Chapter 4 - The Ransom of Silence
The bright red fabric of the trench coat seemed to glow under the flashing strobe lights of the fire alarm.
I ran to the chair and frantically searched the pockets of the coat.
Inside the left pocket, I found my mother’s favorite pearl earring.
I let out a desperate, terrified sob, realizing the stalker had taken her.
Cole grabbed my shoulders and forced me to look into his steady eyes.
He promised me that we would find her before anyone got hurt.
He pulled out his hospital master keycard and swiped us through a set of restricted double doors.
The hallways were filled with panicked patients and nurses evacuating toward the stairwells.
Cole flagged down a passing security guard and flashed his deputy chief badge.
He demanded to see the live security feed for the main lobby.
The guard quickly pulled up the footage on his portable tablet.
We watched the black-and-white video from exactly three minutes ago.
My mother was sitting in her chair, nervously checking her watch.
A figure dressed in full surgical scrubs, wearing a blue mask and a surgical cap, approached her.
The figure handed my mother a folded piece of paper.
My mother read the paper, immediately stood up, and followed the figure into the service elevator.
The guard zoomed in on the piece of paper right before my mother folded it.
The high-definition camera caught a few blurry, handwritten words on the page.
The note said that her daughter was actively bleeding out in surgery.
I felt a surge of violent anger toward the monster manipulating my family.
My phone suddenly vibrated in my pocket with a new text message.
It was from my mother’s phone number.
May you like
The message told me to come to the roof alone.
The next text stated that if I brought Cole, my mother would be thrown off the edge.
