Chapter 13 - Seventy-Two Minutes
The doctors gave the baby seventy-two minutes.
Not to live.
To respond.
If the antidote worked, her breathing would strengthen.
If it did not, the toxin could damage her heart.
Abigail stood behind the glass of the neonatal unit.
Her daughter looked impossibly small.
Machines breathed around her.
Tessa stood beside Abigail.
Neither woman spoke.
At 3:14 a.m., Caroline arrived.
She took one look through the glass and began shaking.
“No.”
Abigail turned.
“Mom?”
Caroline pressed both hands to her mouth.
“No, no, no.”
“What is it?”
“That monitor.”
A nurse looked over.
“What about it?”
Caroline pointed.
“The number on the infusion pump.”
Tessa stared.
Warehouse 421.
Monroe saw it too.
“That’s a manufacturer code.”
Caroline shook her head.
“No. Caleb uses numbers as signatures.”
“Why would he put a signature on hospital equipment?”
“Because he wants us to understand.”
Abigail looked at her daughter.
“Understand what?”
“That we’re still playing his game.”
Tessa’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
Caleb Mercer.
“Tessa.”
Her entire body tightened.
“You poisoned a newborn.”
“I did no such thing.”
“You’re going to prison.”
“You still think this is about prison?”
“Where are you?”
He ignored the question.
“I spent thirty-two years cleaning Samuel Hart’s mistakes.”
“You mean murdering people.”
“I mean protecting thousands of employees from the consequences of emotional decisions.”
Tessa laughed in disbelief.
“My sister died because of you.”
“Your sister died because she mistook information for power.”
“And Abigail?”
“Abigail inherited the same weakness.”
Tessa turned toward the hallway.
Agents were tracing the call.
“Why the baby?”
Caleb was silent for a moment.
Then:
“The baby is insurance.”
Tessa froze.
“What do you want?”
“The original ledger.”
“I don’t have it.”
“Evelyn does.”
Tessa looked toward Evelyn.
She stood twenty feet away.
Watching.
Caleb continued.
“Tell her to bring it to Warehouse 421 before sunrise.”
“And then?”
“The child receives the second antidote.”
Tessa’s stomach dropped.
“Second?”
“The medication currently being administered will stabilize her.”
“But it won’t cure her.”
“No.”
Tessa closed her eyes.
“You planned everything.”
“I plan for human weakness.”
“You don’t know Evelyn.”
“I know she wants what was stolen from her.”
Tessa looked at Evelyn again.
“She doesn’t want the company.”
“Everyone wants something.”
The line went dead.
Evelyn already knew.
She walked over.
“I heard enough.”
Tessa stared.
“You have the ledger?”
“Yes.”
“Since when?”
“Eleven years.”
Tessa’s anger erupted.
“You let us search for evidence while you had it the whole time?”
“It is the only reason I’m alive.”
“A baby is dying.”
“I know.”
“Then give it to him.”
Evelyn looked through the glass.
“He’ll kill her anyway.”
Abigail turned.
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do.”
“That’s my daughter.”
“I know.”
“Then give him the ledger!”
Evelyn’s face hardened.
“No.”
Abigail slapped her.
The sound cracked through the hallway.
Everyone froze.
Abigail immediately looked shocked by what she had done.
Evelyn slowly turned back.
A red mark appeared on her cheek.
“I’m sorry,” Abigail whispered.
Evelyn nodded.
“I’m not.”
“What?”
“You should be angry.”
She reached inside her coat.
“But we are not giving Caleb the real ledger.”
She removed a small black drive.
“We’re giving him this.”
Monroe stepped closer.
“What is it?”
“A copy.”
“Will he know?”
“Eventually.”
Tessa frowned.
“What’s on the original?”
Evelyn looked at Caroline.
“Names.”
“Whose names?”
“Judges. Senators. hospital administrators. federal contractors.”
Monroe’s expression changed.
“How high does this go?”
Evelyn gave a tired smile.
“High enough that Caleb survived thirty-two years.”
Abigail stared at her daughter.
“We don’t have time.”
At 4:12 a.m., Tessa, Evelyn and Monroe drove toward Baltimore.
Federal agents followed at a distance.
Caleb had demanded Evelyn come alone.
They ignored him.
Warehouse 421 sat beside the water.
Dark.
Rusting.
Empty.
Evelyn carried the fake ledger drive inside.
Tessa followed through a side entrance.
Monroe positioned agents near the loading docks.
Inside, a single light illuminated the center of the warehouse.
Caleb Mercer stood beneath it.
Alone.
“You brought Tessa.”
Evelyn smiled.
“You brought a gun.”
“Habit.”
“Where is the antidote?”
Caleb held up a small silver case.
“Where is the ledger?”
Evelyn held up the drive.
“Trade.”
Caleb laughed.
“You still think this is a negotiation.”
He pressed a button.
Lights came on across the warehouse.
Twenty screens.
Each showed live video.
Hospital hallways.
Police headquarters.
Hart Biotech offices.
The neonatal unit.
Abigail stood beside her daughter’s incubator.
Tessa’s blood went cold.
“How are you seeing that?”
Caleb ignored her.
He looked at Evelyn.
“Your mistake has always been believing I needed one building.”
Monroe’s voice sounded through Tessa’s earpiece.
“We’ve lost hospital cameras.”
Caleb smiled.
“Give me the ledger.”
Evelyn tossed the drive.
He caught it.
“Antidote.”
Caleb placed the silver case on the floor.
Tessa moved toward it.
A gunshot struck concrete beside her foot.
She stopped.
Caleb’s smile vanished.
“That case is empty.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“Then why are we here?”
Caleb looked at Tessa.
“To make you watch.”
One of the screens changed.
A nurse entered the neonatal unit.
Not one Tessa recognized.
She approached Abigail’s baby carrying a syringe.
Tessa screamed.
“Abigail!”
On the screen, Abigail turned.
Too late.
The nurse reached for the incubator.
Then another hand caught her wrist.
Caroline.
Abigail’s mother slammed the woman against the wall.
Security rushed in.
Caleb’s face changed for the first time.
Evelyn smiled.
“You planned for human weakness.”
She stepped closer.
“We planned for you.”
Sirens surrounded the warehouse.
Caleb raised his gun.
Tessa thought he would shoot Evelyn.
Instead, he pointed it at himself.
“No!”
A shot fired.
Caleb fell.
Tessa ran forward.
Monroe rushed in with agents.
Caleb was alive.
Barely.
The bullet had struck his shoulder.
Evelyn looked down at him.
“You missed.”
Caleb laughed through the pain.
“I wasn’t trying to die.”
Monroe froze.
Caleb whispered:
“I was buying time.”
An explosion shook the building.
Flames erupted near the loading dock.
Evelyn turned toward the water.
A speedboat disappeared into the darkness.
Someone else had been inside the warehouse.
Someone Caleb had protected.
Tessa stared at the boat.
“Who was that?”
May you like
Caleb smiled.
“The person Maya was actually afraid of.”
