Chapter 15 - The Trap
Ethan reached for the folder.
Ruiz stopped him. “Photographs first.”
Emily stood in the doorway, pulse hammering.
The message was meant for her.
That meant Margaret expected her to come.
Ruiz photographed the folder, then opened it with gloved hands.
Inside was a copy of Emily’s prenatal medical schedule.
Every appointment. Every ultrasound. Every planned hospital visit.
One date was highlighted.
Tomorrow.
“What’s tomorrow?” Ethan asked.
Emily stared at the page.
“My maternal-fetal medicine appointment.”
Ruiz’s face hardened. “You’re not going.”
“Yes, I am.”
“Absolutely not,” Ethan said.
Emily turned on him. “If we cancel, whoever planned something disappears.”
“You are not bait.”
“I’m also not furniture. Stop talking like I’m not here.”
Ethan flinched.
She lowered her voice. “I know you’re scared. So am I. But Margaret built this whole thing around the idea that fear would control us.”
Ruiz looked between them. “We can secure the appointment. Plainclothes officers. Controlled entrance. No unnecessary risk.”
Ethan hated it.
Emily went anyway.
The next morning, the clinic looked normal. Too normal.
A woman with a stroller sat near reception. A man read a magazine. A nurse called names.
Ruiz’s officers were scattered through the building.
Emily checked in.
Ten minutes later, a nurse she didn’t recognize approached.
“Mrs. Cole? We need to move you to Imaging B.”
Emily’s instincts screamed.
“My doctor said Room Six.”
“Change of plan.”
Emily saw a tiny radio wire behind the woman’s ear.
Not a clinic headset.
She stepped back.
The woman grabbed her elbow.
Emily shouted, “Ethan!”
Everything exploded.
The man with the magazine stood. Police badges appeared. The fake nurse ran.
She slammed through a side door.
Ethan followed despite Ruiz yelling at him to stop.
Emily stayed where she was, surrounded by officers.
Then the woman with the stroller stood and pulled a compact pistol from the diaper bag.
She pointed it at Emily’s stomach.
“No one moves.”
The waiting room froze.
Emily looked at the gun.
Then at the woman’s face.
May you like
She recognized her.
It was Margaret’s personal assistant.
