Chapter 8: The Shot Through the Nursery Window
“Down!” Detective Lane shouted.
Daniel threw himself over Emily’s wheelchair as a crack split the air.
The NICU window shattered.
Nurses screamed.
Alarms exploded through the unit.
Daniel lifted his head. “Hope!”
A nurse inside shouted, “The incubator is intact!”
Emily sobbed. “My baby!”
Lane yelled into his radio. “Shooter across the street, rooftop level! Move now!”
Clara was shaking so hard the cuffs rattled. “She hired someone. Victoria hired someone.”
Daniel grabbed her shoulders. “Who?”
“I don’t know!”
“You know something.”
“She used a man named Victor Shaw. Private security. He handles dirty work.”
Michael looked at Lane. “He used to work for Hart Industries.”
Lane spoke into the radio. “Search for Victor Shaw. Armed suspect.”
Emily gripped Daniel’s sleeve. “Go to Hope.”
“I can’t leave you.”
“Daniel, go!”
He ran into the NICU with a nurse’s permission and looked at the incubator. His daughter’s tiny chest moved.
“Hi, Hope,” he whispered. “Daddy’s here.”
The nurse said, “We need to move her to a safer room.”
Daniel nodded. “Do it.”
As they prepared transport, the hospital intercom crackled.
Then Victoria’s voice filled the hallway.
“Daniel, stop this madness.”
Daniel looked up in disbelief.
She continued, “Bring the child to the private exit. No police. No Emily. Just you.”
Emily shouted from the hall, “Never!”
Victoria laughed softly. “Then I release the video.”
Daniel stepped back. “What video?”
Michael’s face changed. “Daniel…”
Victoria said, “The video of Michael entering Emily’s apartment the night before the pregnancy announcement.”
Emily cried, “He came to warn me!”
Victoria replied, “The world will see what I choose to show.”
Daniel shouted, “I don’t care!”
“You will when the board removes you and declares the baby’s claim uncertain.”
Michael leaned against the wall. “She wants the company before she runs.”
Lane whispered, “Keep her talking.”
Daniel said, “Where are you, Mom?”
“Closer than you think.”
A nurse suddenly screamed from the staff lounge.
Police rushed in.
On the wall was a live video feed.
Victoria sat inside a black ambulance in the underground parking garage, holding a tablet.
Beside her was Hope’s empty transport case.
Daniel turned toward the NICU.
The incubator was still there.
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But the nurse who had been moving Hope was gone.
Emily screamed, “Where is my baby?”
