THE CRADLE CONSPIRACY (18 page)

“Leave me alone!” Pamela screamed. “She’s
my
daughter. I have the right to take her out of here.”

The policeman stepped closer. “Just hand me the baby. Everything will be fine.”

Pamela shook her head. “Nothing is fine. Everything is wrong. We’re supposed to be gone.”

“You’re not leaving here with that baby.”

The other cop snapped, “She’s not going anywhere but a jail cell.”

Pamela’s entire body stilled.
They knew.
Somehow they knew what she’d done. They would take Christina away from her.

“No. No one can take care of Christina but me.”

She whipped her husband’s gun from her pocket. “Stay back!” She aimed the weapon at the nurse, and the cops froze. “My daughter and I are leaving. Try to stop me, even make a move toward your weapons, and you’re dead.”

Pamela backed up until she reached the ICU door’s entrance, pushed through, then raced down the hall. She skidded to a halt when two security guards rounded the corner.

“Stop!”

The baby started screaming.
Oh, God, don’t let her have a heart attack.
Frantic, Pamela whirled around and bolted toward the door to the stairs. She shoved through, and the metal door slammed off the wall.

Thundering footsteps pounded toward her from behind and from below.

A security guard yelled, “You can’t escape now! You’re trapped.”

“No! Get away from me! She’s mine!” Tears blurred her vision, but she fired two shots down into the stairwell. The men ducked momentarily, but then started coming after her again.

Hysteria had her feeling like her mind was going to explode.

“Leave me alone! You’re scaring her.”

She fired off two more bullets, and heard the pained cry of one of her pursuers.

Clutching the terrified baby tighter, Pamela turned and ran higher, tripping over the stairs in her fatigue. There was only one floor left. Would the door be open?

If not, could she reach the roof?

Maybe she could bolt the door? Or there might be a fire escape? Didn’t all buildings have to have one?

A man grabbed her ankle, and she whirled and shot him point blank in the head. He fell back and tumbled down the stairs, dead. One more obstacle behind her.

“Don’t follow me. I will kill you all,” she yelled into the emptiness.

She stumbled her way onto the top floor landing, ragged breaths sawing in and out of her chest, and yanked on the door but it was locked. “No!”

Sobbing now, she headed to the next door, marked Exit, probably to the roof, so she burst through and slammed the door, then shot at it until there were no bullets left in the gun. She jammed the door with her revolver.

Her mind inundated by crazy thoughts, she couldn’t think, she could only clutch Christina tight. Pamela staggered out onto the wide expanse. Far below, sirens and lights flashed. Dozens of police cars and fire engines surrounded the hospital. A SWAT team vehicle pulled up, and soon snipers poured out of the back.

Oh, God, they were going to kill her.

She sank to her knees, rocking the baby to and fro. “All I wanted was for you and me to be happy. I won’t give you up, baby girl. I can’t.”

* * *

F
IFTEEN
MINUTES
COULD
be an eternity. Daniel swerved into the hospital parking lot and the SUV screeched to a halt, Noah and Elijah on his tail. He grabbed Raven’s hand, and they raced to the entrance.

Two cops blocked them. “I’m sorry, sir. The hospital is on lockdown.”

“Frank Detry, the SWAT negotiator, requested us,” Daniel said, his voice firm. They didn’t have time for this. “We have information about Pamela Winter.”

Expression skeptical, the cop muttered a few words into his radio. His eyes widened. “Follow me.”

The cop led them to the elevator, and he punched the top floor button. They exited, and a solemn-looking man with a military haircut walked over to them. “I’m Detry. Thank you for coming.” His gaze pinned Raven. “Pamela Winter wants to see you. She’s threatened to jump off the roof with her baby if she can’t talk to you.”

Raven blanched. “What about the little girl called Hope Harrison? Maybe she’s been listed as Hope Winter? She’s my daughter.”

“She’s fine. She’s on the pediatric floor, in no danger. I’d like to tell you that you can see her now, but I need your help. I don’t know how much longer my team can keep Pamela talking.”

Daniel cut him off. “No way in hell are you going up there, Raven. This woman’s already tried to kill you twice. Hell, she blew up her own son.”

