Chapter 11 - The Grandmother at the Door
The hospital went into lockdown.
Security officers cleared the lobby.
Federal agents searched every floor.
Lily was moved to a protected room without windows.
Daniel remained beside her.
She had seen the message before the screens went dark.
“What does it mean?” she asked.
“Someone is trying to frighten us.”
“Is it working?”
Daniel forced a smile.
“No.”
Lily studied him.
“You’re lying.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
He stared at her.
“Why is that good?”
“Because if you weren’t scared, you wouldn’t be paying attention.”
Even injured, she sounded like Thomas.
Daniel sat beside her.
“Scott said someone thinks you saw a person in the tunnel.”
Lily looked toward the door.
“I did.”
Daniel’s pulse quickened.
“Who?”
“I don’t know his name.”
“Tell me everything.”
Before she could answer, someone began shouting outside.
“I’m her grandmother!”
Margaret’s voice.
“Please let me see Lily!”
Daniel closed his eyes.
The timing was so cruel it almost seemed designed.
Margaret continued pleading with security.
Lily’s expression hardened.
“She came?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the whole country is watching.”
“That’s not the only reason.”
Daniel looked at her.
“How do you know?”
“She called me before the tunnel.”
Daniel went still.
“When?”
“Two days before the museum trip.”
“What did she say?”
“She asked whether you still had Grandpa’s storage key.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“She said it was a surprise.”
Daniel stood.
“What else?”
“She asked which route the school bus would take.”
His stomach dropped.
“Did you tell her?”
“I said North River.”
Daniel moved toward the door.
“Dad.”
He turned.
Lily’s face had gone pale.
“She told someone.”
Daniel opened the door.
Margaret stood beyond the security barrier, crying into her hands. Scott was behind her. Camera crews filled the far end of the hallway.
Daniel walked toward them.
“Please,” Margaret said. “Let me see her.”
Daniel took out his phone and placed the call on speaker so Lily could hear from inside the room.
Margaret’s voice came through.
“Please let me see Lily!”
Daniel stared at her with disgust.
“Weren’t you too busy?”
She flinched.
“That was years ago.”
“You called her before the tunnel collapse.”
Margaret’s tears stopped.
Scott looked at her.
“What is he talking about?”
Daniel moved closer.
“You asked for her route.”
Margaret’s mouth opened.
No words came.
“You told them,” Daniel said.
“No.”
“You asked a fourteen-year-old which tunnel her school bus would use.”
“I didn’t know what they were planning.”
“Who did you tell?”
Margaret shook her head.
“Daniel, please.”
Scott stepped forward.
“We’re family. We came as fast as we could.”
He reached toward the room.
Daniel shoved him against the wall.
“Get your damn hands off my daughter.”
Security officers moved in.
Margaret lifted the old family photograph.
“I’m still her grandma.”
Daniel took it from her and threw it onto the floor.
Glass shattered.
“You lost that right the day you abandoned her.”
Reporters surged forward.
Questions exploded through the hallway.
“Did the grandmother reveal the bus route?”
“Was the family involved in the attack?”
“Is Scott Mercer connected to Halcyon?”
Security officers restrained Scott.
Daniel blocked the doorway.
“Now the whole country knows who saved lives,” he said.
“And who never gave a damn.”
From inside the room, Lily called weakly.
“Dad?”
Daniel rushed back to her bedside.
She looked frightened.
“There was someone else in the tunnel.”
“Who?”
“A woman.”
“What woman?”
“She was near the maintenance door before the explosion. She had an access badge.”
“Did you see her face?”
“Yes.”
“Was it Grandma?”
“No.”
Lily’s eyes shifted toward the shattered family photograph outside.
“She looked like Mom.”
Daniel stared at her.
Rachel had been dead for twelve years.
Before he could speak, Lily’s heart monitor erupted.
Her body stiffened.
Doctors rushed into the room.
Daniel was pushed backward.
The last thing he saw before the door closed was Lily reaching toward him.
Then a nurse noticed something attached beneath Lily’s bed.
May you like
A small black transmitter.
Someone had been remotely interfering with the medical equipment.
