Chapter 5 - Stand at the Pediatric Wing
Randall Children's Hospital stood like a beacon of warm glass and steel against the stormy Portland sky.
I pulled my patrol car directly onto the ambulance ramp, turning the wheels hard against the curb and leaving the red and blue strobes flashing against the brick walls. I hit the door release, throwing myself out into the pouring rain and sprinting through the sliding glass emergency doors.
The lobby was already in a state of high alert. Hospital security guards were ushering visitors into side rooms, locking down the elevators with physical override keys.
"Officer Dunham!" a tall security supervisor shouted, running toward me with a keycard in his hand. "We got your dispatch warning! The fourth floor pediatric wing is locked down!"
"Where are the kids?!" I demanded, wiping rain from my eyes.
"Room 412! Aunt's with them, plus Officer Miller’s partner, Officer Hayes!"
"Get me up there now!"
We sprinted to the service elevator. The supervisor swiped his master card, and the doors slid shut. The lift surged upward, the quiet hum of the motor a agonizing contrast to the racing rhythm of my heart.
Four. Three. Two. One.
The elevator doors chimed and slid open on the fourth floor.
The hallway was lined with colorful murals of sea turtles and hot air balloons—a place built for healing and comfort, now blanketed in a suffocating silence.
Officer Hayes was standing outside Room 412, her hand resting on her sidearm, her face grim. When she saw me step off the elevator, her shoulders dropped in visible relief.
"Dunham! What the hell happened at the precinct?"
"Vance had a backup team," I said, catching my breath. "They hit the sally port to execute him before he could talk. Some of them got away in a blue van. Are the kids safe?"
"They're inside," Hayes said, gesturing to the heavy door. "Aunt Laura's holding them close. Toby hasn't stopped asking if you were okay."
I pushed open the door to Room 412.
The room was lit only by the soft glow of the medical monitors and a small bedside lamp. Clara lay in the center of the bed, her face pale but her breathing peaceful, an IV drip feeding fluids into her small arm.
Toby was sitting on the edge of the mattress, wrapped in his police blanket. Aunt Laura sat beside them, holding both of their hands in hers.
When Toby saw me step into the room, his eyes lit up. He scrambled off the bed, running across the room and throwing his arms around my waist.
"Officer Dunham!" he cried, burying his face in my damp vest. "You came back!"
I dropped to one knee, wrapping my arms around the small boy and holding him tight. The tension that had been building in my chest for the last four hours finally began to thaw.
"I promised you, Toby," I said softly, looking into his eyes. "I promised I wouldn't leave you alone. And a police officer never breaks a promise."
"Is my dad coming here?" Toby whispered, his small body shivering.
"No, Toby," I said firmly. "Your dad isn't going anywhere ever again. And the bad men he worked with are being caught right now by my friends."
Just then, the emergency lights in the hallway outside flickered once. Then twice.
The quiet hum of the hospital floor's air conditioning died.
Officer Hayes’s voice echoed sharply from the doorway. "Dunham... we have a problem. The floor power just dropped. The elevators are dead."
My heart instantly turned to ice.
"Hayes, get inside!" I shouted, pulling Toby behind me and drawing my service weapon. "Lock the door!"
Hayes stepped backward into the room, slamming the heavy reinforced door shut and throwing the manual security deadbolt.
Through the glass viewing panel in the door, I saw the main hallway lights go dark, leaving only the dim yellow glow of the battery-powered emergency exit signs.
From down the hall, near the stairwell entrance, came the soft, rhythmic sound of heavy boots walking across the linoleum floor.
Step. Step. Step.
A voice echoed through the dark corridor—a smooth, accentless voice amplified by a portable bullhorn.
"Officer Dunham. We know you're in Room 412. We don't care about the children. We only care about Arthur Vance's hard drives. Give us the access codes Arthur gave you at the house, and we walk away."
I looked at Toby, who was huddled behind Aunt Laura near the medical bed, his hands over his ears.
"Arthur didn't give me any codes," I shouted back through the heavy door, keeping my weapon raised and aimed at the door frame. "And you're not leaving this building alive!"
May you like
A cold, cruel laugh echoed down the hall.
"Then we clean the whole room," the voice replied.
