Chapter Four #2
“There was a tracker,” Noah continued. “Hidden in the sole of Olivia’s shoe. Embedded deep, disguised like part of the support structure. Small enough that even the sweeps missed it.”
Delaney let out a breath, low and sharp. “Hell.”
Noah made a sound of agreement. “The techs found the shoes at the safe house and tested them again. That’s when they found it.”
So, maybe her attackers didn’t know she was here at the hospital. Not yet anyway. But word of that would soon get around. Not many secrets stayed secret in a small town.
“That means the men who hit the house were working for Hale,” Eli spelled out. “They wouldn’t have known where she was without that signal.”
“Probably,” Noah said. “But that tracker didn’t get there yesterday. It could’ve been with her the whole time she was at the Hale Institute. Which means Cyrus Hale might not be the only one who knew.”
Eli felt the cold ripple of that implication run down his spine. “Her grandfather.”
Delaney looked over quickly at Noah. “Where is he?”
Noah’s mouth pulled into a tight line. “At his estate near San Antonio. We’ve tried contacting him, but his staff says he’s unavailable. No calls taken, no visitors allowed.”
Delaney’s jaw clenched. “That’s convenient.”
Eli glanced toward the waiting room door, back in the direction of Olivia’s mother. “Does Vivian know?”
Noah shook his head. “Not yet. Not until we know more.”
Eli nodded slowly. The tracker changed everything. It meant they hadn’t just stumbled into a breach. Someone had planned this. Planted that device. Waited.
He glanced at Delaney. She looked as tense as he felt.
If Olivia had been marked from the start, then Ava might be even deeper in danger.
Eli looked up when he spotted some movement just up the hallway. A nurse in navy scrubs approached, her expression tight with fatigue.
“Excuse me,” she said. “Are you Eli Tarrant and Delaney Hart?”
Eli straightened. “That’s us.”
The nurse nodded. “Olivia asked to see you. She said she wanted to speak with the man and woman who rescued her.”
Before Eli could respond, Vivian came hurrying out of the waiting room, Grant right on her heels.
“My daughter’s finished with her exam?” Vivian asked, eyes wide. “Can I see her?”
The nurse hesitated for just a second, then said carefully, “Olivia was very specific. She asked to see the two people who brought her out of the woods. She said she’ll speak to her mother after that.”
Vivian blinked, stunned for a moment. Grant put a steadying hand on her back. Eli noted that he didn’t look stunned. He looked pissed.
“I understand,” Vivian murmured, though her voice cracked around the words. “Just please… tell her I’m here.”
“I will,” the nurse said gently. Then she turned back to Eli and Delaney. “Follow me.”
Eli caught Delaney’s eye. Her jaw was tight, her hand drifting briefly toward the rubber band on her wrist before falling away.
They walked behind the nurse in silence, past curtained rooms and rolling gurneys, toward whatever waited for them behind Olivia Camden’s hospital door.
The nurse led them down a quiet corridor and stopped outside one of the private rooms near the end. A security officer stood nearby, arms folded, stationed at the door like a silent warning.
“She’s stable,” the nurse said quietly. “Dehydrated and bruised, but no internal injuries. She’s on fluids, mild sedatives, and we’ve already run a full trauma panel. We’ll keep her for observation at least overnight.”
Eli nodded his thanks. The nurse gave them a final look, then opened the door.
Inside, the room was dim but clean, the blinds pulled halfway down against the morning light. Machines beeped steadily near the bed, monitoring heart rate and blood pressure. An IV bag hung from a metal stand, tubing running to the crook of Olivia’s arm. A nurse’s cart sat nearby, neatly stocked.
Olivia looked impossibly small in the hospital bed, her dark hair tangled across the pillow.
A bruise shadowed her left cheekbone, and fresh bandages covered a scrape on her temple.
Her hospital gown was loose, too big on her frame, and her eyes—when they turned toward the door—were raw with exhaustion.
But she was awake.
And watching them.
Eli stepped in first, quiet and careful not to crowd her. Delaney followed a second later, just as silent.
Olivia blinked, her gaze moving between them. “You’re real,” she whispered. Her voice was hoarse and barely there.
Eli offered a soft nod. “Yeah. We’re here.”
“You pulled me out,” she said.
“We did,” Delaney answered, her voice low and steady. “You’re safe now.”
