Chapter 6 - THE DEAD HAND PROTOCOL
Arthur’s final words echoed in my head long after the police cars drove away with him.
“She has a failsafe!”
I rushed out of the corporate office and drove straight back to the private medical center where Maya was being protected. My instinct was screaming at me. Eleanor was a cold, calculating sociopath. She wouldn't have gone down without a secondary plan to ensure that if she lost, I lost everything.
When I arrived at the hospital’s pediatric wing, my heart nearly stopped.
The two private security guards I had posted outside Maya’s room were lying unconscious on the floor in the hallway. A nurse was kneeling beside them, desperately checking their pulses.
“What happened?!” I shouted, rushing forward.
“A woman... dressed as a senior floor supervisor,” the nurse panicked. “She used an aerosol sedative! She took the child through the service elevator!”
“ELEANOR!” I roared.
She hadn't been processed into the county jail yet—she must have used a corrupt contact within the transit transport, or forged an emergency medical transfer to escape custody while being moved!
I didn't wait for the police. I sprinted down the hallway to the hospital’s security control room, slamming the door open. The security guard jumped in surprise.
“Override the security feed for Elevator 4!” I demanded, grabbing him by the collar. “NOW!”
The guard scrambled, typing furiously into the keyboard. The screen flickered to life, showing the rear parking garage of the hospital.
A black sedan was idling near the loading dock. A woman wearing a dark coat and a nurse’s cap was dragging a semi-conscious Maya toward the back seat of the car. Standing by the driver’s side door was a man I recognized instantly—Eleanor’s violent, black-market associate, a mercenary named Vance, who had served time for kidnapping years ago.
I ran.
My lungs burned as I sprinted down six flights of concrete stairs, my heart pounding like a war drum in my chest. I burst through the heavy fire exit doors into the subterranean parking garage just as the black sedan’s engine roared to life, its tires screeching against the polished concrete.
“MAYA!” I screamed.
The car accelerated directly toward me.
I didn't dodge. I pulled the heavy metal security barrier off its hinges from the side entrance and shoved it into the path of the speeding car.
CRASH!
The sedan slammed into the steel barricade, its front bumper shattering into pieces, the airbags deploying with a loud bang. The car came to a sudden, smoking halt just ten feet away from me.
I sprinted to the vehicle, tore the shattered rear passenger door open, and pulled Maya out of the backseat. She was crying, terrified, but safe.
“Daddy! Daddy!” she sobbed, clinging to my neck with all her tiny strength.
“I’ve got you, baby! I’ve got you!” I wrapped my coat around her, holding her tightly against my chest.
From the driver’s side of the wrecked car, Vance stumbled out, dazed and bleeding from his forehead, reaching into his jacket for a weapon. But before he could draw it, three police cruisers screeched into the garage, blocking all exits.
Chief Miller sprang out of the lead cruiser with his weapon drawn. “DROP THE WEAPON! GET ON THE GROUND NOW!”
Vance threw his hands up and dropped to his knees.
I looked into the front passenger seat of the wrecked sedan. Eleanor was slumped against the deployed airbag, her head bleeding, her eyes wide with shock. She looked out the cracked window at me—holding my daughter safely in my arms, surrounded by an army of police officers.
The elegant facade was entirely gone. She was broken, ruined, and trapped.
May you like
I walked right up to her cracked window, holding Maya close, looking down at the monster who had tried to destroy my life.
“Your failsafe failed, Eleanor,” I said with terrifying calm. “Game over.”
