Chapter 7: A Father’s Second Chance

Laura shot one attacker in the shoulder.

The other fled.

Paramedics rushed Thomas to the same hospital where Emily had been taken.

Michael rode in the ambulance, pressing gauze against his father’s wound.

“Stay with me.”

Thomas opened his eyes weakly.

“You called me Dad.”

Michael’s face tightened.

“Don’t talk.”

“I waited twenty-four years to hear that again.”

“Then stay alive long enough to hear it tomorrow.”

Thomas gave a faint smile.

At the hospital, Dr. Henry Wallace met the ambulance.

Michael stepped between him and Thomas.

“You’re not touching him.”

Wallace looked offended.

“Michael, he needs surgery.”

“Another team will operate.”

Wallace’s expression changed for only a second.

But Michael saw it.

Fear.

Laura arrived with officers and quietly informed security that Wallace was under investigation.

Wallace backed away.

“You’re making a serious mistake.”

Michael stared at him.

“My mistake was trusting you.”

The surgical team removed the bullet. Thomas survived, though he remained unconscious.

Michael left the hospital with a duplicate set of Sarah’s records Laura had copied.

They drove to Bennett Research Center.

The complex sat beyond iron gates at the edge of the city.

Julian called again.

“Come through the east entrance. Alone.”

Michael concealed a transmitter beneath his shirt.

Laura remained in an unmarked van nearby.

“If the signal cuts out, we move in.”

Michael entered.

Wallace was waiting inside.

“You should have stayed out of this,” he said.

“Where is Emily?”

Wallace led him through a sterile corridor.

“She is medically valuable, Michael. More valuable than you understand.”

“She is a child.”

“She is proof the therapy can work.”

“You poisoned her.”

“A controlled dose. Enough to force hospitalization and bring her to us.”

“To your hospital,” Michael said.

Wallace smiled faintly.

“I arranged your employment years ago.”

Michael stopped.

“What?”

“We knew Sarah might eventually send Emily to you.”

The betrayal ran deeper than he imagined.

“You built my career to control me.”

“We opened doors. You walked through them.”

They reached a laboratory.

Emily lay restrained on an examination table.

A clear tube carried blood from her arm.

Michael surged forward.

Wallace drew a gun.

“Stop.”

Emily saw Michael.

“Dad!”

Michael’s entire body went still.

Julian stepped from behind the glass partition.

Elegant suit.

Cold smile.

“Touching reunion.”

Michael held up the drive.

“You want this?”

Julian’s eyes fixed on it.

“All the evidence.”

“Release Emily first.”

Julian laughed.

“You are in no position to bargain.”

Michael looked at Wallace.

“Neither are you.”

Wallace frowned.

Michael pressed a button inside his pocket.

Every monitor in the laboratory changed.

Sarah’s video began playing on every screen.

Julian’s smile disappeared.

Michael had uploaded the files to the hospital system before arriving.

And Laura had already sent them to federal investigators.

“You’re finished,” Michael said.

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Julian raised his gun toward Emily.

“No,” he replied. “I’m only finished if she leaves alive.”