“Private transfer completed.”
The buyers were scheduled to arrive the next morning.
Emily waited until Voss left the recovery wing.
Caroline had hidden a key card inside her shoe.
They freed Tessa.
“Caroline did that,” Emily said. “She said the backup system would lock the main exits but open the old fire doors.”
The three women ran.
Tessa could barely walk. So Emily carried Grace.
They reached the parking area and found Detective Harris was waiting.
My hands went cold.
“Caroline told us to run.”
Emily’s voice cracked.
“She stayed behind.”
“Is she dead?” I asked.
“I don’t know.”
She drove Tessa and Grace to an abandoned hunting cabin Caroline had prepared.
They stayed there for nine days while Tessa recovered.
No phones.
No bank cards.
No roads with cameras.
“Because Harris was watching you.”
She looked at me.
“The second I appeared, he would know where Tessa was.”
On the ninth night, Tessa developed a fever.
Her bleeding worsened.
She drove Tessa to a hospital across the state line, left her at the emergency entrance with the flash drive, and waited until doctors took her inside.
Then she drove home with Grace.
