Chapter 4: The False Ambulance
Adrian was moving before the nurse finished speaking.
He crossed the ballroom so fast that several guests stepped out of his way without realizing they had done so.
“Daniel.”
The security chief was already pulling out his phone.
“I’m tracing the vehicle.”
“Do it now.”
Adrian looked toward the front doors.
Only a few minutes had passed since the ambulance left.
A few minutes.
But in the dark roads beyond Blackwood Manor, that was enough time to disappear.
Lady Beatrice remained beneath the chandelier.
Her face was pale now.
Not because Oliver had been taken.
Because the plan had moved beyond her control.
Adrian saw it.
He turned toward her.
“Who sent that ambulance?”
“I don’t know.”
He crossed the room and stopped inches from her.
“You knew someone was coming.”
“I knew a medical team had been arranged.”
“By whom?”
She said nothing.
Adrian’s voice lowered.
“If my son dies tonight, I will spend the rest of my life making sure every person involved loses everything.”
Lady Beatrice met his eyes.
“You think threats will bring him back?”
“No.”
“But the truth might.”
Daniel raised his voice from near the entrance.
“The estate cameras caught the ambulance.”
Everyone turned.
He held a tablet in his hands.
A grainy security image appeared on the screen.
The vehicle looked official.
White body.
Blue emergency markings.
Flashing lights.
But the license plate was partially covered with mud.
Daniel enlarged the image.
“There’s a company logo on the rear door.”
Adrian leaned closer.
The logo showed a silver cross inside a circle.
Dr. Hayes looked over his shoulder.
“That isn’t a city ambulance.”
“Private service?”
“I’ve never seen it.”
Vivienne stepped forward slowly.
“I have.”
Celeste’s head snapped toward her.
Vivienne stared at the logo.
“It was on the folders in the records room.”
Adrian turned toward her.
“What folders?”
“Patient transfers.”
“Most of the names were blacked out.”
“But the company was called Meridian Medical Transport.”
Daniel began typing.
“There’s no active company under that name.”
“Then find the old one.”
Lady Beatrice spoke from behind them.
“You are wasting time.”
Adrian turned.
“Then save it.”
“Tell me where they are going.”
Her expression tightened.
“I do not know.”
Celeste laughed bitterly from between the guards.
“She does.”
Lady Beatrice looked at her.
The warning in her eyes was immediate.
Celeste stepped backward.
For years, that look had been enough to silence her.
Tonight, it no longer was.
Celeste’s voice trembled.
“There is a clinic.”
Adrian moved toward her.
“Where?”
“I don’t know the exact address.”
“Celeste.”
“I don’t.”
Her breathing quickened.
“She never allowed me to go inside.”
“Who?”
Celeste looked at Lady Beatrice.
“Your mother.”
Lady Beatrice’s face became still.
Celeste continued.
“She called it Saint Ormond.”
Dr. Hayes frowned.
“There hasn’t been a Saint Ormond clinic in New York for fifteen years.”
Adrian looked at him.
“What kind of clinic was it?”
“A private neurological treatment center.”
“For wealthy patients.”
“It closed after an investigation.”
“What investigation?”
Dr. Hayes hesitated.
“Experimental memory therapy.”
The room went silent.
Rose’s earlier words returned to Adrian.
You promised he would never remember.
He looked at his mother.
“You took Oliver there.”
Lady Beatrice did not answer.
That was answer enough.
Daniel raised the tablet.
“I found an old property record.”
“Saint Ormond operated outside Briar Glen.”
“Forty minutes north.”
Adrian looked toward the driveway.
“Get the cars.”
Daniel nodded.
“Police are five minutes out.”
“We don’t have five minutes.”
“We need backup.”
“My son is inside a vehicle with people who tried to poison him.”
Adrian grabbed the keys from a guard’s hand.
“Tell the police where we are going.”
He turned toward Dr. Hayes.
“You’re coming.”
The doctor nodded.
Then Adrian looked at Celeste.
“So are you.”
Her face drained.
“No.”
“You know more than you have said.”
“I told you everything.”
“You told me enough to save yourself.”
“You are going to tell me enough to save my son.”
Lady Beatrice stepped forward.
“You cannot take her.”
Adrian looked at Daniel.
“Keep my mother here.”
Lady Beatrice’s expression changed.
“I am not a prisoner.”
Daniel moved in front of her.
“Until police arrive, you are.”
She stared at him with open fury.
“You worked for this family for twenty-two years.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“I worked for Mr. Blackwood.”
“You worked because I allowed it.”
“No.”
He looked toward Adrian.
“I worked because his father trusted me.”
That name had not been spoken all night.
Charles Blackwood had died eight years earlier.
Officially, from a heart attack.
