“Help her!” the biker shouted. His voice cracked through the storm. “Don’t point guns at me. Help her!”
Ava rushed forward first.
The girl’s eyelids fluttered.
“What’s her name?” Ava demanded.
“Lily,” the biker said. “Lily Mercer. Six years old. Pulmonary failure. She needs the medication inside that building.”
Nolan froze. “Inside a closed wing?”
The biker looked at him with desperate fury.
“It’s not closed.”
Before Nolan could ask what he meant, the service door buzzed.
Someone opened it from inside.
A man in a white lab coat appeared, his face pale beneath the flickering light.
“Bring her in,” he said quickly.
Nolan raised his weapon. “Nobody moves.”
The doctor’s eyes flashed to the police cruiser, then to the biker.
The fear in his face changed.
Not fear for the child.
Fear of being caught.
Ava saw it too.
The biker tightened his hold on Lily. “Officer, listen to me. My name is Caleb Rourke. I’m not her father. I’m not a kidnapper. I’m the man her mother begged for help.”
Nolan kept his weapon trained. “Explain. Now.”
Caleb swallowed hard.
“Her mother works here. Nurse Elena Mercer. She found something in the hospital records. Kids transferred out of charity care. Oxygen-dependent kids. Sick kids. Kids no one powerful cared about.” His voice shook with rage. “They were being used in illegal drug trials under fake emergency approvals.”
The rain seemed to go quieter.
Ava stared at the doctor in the doorway.
The doctor stepped backward.
Caleb continued, faster now. “Elena tried to report it. Tonight they took her phone, locked her in the west wing, and cut Lily’s oxygen supply to force her to turn over the files.”
Nolan felt the ground shift beneath him.
The doctor suddenly bolted.
Ava ran after him.
Nolan shouted into the radio, “All units, possible hostage situation and medical crimes at Peoria Children’s west wing. Lock down hospital perimeter!”
Caleb pushed past Nolan with Lily in his arms.
Inside, the corridor smelled of bleach, wet concrete, and fear. Emergency lights pulsed red along the walls. Plastic sheets hung over unfinished sections. Somewhere deeper in the wing, a woman screamed.
“Elena!” Caleb shouted.
Lily stirred weakly in his arms.
“Mommy,” she breathed behind the mask.
They ran.
Nolan followed, gun raised, heart pounding.
They reached a sealed treatment room with a keypad lock. Through the narrow window, a woman in blue scrubs was tied to a chair. Blood marked her temple. Her eyes widened when she saw Lily.
“Elena Mercer?” Nolan shouted.
The woman nodded frantically.
Caleb slammed his shoulder into the door.
Nothing.
Nolan fired once into the lock. The shot cracked like thunder.
The door burst open.
Elena sobbed as Caleb carried Lily inside and laid her on the bed.
“My baby,” Elena cried.
Ava rushed back into the room, dragging the doctor in handcuffs.
“He was trying to destroy a server,” she said. “And Nolan… there are more rooms.”
Nolan turned slowly.
Down the corridor, behind plastic curtains and locked doors, small monitors glowed in the dark.
Beds.
Oxygen tubes.