CHAPTER 7 — THE HELICOPTER
The helicopter descended over the road.
Wind tore through the trees and threw dust across the windshield.
Daniel accelerated.
“What is he doing?” Nora shouted.
“He wants the ledger,” Emily said.
The helicopter dropped lower.
Its landing skids nearly struck the roof of the sedan.
Then a dark object fell from the open side door and crashed onto the road behind them.
It exploded.
Daniel struggled to keep the vehicle under control.
“He’s trying to force us off the road.”
Emily clutched the leather ledger against her chest.
Sirens grew louder.
Police vehicles appeared ahead, blocking the intersection.
The helicopter climbed suddenly.
Preston had seen them.
It turned east toward the river.
A police helicopter joined the pursuit.
Daniel stopped beside an ambulance.
Paramedics rushed toward Emily.
She refused to release the ledger until Nora locked it inside a police evidence case.
As Emily was lifted onto a stretcher, Caleb’s name appeared on her phone.
She answered.
“We found Vanessa,” he said breathlessly. “She’s alive. The fire department is bringing her out.”
Emily closed her eyes in relief.
“Where’s Lydia?”
There was a pause.
“She’s gone.”
“What do you mean?”
“She escaped through the kitchen tunnel before police arrived.”
Emily was placed inside the ambulance.
Nora climbed in beside her.
Daniel remained with the investigators.
As the doors closed, Emily looked back at the burning mansion.
Her father’s home was disappearing beneath smoke and flames.
But the evidence had survived.
At the hospital, doctors rushed Emily into the maternity unit.
Her baby’s heart rate was unstable.
An emergency delivery might be necessary.
Nora stayed outside the room, coordinating with police and federal investigators.
Then a nurse entered.
She wore a mask and carried a syringe.
“We need to give you something to slow the contractions,” she said.
Emily looked at the label.
It had no patient name.
“What is it?”
The nurse hesitated.
“A standard medication.”
Emily remembered her father’s altered medical records.
She pushed the syringe away.
“Call my doctor.”
“Your husband already approved the treatment.”
“My husband is running from the police.”
The nurse froze.
Emily reached for the emergency button.
The nurse grabbed her wrist.
Before she could inject the syringe, the door opened.
Vanessa stood there in a hospital gown, supported by Caleb.
“That isn’t a nurse,” Vanessa said.
The woman released Emily and ran.
Hospital security chased her down the corridor.
The syringe fell to the floor.
A technician examined it.
The medication would not have slowed Emily’s labor.
At the dose inside the syringe, it could have stopped her heart.
Emily looked at Vanessa.
“How did you know?”
Vanessa’s face went pale.
“Because Lydia used the same woman to visit your father.”
The false nurse was arrested near the service elevator.
She carried two passports, a large amount of cash, and a phone containing one recent message.
If Emily reaches the hospital, finish what we started with Arthur.
May you like
The message had been sent by Lydia.
Bu
