Chapter 11 - REBECCA’S FILE
The old chapel stood beyond the northern tree line.
Rain had started.
Hard.
Cold.
Ethan, Mason, two guards, Daniel, and I went.
Noah stayed with Mercer.
I hated leaving him.
But we needed the formula.
Inside the chapel, candles were burning.
Someone had been there recently.
Daniel walked toward the altar.
“Under it.”
Ethan moved the wooden cross.
Behind it was a keypad.
Daniel entered six numbers.
The wall opened.
Inside was a small office.
Files.
Hard drives.
Medical samples.
And a portrait of Rebecca Caldwell.
Ethan stopped breathing.
“What the hell?”
I walked closer.
The portrait showed Rebecca holding infant twins.
Noah.
Daniel.
Behind it was a flash drive taped to the frame.
The label read:
FOR ETHAN.
His hands shook when he picked it up.
There was an old laptop on the desk.
I inserted the drive.
A video appeared.
Rebecca.
Alive.
Healthy.
Smiling sadly into the camera.
Ethan sat down.
“Hey, E,” she said.
His face collapsed.
“If you’re watching this, something went very wrong.”
Daniel stepped closer.
Rebecca continued.
“Victor is alive.”
Ethan shut his eyes.
“He’s been working with your father for years. They’re developing drugs that can imitate degenerative diseases in children.”
She looked terrified.
“They’re using sick kids, healthy kids, foster kids, undocumented kids. Children no one powerful will look for.”
My stomach turned.
Rebecca leaned toward the camera.
“They plan to create diseases and own the treatments. Not medicine. Markets.”
Ethan whispered, “Rebecca…”
“I found the records. I copied everything.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“But Victor knows I know.”
She looked behind her.
“I don’t know who I can trust.”
Then she said something that made Ethan go completely still.
“Margaret is helping me.”
I stared at the screen.
Rebecca continued.
“She’s terrified of Victor, but she’s trying to protect Daniel.”
Daniel began crying.
“He took Daniel after the safe-house fire. Margaret got inside his operation to keep our baby alive.”
Ethan covered his mouth.
Rebecca’s voice broke.
“If Margaret does terrible things after I’m gone, don’t assume she stopped loving the boys.”
I thought of Margaret bleeding on the lab floor.
Her shame.
Her apology.
Then Rebecca said, “But don’t trust her completely either.”
I looked at Ethan.
“Victor has something on her. Something I couldn’t find.”
The video flickered.
“If Noah becomes sick, it means Victor moved faster than I expected.”
Rebecca held up a page.
“The antidote formula is hidden in the chapel.”
Mercer had been right.
Then footsteps sounded outside.
Many footsteps.
Ethan killed the screen.
Mason drew his gun.
“How many?”
One guard peeked through the window.
“Too many.”
The chapel door exploded inward.
Gunfire tore through the room.
We hit the floor.
Ethan fired back.
Daniel crawled behind a pew.
I grabbed the formula folder.
“Back exit!”
“There isn’t one!”
“There’s always another exit in this family!”
Daniel shouted, “Confession booth!”
We ran.
Behind the booth was a narrow passage.
We climbed inside.
Mason covered us.
“Go!”
A bullet hit him.
He spun.
“Keep moving!”
Ethan grabbed him.
“Mason!”
“I’m fine!”
He wasn’t.
Blood covered his side.
Then Victor’s men entered the chapel.
We disappeared into the passage.
Ten feet inside, Daniel stopped.
“What?”
He pointed ahead.
Margaret stood in the tunnel.
Alive.
May you like
Holding a gun.
And she aimed it directly at me.