“I have to go,” Raven insisted. “That poor frightened baby never did anything to anyone. Her mother is dead. So is her father. She’s Hope’s sister. Her twin. Who’s going to look out for Christina if not me?”

Daniel couldn’t fight her. He’d have done the same thing. But he also knew she wouldn’t be out there alone. No way. No how. “I’m going with you.”

“I checked you and CTC out,” Detry said. “We could use you. Come with me.”

In the stairwell leading to the roof, the SWAT team fit Raven with a bulletproof vest. “She has a gun, and she shot a few security guards and killed a cop, but she hasn’t fired it in the past half hour. We’re hoping she’s out of ammo, but we don’t know that for certain. The door is barricaded. If you can get her away from the roof’s edge, we can take her out.”

“You can’t attack. She’s holding a baby.”

“We’ll try to stop her other ways, but if she starts shooting again, all bets are off.”

Daniel walked Raven to the door and turned her in his arms. “You really want to do this?”

“No. I’m petrified, but I’m the only chance that child has.”

“You’ll stay safe. No crazy chances. Promise?” He touched her cheek. “Come back to me?”

“Now?” she said incredulously. “Now you get mushy on me?”

“Come back to me, and I’ll work on my timing.”

She went up on tiptoe and kissed him on the lips. “I’ll be back. You’ve given me another incentive.”

The SWAT negotiator hammered on the door to the roof. “Mrs. Winter, we’ve met your demands. Olivia is here.”

They heard scraping at the door, then it swung part of the way open.

“Send her out alone, or Christina dies.” Pamela’s voice became more distant with every word.

When Raven looked around the door, she saw Pamela had returned to her spot on the ledge. The baby looked very ill. Her weak cries broke Raven’s heart.

“Pamela?” Raven called. “Your baby is sick and needs care. Please let me help you.”

The woman whirled. “Help me? My baby is
dying,
and it’s all your fault. You wanted to wait. Get another opinion before the transplant. Christina didn’t have time to wait.
You did this to her!
”

Fear struck Raven’s heart. “Please, Pamela, come away from the edge. We can work this out.”

“Sure. You’d like that,” Pamela raved. “You know they’re going to take Christina away from me. I bet you wanted them both all the time.”

A grappling hook flew over the edge of the roof. She stiffened, desperate not to give anything away.
Daniel?
She had to make certain Pamela didn’t look his way. She shifted positions. “I was happy with Hope. I wanted to help you.
I intended to help you
.”

Pamela paced on the ledge, her movements erratic.

“But you had to wait. Then you had to hit your head. I only pushed you a little. You tripped on a toy. You messed up everything.”

* * *

D
ANIEL
HELD
ON
to the rope, slowly inching his way up from the top floor window to the roof. Elijah and Noah were climbing up the opposite side. Hopefully Winter didn’t have three bullets left, or the surprise would be theirs instead. Daniel hauled himself quietly over the roof ledge, ignoring the agony in the hand and leg that had been shattered in Bellevaux.

An air-conditioning duct blocked him from Winter’s view, and a lot of space separated him from the two women. Pamela looked at Raven with such hatred that a chill invaded Daniel.

“Get on the ledge with me.” Pamela aimed the gun at Raven’s head. “Now.”

She’d
promised
him she’d stay safe. When they made it off this roof, he’d...he’d kiss her until he forgot this moment ever happened. Daniel’s heart stuck in his throat as Raven stepped onto the narrow lip of the building.

Wind buffeted both women, but Raven had the added disadvantage of the recent concussion, and she wobbled precariously on the thin concrete shelf.

“Please,” Raven begged, holding out her arms. “Let me take the baby inside.”

Pamela waved the gun at Raven.

“She’s mine. No one else can have her,” Pamela raged. “If you’d just done what you were told, Christina would have gotten her treatment already. She’d be cured.”

Raven took a step forward. “The doctors can still help her, Pamela. Don’t give up on your daughter.”

Daniel caught Noah’s profile in the corner of his eye and spotted two SWAT snipers on the roof across the way. If Pamela would only give Raven the baby.

Raven was way too close to her, though. If Pamela went over, she could take Raven down with her.

“Christopher is dead. I killed my own son. You really think they’re ever going to let me see her again? What do I have left?”

