Chapter 6 - THE HOSTAGE IN THE RAINDaniel screamed, jumping from his seat and charging toward the door, but Detective Miller grabbed him by the shoulders, slamming him back against the wall.
"Listen to me, Daniel!" Miller yelled into his face. "If you go out there blind, you will get yourself or your son killed! Let my officers do their job!"
"She's out of her mind!" Daniel bellowed, tears streaming down his face. "She's going to take him!"
"They aren't trying to escape with Caleb," I said, my voice cutting through their shouting with a terrifying clarity.
Both men turned to look at me.
"What do you mean, Emma?" Miller asked, keeping one hand on Daniel's chest.
"She doesn't care about Caleb," I said, my voice deathly quiet. "She wants the laptop. Ray kept all the offshore account passwords on an encrypted drive. He hid it inside Caleb's backpack so it wouldn't be found if the house was raided. Caleb takes that backpack everywhere."
Miller's eyes widened. He hit his radio button instantly. "All units at Elm Street! The suspect is targeting the child's belongings! Secure the boy and his backpack immediately! Suspect is armed and extremely dangerous!"
Before Miller could finish his transmission, the lights inside my ICU room flickered violently—once, twice—and then plunged the room into complete, total darkness.
The high-pitched screech of emergency backup generators kicking in hummed through the walls, but the main room lights remained off, replaced by the eerie red glare of emergency wall fixtures.
"What the hell?" Miller drew his service weapon, stepping in front of my bed.
The electronic lock on my ICU door clicked. The magnetic seal released with a heavy thud.
The door creaked open slowly.
Standing in the doorway, illuminated only by the blood-red emergency light of the hallway, was Uncle Ray. His clothes were soaked through with rain, mud plastered across his jeans, and his right hand held a black semiautomatic pistol pointed straight at Detective Miller's chest.
Behind him, stepped my mother.
Her hair was matted to her forehead, her eyes wild, hollow, and devoid of any maternal warmth. In her hand, she held Caleb's bright blue school backpack.
"Drop the gun, Detective," Ray sneered, his teeth stained yellow in the dim light. "Or your blood hits the wall before mine does."
Miller slowly lowered his service weapon, his eyes tracking Ray's finger on the trigger. "Ray, it's over. The house is seized. Federal marshals are already involved."
"Shut up!" Ray barked. "We don't care about the house! We have the drive. Now we just need to make sure the only witness who can put Sarah at the scene of the mixing operation doesn't testify."
May you like
My mother took a step toward my bed. She didn't look at Daniel, who was trembling with rage beside the wall. She looked directly down at me, her gaze cold, detached, and devoid of love.
"You always had to be the dramatic one, Emma," my mother said softly, her voice chillingly calm. "If you had just stayed in your room, if you hadn't insisted on making a scene in front of Daniel... none of this would have happened."