Adrian noticed the way Lady Beatrice’s hand tightened around her cane.
A strange thought entered his mind.
One he did not have time to examine.
He looked at Vivienne.
“You are coming too.”
Vivienne swallowed.
“Why?”
“You saw the records room.”
“You know what they were tracking.”
“And because Celeste may tell the truth if you are beside her.”
Celeste looked at her sister.
Something wounded passed between them.
Then Adrian turned toward Thomas.
“Stay here.”
“I can help.”
“You already did.”
Thomas looked toward the letter.
“I want to give a full statement.”
“You will.”
Adrian moved toward the doors.
Eleanor called after him.
“Adrian.”
He stopped.
She stood beside the shattered glasses, pale but steady.
“Bring them home.”
Adrian looked at her.
“I will.”
Outside, cold night air struck his face.
Three black SUVs waited beneath the portico.
Daniel’s deputy took the first vehicle.
Adrian climbed into the second with Dr. Hayes, Celeste, and Vivienne.
Two guards sat in front.
The tires screamed against the gravel as they left the estate.
Adrian called the hospital again.
“Confirm every emergency service in the county.”
The nurse answered immediately.
“We already did.”
“No authorized ambulance was dispatched to your address.”
“Any traffic cameras?”
“The police are checking.”
Adrian ended the call.
Celeste sat across from him with both hands clenched in her lap.
Her white gown filled the dark interior like something ghostly.
Adrian looked at her.
“What was Saint Ormond used for?”
“I told you.”
“No.”
“You told me a name.”
“What happened there?”
Celeste looked toward Vivienne.
Her sister stared out the window.
Adrian leaned forward.
“Oliver was taken there before.”
Celeste closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
The word was barely audible.
Dr. Hayes looked at her.
“How many times?”
“I don’t know.”
“How many?”
Celeste opened her eyes.
“Seven.”
Adrian felt the answer like a blow.
“Seven times?”
Celeste nodded.
“The first was before his first birthday.”
“The last was three months ago.”
Adrian’s voice became dangerous.
“And where was I?”
“Traveling.”
“In London.”
“Dubai.”
“Chicago.”
“You arranged my schedule.”
Celeste shook her head.
“Your mother did.”
“But you knew.”
“Yes.”
Adrian looked away.
The city lights disappeared behind them as the SUVs reached the northern highway.
Trees pressed close to both sides of the road.
Dark.
Dense.
Endless.
Dr. Hayes leaned toward Celeste.
“What treatment did they use?”
“I never saw it.”
“Did he come home with symptoms?”
“He slept for hours.”
“Sometimes he vomited.”
“Sometimes he cried without waking.”
Adrian’s hands curled into fists.
“And no one called a doctor?”
“Your mother had her own physician.”
“Who?”
Celeste hesitated.
“Dr. Victor Sloane.”
Dr. Hayes went still.
Adrian noticed.
“You know him.”
“I know of him.”
“What does that mean?”
“He worked at Saint Ormond.”
“He lost his medical license after the investigation.”
“For what?”
“Unauthorized drug trials.”
“Hypnosis.”
“Sedation involving children.”
Vivienne turned from the window.
“Children?”
Dr. Hayes nodded grimly.
“The records were sealed.”
“Most of the families settled privately.”
Celeste whispered.
“He told Lady Beatrice that Oliver’s memories could be redirected.”
Adrian stared at her.
“Redirected toward whom?”
Celeste looked down at her white gown.
“Me.”
The answer hung inside the vehicle.
The three women had not been asked to kneel before Oliver as a harmless game.
The ceremony had been a test.
A public demonstration.
Proof that the treatment had worked.
But Oliver had run past all of them.
He had chosen Rose.
Vivienne spoke quietly.
“Celeste, did you know tonight was another test?”
Her sister nodded.
“I thought he would choose me.”
“And if he didn’t?”
Celeste began crying again.
“I was told he would be taken away for a few weeks.”
“Taken where?”
“I didn’t ask.”
Vivienne’s face hardened.
“You never ask.”
Celeste looked at her.
“Because questions are dangerous in that family.”
“You wanted to join that family.”
“I wanted to survive.”
“So you helped destroy Rose?”
Celeste’s expression twisted.
“You think I had a choice?”
Vivienne stared at her.
“You always say that.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“Did you know Rose was alive?”
Celeste hesitated.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“From the beginning.”
The vehicle seemed to shrink around him.
Adrian’s voice dropped.
“You stood beside me at her memorial.”
Celeste began shaking.
“I was twenty-five.”
“That is not an answer.”
“Your mother told me Rose had abandoned Oliver.”
“She said Rose had taken money.”
“She said you were too unstable to know the truth.”
“And you believed her?”
