Chapter 9 - The Brother in the Black SUV
Valerie did not jump.
She looked at the road, at Ethan, and at the black SUV moving beside the ambulance.
“No!”
Daniel leaned farther from the passenger door.
“The ambulance is heading to a kill site!”
“I’ll crush my baby!”
“Not if you follow my instructions.”
Noah recovered behind her.
Blood ran from his eyebrow.
He reached inside his jacket.
Daniel shouted, “Now!”
A gun appeared in Noah’s hand.
Valerie pressed Ethan against her chest and jumped.
For one suspended instant, there was no sound.
Then Daniel caught the straps of Ethan’s carrier while another pair of arms pulled Valerie into the SUV.
Her shoulder struck the floor.
The carrier swung between the vehicles.
Daniel held it with both hands.
The ambulance veered toward them.
The SUV driver accelerated.
Daniel dragged Ethan inside just before the ambulance struck the rear bumper.
Valerie crawled toward the carrier.
Ethan’s oxygen mask had shifted.
She corrected it.
“He’s not breathing properly.”
Daniel closed the door and shouted to the driver, “Easton Medical.”
The man driving nodded.
He was broad-shouldered, gray-haired, and dressed in a dark security uniform.
Valerie looked at Daniel.
He was thinner than the man in her father’s photograph. A scar ran from his left temple to his jaw. His hair was dark like David’s but streaked with gray.
His eyes were unmistakably Mercer eyes.
“You’re alive,” she whispered.
“For now.”
“You knew they would take us.”
“I suspected Crown Circle had someone inside emergency dispatch.”
“You risked my child.”
“I saved him from Noah Price.”
“You told me to jump from a moving ambulance.”
“And you did.”
“I didn’t have a choice.”
“Neither did I.”
Valerie hated him for sounding so calm.
“Who is driving?”
“Dr. Samuel Reed. Former military trauma surgeon.”
The driver glanced at her in the mirror.
“We have four minutes to the clinic.”
“Is it a real clinic?”
“It’s private and secure.”
“That is what my husband said about our house.”
Daniel looked at Ethan.
“Charles trusted Samuel.”
“My father trusted Martin Hale too.”
“Hale was murdered because he refused to betray you.”
“Theresa said he helped her.”
“Theresa lies when she breathes.”
The ambulance rammed them again.
Samuel turned sharply into a narrow alley.
The SUV barely cleared two concrete barriers.
The ambulance struck one and spun sideways.
A gunshot shattered the rear window.
Daniel pushed Valerie and Ethan down.
The SUV emerged onto another road.
Two motorcycles appeared behind them.
“More of them?” Valerie asked.
Daniel checked a compact weapon.
“Yes.”
“Why are so many people willing to kill a newborn over an archive?”
“Because the archive can collapse governments.”
“I don’t care about governments.”
“You will when they decide your child is a biological key.”
Ethan released a weak cry.
It was the best sound Valerie had ever heard.
She bent over him.
“That’s right. Stay with me.”
Daniel watched her.
“David was never supposed to let it go this far.”
“Do not defend him.”
“I’m not.”
“He took my money and walked away while Ethan turned blue.”
“He was conditioned by Theresa.”
“He is an adult.”
“I know.”
“Then stop making him a victim.”
Daniel looked toward the pursuing motorcycles.
“I spent eight years learning the difference between explanation and excuse. David has explanations. He has no excuses.”
Samuel turned into an underground parking entrance.
A steel gate closed behind them.
One motorcycle stopped outside.
The other rider attempted to pass beneath the gate and crashed.
The SUV descended two levels.
Medical staff waited beside a secure elevator.
The doors opened immediately.
They transferred Ethan to a neonatal transport bed.
Valerie tried to follow, but her legs failed.
Daniel caught her.
“I’m going with him.”
“You’re losing too much blood.”
“He needs me.”
“He needs you alive.”
Doctors rushed Ethan into one elevator and Valerie into another.
She fought them until Samuel appeared beside her.
“We will keep you on the same floor.”
“Promise?”
“Yes.”
“Not because my father trusted you. Promise me as a doctor.”
Samuel met her eyes.
“I promise.”
The elevator doors closed.
Daniel remained outside.
Valerie reached toward him.
“The archive.”
“I have it.”
“My phone?”
“Still connected.”
“David.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“What about him?”
“Was he hurt in the explosion?”
“I don’t know.”
“Find out.”
“You still care?”
Valerie looked at the blood on her hands.
“I need him alive long enough to answer for what he did.”
The doors closed between them.
Valerie underwent emergency surgery.
The last thing she saw before anesthesia took her was Ethan’s image on a monitor in the next room.
His chest rose beneath a ventilator.
He was alive.
When Valerie woke, daylight filled the recovery room.
Samuel stood near the window.
Daniel sat beside the door.
Ethan’s bassinet was beside Valerie’s bed.
A breathing tube remained in his nose, but his skin was pink.
Valerie reached for him.
“He’s stable,” Samuel said.
She touched Ethan’s tiny hand.
His fingers closed around hers.
Tears slid toward her ears.
“Is he going to survive?”
“We believe so.”
The first part of the nightmare loosened its grip.
Then Valerie remembered.
“David?”
Daniel stood.
“He survived the explosion.”
“Where is he?”
“In police custody.”
“And Theresa?”
“She escaped.”
Valerie stared at him.
“How?”
Daniel placed a tablet on the bed.
Security footage showed Theresa handcuffed beside a patrol car after the explosion. An officer opened the rear door for her.
Instead of placing her inside, he removed her handcuffs.
They entered another vehicle and drove away.
“Who was the officer?” Valerie asked.
Daniel enlarged the image.
The man’s face was partially hidden.
But Valerie recognized him.
He had attended her wedding.
He had given a speech about loyalty.
“Elias Crowne,” Daniel said.
Valerie looked at Ethan.
Theresa was free.
Elias knew Ethan had survived.
And somewhere inside the archive was a list of powerful people who now knew Valerie had opened it.
The tablet chimed.
An incoming video call appeared.
CALLER: DAVID MERCER.
Daniel looked at Valerie.
May you like
“You don’t have to answer.”
Valerie pressed ACCEPT.
