Chapter 5 - Air
The gas had no odor.
That made it more dangerous.
Dr. Grant looked toward the vents and immediately pulled his shirt over his nose.
“It’s anesthetic vapor.”
“How long do we have?” Ruiz asked.
“Minutes.”
Alexander lifted Madeline from the floor.
She cried out in pain.
Blood continued soaking through her gown.
I held the newborn against my chest.
His skin felt cold.
Marcus searched the walls for a release switch.
The surgical wing had been designed to contain infection.
Every door sealed automatically when the ventilation system activated.
Everett had turned the medical facility into a killing room.
Cynthia lay against the wall, clutching her wounded shoulder.
“You have to help me.”
Madeline looked at her.
“You held my baby.”
Cynthia began crying.
“I didn’t know he planned to kill me too.”
“You knew what he planned for us.”
“I thought you would be sedated.”
“You watched them restrain me for six months.”
Cynthia’s eyelids began drooping.
The gas was spreading.
I lowered myself beside the infant warmer.
Old medical rooms had emergency oxygen.
The main tanks were gone, but a narrow green line ran through the wall.
“Grant.”
He stumbled toward me.
“Does this still work?”
He opened the access panel.
Pressure remained in the system.
Not enough for everyone.
Maybe enough for Madeline and the baby.
Grant connected a mask.
Alexander held it over Madeline’s face.
I placed the infant beneath a small oxygen hood.
His color began improving.
Ruiz removed the radio from her vest.
No signal.
The walls were too thick.
Marcus found a maintenance hatch near the floor.
It was secured with four bolts.
We searched for tools.
Nothing.
Alexander picked up an old metal tray and struck the first bolt repeatedly.
His movements became slower.
Ruiz joined him.
I examined the camera cable.
It ran through the wall into the ventilation shaft.
If I could pull it loose, the opening might allow outside air.
I climbed onto the surgical table.
The room tilted.
My hands felt heavy.
I removed the vent cover and tore at the wires.
Behind them was a narrow shaft.
Too small for a person.
Large enough for a phone signal.
I pushed Ruiz’s radio inside.
Static.
Then a voice.
“Rescue team calling surgical wing.”
Ruiz grabbed it.
“We are trapped in a sealed room with anesthetic gas.”
“North medical corridor.”
“Immediate ventilation shutdown.”
The reply was broken.
Everett had control of the system.
The officers could not disable it remotely.
Someone needed to reach the generator chamber.
Grant looked toward a second maintenance panel.
“There is a service conduit.”
“Where does it go?” I asked.
“Behind the ventilation room.”
“Can a person fit?”
“A small person.”
Everyone looked at me.
I was five feet three inches tall.
Ruiz was taller.
Cynthia was injured.
Madeline could not move.
I handed the baby to Alexander.
“Keep him under the oxygen.”
He stared at me.
“You could become trapped.”
“We are already trapped.”
Marcus removed the bolts from the panel using a broken piece of metal.
The opening was barely wide enough for my shoulders.
I crawled inside.
The darkness pressed against me.
The conduit was hot.
Dust filled my mouth.
Behind me, the voices grew quieter.
I moved toward the sound of the generator.
The tunnel narrowed.
For one terrifying moment, I could not move forward or backward.
I thought of Lily.
I thought of the promise I had refused to make.
Then I exhaled completely and forced my shoulders through.
The conduit ended above the ventilation chamber.
Everett stood below.
He was watching security monitors.
On one screen, Alexander held his newborn son.
On another, Madeline struggled to remain conscious.
Everett appeared almost peaceful.
He had spent years building this moment.
He wanted to watch his nephew’s family disappear.
A guard stood near the generator controls.
I could not fight both men.
I searched the shaft.
A fire suppression pipe ran beside me.
The valve was secured by a red handle.
I pulled it.
Alarms sounded.
Foam exploded from the ceiling.
The guard turned.
Everett looked up.
I kicked the vent cover down and dropped onto the control table.
Pain shot through my ankle.
The guard grabbed me.
I drove my elbow into his throat.
He struck me across the face.
I fell against the console.
Everett reached for the emergency shutdown key.
I grabbed his wrist.
“You should have stayed in your hotel,” he said.
“You should have chosen a better security manager.”
I slammed his hand against the controls.
The key fell.
The guard moved toward me.
Then a gunshot sounded.
Detective Ruiz stood in the doorway.
The rescue team had broken through the outer corridor.
The guard dropped his weapon.
Everett ran toward a side exit.
Ruiz followed.
I turned the shutdown key.
The ventilation fans stopped.
Emergency vents opened throughout the surgical wing.
Fresh air moved into the sealed room.
I returned through the corridor rather than the conduit.
Alexander still held the baby beneath the oxygen hood.
Madeline was awake.
Cynthia had lost consciousness.
Grant was checking her pulse.
“She’s alive.”
No one looked relieved.
Paramedics rushed inside.
They placed Madeline on a stretcher.
Alexander walked beside her carrying the baby.
She allowed him near her.
She did not allow him to touch her.
Outside, the mountain air felt painfully cold.
Everett had escaped through an old mining passage.
But police recovered his control center.
Files showed every payment.
Every forged record.
Every medical order.
And one message sent to Vanessa that morning.
After the announcement, eliminate Cynthia.
Vanessa had not only helped create the fake pregnancy.
She had been planning to run.
Inside the hotel dressing room, she had hidden the ultrasound and the live video because she knew Everett intended to remove every witness.
Lily had not merely exposed Vanessa’s lie.
She had found Vanessa’s attempt to leave evidence behind.
At the hospital, doctors rushed Madeline into surgery.
The baby went to neonatal care.
Alexander stood behind the glass.
“What is his name?” I asked.
He shook his head.
“That belongs to Madeline.”
Marcus joined us with the preliminary DNA report.
The child was biologically related to Madeline.
The second result would confirm Alexander’s paternity.
Marcus looked troubled.
“What?”
He lowered his voice.
“The trust has already activated.”
“The shares now belong to the baby.”
“And Cynthia is still the legal guardian.”
Alexander stared through the glass.
“Then change it.”
“We cannot.”
“Why?”
“Because the guardian clause can only be revoked by the child’s mother.”
We looked toward the operating room.
Madeline’s heart monitor alarm began sounding.
Doctors rushed behind the doors.
May you like
If Madeline died, Cynthia would control the child’s fortune.
And Everett would still win.
