Chapter 12 - THE FALSE TRANSFER
Dr. Ramirez did not scream.
She turned sideways and blocked the doorway.
“You’re not authorized to move this patient.”
Dr. Vale smiled.
“There has been a security breach.”
“I’m aware.”
“We’re transferring Mrs. Whitmore to a protected facility.”
“Without notifying her attending physician?”
“Orders came directly from federal command.”
He held up the stolen badge.
Dr. Ramirez studied it.
Then she looked toward the security camera above the hallway.
“The authorization code?”
Vale recited it correctly.
Inside the room, I heard every word.
My father rose from the chair.
The Marshal outside my door had stepped away moments earlier after receiving a false emergency call.
Dr. Ramirez placed one hand on the wheelchair.
“This patient has a partially detached placenta.”
“We have a medical team waiting.”
“She cannot be moved without fetal monitoring.”
“We’ll attach it downstairs.”
“No.”
Vale’s smile disappeared.
“Doctor, you are interfering with a federal operation.”
Dr. Ramirez moved closer.
“And you are carrying a hospital visitor badge beneath a federal credential.”
He looked down instinctively.
That was enough.
Dr. Ramirez slammed the wheelchair into his legs.
My father pulled the door shut.
Vale grabbed Dr. Ramirez’s arm and threw her against the wall.
She struck the emergency alarm with her elbow.
Sirens erupted across the floor.
Vale ran.
Security doors sealed at both ends of the corridor.
He pulled a small handgun from beneath his jacket.
Patients screamed.
My father stood in front of my bed.
“Get behind the bathroom wall.”
“I can’t run.”
“Then move slowly.”
Vale fired once into the security lock.
The glass panel shattered.
He forced open the door and entered the nurses’ station.
Hospital security officers approached from the stairwell.
Vale took a nurse hostage and pressed the weapon against her neck.
“Open the doors!”
Agent Monroe’s voice came through the public-address system.
“Simon Vale, the building is surrounded.”
“Release the nurse.”
“I want Anna Bennett.”
My father’s face went still.
Vale shouted toward my room.
“Chief Justice!”
“You know how this works!”
“One life for another!”
My father reached for the door.
I caught his sleeve.
“No.”
“He’ll kill her.”
“He’ll kill both of us.”
The nurse began crying.
Dr. Ramirez remained on the floor near the wall.
Her eyes moved toward a rolling medication cart behind Vale.
She slowly reached for the wheel lock.
Agent Monroe continued negotiating.
“What do you need Anna for?”
“Insurance.”
“Against whom?”
“Everyone.”
“You won’t leave this hospital.”
“Then people die.”
Vale dragged the nurse backward.
His foot touched the medication cart.
Dr. Ramirez released the lock and kicked the cart with both feet.
It rolled hard into Vale’s legs.
The nurse dropped.
Security officers rushed forward.
Vale fired into the ceiling.
A Marshal struck his arm.
The weapon skidded beneath a chair.
Three officers forced him to the floor.
It ended in less than five seconds.
Dr. Ramirez crawled toward the nurse.
My father opened the door only after Agent Monroe gave permission.
Vale lay handcuffed in the corridor.
As agents pulled him upright, he looked at me.
“You think David is the monster?”
His mouth curved into a bloody smile.
“He was the weak one.”
“Who is stronger?” Agent Monroe asked.
Vale laughed.
“The mother.”
“Sylvia is in custody.”
“Not that mother.”
He looked directly at me.
“Yours.”
My body went cold.
“My mother is dead.”
“That’s what Bennett wanted you to believe.”
My father stepped into the corridor.
“Take him away.”
Vale raised his voice.
“Ask him why there was no body at the funeral!”
I turned toward my father.
He had gone pale.
The officers dragged Vale toward the elevator.
“Dad?”
He did not answer.
“Was there a body?”
My father looked at Agent Monroe.
She immediately ordered Vale placed in secure federal custody.
Then she closed my hospital door.
My father sat down.
The silence became unbearable.
“Tell me.”
“Your mother’s injuries were severe.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“The hospital advised against viewing her.”
“Did you see her body?”
“No.”
“Did anyone in our family?”
“No.”
The official identification had been made through dental records.
Henry Wallace handled the arrangements.
Henry selected the funeral home.
Henry delivered the sealed casket.
For eleven years, my father had accepted paperwork created by the man who betrayed us.
Agent Monroe searched the recovered network files.
One folder was labeled E.B.
Elizabeth Bennett.
My mother.
The folder contained medical records dated after her supposed death.
Photographs showed a woman inside a private rehabilitation facility.
Her face was partially hidden.
But the hands were unmistakable.
My mother wore her wedding ring on a chain around her wrist.
May you like
The most recent photograph was six months old.
She was alive.
