smiled.
“You military men always say that like it’s an order.”
“Whatever you want, you get.”
“I want the card.”
Daniel said nothing.
Rebecca’s gaze moved behind him.
“Where’s Miles?”
Sarah looked over her shoulder.
Harlan had not followed.
She felt a cold certainty settle inside her.
Daniel heard the question too.
“You tell me.”
Rebecca’s smile faded.
“So he finally showed himself.”
“Was he with you?”
“He was with whoever protected him.”
Daniel took one small step forward.
Rebecca pressed the syringe closer.
“Stop.”
He stopped.
Nora stirred.
“Daddy?”
Daniel’s eyes burned.
“I’m here, baby.”
Sarah moved half a step to the side.
Rebecca noticed.
“You stay where I can see you.”
Sarah raised her hands.
“All right.”
“You ruined everything three years ago.”
Sarah almost laughed.
“I ruined it?”
“You filed the discrepancy.”
“Someone overdosed Caroline Mercer.”
“That was necessary.”
Daniel’s face changed.
Sarah heard his breathing.
“Necessary?” he repeated.
Rebecca realized too late what she had said.
Daniel’s voice became deadly.
“You were involved in my wife’s death.”
Rebecca recovered quickly.
“Caroline made choices.”
“She was murdered.”
“She opened doors she didn’t understand.”
Daniel stepped forward.
The syringe tightened against Nora.
Sarah cut in.
“Rebecca, you don’t need Nora.”
Rebecca looked at her.
“You think?”
“The card isn’t with us.”
“It’s in this building.”
“Maybe.”
Rebecca’s eyes narrowed.
Sarah continued.
“But if you hurt Nora, there is no deal.”
“You aren’t negotiating.”
“No.”
Sarah slowly lowered one hand.
“I’m keeping her awake.”
Daniel understood.
Sarah was talking to Nora as much as Rebecca.
“Nora, sweetheart, look at me.”
The girl’s eyes fluttered.
Rebecca shifted her grip.
Sarah saw bruising around Nora’s wrist.
She also saw that Rebecca’s right hand—the one holding the syringe—was trembling.
Not fear.
Fatigue.
Possibly injury.
Sarah remembered the chase.
Maybe Rebecca had fallen.
“Nora, can you wiggle your fingers?”
Rebecca snapped, “Stop talking to her.”
Sarah ignored her.
“Nora?”
The child moved her left hand.
Good.
Alert enough to follow commands.
Sarah looked at Rebecca.
“You used dexmedetomidine earlier.”
Rebecca gave no reaction.
“But not now.”
Silence.
“That syringe isn’t sedative.”
Daniel’s eyes flicked toward Sarah.
Rebecca tightened her jaw.
Sarah continued.
“If you had enough medication to knock her out, she wouldn’t be awake.”
“Try me.”
“You won’t inject it.”
“Sarah.”
Daniel’s warning came softly.
She ignored it.
“You need her conscious because you need her to tell you something.”
Rebecca stared.
Sarah felt the answer before she knew the question.
“The key.”
Rebecca’s pupils changed.
Barely.
Enough.
“You don’t know what the brass key opens.”
Sarah smiled faintly.
“Neither do you.”
Rebecca cursed.
Daniel understood.
The attacker had known the card existed.
Maybe not the key.
Maybe Caroline had hidden two different pieces of evidence together.
Sarah continued.
“You searched the rabbit at Harbor Point and didn’t find it because Nora screamed.”
Rebecca said nothing.
“You followed us to Baycrest. You caused the blackout. You took Nora because you think Caroline told her something about the key.”
Rebecca’s voice became cold.
“She did.”
Daniel looked at Nora.
“Nora?”
His daughter began crying.
“Mommy said never tell.”
Rebecca whispered into her ear.
“Tell your father.”
Nora shook her head.
Rebecca’s face hardened.
Sarah took another tiny step.
“Caroline trusted her.”
Rebecca looked at Sarah.
“That trust got Caroline killed.”
Daniel flinched.
Sarah saw movement behind plastic sheeting twenty feet to Rebecca’s left.
Someone else.
A shadow.
Harlan?
She could not tell.
Rebecca continued.
“Ask Daniel where his wife spent the week before she died.”
Daniel frowned.
“She was in Norfolk.”
“No.”
Rebecca smiled.
“She told you she was.”
Daniel’s stomach dropped.
“Where was she?”
Rebecca looked toward Nora.
“Ask your daughter.”
Nora squeezed her eyes shut.
Sarah heard fabric move behind the plastic.
Closer.
