Chapter 53
FIFTY-THREE
Sandra was heaving for breath by the time she made it back to the top floor. She beelined straight for Megan Beal’s office to talk to Dr. Cowan.
“Vos?” ERT Officer Kemp said as she bypassed him.
Dr. Cowan stood from where she was sitting. “Is Phoebe okay?”
“She’s hanging in there.”
“Then can I get her prepped for surgery? We’re running against the wire, but if I call the hospital right now, they might cooperate and send the heart.”
With the weight of Cowan’s words, the possible repercussions sank in. If she couldn’t pull off Phoebe’s release in time, the organ would go bad and no one would benefit from it. She’d be responsible for another death.
“Agent Vos? Do I call them?”
They were already butting against that two-hour window, but surely, she could get Tom to surrender soon.
At least she hoped so. But what if she was wrong and robbed someone else of the heart?
She looked at her watch. The hospital had said they needed to know by nine o’clock.
There was still time. “Maybe hold off for just a bit longer. But remain on standby. Can you do that? Just for a few more minutes?”
Cowan’s face fell. “Sure. But after nine, her heart could go to someone else. What’s going on?”
“She’s still being held hostage on the fourth floor.” Sandra realized she wasn’t telling the doctor anything she hadn’t heard moments ago over Willis’s radio.
Cowan rubbed her arms and hugged herself as if fending off a chill.
“The situation should be resolved momentarily.” If I have anything to say about it!
Sandra hustled past Kemp and down the hall to the boardroom for the cash. Willis was standing at the door, and she blew by him.
“Vos? What are you doing?”
She was already stuffing the cash into the backpack. “A deal was made on the fourth. I need this money for that.”
“This is a crime scene.”
“In case you haven’t realized it, this entire hospital is one, and right now, this cash is a girl’s best shot at surviving.
Do you want her life on your conscience?
” The second the question left her lips, she wished to reel it in.
“I apologize for that. Of course you don’t.
No one would. But this is the FBI’s cash, and I’m the FBI, so I’m taking it. ”
“All right, have at it.”
Sandra took the money back down to the fourth. “What’s the ETA on Trudy Hall?” she asked the same ERT officer she’d asked to get her there.
“She should be here any minute.”
While he was talking, a ERT officer strode toward them from the stairwell door with a woman in her early forties at his side.
“How did she get here so fast?”
“Detective Birch brought her to the scene to have on standby, in case we’d need her.”
Sandra smiled. That’s my man! She bridged the distance to the woman. “Trudy Hall? I’m Agent Vos. Did this officer explain the situation to you?”
“He did.”
“Good. Now, you’re not in any danger with this exchange. He just needs to see me hand you the money and for you to confirm it’s one hundred and seventy-five thousand.”
Trudy nodded.
Sandra gave a thumbs-up to ERT, then spoke in a raised voice. “Tom, we have Trudy Hall here, and the money for her.”
The blind in the door went up, but it was Gail Chapman’s face at the glass. She said something that was muffled by the closed door.
“Do you have the money, Trudy?” Tom asked.
Sandra handed the backpack to Trudy.
“I do.”
“How much is there?”
Gail remained at the window as Trudy made a show of pulling out the bundles of cash. After a few minutes, she said, “One hundred and seventy-five K.”
The blind in the door was dropped again, and soon the door was opening.
The ERT officers raised their guns, prepared to use them if things went sideways.
A woman’s narrow wrists came through the opening. “Don’t shoot,” the woman called out.
“It’s Gail Chapman,” Sandra told them, but it had no effect on the ERT officers. They only lowered their guns when the door shut again.
Sandra went over to Gail. “I’m Sandra Vos.”
Gail was trembling. “Phoebe’s going to die if she doesn’t get that heart.”
“I know, and we’re going to do all we can to ensure that she does. How is she currently?”
“She’s hanging in there.” In that moment, it was like Gail saw Sandra for the first time. Her eyes widened slightly. “What happened to you?”
Sandra had forgotten about the blood on her.
It also explained the taken-aback look that Trudy had given her.
“I must look a fright, but I’m fine. Now we must do what we can to get your baby girl out of there.
If you’ll excuse me.” She motioned for an ERT officer to shelter Gail in a room down the hall.
ERT would have cleared the adjacent ones.
Sandra kept Trudy with her, thinking she could still be useful.
“Tom, we need to talk about the next steps,” Sandra said. “That little girl needs a new heart.” When there was no response, Sandra turned to Trudy. “Would you be willing to talk to him? We can see if he’ll listen to you.”
“Tom, Mom wouldn’t be happy with what you’re doing here,” Trudy called out, moving ahead without responding to Sandra.
That wouldn’t be the direction Sandra would have recommended, but Trudy would know him much better.
There was no reply from inside.
“Keep talking,” Sandra encouraged quietly. “You’re doing great.”
“I know losing her was hard on you. It’s been hard on me. I didn’t even know her for most of my life. All that time I’ll never get back.”
“There’s no going back,” Tom said, his voice gravelly like earlier.
“But it’s going to be okay, if you trust me,” Trudy told him. “Mom wanted us to be a family, even if it was a different one. Do you believe she’s watching us from heaven? I do.”
There was more silence, and Sandra sensed an energy shift.
Trudy continued. “She loved you more than anything, Dad.”
Sandra realized how generous the woman was being with Dad when Tom was technically the man who married her birth mother. He also wasn’t someone she knew until five years ago.
“I love you,” Trudy said, just as she started to sob.
Sandra wrapped her arm around her, and signaled for an officer to take her away. She’d been put through enough.
“Tom, did you hear all that?” Sandra asked him.
“Yeah.”
“There’s a future for both of you. People who love you don’t cut you out of their lives.
Prison won’t stop her love. She’ll be there for you, every step of the way.
” Sandra paused, but Tom didn’t respond.
“She’s taken care of with the cash. Will you let that little girl go now?
” Sandra’s chest tightened as seconds ticked off.
“Yes, I’ll surrender,” Tom eventually said. “Tell me what to do. I don’t really have a death wish.”
Sandra let out a deep breath. “That’s great to hear. Okay, well, I’m right here, outside the door.” She didn’t move from where she was. “You just need to open the door, and kick the gun across the floor into the hallway and then come out with your arms in the air. Can you do that, Tom?”
“Yeah, I’m… I’m doing it right now. Don’t shoot me.”
“No one will shoot you.”
The door slowly opened. The gun came out first, followed by Tom Sparling. He looked at her while ERT officers moved in and apprehended him. Another went in for Maria Torres.
Shortly after, the nurse came out and walked right up to Sandra. “How is Jordon?”
“In surgery.”
Maria threw her arms around her. “Thank you!”
Sandra hugged her back, taking a moment’s comfort in the embrace, the human contact. Maria hadn’t seemed put off by the blood. Though, as a nurse, she’d be used to seeing it.
“I never should have gone back to get that man’s phone. If I hadn’t…”
Sandra put a reassuring hand on Maria’s shoulder. “We can’t know the future.”
“Though maybe we can?” Maria lifted her hand and showed Sandra her ring finger. She grinned broadly. “He proposed, and I accepted. We’ve already started our family.” Maria touched her belly.
“You’re expecting too? Congratulations,” Sandra told her, grateful she hadn’t known before and had the added pressure.
“Thank you. Can I go check on Jordon?”
“I don’t see why not.”
Just then the regular lights came on with an announcement that the lockdown was lifted. It wasn’t long before the hallways became busy.
Gail hurried down the hallway to her daughter’s room.
That’s my cue…
This time, Sandra took the elevator to the eighth floor. Hopefully, Dr. Cowan could pull off a miracle.