“At first.”
“When did you stop?”
Celeste looked at him.
“The first letter arrived.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“What letter?”
“Rose wrote that she had been drugged.”
“She described the delivery room.”
“She knew things no outsider could know.”
“And you still intercepted the rest.”
Celeste’s tears fell faster.
“I was already trapped.”
“No.”
Adrian’s voice was flat.
“You were already benefiting.”
Celeste flinched.
Before she could answer, the SUV in front suddenly braked.
The driver swerved.
Adrian gripped the seat.
“What happened?”
The guard in front spoke into his radio.
“Roadblock.”
The lead vehicle stopped across the narrow road.
A fallen tree lay from one side to the other.
Fresh sawdust covered the asphalt.
Dr. Hayes looked through the windshield.
“That tree did not fall.”
The forest around them was silent.
Too silent.
Adrian reached for the door.
One of the guards stopped him.
“Stay inside.”
A gunshot cracked through the darkness.
The lead SUV’s windshield shattered.
Vivienne screamed.
The driver ducked.
A second shot struck the hood.
Adrian pulled Celeste and Vivienne toward the floor.
“Lights off!”
The guard killed the headlights.
Darkness swallowed the road.
More shots struck metal.
Not rapid.
Controlled.
Whoever was outside was not trying to kill everyone.
They were trying to stop the convoy.
The radio hissed.
The deputy in the first SUV whispered.
“Two shooters.”
“East side.”
“Possibly three.”
Adrian looked through the rear window.
The third SUV had stopped behind them.
Its guards were moving into the trees.
Dr. Hayes pressed himself against the seat.
“This was prepared.”
Celeste whispered.
“They knew we would follow.”
Adrian looked at her.
“Who?”
She stared into the darkness.
“Dr. Sloane never worked alone.”
A dark vehicle suddenly appeared behind the third SUV.
No headlights.
It accelerated straight toward them.
The rear security car tried to block it.
The black vehicle slammed into its side.
Metal screamed.
The impact pushed the security SUV into the ditch.
Adrian’s driver started the engine.
“We need to move.”
“The road is blocked,” the front guard said.
“Then go around.”
The driver turned off the asphalt.
The SUV plunged into the trees.
Branches scraped across the windows.
Vivienne clutched Celeste’s hand.
Despite everything, Celeste held on.
Another gunshot shattered the rear glass.
The bullet struck the headrest inches from Adrian.
The SUV bounced over roots and mud.
The driver fought the wheel.
“Road ahead!”
A narrow maintenance path appeared between the trees.
They turned onto it.
The black vehicle followed.
Adrian looked back.
It was gaining.
Dr. Hayes gripped the medical bag against his chest.
“If they have Rose and Oliver, why attack us?”
Adrian understood before Celeste answered.
“They don’t want to keep them.”
“They want to remove every witness.”
Celeste’s voice dropped.
“And they know I can identify Sloane.”
The pursuing vehicle struck them from behind.
Vivienne screamed.
The SUV fishtailed.
The driver corrected.
Adrian reached for the radio.
“Daniel, status.”
Static.
Then Daniel’s deputy answered.
“We are pinned behind the tree.”
“Police are twelve minutes away.”
“We don’t have twelve minutes.”
Adrian looked through the windshield.
A rusted gate appeared ahead.
Beyond it stood the dark outline of an abandoned building.
Stone walls.
Broken windows.
A weathered sign hung crookedly above the entrance.
Saint Ormond Neurological Institute.
The driver stared at it.
“This path led us straight here.”
The black vehicle behind them slowed.
Adrian looked at the building.
A single light burned on the third floor.
Then another came on.
Then another.
As if someone inside had been waiting for them.
The front gate began to open by itself.
Celeste’s face turned white.
“No.”
Adrian looked at her.
“What?”
She stared at the upper windows.
“This isn’t the clinic.”
“You said it was.”
“The clinic was beneath it.”
A low mechanical sound rose from under the ground.
The road behind them split open.
A steel barrier lifted from the earth, trapping the SUV between the gate and the pursuing vehicle.
Adrian looked toward the abandoned hospital.
A figure appeared behind one of the lit windows.
Tall.
Thin.
Wearing a white doctor’s coat.
The man raised a phone to his ear.
Adrian’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A calm male voice spoke.
“Mr. Blackwood.”
Adrian stared at the figure in the window.
“Where are my son and Rose?”
“They are alive.”
“For now.”
Adrian’s grip tightened.
“What do you want?”
The man behind the glass smiled.
“I want you to come inside.”
“Alone.”
“And bring the woman in white.”
Celeste stopped breathing.
Then the voice added one final instruction.
May you like
“Leave the doctor in the car.”
“He has already betrayed me once.”
