Chapter 8 - The Court of Public Opinion
"Sarah, you have to drive faster, she is heavily bleeding!" I screamed in absolute terror.
Sarah violently swerved the heavy van through dense traffic while completely ignoring every red light.
"There is an underground street clinic run by a former military medic exactly two blocks away," Sarah told me.
We violently skidded into a dark alleyway and came to a massive screeching halt.
Sarah pounded fiercely on a rusty metal door until a rough-looking man opened it cautiously.
"Doc, we deeply need immediate emergency trauma care for a pregnant woman!" Sarah demanded loudly.
He took one quick look at Maya’s pale face and immediately helped us carry her inside.
The hidden clinic was incredibly small but surprisingly sterile and packed with modern medical equipment.
Doc hooked her up instantly to an intravenous drip and began frantically working to stop the severe bleeding.
I held Maya’s incredibly cold hand and prayed harder than I had ever prayed in my entire life.
Hours passed by in agonizing silence while the medical monitor beeped steadily in the background.
Finally, Doc wiped the heavy sweat from his forehead and let out a very long breath.
"I successfully managed to stop the hemorrhaging and the fetal heartbeat is currently strong," he announced.
I collapsed heavily into a cheap plastic chair and buried my tired face in my trembling hands.
"She absolutely needs to stay on complete bed rest for at least a week," Doc warned us firmly.
Sarah walked quietly over to the small television in the corner of the room and turned up the volume.
"Eleanor, you really need to see this terrible news right now," Sarah said with a grim tone.
I looked at the glowing screen and felt my blood actually boil with sheer outrage.
Ethan was standing boldly on the steps of the local police precinct surrounded by greedy news cameras.
He was crying huge, completely fake crocodile tears while holding up a framed wedding photo of Maya.
"My dangerously mentally unstable mother-in-law violently kidnapped my pregnant wife from her hospital bed," Ethan lied to the world.
"Please, if anyone sees Eleanor Sterling, call the local police immediately," he pleaded for the cameras.
The serious news anchor announced that a massive statewide manhunt was now actively underway for my immediate arrest.
Ethan had perfectly manipulated the naive media to turn me into a highly dangerous fugitive.
If the local police found us first, they would hand Maya right back over to Ethan.
"We are completely and totally trapped in this city," I whispered in total despair.
Sarah opened her heavy laptop and connected a heavily encrypted flash drive into the side port.
"Then it is time we show the entire world exactly who they are dealing with," Sarah declared fiercely.
She began typing rapidly to upload the massive files of Ethan's criminal evidence to every major news outlet.
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Suddenly, the heavy metal door of the clinic began to rattle loudly from aggressive banging outside.
"Open up right now, we know you are hiding the fugitives in there!" a deep, threatening voice shouted from the alley.
