Chapter 5 - THE TRANSFER ORDER
Daniel did not speak to Marco for almost a full minute.
Then:
“You gave my wife’s letter to Salvatore.”
“Yes.”
“And you never told me.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because after the ambush, I assumed it was gone.”
“That is not an answer.”
Marco’s jaw tightened.
“Because Camille asked me not to tell you about any of it unless she failed.”
“She died.”
“I know.”
“And you still waited.”
Marco looked toward Leo’s room.
“You were sitting beside an incubator twenty hours a day and threatening doctors because your son cried.”
Daniel’s eyes darkened.
“You decided I couldn’t handle truth.”
“Yes.”
Silence.
Marco did not apologize.
Maybe because it would have sounded insulting.
I asked the practical question.
“What was the letter supposed to say?”
Marco shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Daniel looked toward the surveillance still.
“Salvatore does.”
Before anybody could decide the next move, Monica entered.
“Rachel.”
Her expression was wrong.
I stood immediately.
“What happened?”
“Nothing to Leo.”
My knees nearly weakened.
“Then what?”
“We received a transfer request.”
Daniel turned.
“For Leo?”
“Yes.”
“From whom?”
“A private neonatal unit in Lake Forest.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
Monica handed me the paperwork.
“Apparently Mr. Russo requested it.”
Daniel took the first page.
“I did not.”
There it was.
New danger.
Not dramatic gunfire.
Paper.
Sometimes paper was worse.
The request cited security concerns and included authorization from a family medical representative.
S. RUSSO.
Salvatore.
Daniel’s face hardened.
“He has no authority over my son.”
Monica pointed farther down.
“There’s also maternal consent.”
I stared.
“Camille is dead.”
“Yes.”
The signature had been dated three days before the ambush.
Camille Russo.
The form authorized emergency transfer of the newborn after delivery if St. Jude’s became unsuitable.
Daniel looked confused.
“She signed this?”
Doctor Patel joined us.
“It may be authentic.”
“Why would Camille sign an emergency transfer?”
“Parents of high-risk pregnancies sometimes complete contingency plans.”
Camille had been thirty-one weeks pregnant.
High risk after complications.
Not suspicious by itself.
But somebody had reused the form after her death.
“Who submitted it?” Marco asked.
“Courier.”
“Name?”
“Hospital contractor.”
Monica’s mouth tightened.
“He left before we questioned it.”
Daniel looked toward the hallway.
His men immediately moved.
I snapped, “No scene.”
He looked at me.
“My son—”
“Is stable and staying exactly where he is.”
I held up the paperwork.
“So find the person who abused the form. Do not terrify the NICU.”
He stared for two seconds.
Then nodded.
“Marco.”
“Quietly.”
“Yes.”
Marco left.
Daniel sat beside Leo’s incubator.
His hands were shaking.
That was the first time I saw them shake.
“They tried to move him.”
“Someone submitted paperwork.”
“They tried to take him.”
“Daniel.”
He looked at me.
“Language matters.”
His breathing was too fast.
“They didn’t get near him.”
He looked toward his son.
“What if Monica hadn’t checked?”
“She did.”
“What if—”
“No.”
The word stopped him.
I lowered my voice.
“You told everyone here to do their jobs.”
“So let us.”
He closed his eyes.
For once, he did.
Marco returned forty minutes later.
The courier had been found downstairs.
Twenty-three-year-old hospital contract employee.
Terrified.
He had been paid two hundred dollars to deliver a sealed packet by a woman outside.
Security footage showed her.
Lucia Serrano.
Salvatore’s operations director.
Daniel’s expression went cold.
“Bring her.”
Marco hesitated.
“Police are already downstairs.”
Daniel looked at me.
I said nothing.
He exhaled.
“Let them take her statement first.”
That mattered more than he knew.
Lucia did not run.
She arrived with an attorney two hours later after police contacted her.
She did not look like a criminal mastermind.
Fifty-two.
Tired eyes.
Gray wool coat.
The same one from the traffic footage.
Daniel stood across from her in a hospital conference room.
“You arranged Leo’s transfer.”
“Yes.”
No denial.
“On whose authority?”
“Salvatore’s.”
“Why?”
“He believes the hospital is compromised.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“By whom?”
“The people who killed Camille.”
“Then why didn’t he tell me?”
Lucia’s expression softened.
“Because you would refuse anything coming from him right now.”
Reasonable.
Infuriating.
Possibly true.
“Did Salvatore order the ambush?”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
“Did you meet Bruno beneath the overpass?”
Her face changed.
“Yes.”
Daniel stepped forward.
Marco shifted.
I said, “Let her finish.”
Daniel stopped.
Lucia looked at me strangely.
Then continued.
“I gave Bruno instructions to stop Camille’s vehicle.”
Silence.
Daniel’s face became terrifyingly calm.
“Whose instructions?”
“Salvatore’s.”
There.
The first piece of direct guilt.
“He wanted Camille stopped?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She had taken files.”
“What files?”
“Trucking ledgers.”
“Because she found weapons.”
Lucia looked surprised.
“You know.”
“Now.”
Daniel’s voice hardened.
“What were Bruno’s instructions?”
Lucia’s face went pale.
“Block the road.”
“Then?”
“Take the envelope and the drive.”
“And Camille?”
“Bring her to Salvatore.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
My stomach tightened.
Lucia’s eyes filled.
“No guns unless attacked.”
Daniel laughed in disbelief.
“My driver was shot through the neck before anyone inside our SUV fired.”
“I know.”
“So somebody changed the plan.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Bruno?”
“Maybe.”
Daniel stared at her.
“And you?”
“I left before the roadblock.”
That matched traffic footage.
Lucia had driven away.
Answer one.
Salvatore ordered the interception.
Open two.
Who ordered the gunfire?
And why?
Lucia continued.
“Salvatore did not want Camille dead.”
Daniel’s voice dropped.
“He wanted my pregnant wife dragged from her car because she had evidence against him.”
“Yes.”
“At what point should I find comfort in the distinction?”
Lucia lowered her eyes.
“You shouldn’t.”
That was the correct answer.
Then I asked:
“Why transfer Leo?”
Lucia looked at me.
“Because Bruno is alive.”
Everyone stopped.
Daniel stared.
“You said Bruno disappeared.”
“He did.”
“Where is he?”
“We don’t know.”
“Salvatore does?”
“No.”
“How do you know he’s alive?”
Lucia reached into her handbag slowly.
Marco tensed.
She removed an envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Taken yesterday.
Bruno Vale standing across the street from St. Jude’s.
Watching the hospital.
My skin went cold.
On the back were six words.
THE BOY FINISHES WHAT HIS MOTHER STARTED.
Daniel’s face emptied.
May you like
For fourteen days, he had thought Leo’s greatest danger was his own fragile body.
Now somebody connected to Camille’s ambush had found his son.
