The Scalpel Pointed Back

...

Anthony slammed his fist against the steel door, his voice raw. "She's a murderer, and she's got the gall to blackmail the world?"

Robert furrowed his brow. "Can't you kill the stream? If this keeps up, our reputation is done. No one will come to this hospital."

Anthony wanted to deck him. If the hospital hadn't botched Lauren's surgery, none of this would've happened.

The stream was hosted overseas, beyond their reach. The priority was finding the intern and making her talk.

Anthony gritted his teeth. "Dr. Carpenter, we're tracking the intern. She knows something."

"You found her yet?" I asked.

Anthony went quiet, and then his earpiece crackled. "The intern vanished three days ago. We can't find her."

"She is a scapegoat," I scoffed. "What could she know?"

I glanced at the timer. "Ten minutes down the drain. You can't even pull a transplant list? What a joke!"

Anthony's face burned, but he didn't dare to push me.

The hostages, shivering and clinging to each other, stared at me like I was the Grim Reaper.

My patience wearing thin, I clicked my tongue. "Guess three hours are too generous. If that transplant list isn't here in thirty minutes, I will pick off hostages. One body or two makes no difference to me."

I checked my watch. "Thirty-minute countdown starts now. People, do your thing."

Robert sighed outside, his tone dripping with false sincerity. "Dr. Carpenter, you know Lauren's kidneys are gone. You're just forcing us to find a new donor, aren't you? You'll get the death penalty, and your parents will be left caring for her. Can you live with that?"

...

I lowered my gaze, recalling my mom's swollen eyes from crying and my dad's hunched back.

They were small-town farmers who'd poured their lives into raising me and Lauren. We were supposed to repay them and give them a better life.

But the disaster fell on Lauren, my sweet, selfless sister, who had scavenged bottles one summer to buy me a cheap birthday necklace.

Now she was lying in a sterile bed, with tubes snaking from her body.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "You're right, Mr. Sharp."

He exhaled, hopeful. "Let them go. You might get a lighter sentence."

"I can die," I cut in, my tone sharp. "But Lauren must live!"

"What?"

"Actually, it's not just them with HIV. I've scattered blood samples across the city. Only I know where they're hiding. It's two a.m. now and three hours till sunrise. Anyone could catch HIV by dawn."