Chapter 7 - THE RACE AGAINST THE CLOCKThe heavy rain battered my face as I burst out of the lake house estate and ran toward my SUV. Detective Miller was still lying near the water wheel, gasping for air, clutching his blood-soaked chest.
"Miller!" I screamed, dropping down beside him.
"I... I called it in..." Miller wheezed, pointing toward the main road. "Tactical team... two minutes away..."
"I got it," I showed him the silver case. "I have the neutralizer!"
"Go..." Miller grunted, pressing his hand against his wound. "Save... your girl... I'll live..."
I helped Miller crawl into the passenger seat of my SUV, threw the vehicle into reverse, and slammed on the gas pedal. The tires spun wildly in the thick mud before gripping the gravel, propelling us back down the mountain pass toward the hospital.
The dashboard clock was ticking down with terrifying speed.
03:14 AM.
According to Dr. Aris, Sophie had less than forty minutes before the cellular degeneration became irreversible.
I pushed the SUV to its absolute limit, weaving through the blinding rainstorm as blue and red police lights began flashing past us in the opposite direction, rushing toward the lake house. I hit my hands-free dial, connecting directly to the pediatric ICU.
"Dr. Aris!" I shouted over the roar of the engine. "I have the stabilization agent! I am five minutes away!"
"Sarah, thank God!" Dr. Aris' voice was laced with panic. "You need to hurry! Her heart rate is spiking to dangerous levels! Her core body temperature is dropping rapidly—she's entering multi-organ failure!"
"Prepare the administration kit! I'm coming!"
I slammed my foot onto the accelerator, blowing through two red lights as I slammed the SUV to a stop right in front of the hospital's emergency entrance. Paramedics rushed out, pulling Detective Miller out of the passenger side while I ran through the double doors, clutching the silver case like a lifeline.
I sprinted up the stairs, ignoring the elevators, and burst onto the fourth-floor pediatric wing.
The floor was unnaturally quiet. The tactical officers stationed outside Sophie's room were gone.
My heart plummeted into my stomach. "Dr. Aris?!" I called out, my footsteps echoing off the sterile hallway floor.
I pushed open the door to Sophie's room.
The heart rate monitor was producing a flat, continuous high-pitched tone: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
The hospital bed was empty. The IV lines had been cut, dripping clear fluid onto the tile floor. On the small tray table beside the bed sat a small portable video screen.
As I approached the bed, my body shaking with pure horror, the screen flickered to life.
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A masked figure sat in a dark, clinical room. Resting on a stainless-steel table behind the figure was Sophie, unconscious, hooked up to a portable ventilator.
"Hello, Sarah," a distorted, synthesized voice spoke through the screen's small speakers. "Did you really think Charles Vance was the head of the operation? He was merely our lead scientist."
