Chapter 8
"Mrs. Mercer, I cannot hand over evidence or let a civilian enter an active crime scene," Marcus said, though his hand hesitated over the magnetic keycard lying on the linoleum floor.
"That woman has my four-hour-old baby," Claire said, stepping forward until she was inches from the officer's face. Her hospital gown was spotted with blood from her reopening wound, her rosy skin pale with shock, but her eyes carried an unyielding, primal fury. "If you try to stop me, you'll have to shoot me. Give me the card, or watch me bleed to death in this hallway while your dispatch tries to figure out how a senator's grandchild ended up in my room."
Marcus swallowed hard, looking at Camille. Camille gave him a single, solemn nod.
"I'm coming with you," Camille said, grabbing a pair of heavy surgical shears from the equipment tray. "I know the service layouts, and I know where the incinerator ventilation feeds. If they've locked the fire doors, I know the manual bypass."
"You stay with Eli," Claire instructed, turning to Camille. "Take Eli and that baby, lock yourselves in the nursery station, and don't open the door for anyone without a uniform."
"No, Mommy!" Eli sobbed, running forward and wrapping his little arms around Claire’s legs. "Don't leave me! Daddy is bad, don't let them take you too!"
Claire knelt down, wincing through a flash of blinding agony as her knees hit the tiles. She cupped Eli’s tear-stained face in her trembling, rosy hands. "Eli, listen to Mommy. You saved your sister tonight. Do you hear me? You are the bravest boy in the world. But now Mommy has to go finish what you started. Stay with Nurse Camille. Protect this little baby in the cart until I come back with June. Can you do that for me?"
Eli sniffled, wiping his nose with his sleeve, his lower lip quivering. He looked at the crying newborn in the bassinet, then nodded slowly. "I'll protect her, Mommy. Bring June home."
"I promise," Claire whispered, kissing his forehead.
She stood up, leaning heavily against Officer Marcus, who picked up the green magnetic keycard from the floor and handed it to her. Marcus turned to his partner: "Keep Mercer in zip-ties in this room. If he twitches, put him on the floor. I'm escorting Mrs. Mercer to Sector C."
"You're making a mistake!" Luke yelled as they moved toward the door. "Claire! She isn't alone down there! There are three of them!"
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Claire didn't even look back at him. "Then there are three people who aren't leaving that basement alive."
They stepped out into the pulsing red light of the corridor. The wailing Code Pink sirens echoed off the empty walls, creating a disorienting, nightmarish tunnel as Claire dragged her aching body toward the heavy metal door of Stairwell B.
