Chapter 14 - THE HARBOR OF GHOSTSThe helicopter fired before the hospital alarms finished sounding.
Damon pulled me from the chair and covered my body with his. The window shattered inward. Glass struck his back, and I screamed his name.
“I’m fine,” he said.
“Stop saying that!”
Nico dragged us into the hallway while guards returned fire from the stairwell. Patients and nurses ran in every direction. The hospital became a maze of panic, flashing lights, and shouted orders.
“The helicopter is forcing us toward the basement,” Nico said.
“That is where they want us,” Damon replied.
“Then we don’t go.”
“There is no other exit.”
I looked through the broken window.
The helicopter circled again. A cable dropped from its side.
“They’re coming inside,” I said.
“Not if we leave first.”
Damon took my hand and pulled me toward the maintenance stairs.
We descended three floors, crossed a laundry room, and entered an underground tunnel leading to the river. The tunnel smelled of sewage and cold stone.
My back ached with every step.
“Damon,” I said.
“Keep moving.”
“I need to stop.”
“We have to reach the boat.”
“I need to stop now.”
He looked at me.
The baby kicked, then my body tightened around a pain that stole my breath.
Damon’s face changed.
“Is it labor?”
“I don’t know.”
Another contraction came.
I gripped the wall.
Nico swore. “She can’t deliver here.”
“I’m not delivering,” I said.
Damon crouched in front of me.
“Look at me.”
“Stop telling me to look at you.”
“It works.”
“It makes me want to hit you.”
“That also means you’re conscious.”
The tunnel shook as men entered the stairwell behind us.
Damon lifted me into his arms.
“Put me down.”
“No.”
“You’re injured.”
“So are you.”
“This is not romantic.”
“I’m not trying to be romantic.”
“You’re carrying your pregnant wife through a sewer.”
“I’m aware of the optics.”
Despite the pain, I almost laughed.
We reached the river entrance.
A small boat waited beneath the bridge. Miriam stood at the controls, pale but awake, one hand pressed to her bandaged chest.
“Get in,” she ordered.
“You were unconscious,” I said.
“I changed my mind.”
Damon lowered me into the boat, then climbed in behind me. Nico shoved away from the wall as gunfire erupted through the tunnel.
The boat shot into the river.
Behind us, Silas’s men reached the entrance.
Miriam steered toward the harbor.
“Where is he?” Damon asked.
“Warehouse Seventeen.”
“Why would he return there?”
“Because he wants the recording destroyed.”
“We have it.”
“He does not know that.”
The city lights stretched across the black water. My contractions grew stronger. I clenched my teeth and tried not to cry out.
Damon sat beside me.
“How close?”
“Ten minutes,” Miriam said.
“The baby?”
“He is coming,” I whispered.
Damon went still.
“Now?”
“Not if I can stop it.”
“Why would you stop it?”
“Because I would prefer a hospital.”
“Fair.”
He removed his coat and folded it beneath my head. Then he took my hand.
“You can do this.”
“I know.”
“I’m here.”
“I know.”
“I love you.”
The words cut through the pain.
I looked at him.
“Say it again.”
“I love you.”
Another contraction took me under.
When I opened my eyes, the boat had reached the warehouse.
Silas stood on the dock beneath a single yellow light.
He held a gun to Celeste’s head.
“Bring me the ledger,” he called.
I was barely able to stand, but I climbed from the boat with Damon beside me.
“Let her go,” Damon said.
“Give me the evidence.”
“You will kill her anyway.”
Silas smiled. “Perhaps. But she has become inconvenient.”
Celeste looked at me.
Her face was bruised. Her hands were tied. But her eyes were clear.
“Do not give him anything,” she said.
Silas struck her with the gun.
Damon lifted his weapon.
“You shoot, she dies.”
I stepped forward.
“No,” I said.
Everyone looked at me.
I held up the ledger.
“You want the evidence? Here.”
Silas reached for it.
I threw it into the river.
His expression changed.
For the first time, the old man looked afraid.
“You foolish girl.”
“The evidence is already copied.”
“Where?”
“Everywhere.”
Damon understood.
He had sent the files to the federal investigator before we left the hospital.
Silas looked from me to Damon.
Then he shot Celeste.
Damon fired at the same time.
Silas fell.
Celeste collapsed, and I moved toward her.
Another contraction tore through me.
My water broke on the dock.
I looked down at the sudden warmth beneath me.
“Damon,” I whispered.
He reached me.
“What?”
“Our son is coming.”
Sirens approached across the harbor.
Silas lay wounded beside the warehouse door.
May you like
Celeste was alive.
And I had never been more terrified in my life.