“Christina isn’t going to die if you let her go back inside the hospital now,” Raven argued. She took one step closer, and Pamela turned to face her, her back toward Daniel.

He leaned forward then ran silently ahead. He couldn’t cry out a warning, not without making things worse. His fists clenched, he crouched in position, waiting for an opportunity.

Pamela peered over the side, and a cry went up from the crowd. “They want me to jump, those animals.” Christina whimpered, and Pamela hugged the baby closer. “That’s the kind of world I’d be leaving her in. She’s better off dead. We both are.

“Ashes, ashes, we all fall down...”

Pamela bent over, staring at the street below. “It’s time to end this.”

Raven reached toward Pamela. “Don’t. Please.”

“I’m not going alone. You’re coming with me.” Pamela grabbed Raven’s arm and headed over the side.

Daniel lunged for Raven, arms outstretched. He barely grasped her wrist before she fell. His entire body tensed, and he yanked her to safety.

Elijah and Noah came in from the other side and snagged hold of Pamela, but she was already dangling off the roof, fighting them violently. “Let me go!”

Daniel raced back to the edge. The crowd below shouted and pointed. The firemen had a large trampoline set up to catch anyone who fell, but Daniel knew the baby would never survive a fall from that height by herself.

Pamela jerked against Elijah and Noah, and the baby slipped from her arms.

Pamela had lost her hold on the baby.

Daniel dove off the roof and grabbed the baby as she fell. The ground came up fast, and just before he landed, he twisted, landing on his back on the trampoline, Christina cradled in his arms.

Pamela screamed, berserk now, biting Elijah’s hand and breaking his hold. Noah still had her, but he was dragged halfway over the ledge, scrambling for a foothold and struggling to keep his grip on her. Elijah lay on his belly, grabbing for her again, but she slammed her gun hard against Noah’s head and pushed away from him.

She aimed at Raven, who had come up behind Noah to help.

“I saved one for you,” Pamela said and pulled the trigger just as Noah shoved her aside.

Daniel watched from down below, frozen, as Pamela whirled around, lost her balance and plummeted to the ground. The firemen who were helping Daniel and the baby from the trampoline had no time to move it to save her.

Daniel clutched the baby protectively to his chest, shielding her from the sight. His heart filled with the most incredible tenderness as the tiny little one sobbed weakly and curled in closer to him.

Raven exited the hospital and ran into Daniel’s arms. “Is it over?”

“It’s over, and this precious girl needs a doctor.”

Raven looked at the possessive way he was holding Christina and smiled. “It looks like she’s already worked some of her own medicine.”

Daniel felt the cold, dark places inside him start to fill with a healing warmth as he thought of the future. “You may be right.”

* * *

T
HE
EIGHT
DAYS
that had passed after the events on the roof could have easily been eighty. Dressed in an isolation suit, Raven rocked Christina, her slight weight barely registering. The chemo had taken its toll, but Christina was holding her own. The little girl let out a small yawn, then settled in for a nap. Her pale face remained wan, and every night Raven hit her knees in prayer that the transplant would work. She’d fallen in love with Hope’s twin, who looked so much like her daughter. And yet they were very different. Hope had a light about her. Christina was an old soul. Quiet, a follower, but always watching.

At first the hospital wouldn’t let Raven see Christina, but Daniel had come to their rescue once again. When social services had sent in a caseworker, he’d called CTC. She didn’t know who Ransom Grainger was, besides head of CTC, but the man had major connections. He’d provided her with an attorney, and now Raven had temporary custody of Christina, hoping to make it permanent. The lawyer thought they had a good chance because of Hope.

Raven prayed he was right.

She pushed the rocker back and forth until Christina’s breathing became slow and regular, then she placed her in her ICU crib. With a last look at the little girl who had been through so much, she quietly exited the isolation ward.

Outside, she removed the protective clothing and mask and leaned back against the door. Her eyes burned with unshed tears. What if Christina didn’t make it? She didn’t want to lose her now.

She felt an arm pull her close. She didn’t have to open her eyes to know his touch, his scent. She leaned into Daniel.

“How is she?” he whispered.

“She’s so weak, so tired. I’m scared.”

“She’s a fighter, too. I’ve seen those determined eyes.”