Chapter 7 - Code in the NICU
The hallway exploded into motion.
Doctors ran toward the elevators.
Nurses pushed equipment carts aside.
Security cleared a path.
Emily tried to get out of bed.
Raymond stopped her.
“No.”
“I’m not lying here while babies are attached to equipment Preston secretly installed.”
“You’re being monitored too.”
Emily froze.
She looked at the fetal monitor beside her bed.
“What brand is that?”
Dr. Bennett checked immediately.
“Not Northstar.”
Emily exhaled.
Then she looked at Preston.
He appeared horrified.
“I didn’t authorize an installation.”
“Your signature says otherwise,” Samantha said.
“It’s electronic.”
“So?”
“So somebody used it.”
Emily laughed without humor.
“Interesting.”
Preston looked at her.
“What?”
“That excuse sounded familiar.”
His face tightened.
“You think I installed defective equipment in a NICU?”
“I don’t know what to think anymore.”
Twenty-three minutes later, Dr. Bennett returned.
“The baby is stable.”
Emily closed her eyes.
No one spoke for several seconds.
Dr. Bennett continued.
“The monitor failed to transmit an oxygen alert.”
Raymond’s jaw tightened.
“How many Northstar devices are in the building?”
“We’re checking every floor.”
“Remove them.”
“All of them?”
“All of them.”
Preston stepped forward.
“You can’t do that.”
Everyone turned.
He realized too late what he had said.
Raymond’s voice dropped.
“Why not?”
Preston hesitated.
“The contract.”
“What contract?”
“If we remove them before the trial period ends, we trigger a repayment clause.”
“How much?”
Preston said nothing.
Samantha answered after scanning the documents.
“One hundred and twenty million dollars.”
Raymond stared at him.
“The exact amount Vale advanced.”
Emily felt nausea roll through her.
“It wasn’t an investment.”
Samantha nodded slowly.
“It was a disguised loan.”
Preston rubbed both hands over his face.
“You don’t understand.”
Emily’s voice was quiet.
“Then make me understand.”
“Vale gave Whitmore Capital the money.”
“To buy Northstar?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he secretly owns it.”
Dr. Bennett swore.
Emily stared at Preston.
“And you agreed to put unapproved devices on newborn babies?”
“No!”
His voice cracked through the room.
“I agreed to a controlled clinical pilot after review.”
“There was no review,” Dr. Bennett snapped.
“I submitted the documents.”
“To whom?”
Preston stopped.
Raymond understood first.
“To Charles.”
Preston looked away.
His father.
Emily’s father-in-law.
The polished seventy-year-old chairman who gave speeches about patient safety and family values.
Raymond took out his phone.
“Find Charles Whitmore.”
A security supervisor made the call.
His expression changed.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“Mr. Whitmore checked into the executive cardiac suite forty minutes ago.”
Preston frowned.
“What?”
“He isn’t sick.”
The supervisor hesitated.
“His chart says severe chest pain.”
Preston laughed bitterly.
“My father runs five miles every morning.”
Raymond said, “Lock down the executive suite.”
The supervisor nodded.
Emily watched Preston.
“You didn’t know he was here.”
“No.”
“Then who told him what happened?”
Preston’s eyes flicked to Vanessa.
She shook her head.
“Not me.”
Emily looked toward the camera in her room.
Someone was watching.
Someone had known about the hallway confrontation.
Someone had moved quickly enough to bring Charles into the building before police could reach him at home.
Raymond’s phone buzzed.
He opened a security update.
Then his expression went dark.
“What?”
He turned the screen toward Emily.
The live camera outside Charles’s suite showed two men pushing a wheelchair toward a private service elevator.
Charles sat in it wearing a hospital gown.
A leather briefcase rested across his lap.
Preston stepped closer.
“Stop him.”
The security supervisor radioed his team.
“Service elevator seven.”
Static.
Then a voice answered.
“Elevator is disabled.”
Raymond’s face hardened.
“By whom?”
The answer came immediately.
“Executive override.”
Samantha checked the system.
Her eyes widened.
“The override code belongs to Emily.”
Emily stared at her.
“I don’t even know the code.”
Preston whispered, “Someone does.”
On the security feed, Charles looked directly into the camera.
Then he smiled.
He lifted a sheet of paper toward the lens.
Emily could barely make out the handwritten words.
May you like
SHE NEVER TOLD YOU HOW YOUR MOTHER REALLY DIED.
Then the camera went black.
