Chapter 7 - THE EMPTY INCUBATOR
The alarm was not medical.
It came from Noah’s security band.
The incubator door had been opened without authorization.
Lily rushed inside.
I followed despite the pain in my abdomen.
The incubator was empty.
For one second, I could not understand what I was seeing.
The blanket remained inside.
The feeding tube rested against the mattress.
Noah was gone.
I screamed his name.
The sound carried through the entire unit.
Hospital security locked the floor.
Every elevator stopped.
Every stairwell door sealed.
My grandfather called the federal security team.
Lily checked the hallway camera.
A respiratory therapist had removed Noah for a scheduled scan.
The therapist wore a mask and cap.
Her badge identified her as Karen Mills.
Karen Mills had called in sick that morning.
The woman in the footage was an impostor.
She pushed Noah’s portable incubator into a service elevator.
The elevator bypassed the lockdown using an executive override.
The code belonged to Dr. Pierce.
Elise remained under armed guard.
I stood beside her incubator shaking so hard that Lily wrapped a blanket around my shoulders.
My grandfather held my face between his hands.
“We will find him.”
“They took my baby.”
“We will find him.”
Grant called from jail.
His attorney claimed he had information about Noah.
I wanted to refuse.
Helen advised me to listen.
The call was recorded.
Grant’s face appeared on the video screen.
His eyes were swollen.
He looked nothing like the man who had entered the NICU in a tailored suit.
“Where is Noah?”
“I do not know.”
“You asked for this call.”
“Pierce contacted me before the arrest.”
“What did he say?”
“He said your grandfather had discovered the valve reports.”
“He wanted me to transfer company funds.”
“Why would he take Noah?”
Grant closed his eyes.
“Because Noah may need the Mercer Valve.”
My breath stopped.
“What does that mean?”
“Pierce believes the newest design works.”
“But it was never approved.”
“He wants to implant it.”
“In my son?”
“He needs a premature infant with the correct heart condition.”
Rage moved through me so sharply that my vision blurred.
“You knew?”
“I knew Pierce wanted access to hospital patients.”
“I did not know he would take Noah.”
“Did you give him the executive override?”
Grant did not answer.
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
My grandfather stepped into view.
“You traded access to a neonatal unit.”
Grant looked at him.
“Pierce promised to protect the company.”
“You mean protect you.”
Grant leaned toward the screen.
“If you want Noah alive, you need to find the abandoned Vale research clinic.”
Theodore’s face changed.
“What clinic?”
“The one your son built.”
My mother had been an only child.
But Theodore once had a son.
My uncle, Julian Vale, disappeared twenty years earlier after being accused of conducting illegal medical trials.
My grandfather believed Julian had died overseas.
Grant shook his head.
May you like
“Julian Vale is alive.”
“He is working with Dr. Pierce.”
