Chapter 2 - The Hijacking
The silence in the back of the stalled ambulance was deafening.
The paramedics quietly grabbed their medical bags and exited the vehicle, leaving Lucas and Emma entirely alone.
Lucas realized his mother had bought the private ambulance company just to control this exact moment.
He looked through the rear window and saw Richard handing the driver a thick stack of cash.
Emma was crying silently, her bruised legs shaking against the thin white sheets.
"Lucas, my stomach hurts," she whispered, her face pale with agony.
He didn't have time to argue with lawyers or fight his mother in the lobby.
He climbed into the driver’s seat of the ambulance and locked all the heavy steel doors.
He found the keys still sitting in the ignition.
Margaret’s eyes went wide with shock as she realized what he was doing.
Lucas slammed his foot on the gas pedal and the heavy vehicle lunged forward into the city street.
He drove recklessly through the Chicago traffic, ignoring red lights and blaring horns.
He grabbed the ambulance's radio and tuned it to the emergency dispatch frequency.
"This is Lucas Bennett, I am coming into Lakeshore Hospital with a pregnant woman in critical condition," he shouted into the microphone.
The dispatcher’s confused voice echoed back, asking for paramedic identification.
Lucas threw the radio aside and focused on the wet, slippery roads.
In the back, Emma let out a sharp, piercing scream that shattered his heart.
He looked in the rearview mirror and saw dark blood soaking through the white hospital blanket.
He pulled up to the Lakeshore emergency room doors, slamming the brakes so hard the tires screamed.
Nurses and doctors rushed out with a trauma gurney, pulling the doors open.
They dragged Emma out, shouting medical codes that Lucas didn't understand.
Lucas tried to follow them into the surgical wing, but a heavy hand grabbed his shoulder.
He turned around and saw two armed hospital security guards blocking his path.
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"Mr. Bennett, you need to step back," the taller guard ordered.
Before Lucas could throw a punch, three Chicago police cruisers swerved into the ambulance bay with their sirens blazing.
