Chapter 9 - THE EXCHANGE
Diane demanded Anna and the microfilm in exchange for Eleanor.
Anna agreed before anyone could stop her.
“I owe her my life.”
I insisted on going too.
Rebecca refused.
Ortiz said Diane wanted emotional leverage.
That was exactly why I had to face her.
The exchange location was Richard’s abandoned medical estate outside the city.
Federal agents surrounded the property from a distance.
Anna and I entered carrying a duplicate microfilm.
Eleanor sat in the center of an old operating room.
Her hands were restrained.
Her mouth was untouched.
The needle was theater.
Diane needed fear more than blood.
She stood behind the surgical table.
“You look exactly like Anna did when she thought she could win.”
I held her gaze.
“She did win. I’m alive.”
“You belong to my family.”
“No.”
“You married my son.”
“Because you built a lie.”
Diane wanted the original microfilm because it contained account numbers tied to a larger trust.
Anna asked where the missing women were.
Diane said some were alive.
Some were not.
All had signed documents.
“Under drugs,” Anna said.
“Under pressure,” Diane corrected. “Everyone makes choices under pressure.”
I looked at Eleanor.
She subtly moved one foot toward the table leg.
A scalpel lay beneath it.
While Diane reached for the film, Eleanor kicked the scalpel toward Anna.
Anna cut the restraints.
Diane drew a gun.
Agents entered.
A shot struck the ceiling.
Ortiz tackled Diane before she fired again.
Eleanor survived.
Diane was taken into federal custody.
For one moment, I thought the nightmare had reached its end.
Then agents searched the estate.
They found medical files belonging to twenty-seven women.
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One file carried Dr. Ethan Brooks’s signature.
The doctor who protected me in the emergency room had worked for Diane fifteen years earlier.