Olivia swallowed hard, her throat working. “I remember… the trees, and one of the men, he was going to drag me into the SUV.”
“You stopped him,” Eli said. “You fought. You gave us time.”
She didn’t respond right away. Just stared at them like she was trying to decide if it was safe to believe anything anymore.
Then her lower lip trembled, and she whispered, “Is Ava okay?”
Eli and Delaney shared a look, neither of them wanting to say the words out loud. Eli stepped closer to the bed.
“We don’t know yet,” he said gently. “But we’re going to find her.”
Tears welled in Olivia’s eyes, spilling over onto the bruised curve of her cheek. She didn’t try to wipe them away.
“I shouldn’t have left Ava,” she whispered. “I tried to find her. I looked everywhere. But they had already separated us, and I couldn’t—” Her voice cracked. “I couldn’t find her.”
Delaney moved a little closer to the bed, her presence quiet but grounding. Eli stayed steady, watching Olivia fight to hold herself together.
“You did what you had to do to survive,” he said gently. “No one blames you.”
“I should have done more,” she said, her fingers gripping the edge of the blanket. “I knew something was wrong. I told Ava we needed to get out of there, but she didn’t want to believe it at first.”
Olivia looked up at them, eyes glassy and fierce.
“You have to get her out. That place… it’s not what they say it is. There are girls who cry all night, and no one comes. People disappear. They tell you it’s your fault if you can’t get better, and then they take things away. Phones. Letters. Food.”
Eli felt the heat build low in his chest. Rage, controlled but sharp.
“They punish you if you speak out. And some of the staff just… watch. Or worse.”
Olivia’s voice dropped to a near whisper. “One of them drugged Ava once. She told me, after. Said she woke up not remembering a full day. And she was scared. More scared than I’ve ever seen her.”
Delaney’s hand curled into a fist.
Olivia sniffed, her voice turning bitter. “Our grandfather should have never sent us there. He told Mom he was getting us help, that we needed structure. But it wasn’t about us. It was about control. Just like always.”
She let out a shaky breath and sagged back against the pillows, trembling from the effort.
Eli took a slow step forward. “You’re not going back there,” he said. “We’re going to find your sister.”
Olivia wiped at her face with the corner of the blanket, her hands shaking. “What about the men who were guarding me? Ty and… the other one, Jackson?”
“They’re going to be fine,” Eli said. “Ty had surgery, but the doctors say he’ll make a full recovery. Jackson’s banged up, but he’s already giving the nurses hell.”
That earned the faintest flicker of a smile from Olivia.
Delaney stepped a little closer. “Can you tell us how you got away from the institute? You said they had separated you from your sister.”
Olivia nodded, but her gaze was distant, like she had to reach back through layers of exhaustion just to pull the words forward.
“They weren’t watching me as closely by the end,” Olivia said.
“I think they thought I was broken enough not to try anything. But I’d been planning it for weeks.
There’s this delivery truck that comes through the back gate every other Wednesday.
Food, supplies, I don’t know. I climbed in under some crates while the driver was unloading. ”
Delaney nodded slowly. “Smart.”
“I rode under those boxes for over an hour,” she went on. “I didn’t even know where I was going. Eventually I jumped out near the motel and begged someone to help me. They called my mother for me.”
Eli glanced at Delaney. She was tracking every word, her posture tense but careful.
“But how did those men from the institute find me?” Olivia asked, her voice breaking. “We were so careful. The guards said the house was secure.”
Eli hesitated, then said quietly, “There was a tracker. Hidden in your shoe. Embedded so well no one caught it in the first sweep.”
Olivia gasped. Her hand flew to her chest as the tears came harder. “No. No, no, no. That means it’s my fault. Ty and Jackson almost died because of me.”
Delaney moved closer, crouching beside the bed now. “Stop. This is not your fault, Olivia.”
She frantically shook her head. “But if I hadn’t—if I had just checked—”
“There’s no way you would have known,” Eli insisted. “They hid it deep, and they knew what they were doing. This was a calculated move, not your mistake.”
Olivia broke down then, her sobs quiet but raw. Delaney gently reached for her hand and didn’t let go.
Eli stood back, jaw tight, pulse ticking. Every word Olivia had shared was another piece of a puzzle that was coming together in all the worst ways. And whoever had designed that trap was still out there.
Still waiting.
