Chapter 6 – A Race Against Time
Chapter 6 – A Race Against Time
The first contraction struck just after sunset.
It was stronger than the ones the medication had managed to suppress throughout the day.
I grabbed the bed rail and took a slow breath.
Daniel looked up from the chair beside my bed.
"Emily?"
I forced a smile that disappeared almost immediately.
"I think they're starting again."
Before he could answer, another contraction tightened across my abdomen.
This one was closer.
Much closer.
Daniel pressed the call button.
Within seconds, Nurse Allison hurried into the room.
"What's happening?"
"The contractions are back," Daniel said.
The nurse checked the monitor attached to my stomach.
The steady peaks on the screen had become sharp, regular waves.
She looked at me with calm but serious eyes.
"I'm calling Dr. Harper."
Five minutes later, the room was filled with medical staff.
Dr. Harper reviewed the monitor without saying a word.
Finally, she looked at me.
"Emily, you're in active labor."
My heart sank.
"It's too early."
"I know."
"Can you stop it again?"
She hesitated just long enough for me to understand the answer.
"I don't think we can."
Daniel wrapped his arm around my shoulders.
"What happens now?"
"We prepare for delivery."
A neonatal specialist stepped into the room.
"I'm Dr. Patel. I'll be caring for your babies after they're born."
He spoke with reassuring confidence.
"Thirty-four-week twins usually do very well. They may need some time in the NICU, but we're ready for them."
I nodded, trying to stay calm.
Everything was happening much sooner than we had planned.
Across town...
Detective Bennett was leaving the evidence warehouse when her phone rang.
It was Agent Ellis.
"We identified the storage unit lease."
"Vanessa?"
"No."
"Gregory Shaw?"
"No."
Bennett frowned.
"Who?"
"The lease was signed under another fake identity."
"So we're back to square one."
"Not exactly."
Ellis sounded more optimistic than usual.
"The security footage from the storage facility captured the renter's vehicle."
"You have a license plate?"
"We do."
"And?"
"It belongs to a rental company."
Bennett sighed.
"Of course it does."
"But the renter made one mistake."
"What?"
"He returned the vehicle late."
"So?"
"The company scanned his driver's license."
Bennett stopped walking.
"You have his face."
"We have something even better."
At the hospital...
The contractions were now less than four minutes apart.
Daniel never left my side.
He held my hand through every wave of pain.
"I'm sorry," I whispered.
His eyes widened.
"For what?"
"This wasn't supposed to happen."
He gently brushed my hair away from my face.
"You have nothing to apologize for."
"If I had never opened the door—"
He shook his head immediately.
"This is Vanessa's fault."
Not yours."
Tears filled my eyes.
"I just want our babies to be okay."
"They will be."
He sounded certain.
I wished I felt the same.
Meanwhile...
Vanessa sat alone in her jail cell.
She hadn't spoken to anyone since meeting with her attorney.
A correctional officer stopped outside the bars.
"You have a visitor."
"I didn't ask for one."
"He says it's urgent."
Minutes later, Vanessa entered a secure visitation room.
A man in a dark suit sat behind the glass partition.
His face was partially hidden beneath a baseball cap.
Vanessa froze.
"You..."
The man lifted the phone receiver.
"So they finally arrested you."
She slowly picked up her receiver.
"You shouldn't be here."
"I didn't have a choice."
"They're watching me."
"They're watching both of us."
She glanced toward the security camera mounted in the corner.
"You said everything would be handled."
"It almost was."
"My brother came home early."
"I know."
She stared at him.
"How do you know that?"
He ignored the question.
"Listen carefully."
"They found the storage unit."
Vanessa's face lost all color.
"That's impossible."
"It isn't."
"What about the ledgers?"
"They have them."
Her breathing quickened.
"And the documents?"
"They have those too."
Silence.
Then she whispered,
"I'm finished."
The man leaned closer.
"Not yet."
"What do you mean?"
"There is still one thing they haven't found."
"What?"
"The original files."
She frowned.
"I thought you destroyed them."
"I lied."
Before she could ask another question, the visitor stood.
"You never met me."
He hung up the phone.
A guard opened the exit door.
Within seconds...
He was gone.
Vanessa stared after him, terrified.
She finally understood.
She had never been a partner.
She had been disposable.
Back at the hospital...
Detective Bennett arrived just as the nurses wheeled me toward the delivery suite.
Daniel looked surprised.
"You came."
"I wanted to check on Emily."
She paused.
"And I have news."
Daniel stopped beside the stretcher.
"What kind of news?"
"We know Gregory Shaw isn't his real name."
"What?"
"The driver's license used to rent the vehicle was fake."
Daniel sighed.
"I figured."
"But facial recognition found a possible match."
She lowered her voice.
"The man has been investigated before."
"For fraud?"
"No."
"For organized financial crime."
Daniel's stomach tightened.
"Is he dangerous?"
"We believe so."
Before he could ask another question, Dr. Harper called from the doorway.
"We need to take Emily now."
Daniel squeezed my hand.
"I'm right behind you."
The doors to the delivery room closed.
Less than an hour later...
Daniel waited anxiously outside while doctors worked to deliver our twins.
The hallway felt impossibly quiet.
Detective Bennett sat nearby, reviewing case files on her tablet.
Suddenly her phone vibrated.
A message from Agent Ellis.
URGENT.
She opened it immediately.
Attached was a photograph taken from the rental agency's security camera.
The man visiting Vanessa.
The suspected mastermind.
His face was finally clear.
Bennett stared at the image for several seconds.
Then her eyes widened.
She recognized him.
Not from another investigation.
Not from a criminal database.
From a photograph hanging inside Daniel's family home.
The man wasn't a stranger at all.
He was someone Daniel had trusted for years.
Someone who had attended family holidays, birthdays, and even Daniel and Emily's wedding.
Bennett looked toward the delivery room doors and whispered to herself,
May you like
"Oh... no."
The conspiracy had just become deeply personal.
