He’s right. There’s no fucking way.

“Fine. But the minute you get to Wren, you call me. And stay with her until I get these doors open.”

“Like I’d do anything else,” he says. We drag two chairs close to the doors and climb up on them.

“Sir? What are you doing?” one of the nurses asks. “You can’t?—”

“My wife is on the other side of those doors. She’s nine months pregnant and dizzy. If you think we’re going to sit here and wait for some tech with his thumb up his ass to open those doors, you’re mistaken.”

She must hear the lethality in my tone because she throws her hands up and backs away. I punch one of the lightweight tiles hard enough it cracks in two, then drop the pieces to the floor.

Lacing my fingers together, I form a cup with my hands and brace them on my thigh. “Ready when you are.”

“If I find a dead rat up there,” West says, “you’re paying for all new vaccinations.”

“If you find a dead rat up there, there’s no fucking way Wren’s having the baby in this hospital.”

West eyes the crawlspace, then my hands. “On three. One, two…”

* * *

Wren

The lights and the alarm have me edging toward a panic attack. Why couldn’t Ry have gotten the snacks first? At least then my blood sugar wouldn’t be crashing. Assuming that’s what this is.

A flutter kick reassures me. “Sorry about this, little one. I don’t know how loud it is in there, but you’re probably ticked at me. I’d be ticked at me.”

I jump at the timid knock and almost drop my phone. “Who…who is it?”

“Ms. Kane?” A young man pokes his head into the room. “I’m Bobby, one of Dr. Wright’s med techs. She wants you to take a glucose test. Drink this entire cup, and we’ll test your blood sugar in fifteen minutes, then again in thirty.”

“Oh. Sure. Um…do you know what’s going on with the fire alarm?” I take the cup and sniff it. Strawberry this time. The last one was orange and so disgusting, I almost threw up halfway through. I try it, and it’s not completely awful.

Bobby rolls his eyes. “We’ve been having problems for weeks. Yesterday, this happened three times. I’m sure it’ll stop in a couple of minutes.”

“Good. My husband is freaking out.” I choke down half the cup. “They can’t make these things taste any better?”

He chuckles, then frowns. “I…uh…forgot to grab the timer at the nurse’s station. Be right back.”

“I’ll be here.” A fresh wave of dizziness washes over me. I stumble over to the window, drop my phone on the visitor chair next to me, and brace my hands on the sill.

“We’re stuck behind the fire doors.”

The nurse’s station is on the other side of the fire doors. My knees buckle and hit the floor. My phone. Where’s my phone?

Someone hauls me to my feet. “Careful,” a man growls. “Ramin said she was not to be harmed.”

“Who…?” I turn my head to see who’s talking, but my eyes won’t focus. Two men. I think. Scrubs. Masks. “Let go…of me…”

“Keep quiet.”

I don’t want to. I don’t want to move, either, but they pull me out of the room and down the hall—away from Ry and the fire doors. Lights flash everywhere.

I’m in trouble. Ry’s not here, and someone’s taking me. All I can manage is a weak whine. My tongue won’t work. There’s a ding, and we’re moving again.

I get one arm free, but only for a second. One of the men grabs the back of my neck and squeezes hard enough, I whimper.

“Do not fight us, woman. Once we have your husband and his men, we will let you go. You and your baby.”