Chapter 10 - Blackout
Emergency lights came on red.
Claire's fetal monitor went silent.
"Call the nurse," Rosa said.
Maya hit the call button.
Nothing.
From the hallway came shouts and the metallic slam of fire doors.
Claire's contraction returned so suddenly she cried out.
Rosa moved beside her. "Breathe."
Maya opened the door a few inches.
The corridor was dark except for battery lights near the floor.
A man in maintenance coveralls walked toward them.
Maya shut the door.
"What?" Claire whispered.
"No hospital ID."
The handle turned.
Maya pushed a chair beneath it.
"Mrs. Bennett?" the man called softly. "Engineering. We need to move you because of the outage."
Claire looked at Rosa.
Rosa shook her head.
The man hit the door once with his shoulder.
Maya called Agent Ward on her cell. No answer.
Second hit.
The chair skidded.
Claire forced herself out of bed.
"Bathroom."
There was a second door connecting to the adjoining patient room. Rosa helped Claire through while Maya held the chair in place.
The third hit broke the latch.
Maya ran after them.
They crossed the empty room and entered the next corridor just as hospital security rounded the corner.
The man in coveralls fled down a stairwell.
Power returned three minutes later.
The hospital discovered that someone had manually cut a feeder line serving only the maternity floor.
"Not an accident," Agent Ward said when she arrived.
Claire sat back in bed with the fetal monitor restored.
"Nothing is an accident anymore."
Ward placed a photograph on the tray.
It showed the man in coveralls leaving the hospital loading dock.
Rosa recognized him immediately.
"Peter Vale."
"Who?"
"Bennett Development's head of security."
Maya stared at Ward. "That gets you your conspiracy."
Ward nodded. "And it gets me warrants."
Federal agents searched Bennett Development before sunrise.
They found false invoices, shell-company ledgers, and records of payments to Mercer and Dr. Rusk.
But Daniel's office had been cleared.
His computer was gone.
So was Eleanor.
Then Ward received a call from a patrol unit outside Columbus.
A car registered to Eleanor Bennett had been found abandoned near a private airfield.
Inside the trunk was blood.
And Rosa's missing scarf.
Rosa touched her neck.
"That isn't mine," she whispered.
Claire stared at her.
May you like
Rosa's voice shook.
"I gave that scarf to Miguel yesterday."
