Chapter 11 - FIRE ON THE NORTHSTAR
Coast Guard officers boarded the vessel through heavy smoke.
Crew members rushed toward the upper deck.
Most had no idea Victor was aboard.
Noah waited behind the secured perimeter with federal investigators.
The Northstar Meridian’s captain claimed Victor had rented a private storage cabin under a false name.
Fire suppression crews entered the lower deck.
Inside the cabin, they found burning files, smashed computers, and empty fuel containers.
Victor was gone.
Eleanor was discovered unconscious inside a locked maintenance compartment.
She was alive.
A medic carried her from the ship.
Noah moved toward her stretcher.
Her eyes opened briefly.
“Victor?”
“We haven’t found him.”
“He has another exit.”
“What do you mean?”
Eleanor struggled to speak.
“Service launch.”
“Starboard side.”
Officers checked the ship’s cameras.
A small motorboat had detached from the Northstar Meridian seven minutes before the boarding team arrived.
Victor was headed back toward Manhattan.
He had never intended to escape overseas.
The ship had been a diversion.
Noah called Marcus.
“Victor is returning to the city.”
“Lock down the hospital.”
Marcus looked toward the corridor.
“It’s already happening.”
The lights flickered.
Then the hospital’s internal network went offline.
Security doors reset automatically.
Elevators stopped between floors.
Inside Mia’s room, the monitors switched to backup power.
Lily’s incubator alarm began sounding.
Nurses rushed into the neonatal unit.
Mia tried to sit up.
“What happened?”
Marcus checked his phone.
“No signal.”
One of his guards entered.
“The east stairwell door opened during the reset.”
“Someone used a maintenance override.”
Marcus drew his weapon.
“Stay with Mrs. Vale.”
He moved into the corridor.
The emergency lights cast everything in dim red.
At the far end of the hallway, a man wearing hospital scrubs stepped from the stairwell.
A surgical mask covered his face.
Marcus called out.
“Stop.”
The man turned and ran.
Marcus followed him around the corner.
The stranger knocked over a medical cart.
Metal trays crashed across the floor.
By the time Marcus reached the stairwell, the man had disappeared.
A nurse screamed from Lily’s room.
Mia’s heart stopped for one terrible second.
She forced herself out of bed despite the pain.
Inside the neonatal unit, Lily’s incubator stood open.
May you like
The nurse stared at the empty mattress.
The baby was gone.
