Chapter 9 - Emily’s Secret
Inside the van, Emily stopped breathing.
Laura heard David whisper through the earpiece.
“Don’t react.”
Cole circled Michael’s grave.
“Emily was at the charity event.”
Laura remembered.
She had seen Emily near the donor lounge.
But hundreds of hospital employees had attended.
“That proves nothing.”
Cole smiled.
“Ask her why she changed her name.”
Federal agents began searching records.
Seconds later, David’s voice came through.
“Laura… Emily Foster doesn’t exist before six years ago.”
Laura felt sick.
Cole saw her expression.
“There it is.”
“Who is she?”
“She’ll tell you.”
Cole demanded the account code.
Laura gave him a false number.
Agents moved in.
Cole triggered an explosive smoke device and escaped through the cemetery drainage system.
Again.
Back at the safe location, Laura confronted Emily.
Emily didn’t deny anything.
Her real name was Emily Shaw.
Rebecca Shaw’s daughter.
Rebecca had helped develop Whitmore’s original experimental drug.
When she discovered Cole’s abuse, she tried to expose him.
He threatened Emily.
So Emily changed her name and became a nurse to investigate from inside St. Matthew’s.
“Did you poison me?”
“No.”
“Were you near my coffee?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I saw Cole’s assistant put something in it.”
Laura stared.
“You saw someone drug me and said nothing?”
“I replaced your cup.”
“Then why did I collapse?”
Emily’s face tightened.
“Because somebody had already tampered with your water.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Laura wanted to believe her.
Ranger, recovering nearby, watched Emily.
No growl.
Laura noticed.
She trusted the dog more than anyone.
Then Rebecca Shaw woke from her coma.
She asked to see Laura.
At the hospital, Rebecca revealed the final piece.
Michael had contacted her before his death.
Together they created a trap.
A fake offshore account existed in the ledger.
Whoever attempted to access it would trigger a hidden data release containing names and banking records.
Cole didn’t know it was a trap.
“He thinks he needs the code,” Rebecca said.
Laura smiled.
“Then we give him the real one.”
The plan was simple.
Cole would access the account.
The system would automatically transmit every concealed record to federal investigators and media organizations.
But they needed him alive long enough to do it.
Cole contacted Laura first.
He had kidnapped someone.
Megan.
Video showed her tied to a chair in an old surgical wing scheduled for demolition.
Cole demanded the code.
Laura agreed.
David objected.
Laura replied, “Everyone keeps trying to protect me by hiding things.”
She picked up Michael’s drive.
“That ended when Michael died.”
The abandoned wing smelled of dust and antiseptic.
Laura entered alone.
Cole waited beside Megan.
Laptop open.
“Code.”
Laura gave it.
Cole typed.
ACCESS GRANTED.
Then his screen froze.
Files began uploading.
Cole’s face changed.
“What did you do?”
Laura smiled.
“Michael beat you fourteen months after you killed him.”
Sirens approached.
Cole grabbed Megan.
He pressed a gun against her head.
And then the building lights went out.
In the darkness, Ranger barked.
May you like
Cole whispered one terrified word.
“No.”
