Chapter 7 - The Clinic Breach
I sprinted out of the insurance agency and threw myself into the driver's seat of Marcus's car.
I drove recklessly through the heavy city traffic, running red lights and completely ignoring the blaring horns around me.
My heart pounded violently against my ribs as I desperately prayed I would make it back to the clinic in time.
I called Marcus repeatedly, but his cell phone went straight to a cold, automated voicemail every single time.
I slammed the brakes in front of the clinic, leaving the car running on the curb as I burst through the glass doors.
The reception area was in absolute chaos, with medical files scattered everywhere and a terrified nurse hiding behind the desk.
I found Marcus's armed security guard lying unconscious on the linoleum floor, bleeding heavily from a severe blow to the head.
I screamed Skylar's name, sprinting frantically down the sterile white hallway toward her private recovery room.
I threw the door open, only to find the hospital bed completely empty, the sheets violently torn onto the floor.
Marcus was slumped in a visitor's chair, holding a bloody towel to his forehead and looking at me with pure, agonizing guilt.
He weakly explained that Brandon and two massive, heavily armed cartel thugs had ambushed them through the back delivery entrance.
Brandon had forcefully dragged his own crying daughter out of the building to use her as a desperate bargaining chip.
Marcus handed me a cheap, black burner phone that Brandon had intentionally left resting on the pillow.
The plastic phone immediately began to ring loudly, piercing the terrible silence of the empty hospital room.
I answered the call with trembling hands, perfectly ready to agree to any demand they made.
Brandon’s voice echoed through the speaker, devoid of any fatherly love, sounding like a complete and utter psychopath.
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He coldly informed me that I had exactly one hour to bring the half-million dollars in cash to the abandoned industrial shipyard.
If I involved the police or failed to deliver the money, he promised I would never see my beautiful daughter alive again.
