Chapter 5
The reinforced latch gave way as the door was shoved open from the hallway. Two burly hospital security guards in dark navy uniforms barged inside, led by Officer Marcus Wright, their tactical belts clinking with radios and zip-ties.
"Nobody move!" Marcus barked, his hand resting firmly on the taser holstered at his hip. "Hands where I can see them!"
"Thank God you're here!" Luke immediately pivoted, throwing his hands in the air with practiced victimhood. "Officer, my wife has suffered postpartum psychosis! She's hysterical, and this nurse is completely out of line. She's making wild accusations based on an equipment malfunction!"
"He's lying!" Camille said loudly, pointing the handheld scanner directly at Marcus. "Officer Wright, the newborn's electronic band was tampered with and replaced with a salvaged tag. The patient's five-year-old witnessed the father exchanging an infant in the second-floor stairwell. He just confessed to an abduction under duress!"
Marcus’s eyes hardened as he looked at Luke. "Step toward the wall, sir. Hands behind your back."
"You can't arrest me on the word of a nurse and a traumatized child!" Luke shouted, retreating toward the far corner of the room. "I have rights! I am a senior partner at Mercer & Vance! If you touch me without a warrant, I will have your badge before sunrise!"
"Turn around, Mr. Mercer," Marcus repeated, stepping forward with his handcuffs drawn. "We are in an active Code Pink protocol. You are a person of interest in an ongoing kidnapping investigation."
"Don't let him leave!" Claire cried out from the bed, holding Eli tight against her chest with one arm while pointing at Luke with the other. "Check his pockets! Eli said the woman gave him an envelope! Check his coat!"
Marcus lunged forward, grabbing Luke's left wrist. Luke twisted violently, attempting to shove the guard away, but the second security officer rushed in, pinning Luke against the drywall. With a swift, practiced motion, Marcus drove his knee into the back of Luke's leg, forcing the lawyer down onto one knee.
"Get off me!" Luke grunted, his face pressed against the cold paint. "You don't understand what you're doing!"
Marcus patted down Luke's tailored trousers and reached inside the breast pocket of his cashmere sweater. He pulled out a thick, unmarked Manila envelope, folded in half. As Marcus shook it open, a thick stack of hundred-dollar bills and a keycard with a magnetic black strip spilled onto the linoleum floor.
Eli pointed at the floor, shouting through his tears: "That's it! That's the brown paper the lady gave him!"
"Explain this, Mr. Mercer," Marcus said, snapping the steel cuffs around Luke's wrists with a definitive click.
Before Luke could formulate another lie, a sharp electronic buzz echoed from the bedside table. Luke’s personal smartphone, left lying beside Claire's water pitcher, vibrated violently against the wood.
May you like
The screen illuminated in the dimming strobe light. A text message preview flashed boldly across the glass from an unsaved number:
Unknown: The package is in the basement cargo bay. The exchange with the buyer is scheduled for 02:00. If the cops show up, the brat goes into the incinerator.
