Chapter 8 - THE BIRTH ROOM
Walter held Anna beneath the farmhouse.
Investigators had searched the property twice.
They missed a tunnel concealed beneath the old well.
The tunnel led to a second medical room built below the foundation.
There, police found records dating back forty years.
Walter had documented every pregnancy.
Every child.
Every buyer.
Every death.
But Anna was gone again.
A message directed us to a church outside Lubbock.
Samuel Vale owned the property.
The church promoted private maternity care for “troubled women.”
Inside, agents found six pregnant women whose families believed they had run away.
They had been drugged and held under false guardianships.
Anna had tried to free them.
Walter moved her before police arrived.
Vale was arrested in a hidden office.
He offered Walter’s location in exchange for immunity.
Rebecca Sloan, the federal prosecutor assigned to the case, refused complete immunity but agreed to consider cooperation.
Vale revealed that Walter planned to force my delivery in an underground clinic near the Mexican border.
Genesis had a private plane waiting.
My daughter would be transported immediately.
Anna would be killed afterward.
Michael asked to help locate the clinic.
Ranger Morris accepted his information but kept him in restraints.
Michael identified an old cattle route leading to the border property.
As teams prepared to move, my contractions began.
Too early.
The stress and drugs had triggered labor.
The hospital wanted to keep me under observation.
I wanted to reach Anna.
Rebecca stopped me.
“Your mother survived thirty years to find you. She would not want you risking both daughters now.”
Grace stood beside the bed.
She looked at my stomach.
“Is that my sister?”
“Yes.”
She reached out hesitantly.
My daughter kicked beneath her hand.
Grace’s face changed.
For the first time, she smiled.
Then the hospital lights failed.
A Genesis employee disguised as a nurse entered with a syringe.
Grace screamed before the woman reached me.
Security caught her.
Inside her pocket was a transfer order signed by Dr. Samuel Vale.
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The destination was the border clinic.
Walter had intended to take me directly from the hospital.
