Chapter 6 - The Emergency
The next forty-eight hours were a dance of death. Julian was watching me, and I was watching him, but the real threat came from within.
Grace’s body was failing. The stress of the hostage situation, combined with the physical abuse she had endured for months, triggered a physiological cascade. At 2:00 AM, I heard a muffled cry from her room.
I burst in to find her clutching her abdomen, her face pale, a pool of liquid on the floor.
"Mom," she gasped. "It’s time. But... he’s not supposed to be the doctor. He promised he’d do it himself."
My blood ran cold. If Julian delivered this baby, he would have total control over the narrative—and over Grace. I needed an extraction, not a delivery.
I raced to the hallway, but the door was locked. Julian had sealed the floor. I didn't have access to the outside world, but I had access to the building’s fire suppression system.
I triggered the manual override for the sprinklers in the hallway. The sudden, chaotic deluge triggered the building's fire alarm, forcing the electronic locks on the doors to release for safety.
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"Grace, get up!" I screamed, grabbing her hand.
We ran, but the hallways were filled with security guards alerted by the alarm. I led her toward the emergency stairwell, my mind racing. I couldn't get her out of the hospital, so I had to change the environment inside it. I pulled my phone and sent a mass notification to the medical board and the local news: “Emergency. Maternity crisis at Vane Clinic. Medical malpractice in progress. Immediate intervention required.”
