Chapter 8 - The Firefighter Who Lied.
The first alarm tone froze everyone in place.
The second sent nurses running.
Smoke did not enter the NICU, but red strobes began pulsing above the doors.
A recorded voice ordered staff to prepare for evacuation.
Emily stood beside Grace's incubator despite the pain ripping through her abdomen.
"We're not moving her."
The charge nurse grabbed a transport incubator.
"If this is a real fire, we have procedures."
Ben stared at his dead phone.
"Daniel said not to move the pregnant woman."
Alex turned toward Emily.
"He meant you."
Ortiz drew her weapon.
"Everyone stays together."
A security officer appeared at the far end of the hall.
"We need to evacuate through stairwell C."
Ortiz narrowed her eyes.
"Show me your ID."
The officer kept walking.
"Ma'am, there's smoke on the mechanical floor."
"Stop where you are."
He reached inside his jacket.
Ortiz raised her weapon.
"Hands!"
The man turned and ran.
Alex chased him without hesitation.
"Alex!"
Emily's scream followed him through the doors.
Ben went after both men.
Ortiz stayed with Emily and called for lockdown.
The fake security officer disappeared down a service stairwell.
Alex reached the landing seconds behind him.
The man threw a metal fire extinguisher backward.
It struck Alex's shoulder and sent him into the railing.
Ben heard the impact from above.
"Alex!"
Alex forced himself upright and continued.
On the next floor, the man slipped through a maintenance door.
Alex followed into a dark mechanical corridor.
The air smelled like dust and hot wiring.
At the far end, an emergency exit banged shut.
By the time Alex reached it, the alley beyond was empty.
Ben arrived breathing hard.
"You okay?"
"Fine."
"Your shoulder says otherwise."
Alex ignored him.
On the floor near the exit was a laminated access card.
Ben picked it up.
The front displayed the Vale Urban Development logo.
The name beneath the photograph was DANIEL HAYES.
Ben stared.
"That's my brother's badge."
Alex looked toward the alley.
"Either Daniel was the man we chased—"
"Or someone wants us to think he was."
They returned upstairs.
The fire alarm was declared false.
Someone had activated a manual pull station on the mechanical floor and disabled two cameras nearby.
Emily was furious when Alex walked back into the NICU.
"You said you weren't going anywhere."
"A man was trying to lead you out of the hospital."
"So you ran after him and left me again."
Alex stopped.
The accusation struck harder because it was true in a way neither of them could simplify.
"Ortiz was with you."
"You always have a reason."
"Emily—"
"And every reason sounds noble after you've already disappeared."
Grace's monitor beeped steadily between them.
Alex lowered his voice.
"What did you want me to do? Let him walk away?"
Emily stared at him with tears in her eyes.
"I wanted one moment in the worst day of my life where I didn't have to wonder whether everyone else mattered more than I did."
Alex's face broke.
"No one matters more."
"Then stop making me learn that from your apologies."
He had no answer.
Ben quietly stepped into the hallway.
Ortiz followed him.
"You think Daniel is involved?"
Ben looked at his brother's badge.
"I think he's terrified."
"That's not the same thing."
"No."
"When did you last see him?"
"Three weeks ago."
"Anything unusual?"
Ben thought back.
Daniel had arrived late to their mother's birthday dinner.
He had barely eaten.
He had asked Ben whether firefighters could tell if an elevator control cabinet had been tampered with after a fire.
Ben had laughed and told him he watched too many crime shows.
Now the memory made him nauseous.
"He asked me about post-fire elevator inspections."
Ortiz's eyes sharpened.
"Why?"
"He said it was work."
"Did you tell him anything useful?"
Ben closed his eyes.
"I told him heat destroys a lot of evidence, but clean tool marks usually survive."
Ortiz wrote it down.
Ben looked at her.
"I might have taught him how to hide what he did."
"Or you may have told him how to preserve evidence against someone else."
Ben did not seem comforted.
Later, a nurse delivered an envelope addressed to Alex.
No return name.
Inside was a single printed photograph.
It showed Alex carrying Claire out of the elevator while Emily sat bleeding on the floor behind him.
The angle came from inside the elevator.
Alex stared at it.
"The camera was removed."
Emily looked over his shoulder.
"Then who took that picture?"
Ortiz examined the image.
In the mirrored wall behind Alex, a faint reflection showed the photographer.
A man stood crouched near the rear corner holding a phone.
His face was partly hidden by smoke.
Ben leaned closer.
May you like
Then he whispered, "That's Daniel."
GIVE THIS TO ALEX
