Chapter 8 - THE DOCTOR WHO DISAPPEARED
Dr. Lena Morales vanished from St. Jude’s at 6:32 a.m.
The hospital cameras showed her leaving through a staff entrance with two security guards. The guards were later found unconscious inside a supply closet.
There was no sign of Dr. Morales.
Sam’s treatment schedule was on her desk.
So were his medical records.
Victor’s convoy reached the hospital within minutes.
Sadi remained in the car with Sam, while Victor and Elias entered the building.
Sam watched the guards surrounding the vehicle.
“Is Victor always like this?” he asked.
“Like what?”
“Like he expects the walls to attack.”
Sadi looked at the hospital entrance. “Probably.”
“Do you trust him?”
The question surprised her.
“I don’t know.”
“Because he’s dangerous?”
“Because he keeps saving us.”
Sam considered that. “Maybe dangerous people can still save someone.”
Sadi looked at him.
“You sound like Dad,” she said.
Sam smiled weakly. “I barely remember Dad.”
Sadi turned toward the window.
She remembered too much now.
The house.
The fire.
Victor carrying her through the smoke.
The photograph in the box.
The more she learned, the more uncertain everything became.
Victor returned to the car.
“Where’s Dr. Morales?” Sadi asked.
“Her car was found six blocks away.”
“Is she alive?”
“We don’t know.”
Sam’s face tightened. “She knows my treatment.”
Victor looked at him. “We’ll find her.”
Sam nodded, accepting the answer.
Victor entered the car and handed Elias a tablet.
“Show me the hospital cameras from last night.”
Elias opened the files.
Footage moved across the screen.
Sadi watched the kidnapper enter Sam’s room. Then she saw Dr. Morales walking down the hallway.
The doctor stopped outside Sam’s room.
She looked inside.
Then she turned away.
Sadi frowned. “Pause.”
Elias stopped the footage.
Dr. Morales was holding a blue folder.
“What is that?” Sadi asked.
Victor leaned closer. “Medical records.”
“No. Look at her hand.”
A small black button lay on the floor near the doctor’s foot.
The same button from the laundry room.
Victor’s eyes hardened.
“She was involved,” Sadi whispered.
“Maybe she found it.”
“She saw the man take Sam and didn’t call anyone.”
Victor replayed the footage.
Dr. Morales walked away from the room.
A minute later, the kidnapper entered.
Sadi’s stomach turned.
“She led him there.”
Victor told Elias to trace the doctor’s phone.
The signal appeared briefly near an abandoned pharmacy before disappearing.
They drove there.
The pharmacy had been closed for years. Its windows were covered with boards, and weeds grew through the cracked parking lot.
Victor’s men surrounded the building.
Sadi stayed beside Sam in the vehicle until Victor signaled that the area was secure.
Inside, they found Dr. Morales tied to a chair.
She was conscious, terrified, and bleeding from the side of her forehead.
Sadi rushed toward her.
Victor stopped her. “Wait.”
He searched the room first.
Nothing moved.
Finally, he cut the doctor’s restraints.
“Who took you?” he asked.
“Men in masks.”
“How many?”
“Three.”
“Was Dario Vale there?”
“I don’t know.”
“Was Rafael Costello there?”
Dr. Morales shook her head.
Victor’s voice became colder. “Then tell me why you allowed a man into Samuel Hayes’s room.”
The doctor stared at Sadi.
“I was threatened.”
“By whom?”
“They had my daughter.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“Alive?”
“I think so.”
Victor’s gaze dropped to the folder on the floor.
Dr. Morales began to cry. “They told me if I didn’t give them Samuel’s schedule, they would kill her.”
“Why didn’t you tell the police?”
“They showed me photographs. They knew where she went to school. They knew the name of her teacher.”
Sadi crouched beside the doctor. “Where did they take your daughter?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think carefully.”
Dr. Morales closed her eyes.
“They mentioned a place called the Glass Factory.”
Victor exchanged a look with Elias.
“What is that?” Sadi asked.
“An abandoned manufacturing plant near the river,” Victor said.
“Then we go there.”
“No.”
“She might be there.”
“And it might be a trap.”
“Everything is a trap.”
Victor stared at her.
She stood. “You told me you would protect my brother. I’m asking you to protect her daughter too.”
Victor’s expression remained cold, but he turned to Elias.
“Prepare the team.”
The Glass Factory stood on the riverfront, surrounded by rusting fences and broken warehouses.
Victor’s men entered through three sides.
Sadi remained in the vehicle with Sam and Dr. Morales.
Then the factory lights came on.
A loudspeaker crackled.
Dario’s voice echoed through the building.
“Victor, I’m disappointed. I expected you to come alone.”
Victor raised his weapon. “Release the girl.”
A child’s cry echoed from somewhere inside.
Dr. Morales covered her mouth.
Sadi felt Sam grip her hand.
Dario continued, “The doctor is useful. The girl is useful. The maid is useful. But the boy is the key.”
Victor looked toward the vehicle.
The rear doors slammed open.
A masked man stood behind Sam with a gun.
Sadi screamed.
The man dragged Sam from the car.
Victor’s head turned.
May you like
For one second, everyone froze.
Then the factory exploded with gunfire.
