Chapter 4 - The Race to Save a Child
Every police car sped toward Memorial Women's Hospital with lights flashing.Alex and I followed behind Detective Sarah Mills.
The twenty-minute drive felt like twenty hours.
Detective Mills spoke over her radio the entire way.
"Lock every maternity entrance."
"No visitors without identification."
"Move every newborn into secured rooms."
"Notify labor and delivery immediately."
When we arrived, chaos had already begun.
Security guards were locking automatic doors.
Nurses hurried frightened parents into protected areas.
Several new mothers were crying as officers searched every hallway.
The hospital administrator met Detective Mills near the entrance.
"We've already placed the nursery under lockdown."
"What about the woman Emily was following?"
"She's in surgery."
Detective Mills nodded.
"Get two officers outside that operating room now."
Alex suddenly grabbed my arm.
"There."
Across the parking garage.
A woman wearing blue hospital scrubs was walking quickly toward an employee entrance.
Alex recognized her immediately.
"The nurse."
The same woman from the coffee shop video.
She noticed us.
Then she bolted.
Police officers chased her through the garage.
She barely made it thirty yards before slipping on the concrete ramp.
She was handcuffed within seconds.
Detective Mills questioned her on the spot.
"Where's Emily?"
The nurse shook her head.
"I don't know."
"You've already been identified."
Silence.
Then she whispered five words that made everyone's blood run cold.
"She's already inside."
At that exact moment...
Every alarm in the maternity wing suddenly began blaring.
A terrified nurse ran into the lobby, out of breath.
"Someone just tried to enter the newborn nursery using a stolen hospital ID!"
Detective Mills grabbed her radio.
"Lock the entire building!"
Then another voice came over the emergency channel.
"Suspect sighted... third floor..."
A pause.
May you like
Then the words none of us wanted to hear.
"She's holding a baby."
