Chapter 7 - The Woman in the Service Elevator
The hospital went into a quiet protective lockdown after Ellison confirmed the manifest's destination.
Not the kind with alarms and screaming corridors.
Security increased at elevators, staff credentials were checked twice, and my room was transferred to a restricted floor.
The move felt safe for exactly eleven minutes.
Then Dr. Park came in and asked why I had been discharged from physical therapy.
"I haven't even started physical therapy," I said.
She showed me an electronic order issued under my patient record.
Someone had requested that I be moved to a lower-level imaging suite at 3:30 p.m.
The ordering provider had the name of a doctor who retired two years earlier.
Ellison positioned officers at the suite and studied camera feeds.
At 3:27 a woman in dark blue scrubs stepped into the service elevator carrying a medical cooler identical to the one outside Mercer's car.
Her badge displayed the name Nina Cross.
Hospital records listed no employee by that name.
Officers intercepted her outside the imaging suite.
She didn't resist.
She set the cooler on the floor and raised both hands.
Inside were sterile packs, two burner phones, and a folded photograph of Lily.
The woman refused to identify herself until Ellison showed her the picture.
"You weren't supposed to find the child yet," she said.
The words sliced through me when Ellison repeated them.
Not supposed to find her yet.
Meaning Lily was still being used to buy time.
The woman called herself a contracted courier and insisted she'd never seen Lily in person.
One burner phone contained a single unsent draft: SECOND KEY IS IN THE BRACELET.
I looked down at my wrist.
Lily had given me a woven blue bracelet for Mother's Day.
It had been removed for surgery and returned in a clear belongings bag.
I asked Dom to bring it to me.
A tiny metallic bead rested among the knots.
I'd assumed it was decorative.
Under magnification it carried a serial code matching the first six digits of the compromised carabiner shipment.
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Someone had touched my daughter's gift before she was kidnapped.
