Chapter 2 - The Awakening in the White RoomThe smell of sterile antiseptic replaced the bitter scent of smoke and rain.
Wes Barrett opened his eyes slowly, wincing as a sharp, throbbing pain flared behind his left temple. The stark white ceiling of a private executive recovery suite at City General Hospital came into focus. Through the large glass windows, the gray morning sky cast a somber light over the room.
Beside his bed sat his chief of security, a towering, scarred veteran named Marcus Cole, along with Wes’s personal physician.
“You’re awake, sir,” Marcus said, stepping forward with visible relief. “Thank God. The doctors said you suffered a severe concussion and smoke inhalation, but you’re going to make a full recovery.”
Wes raised a heavy hand, touching the white bandage wrapped securely around his head. Memories of the previous night flashed behind his eyes: the screech of tires, the violent impact against the streetlight, the suffocating smoke, and the shattering of glass.
More importantly, he remembered the little hands. The small, ragged coat. The soot-stained face.
“The car,” Wes rasped, his voice dry and rough. “It wasn't an accident, Marcus. The brake lines were severed. Someone tried to kill me.”
Marcus’s expression hardened. “I know, Boss. Our forensic team inspected the wreckage before the police towed it. The brake fluid lines were cleanly sliced with a hydraulic cutter. It was a professional hit.”
Wes pushed himself up against the pillows, his dark eyes flashing with lethal intensity. “And the child?”
Marcus hesitated, looking down at the floor. “The paramedics and police searched the entire area within a two-block radius. They found no trace of any child. The neighborhood cops think you were hallucinating from the smoke—they said no homeless girl could possibly smash laminated safety glass and drag a grown man out of a burning vehicle.”
Before Marcus could finish, Wes reached beneath the hospital blanket, his fingers brushing against something small and hard resting in his pajama pocket.
He pulled it out.
May you like
It was a faded red soda-bottle cap.
Wes clutched it tightly in his palm, his jaw clenching. “I wasn't hallucinating. She pulled me out of that inferno. Find her, Marcus. Spare no expense. Find Josie.”
