Chapter 12 - Midnight
“No.”
Detective Reed said it before I could speak.
“You are not going anywhere.”
“That’s my father.”
“And Evan wants you because you’re leverage.”
“Then use me.”
Reed’s expression hardened. “Real life isn’t a movie, Claire.”
“Real life is why my father is tied to a chair.”
The room went silent.
Eventually, they compromised.
Not because Reed liked my idea, but because the camera feed contained a clue. Behind Dad was a faded red sign with the letters W-17. Mom recognized it from an old Bennett Medical warehouse that had closed eight years earlier.
Warehouse 17.
Police began planning a tactical entry.
I was supposed to stay at the hospital.
At 9:40 p.m., Nurse Carter entered carrying discharge forms.
I looked at her.
“You’re helping me leave?”
“No,” she said. “I’m helping you stop pretending you’re going to obey anyone.”
She had figured me out.
“You can’t go to the raid,” she added. “But Reed wants Evan to think you are coming. They’re moving you to an ambulance as bait.”
At 11:12, I was wheeled through a rear hospital entrance wearing a hooded coat over my gown.
Two unmarked police vehicles followed.
Mom rode beside me.
Halfway to Warehouse 17, the ambulance driver suddenly turned off the planned route.
Officer Hale, sitting across from us, noticed first.
“Why are we turning?”
The driver did not answer.
Hale stood.
The partition window slid open.
A gun appeared through it.
“Sit down.”
Mom screamed.
Hale reached for his weapon.
The ambulance braked hard.
We were thrown sideways.
The rear doors flew open.
A masked man dragged Hale out before he could recover.
Another grabbed Mom.
I kicked at him with both feet, pain exploding through my ribs.
Then someone climbed into the ambulance.
Brooke.
Her blonde hair was loose around her face. She looked exhausted, furious, and completely different from the calm sister at my bedside.
May you like
“You should have just said you fell,” she said.
Then she pressed a syringe against my neck.
