Chapter 7 - The Inside Man
The interrogation room fell into a suffocating, terrifying silence as the detective turned back to face me.
My heart pounded furiously against my ribs as he pulled a small, silver key from his pocket and unlocked my handcuffs.
"Who are you?" I asked, rubbing my raw wrists and staring at him with immense suspicion.
"My name is Detective Miller, and five years ago, Evelyn Mercer destroyed my brother's life to cover up a corporate embezzlement scandal," he answered quietly.
He pulled a secondary, untraceable burner phone from his jacket and placed it on the metal table.
"Damien is alive, but he is under heavy guard in the intensive care unit at St. Jude's Hospital," Miller explained.
Relief washed over me so intensely that my knees actually buckled beneath the table.
"Where are my boys?" I demanded, needing to know they were safe before I could breathe properly.
"Evelyn has them at her private estate, and she is filing emergency custody papers at the courthouse first thing in the morning," the detective warned.
He explained that Evelyn planned to have me transferred to a maximum-security federal prison before sunrise, effectively silencing me forever.
"The digital transfer Damien initiated on the laptop is paused, requiring a biometric fingerprint to finalize the transaction," Miller continued.
Evelyn needed Damien alive just long enough to force his thumbprint onto a scanner and reverse the financial ruin he had triggered.
"I can sneak you out of this precinct through the evidence garage, but if you get caught, we both go to federal prison," Miller offered.
I didn't hesitate for a single second; I stood up and nodded firmly.
We moved quickly and quietly through the labyrinth of the police station, dodging night-shift officers and slipping past security checkpoints.
Miller handed me a stolen paramedics uniform and an ID badge, pointing toward a waiting ambulance in the underground garage.
"Drive straight to St. Jude's Hospital, get Damien's fingerprint on a flash drive scanner, and finalize the transfer," he instructed.
I climbed into the driver's seat of the ambulance, my hands trembling as I gripped the steering wheel.
"Thank you, Detective," I whispered out the window before speeding out of the garage and into the rainy city streets.
I navigated the wet roads like a madwoman, arriving at the hospital's emergency loading dock in record time.
I pulled my medical cap down low, blending in perfectly with the chaotic rush of the midnight trauma ward.
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As I approached Damien's heavily guarded ICU room, I saw Evelyn standing in the hallway, arguing furiously with a doctor.
"I do not care if his heart is failing, wake him up right now!" Evelyn screamed, waving a digital fingerprint scanner in the doctor's face.
