Chapter 18 - The Hallway
Adrian hit the door before security locked the unit.
“Charles!”
The nurse shoved our son into a bassinet with a tracking tag and rolled him toward the secure nursery.
I tried to stand.
The doctor pushed me back.
“You cannot get up.”
“That man wants my baby.”
“You just delivered.”
“I do not care.”
Adrian turned.
“Stay with him.”
Then he ran.
I hated him for leaving.
I loved him for running.
Both could be true.
Through the window, Charles disappeared around the corner.
Security officers poured into the hall.
Victor came from the opposite direction.
For one surreal second, father and son ran together.
Cassandra was behind them.
Charles had not come alone.
Two men in hospital maintenance uniforms blocked the corridor.
One pulled a weapon.
Security tackled him before he could raise it.
The second ran.
Victor kept going.
Adrian reached the stairwell.
Charles was there.
I only knew what happened afterward from security footage.
Charles held a stolen access badge in one hand and a small pistol in the other.
Adrian stopped six feet away.
“It’s over.”
Charles laughed.
“You think a baby crying in a hospital changes anything?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t understand power.”
“I understand exactly what you think power is.”
Charles raised the weapon.
Adrian did not move.
“You think it means people are afraid of you.”
Charles’s hand shook.
Adrian took one step forward.
“It means they obey when you’re in the room.”
Another step.
“But look around.”
Security filled the landing behind him.
Victor stood at the door.
Cassandra appeared beside him.
Charles looked at his daughter.
“Come here.”
She shook her head.
“You’re my daughter.”
His face twisted.
“Same thing.”
Charles pointed the gun toward Adrian.
A security officer fired.
Alive.
For thirty seconds, nobody told me anything.
I nearly tore out my IV.
Alive.
I sobbed so hard I could not speak.
“It’s over.”
I looked at him.
Nothing in our lives had been simple enough for those words.
Victor stood at the foot of the bed.
For the first time, the entire wreckage of two families was under one roof.
Victor looked up.
“There’s one outgoing message from before he entered the hospital.”
The agent looked at me.
“We don’t know.”
“What did it say?”
May you like
He read it aloud.
PLAN B. THE MOTHER SURVIVED.
