Chapter 6 - The Arrival of the Attorney General
While Elena lay unconscious on the operating table, the emergency entrance of Johns Hopkins Hospital was transformed into a high-security federal command post. Two matte-black Sikorsky helicopters touched down on the hospital’s rooftop helipad, their rotors whipping the freezing night air as a dozen heavily armed Diplomatic Security Service agents and FBI personnel poured out onto the tarmac.
Surrounded by his protective detail, William Vance strode into the neonatal surgical wing, his long wool coat billowing behind him. At sixty-two, he was a physically imposing man—six feet three inches tall, with silver hair, piercing gray eyes, and a jawline set like granite. He ignored the hospital administrators who scurried forward to greet him, walking directly to the scrub nurse guarding the double doors of O.R. 4.
“Status of my daughter and granddaughter,” Vance demanded, his voice dropping into the low, unmistakable register that had made syndicate bosses break down in interrogation rooms.
“Surgery is underway, Mr. Attorney General,” the charge nurse said respectfully, gesturing toward the private surgical family waiting suite. “Dr. Aris, our Chief of Obstetrics, is performing the procedure herself. We expect the baby to be delivered within the next five minutes. Please, sit down. We will bring you updates the second they occur.”
Vance didn't sit. He paced the perimeter of the private waiting room, his cell phone pressed to his ear as he coordinated the legal fallout occurring thirty miles away at the suburban house Elena had called home.
On the other end of the line was Special Agent in Charge Marcus Vance—William’s nephew and Elena’s cousin—who was currently standing in Arthur’s formal dining room, overseeing the forensic processing of the crime scene.
“What’s the situation at the house, Marcus?” William asked, his eyes fixed on the double doors of the operating room.
“We’ve secured the scene, Uncle William,” Marcus replied, his voice clipped and professional. “Forensics is currently swabbing the kitchen island and floor for Elena’s blood. We recovered her smashed cell phone from the brick backsplash; our tech team is already extracting the internal memory and audio logs. As for the suspects, Arthur and Beatrice Sterling are currently sitting in separate interrogation rooms at the federal courthouse in Baltimore.”
“Did either of them make a statement upon arrest?”
“Arthur hasn't stopped talking since the cuffs went on,” Marcus said with a dry, disgusted scoff. “He’s claiming parental immunity, spousal privilege, and trying to blame the physical push entirely on his mother. Beatrice is demanding to call her estate lawyer and claiming she had no idea Elena was pregnant with a 'legitimate' heir to your family.”
William Vance’s hand tightened around the phone until the plastic casing creaked. “Instruct the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland that I want both of them held without bail. No bail hearings until my daughter is out of surgery and capable of signing a victim impact statement. Charge them with federal kidnapping by restraint, aggravated assault on a federally protected family member, and destruction of evidence.”
May you like
“Consider it done, sir,” Marcus said. “How is Elena?”
Before William could answer, the surgical doors swung open. Dr. Aris walked out, pulling off her surgical mask, her scrubs stained with a faint trace of crimson.
