Chapter 6 - The Empty Room
My heart plummeted into ice.
"Frank! Secure him!" I screamed, dropping the gun into Frank's hands.
I turned and vaulted back up the stairs into the nursery. I picked up Maya, wrapping her in a warm wool blanket, holding her tightly against my chest as I ran past the tactical officers who were securing the perimeter.
"Frank, get the Miami SWAT team to Room 314 right now! Harrison is attempting to kill her!" I yelled as I sprinted out into the rain.
I strapped Maya securely into the back seat of Frank's armored SUV, slammed the door, and got into the driver’s seat. The engine roared to life as I tore out of the sanctuary driveway, spraying gravel across the road, racing back toward Miami under the flashing lights of police escorts.
The forty-five-minute drive felt like an eternity. Every tick of the dashboard clock felt like a shovel of dirt on Sarah's grave. Maya watched me quietly from the back seat, her dark eyes filled with a terrifyingly adult understanding.
"Is Mommy sick?" she asked softly, holding her teddy bear tightly.
I looked at her in the rear-view mirror, my eyes burning with unshed tears. "Mommy is fighting very hard, sweetheart. But we're going to help her."
When we arrived back at St. Catherine’s Hospital, the perimeter was swarming with flashing red and blue lights. Federal marshals and local police had cordoned off the main entrance. I threw open the SUV door, unbuckled Maya, and carried her in my arms as I sprinted past the police tape into the lobby.
Frank had already radioed ahead. I pushed past the guards at the elevator and rode it up to the third floor.
When the elevator doors slid open, the hallway of the intensive care unit was in total disarray. Medical supplies were scattered across the floor. Two police officers were restraining Dr. Harrison against the wall, slapping steel handcuffs on his wrists as he screamed about legal authority.
"Where is she?!" I screamed, running up to the room. "Where is Sarah?!"
A female ER doctor stepped out of Room 314, her hands covered in latex gloves, her face grim.
"Mr. Miller?" she asked softly.
"Where is my wife?!" My voice cracked, entire body shaking with dread.
"We stopped Dr. Harrison before he could administer the lethal dose," the doctor said quickly. "However..."
She paused, looking down at Maya in my arms, then back up at me.
"Her vascular system suffered a complete collapse ten minutes ago due to the psychological trauma. She went into cardiac arrest. We managed to restart her heart, but her bone marrow is no longer producing blood cells. She has slipped into a deep, non-responsive coma."
I pushed past the doctor into the room.
Sarah lay completely motionless on the white hospital bed. Her skin was translucent, almost blue, framed by her dark hair spread across the pillow. Monitors beeped in slow, hollow, agony rhythms around her.
I set Maya down gently on the edge of the mattress.
"Sarah..." I whispered, taking her freezing hand in mine. "Sarah, please. Look at me. I'm here. I brought Maya."
The little girl reached out her tiny hand and touched Sarah’s pale cheek. "Mommy? Wake up. Daddy's here."
A single, solitary tear leaked from the corner of Sarah’s closed eyes, trailing down her white skin. But the monitors did not speed up. Her breathing remained agonizingly faint, hooked to a mechanical ventilator.
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The doctor stepped into the room behind us, holding a digital clip-board.
"Mr. Miller... her condition is critical. Without an immediate, full-spectrum stem cell and bone marrow transplant within twenty-four hours, her organs will shut down permanently. And we have no matching donors on the national registry."
