Chapter 7 - Three Years Ago
Dominic immediately called Rafael.
“Do not enter the apartment.”
Rafael answered, “Why?”
“Possible explosive.”
Marcus looked up.
“Explosive means boom?”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
I glared.
“What?”
“You want me to lie again?”
“Yes. Occasionally, yes.”
Dominic almost argued.
Then he stopped.
“Fair.”
We reached a maintenance garage.
An old black sedan sat inside.
Dominic opened it.
“No tracking system.”
“You keep an escape car?”
“I keep several.”
“That’s comforting.”
“It shouldn’t be.”
We got inside.
Dominic drove.
Fast.
Too fast.
Marcus sat strapped in the back with my arms around him.
“Where are we going?”
“A doctor.”
I looked at Dominic.
“What doctor?”
“The one who treated me three years ago.”
That caught me.
“You think he knew?”
“I think someone knew.”
Forty minutes later, we stopped behind a small private clinic outside the city.
Dominic pounded on the rear door.
An elderly man opened it.
He saw Dominic.
Then nearly dropped his coffee.
“Jesus Christ.”
“Hello, Dr. Harlan.”
The doctor stared at him.
“You’re speaking.”
“I’m hearing too.”
Harlan went pale.
Dominic held up the device.
“Recognize this?”
The doctor’s face answered before his mouth did.
Dominic grabbed him by the shirt.
“You knew.”
“Dominic—”
“You knew!”
Marcus whimpered.
I touched Dominic’s arm.
He released the doctor.
“Inside,” he said.
Harlan led us to an exam room.
His hands shook.
“The explosion damaged your inner ear.”
“Lie.”
“No. That part was true.”
“And this?”
Harlan stared at the device.
“That was not there when I first treated you.”
Dominic went silent.
“Explain.”
“Two days after surgery, Victor came in with another physician.”
“Name.”
“Dr. Samuel Price.”
Dominic frowned.
“He said Price was a specialist.”
Harlan nodded.
“I was ordered out.”
“Ordered by who?”
“Victor.”
Dominic laughed once.
Cold.
“And you obeyed my employee?”
Harlan looked ashamed.
“He showed me authorization with your signature.”
“Forged.”
“I know that now.”
Dominic leaned closer.
“What did they do?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
Harlan shook his head.
“I suspected something. I didn’t know what.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
The doctor looked terrified.
“Because Victor brought me pictures of my daughter leaving school.”
Silence.
Marcus leaned against me.
Harlan wiped his eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
Dominic stepped back.
For the first time, his anger looked tired.
“Where is Price?”
“I don’t know.”
Dominic stared at him.
Harlan hesitated.
Then opened a drawer.
He removed a flash drive.
“I kept something.”
Dominic took it.
“What?”
“Hospital security footage.”
His eyes locked on Dominic’s.
“The night you lost your hearing.”
We plugged it into a computer.
Grainy video appeared.
Dominic lay unconscious in a hospital bed.
Victor entered.
Then another man wearing scrubs.
Dr. Price.
They shut the door.
Twenty-seven minutes later, Price left.
Victor stayed.
Then the video skipped.
Three missing minutes.
When the picture returned, Victor walked out.
But he wasn’t alone.
A woman followed him.
Dominic leaned toward the screen.
His face drained of color.
I whispered, “Who is she?”
He didn’t answer.
The woman turned toward the camera.
May you like
Dominic stopped breathing.
“My sister.”