Whoever was there was approaching Rebecca from behind.
Sarah needed to keep her attention forward.
“Rebecca.”
“What?”
“You said Aaron died because I kept asking questions.”
“He did.”
“No.”
Sarah’s voice steadied.
“Aaron died because you were scared.”
Rebecca’s jaw tightened.
“He found something.”
“He found enough.”
“What?”
Rebecca smiled.
“You’ll never know.”
“I already know.”
That was a bluff.
Rebecca reacted anyway.
Her eyes flicked left.
One second.
That was enough.
The shadow exploded through the plastic.
Commander Harlan struck Rebecca’s arm.
The syringe flew.
Nora dropped.
Daniel lunged and caught his daughter before her head hit the floor.
Military police rushed forward.
Rebecca pulled a compact pistol from beneath her catering jacket.
Harlan grabbed her wrist.
The weapon fired.
The shot thundered through the unfinished floor.
Glass shattered.
Sarah ducked.
Daniel covered Nora with his body.
A second shot.
Then silence.
Rebecca lay against the concrete.
Harlan stood over her.
Blood spread across his left shoulder.
A military police officer kicked the weapon away.
“Hands!”
Rebecca laughed weakly.
Harlan stared down at her.
“You should’ve disappeared.”
Sarah heard the words.
So did Daniel.
He slowly looked up from Nora.
Rebecca’s smile widened.
“You hear that, Admiral?”
Harlan’s face changed.
Rebecca coughed.
“He said the same thing to Caroline.”
Harlan stepped toward her.
“Shut up.”
Daniel stood.
“Don’t move.”
Harlan froze.
Twenty years of friendship suddenly existed on opposite sides of an invisible line.
Daniel held Nora against his chest.
“What did you say to my wife?”
Harlan shook his head.
“She’s manipulating you.”
Rebecca laughed.
“Show him your phone, Miles.”
Harlan went pale.
Daniel’s voice lowered.
“Phone.”
“Daniel—”
“Put it on the floor.”
Harlan stared at him.
Then slowly removed the device.
He placed it down.
Military police retrieved it.
Rebecca whispered, “Messages.”
Sarah watched Harlan.
He looked no longer like a loyal officer falsely accused.
He looked like a man calculating how much evidence had survived.
Daniel saw it too.
“What did you do?”
Harlan looked at Nora.
That was his mistake.
Daniel immediately shifted his daughter behind him.
“Do not look at her.”
Harlan’s voice was quiet.
“I was trying to protect you.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“From my wife?”
“From what she uncovered.”
“What did she uncover?”
Harlan glanced toward Rebecca.
“You think she’s the victim here? Rebecca worked for Sloane.”
“And you?”
Silence.
Daniel stepped closer.
“And you?”
Harlan’s eyes hardened.
“I tried to control the damage.”
Sarah whispered, “By intercepting my letters.”
Harlan did not deny it.
“By destroying my career?”
No answer.
“By killing Aaron?”
Something changed in his expression.
Not guilt.
Recognition.
Sarah felt sick.
“You knew.”
Harlan said, “Aaron should have stopped.”
Sarah’s face collapsed.
Daniel moved between them before she could reach him.
“No.”
Sarah’s whole body shook.
“He killed him.”
“We don’t know that.”
“He just admitted—”
“He admitted knowledge.”
Daniel turned to military police.
“Take Commander Harlan into custody.”
The officers moved.
Harlan stepped backward.
“Daniel.”
“Do not call me that.”
“Listen to me.”
“I listened to you for twenty years.”
Harlan’s face hardened.
“And that’s why you’re alive.”
Daniel stared.
“What does that mean?”
Harlan smiled without warmth.
“Caroline wasn’t investigating procurement fraud.”
Rebecca stopped laughing.
For the first time, she looked frightened.
Daniel saw it.
“What was she investigating?”
Harlan looked at Rebecca.
Then at Sarah.
Then finally at Daniel.
“She found a list.”
“What list?”
“Names.”
Daniel waited.
Harlan’s next words changed everything.
“Officers, judges, doctors, contractors.”
Sarah’s stomach tightened.
“Connected to what?”
Harlan shook his head.
“You don’t want to know.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“My wife died because of it. My daughter was assaulted because of it. I very much want to know.”
Harlan stared into the eyes of the man who had once been his closest friend.
“It wasn’t a list of people they owned, Daniel.”
He glanced toward the encrypted microSD card being carried upstairs under guard.
“It was a list of people they planned to kill.”
Daniel felt Nora’s arms tighten around his neck.
May you like
Then Harlan added:
“And your name was first.”
