Chapter 5 - THE MAN IN THE HALLWAY
Alexander spun toward the door.
“Security!”
Two hospital guards rushed in.
“What happened?”
“Someone took a picture of my mother in this room.”
The guards looked at each other.
“That’s not possible.”
Alexander shoved the phone toward them.
“Then explain that.”
Evelyn stared at the photograph.
Her face went pale.
“He found us before.”
Alexander turned.
“What?”
“After the crash.”
“Richard?”
“I don’t know.”
“Mom.”
“I woke up in a county hospital under another name. A nurse helped me disappear.”
“Why?”
“Because someone came looking for me.”
Alexander looked toward the hallway.
“Who?”
“A man in a gray coat.”
“Did you know him?”
“No.”
“What did he want?”
“To know if I remembered the crash.”
Alexander’s jaw tightened.
“And?”
“He tried to inject something into my IV.”
The room went quiet.
“How did you get away?”
“The nurse stopped him.”
“What was her name?”
Evelyn hesitated.
“Clara Benton.”
Alexander took out his phone.
“Is she alive?”
“I don’t know.”
Outside the room, a nurse pushing a supply cart walked slowly past.
Alexander noticed her.
Something was wrong.
She wasn’t wearing an ID badge.
“Hey.”
The woman kept walking.
Alexander stepped into the hallway.
“Excuse me.”
She moved faster.
“Stop.”
She abandoned the cart and ran.
Alexander chased her.
People shouted as they pushed through the corridor.
The woman slammed through a stairwell door.
Alexander followed.
Two floors down, she turned.
Something flashed in her hand.
A knife.
Alexander stopped.
She rushed him.
He caught her wrist.
The blade sliced his forearm.
He drove her against the wall.
She kicked him in the knee.
He fell.
She ran.
Then a security guard appeared below.
“Stop!”
The woman jumped over the railing onto the next landing.
She hit hard.
Got up.
Kept moving.
By the time Alexander reached the ground floor exit, she was gone.
Only one thing remained.
A hospital badge lying on the floor.
The photograph belonged to a real nurse.
But the face had been replaced.
Alexander turned the badge over.
Someone had written three words on the back.
ASK MARCUS ABOUT CLARA.
At the mansion, Marcus sat in the safe room across from Victoria.
The emergency lights glowed red.
Victoria stared at him.
“Why are you smiling?”
Marcus held up his phone.
“Power’s back.”
“That makes you happy?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“It means my backup network is online.”
He tapped the screen.
The exterior cameras loaded.
Two shooters were down.
One had escaped.
Marcus zoomed in on the image.
His expression changed.
Victoria noticed.
“You know him.”
Marcus said nothing.
“You do.”
Marcus enlarged the shooter’s face.
A scar ran across the man’s left eyebrow.
Marcus knew that face.
Very well.
Victoria leaned closer.
“Who is he?”
Marcus’s voice went quiet.
“His name is Jonah Vale.”
“So?”
“So he used to work with me.”
“Security?”
Marcus shook his head.
“Military intelligence.”
Victoria stared.
“Why would military intelligence attack this house?”
Marcus looked at the badge photograph Alexander had just texted him.
Then he saw the handwritten message on the back.
ASK MARCUS ABOUT CLARA.
For the first time that night, Marcus looked afraid.
Victoria whispered,
“You know Clara too, don’t you?”
May you like
Marcus slowly lifted his eyes.
“Clara Benton was my mother.”
