Chapter 15: Darkness
### Chapter 15: Darkness
The lights vanished without warning.
One second...
The delivery room was bright.
The next...
Complete darkness.
Only the steady beeping of the fetal monitor continued.
Then even that flickered.
Sarah instinctively covered her stomach.
"Arthur..."
"I'm here."
His voice came from only a few feet away.
Calm.
Steady.
Exactly what she needed.
Emily switched on a small emergency flashlight from the crash cart.
A narrow beam cut through the darkness.
She immediately looked at the monitor.
The baby's heartbeat.
Still there.
Still strong.
Sarah released a shaky breath.
---
Throughout the hospital...
Emergency alarms echoed.
Red backup lights slowly blinked to life in the hallways.
Not enough to fully illuminate them.
Only enough to create long, moving shadows.
Patients called for nurses.
Children cried.
Doctors shouted instructions.
The backup generators were taking longer than they should.
Far longer.
---
Down in the electrical room...
The fake maintenance worker watched the blinking device attached to the main breaker.
He smiled.
The generators weren't failing.
They had been delayed.
Exactly...
Ninety seconds.
That was all his employer needed.
He pressed his radio.
"Window is open."
A calm voice replied.
"Proceed."
---
On the maternity floor...
Sergeant Reyes drew her flashlight.
"Everyone stay where you are!"
Two deputies moved toward the stairwells.
Another guarded the elevators.
Reyes spoke into her radio.
"No visual."
"Maintain positions."
Only static answered.
She frowned.
"Our radios..."
One deputy looked up.
"They're being jammed."
---
Inside Sarah's room...
Emily checked another contraction.
"Almost there."
Sarah cried out.
The pain was stronger now.
Closer together.
"I can't..."
Emily took her hand.
"Yes, you can."
"You already are."
Arthur remained beside the door.
Listening.
Every instinct told him something was wrong.
Then...
He heard it.
Soft footsteps.
Outside.
Not running.
Walking.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Someone stopped directly outside the room.
Arthur tightened his grip on the heavy metal IV pole he had quietly picked up.
The doorknob moved.
Very slowly.
The door opened...
Just a few inches.
Arthur swung the IV pole forward.
"Don't!"
A terrified voice answered.
"It's me!"
Mrs. Hargrove stumbled into the room.
Breathing hard.
Still wearing her housekeeper's uniform.
Sarah blinked.
"Mrs. Hargrove?"
The older woman nodded.
"I came as soon as I heard."
Arthur lowered the IV pole.
"What are you doing here?"
She looked at Reyes.
"I wasn't followed."
Then her expression changed.
"But someone else was."
---
Before anyone could ask—
A loud crash echoed from the nursery.
Glass shattered.
A baby began crying.
Then another.
Then five more.
Every adult in the room froze.
Reyes looked toward the hallway.
"The nursery."
Arthur immediately understood.
"The blackout..."
"It was never about Sarah."
---
Two deputies sprinted toward the nursery.
Arthur followed.
The emergency lights flickered again.
The hallway seemed endless.
When they reached the nursery...
One window had been smashed.
Cold night air rushed inside.
Three nurses stood crying.
One pointed toward the broken glass.
"He..."
"He jumped."
Reyes looked around frantically.
"Where's the baby?"
The nurse looked confused.
"No baby."
Arthur frowned.
"What?"
"He never touched the babies."
Everyone fell silent.
Then Arthur slowly looked back toward Sarah's room.
His face turned white.
"Oh no..."
---
He turned and ran.
Faster than anyone had ever seen him move.
Back through the hallway.
Past frightened patients.
Past confused doctors.
Straight toward Sarah.
Behind him...
Reyes finally understood.
"The nursery was a diversion!"
---
Inside Sarah's room...
Emily was helping Sarah breathe through another contraction.
Mrs. Hargrove stood near the window.
Listening.
Then she noticed something.
The oxygen monitor.
The green light had gone dark.
She frowned.
"Emily..."
Emily turned.
The oxygen line had been disconnected.
Cleanly.
Not accidentally.
Cut.
Arthur burst through the door.
"Get away from the wall!"
Everyone instinctively moved.
One second later—
The ceiling vent exploded open.
A man dressed entirely in black dropped silently into the room.
Face covered.
Gloved hands.
A syringe already in his grip.
He lunged straight toward Sarah.
Arthur tackled him before he reached the bed.
The syringe flew across the floor.
It shattered.
Clear liquid spread across the tiles.
The intruder fought with frightening precision.
Military training.
Every movement efficient.
He slammed Arthur into the wall.
Arthur refused to let go.
The man drove an elbow into Arthur's ribs.
Another into his jaw.
Arthur staggered.
But stayed between the attacker and Sarah.
"Run!"
Arthur shouted.
Emily immediately pushed Sarah's bed toward the emergency exit.
Mrs. Hargrove grabbed the flashlight.
Reyes entered from the hallway.
"Police!"
The intruder spun instantly.
Throwing a small metal object.
Smoke exploded across the room.
Visibility vanished.
Coughing filled the air.
Arthur charged into the smoke.
He caught the man's jacket.
The fabric ripped away.
The attacker slipped free.
A window shattered.
By the time the smoke cleared...
He was gone.
Only one thing remained.
Half of a black tactical jacket.
Arthur picked it up.
Something heavy fell from one of the pockets.
A leather wallet.
Everyone stared.
Arthur slowly opened it.
Inside...
No cash.
No driver's license.
Only one identification card.
Hospital Staff.
Name: Daniel Mercer.
Emily frowned.
"I've never heard of him."
Reyes immediately radioed downstairs.
"Find every employee named Daniel Mercer."
The hospital director answered moments later.
His voice trembling.
"There isn't one."
Arthur turned the card over.
Taped inside...
Was a tiny photograph.
A little girl.
About six years old.
Smiling beside a lake.
On the back...
One sentence had been handwritten.
Do this...
...or she dies.
The room fell silent.
Arthur looked toward the broken window.
The attacker hadn't come because he wanted to kill.
He had come because someone else owned his life.
And somewhere...
A little girl was being used as a hostage.
Outside the hospital...
Parked across the street...
The black SUV slowly pulled away.
Inside...
The mysterious man watched the hospital disappear in his rearview mirror.
His phone rang.
"The attempt failed."
He wasn't surprised.
"It was never the real objective."
"What was?"
He looked toward the city skyline.
"They're protecting Sarah."
"They haven't realized..."
"...who they're leaving completely unprotected."
At that exact moment...
Thomas's farmhouse...
Now completely empty...
Its front door slowly creaked open.
Someone stepped inside.
May you like
Carrying a can of gasoline.
To be continued...