Olivia quieted after a few long moments, her fingers still curled around Delaney’s. She looked up at Eli, eyes red and swollen.
“Am I safe here?” she asked, voice barely above a whisper.
Eli didn’t hesitate. “We’ll make it safe.”
She didn’t answer right away. Her gaze flicked to the door, then to the shadows in the corners of the room.
He could see it in her face. She didn’t believe it. Not fully. And after what had happened at the safe house, he didn’t blame her. But he knew Noah, and he trusted Crossfire Ops. If anyone could lock this down and keep her secure, it was them.
“We won’t let anything happen to you,” Eli said. “That’s a promise.”
Olivia gave a small nod, but it looked more like courtesy than conviction. “I want to see my mom now,” she said, her voice barely a whisper.
Delaney shifted her weight, still crouched beside the bed. “Her fiancé, Grant, is with her.”
Olivia’s expression tightened. “I don’t want to see him. Just my mom.”
There was something sharp under the words. Not fear exactly. Disgust, maybe. Or resentment.
Delaney studied her for a moment, then said gently, “Is there a reason, Olivia? Why you don’t want him in the room?”
“I’m just not up to it,” Olivia said, her eyes falling away. “Please.”
Delaney didn’t press further. She gave Olivia’s hand a final squeeze, then stood. “I’ll get your mom.”
Eli stayed by the door, watching as Olivia turned her face toward the window, tears still clinging to her lashes.
He didn’t know what Grant Maddox had done to earn that look, but something told him it went deeper than Olivia was willing to admit.
And deeper still into the mess they were only beginning to untangle.
Eli stepped out of Olivia’s hospital room with Delaney beside him, the door closing quietly behind them. Noah was waiting just outside with Vivian and Grant, both of them looking anxious.
“She’s awake,” Eli said, addressing Vivian. “She asked to see you.”
Vivian let out a breath that trembled in her chest. She moved forward instantly, but Grant stepped with her, clearly intending to follow.
Eli shifted into his path and held up a hand. “She only wants to see her mother.”
Grant stopped short. His jaw tightened and something flickered in his eyes. Disappointment. Irritation. Maybe both.
“She said that?” Grant asked.
“She was very clear,” Eli replied, not budging.
For a beat, it looked like Grant might argue. But then Noah stepped up behind him and gave a subtle nod to the security officer. The guard moved into position beside the door, his stance casual but unmistakably firm.
Vivian hesitated, looking between them, and then gave Grant a soft pat on the arm. “It’s okay. I’ll talk to her. Just give her time.”
Grant said nothing. He stepped back slowly, his expression unreadable.
Vivian disappeared into the room, and the nurse closed the door behind her.
Noah turned to Delaney and Eli. Without a word, he tipped his head up the hall and started walking.
They followed, putting distance between themselves and the guarded doorway.
Eli felt the shift as soon as they rounded the corner. Out of sight. Out of earshot.
Whatever Noah needed to say now, it was not something Grant Maddox was meant to hear.
They stopped near a nurses’ alcove, far enough from the waiting room and Olivia’s door that no one could overhear.
Noah glanced down the hallway, then back at them. His voice dropped to practically a whisper. “I just got the update. The search warrant for the Hale Institute is finally coming through. It’ll be signed and executed within the hour.”
Delaney straightened. Eli could see the shift in her posture, the immediate readiness. She was locked in.
“That’s not all,” Noah continued. “We’ve had drones running quiet surveillance over the property since this morning. About ten minutes ago, a van left the grounds through the back service road.”
Eli felt the hairs on the back of his neck lift. “You think it was a patient transfer?”
“I think it was a scramble,” Noah said. “The van was moving fast, and the institute hasn’t answered a single law enforcement call since the attack on the safe house.”
Delaney’s voice was tight. “You believe Ava’s in that van.”
Noah nodded once. “That’s my guess. They’re trying to move her before we can get boots on the ground.”
Eli exhaled slowly, the pieces locking into place in his head. This was not just about corruption. It was about containment. Exposure.
“How long until we can intercept the vehicle?” he asked.
Noah’s eyes were already cold. “We’re working on tracking it now. You and Delaney need to get geared up. If she’s in that van, we are not losing her.”
Eli didn’t need more than that.
He turned to Delaney, and they moved together, already walking fast. The chase had started. And this time, they were going to end it before anyone else disappeared.
───── ? ────