Chapter 7 - the message from Rachel
Caroline held Emily’s identification band until the plastic cut into her palm.
“She’s alive.”
Pierce examined the refrigerated crate.
The blood sample had been collected seventy-two hours earlier at a facility identified only as NORTHSTAR.
“Does that name mean anything to you?” he asked.
Caroline shook her head.
Ethan pointed toward the prepaid phone.
“Mommy talked about a star place.”
Caroline reopened Rachel’s video.
After the section they had watched, another file appeared. It had been hidden beneath a false filename.
Rachel sat in the same windowless blue room.
“If Caroline finds Emily’s samples, Voss has already moved the active patients to Northstar House,” she said. “It is not a hospital. It is a private residence on Morrow Road, twelve miles north of Millstone.”
Pierce looked toward the loading-room exit.
“We need outside communication.”
The hospital remained cut off by the storm and possible sabotage.
Rachel continued.
“Northstar belongs to the Hollis Foundation. Their son, Benjamin, needs repeated liver and marrow treatments. Lily was selected because early tests showed an unusual match.”
Caroline looked at the sleeping baby.
“Why would an unrelated infant be such a close match?”
Pierce’s expression grew thoughtful.
“She may not be unrelated.”
The video continued.
“I discovered Jane Hollis was not born to the woman named in her official record. Her biological mother was a surrogate recruited by the foundation. Voss altered the delivery records after she refused to surrender the child.”
Ethan whispered, “Lily’s mommy.”
Rachel nodded from the screen as though answering him.
“Her name was Nora Bell. She died in recovery after trying to call a lawyer. Voss listed the death as an embolism. I believe she was given the same sedative Caleb used on us.”
Pierce took the contaminated IV tubing from his pocket.
“The laboratory may identify it.”
“If the lab still answers to us,” Caroline said.
A warning appeared at the end of Rachel’s video.
“Do not take the county road directly to Northstar. Sheriff Rusk protects the foundation. Use the old river bridge and contact Detective Lena Ortiz with the Indiana State Child Crimes Unit.”
A telephone number appeared.
Caroline entered it into the prepaid phone.
No signal.
“We need to reach the roof or leave the hospital.”
Pierce checked Lily’s vital signs.
“She should not be moved into the storm.”
“She cannot remain where Voss controls the power, records, and medication.”
Ethan stood beside the laundry cart.
“I can carry her.”
Pierce looked at the boy’s bandaged feet.
“You have already carried enough.”
A door slammed above them.
Caleb and Voss were searching the lower level.
Caroline examined the loading room. A mechanical lift connected it to the mortuary garage. Rachel’s badge opened the control panel.
The platform rose silently.
They emerged inside the hospital morgue.
Rows of refrigerated drawers lined the walls.
Ethan moved closer to Caroline.
“Mommy works here?”
“She used the morgue to move without being seen.”
One drawer remained slightly open.
Caroline heard breathing from inside.
Pierce approached carefully and pulled it open.
Security officer Donnelly lay curled inside, alive but unconscious. Blood covered the back of his head.
Caroline checked his pulse.
“He needs treatment.”
Donnelly’s eyes opened briefly.
“Voss,” he whispered. “He took my access card.”
“Can you stand?”
He tried and failed.
Pierce placed him on a transport gurney.
A radio on Donnelly’s belt crackled.
“Unit Twelve, respond.”
A woman’s voice.
Caroline grabbed the radio.
“This is St. Agnes emergency department. We have injured children and armed attackers inside the hospital.”
Static interrupted.
Then the woman answered.
“Identify yourself.”
“Caroline Bennett, registered nurse.”
“This is Detective Lena Ortiz. Rachel Ward gave me your name six hours ago.”
Caroline closed her eyes in relief.
“Rachel is alive?”
“She called from a hidden number. The connection ended after forty seconds.”
“Where was she?”
“Near Morrow Road.”
Ethan approached the radio.
“Did Mommy say my name?”
Ortiz became silent.
“Is Ethan with you?”
“Yes.”
“Put him on.”
Caroline handed him the radio.
“Ethan, your mother told me you would protect Lily,” Ortiz said. “She also told me you know the words for the red door.”
Ethan’s face changed.
“I’m not supposed to say them unless I see the river.”
“That’s right. Don’t say them yet.”
“Is she okay?”
Ortiz hesitated.
“She was alive when she called.”
A heavy impact struck the morgue entrance.
Voss’s voice came through the door.
“Detective Ortiz is under investigation for misconduct. Do not trust her.”
Ortiz heard him through the radio.
“Voss knows you made contact. You need to leave now.”
“How?” Caroline asked.
“The mortuary garage opens onto the west service road. I’m five miles away, but Sheriff Rusk has blocked the main entrance.”
Pierce moved Donnelly’s gurney toward the garage.
Ethan climbed beside Lily.
Caroline activated the overhead door.
Snow rushed inside.
An ambulance stood in the bay.
Its keys were missing.
Rachel’s badge opened the rear compartment but not the ignition.
Ethan reached beneath Lily’s pink blanket and removed a small metal object.
“Mommy gave me this too.”
An ambulance key.
Caroline stared at him.
“You carried it through the snow?”
“I didn’t know what it opened.”
Behind them, the morgue door began to buckle.
Pierce loaded Lily, Ethan, and Donnelly into the ambulance.
Caroline started the engine.
As the garage door rose, headlights appeared on the west road.
A sheriff’s vehicle blocked the exit.
Sheriff Rusk stepped into the snow and raised a shotgun.
Ortiz shouted through the radio.
“Do not stop for him!”
May you like
Caroline pressed the accelerator.
👉 Caroline drove the ambulance directly toward an armed sheriff, knowing the officer blocking their escape was part of the network that had stolen Lily.
