Chapter 10 - THE EMERGENCY DELIVERY
Emily was moved into a secure delivery suite.
Raymond ordered officers stationed at every door.
Only approved medical staff were permitted inside.
Each employee badge was verified manually.
Preston remained in police custody.
Vanessa had been transferred to county jail.
Malcolm was still missing beneath the hospital.
Emily’s contractions intensified.
The baby’s heartbeat dropped again.
The obstetrician made the decision.
“We need to deliver now.”
Emily looked toward Raymond.
“Do not let anyone take him.”
“No one will.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise.”
The operating team prepared for an emergency cesarean section.
Emily was frightened.
She allowed herself to say it.
“I am scared.”
Raymond took her hand.
“So was your mother.”
“She was brave anyway.”
The anesthesia began working.
The lights above Emily blurred.
She heard medical instruments.
Quiet instructions.
The steady alarm of the monitor.
Then a sharper sound.
A door opening.
A masked doctor entered.
He claimed to be a neonatal specialist.
The security officer checked the badge.
The badge was valid.
But the nurse recognized the name.
“That doctor is on vacation.”
The man turned toward the exit.
Security blocked him.
He reached beneath his gown.
An officer forced him against the wall.
A syringe fell from his hand.
The liquid matched the medication found in Vanessa’s purse.
The false doctor was a Whitmore Biotech contractor.
He had been sent to interfere with the delivery.
Emily heard fragments of the struggle.
Then the surgeon’s voice.
“Focus on the patient.”
Minutes later, a cry filled the room.
Small.
Angry.
Beautiful.
Emily began sobbing.
Her son was lifted briefly above the curtain.
“He is breathing.”
“He weighs four pounds, nine ounces.”
The neonatal team placed him inside a secure incubator.
Raymond watched every movement.
The baby’s name was Noah.
Emily had chosen it months earlier.
Preston disliked it.
He wanted the child named Malcolm.
Emily had refused.
Now the decision felt prophetic.
Noah meant rest.
A new beginning after the flood.
Emily touched his tiny hand through the incubator opening.
“I am here.”
“You are staying with me.”
The neonatal doctor said Noah needed respiratory support.
He would remain in intensive care.
Emily refused sedation until she saw security escort the incubator to the approved unit.
Raymond walked beside it.
Police followed.
Noah reached the neonatal floor safely.
Then every light in the corridor went dark.
The backup power activated after six seconds.
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When the lights returned, one security officer was unconscious.
The incubator was gone.
