Chapter 14: The Missing Nurse
The hospital evacuation began at 2:17 a.m.
Dr. Hale had escaped custody during the confusion at the medical facility. No one knew how he had entered the hospital network, but Maya discovered that he still had active physician credentials.
The “final witness” was not Hannah.
It was the therapist seen in Adrian’s rehabilitation video.
Her name was Dr. Laura Bennett.
Everyone had believed she died in the clinic fire eight years earlier.
She was alive and had been living under protection in the hospital’s long-term care wing.
William Cole had hidden her there after she agreed to testify.
Adrian arrived with Hannah and Caleb while Maya’s team searched the building.
The backup generators had been disabled.
Emergency lights cast red shadows across the hallways.
Maya found Laura’s room empty.
The bed restraints had been cut.
A nurse lay unconscious near the service elevator.
Hannah examined the medication cart.
“Hale sedated her.”
Adrian’s legs still burned from standing, but for the first time, the pain gave him hope.
Caleb noticed a trail of water leading toward the stairwell.
“Why is the floor wet?”
Maya touched it.
“Rainwater.”
Someone had opened the rooftop access door.
They took the service elevator as far as the top floor and continued toward the roof.
Adrian remained in his wheelchair, furious at every second the stairs cost them.
When Maya opened the rooftop door, cold rain struck their faces.
Dr. Hale stood near the edge with Laura Bennett.
She was barely conscious.
A helicopter waited on the landing pad.
“You won’t reach the street before we’re gone,” Hale said.
Maya raised her weapon.
“You won’t reach the helicopter.”
Hale held a syringe against Laura’s neck.
“She is the only medical witness who can prove Adrian was recovering.”
“We have the files,” Adrian said.
“Files can be challenged. She cannot.”
Laura opened her eyes.
She looked at Adrian.
“You stood,” she whispered.
Hale glanced at him.
That moment of distraction was enough.
Laura struck his hand away.
Maya moved forward.
Hale stumbled back, losing his balance at the roof’s edge.
Adrian reached out and caught his wrist.
Everyone froze.
The man who had stolen Adrian’s recovery hung above the street, held by the man he had kept in a wheelchair.
“Pull me up,” Hale begged.
Adrian stared at him.
“Tell me where Grant hid the original ledger.”
Hale’s face twisted with fear.
“Grant never had it.”
“Who does?”
May you like
Hale looked toward Caleb.
“The boy.”
