Chapter 9 - THEY POISONED HER MOTHER
Willa hit Sterling before Tomas could stop her.
Her fist connected with his mouth.
Sterling fell sideways with the chair.
Willa went after him.
“You drugged her?”
Tomas caught Willa around the waist.
“Willa!”
“Let me go!”
Sterling laughed from the floor.
“She’s seventy-two years old.”
“She’s fragile.”
“She doesn’t need much.”
Willa fought Tomas.
“I’ll kill him!”
Everett’s voice cut through the room.
“Willa.”
She stopped.
Everett struggled to sit upright.
His face was pale.
His body shook from weakness.
But his eyes were clear.
“Look at me.”
Willa did.
“Find Ruth.”
Her breathing slowed.
Everett nodded toward Tomas.
“Go.”
Willa shook her head.
“You need me.”
“My mother needs me more.”
Everett’s expression softened.
“Yes.”
Tomas helped Sterling upright.
Everett looked at him.
“Take six.”
Tomas nodded.
Everett added.
“Ten.”
Tomas almost smiled.
“Now you’re thinking clearly.”
Willa grabbed her coat.
Before leaving, she returned to Everett.
“What if Whitfield comes back?”
“He will.”
“How do you know?”
Everett looked toward Sterling.
“Because he needs something.”
Sterling’s smile faded.
Willa noticed.
“What?”
Everett stared at his cousin.
“My signature.”
“For what?”
Everett leaned back.
“We’ll discuss it when you return.”
Willa hated leaving.
But every minute mattered.
Tomas drove.
Three vehicles followed.
The private facility stood behind a high fence thirty miles southwest of Chicago.
No sign identified it.
No lights showed in the windows.
Willa stared at the building.
“This is a nursing home?”
“No.”
Tomas checked his weapon.
“It’s a warehouse with beds.”
Willa’s stomach turned.
They entered through a side door.
No alarm.
That worried Tomas.
“Too easy.”
The hallway smelled like bleach.
Willa heard coughing behind locked doors.
She opened the first.
An elderly man lay restrained to a bed.
Second room.
A woman.
Third.
Empty.
Willa looked at Tomas.
“What is this place?”
His face hardened.
“People Sterling needed hidden.”
Willa ran room to room.
“Mom!”
Nothing.
“Ruth!”
At the end of the corridor, she heard humming.
A familiar melody.
Willa stopped.
Her mother used to hum that song while washing dishes.
She ran.
The final room was locked.
Tomas shot the lock.
Willa pushed inside.
Ruth Hayes sat in a wheelchair near the window.
Her silver hair hung around her face.
An IV line ran into her arm.
“Mom.”
Ruth looked up.
No recognition.
Willa’s heart cracked.
She knelt.
“Mom, it’s Willa.”
Ruth stared.
“The nice nurse?”
Willa began crying.
“Yes.”
“Yes, Mom.”
“It’s the nice nurse.”
Ruth smiled faintly.
“I like you.”
Willa took her hand.
“I like you too.”
She checked the IV.
A clear liquid flowed from an unlabeled bag.
Willa shut the line immediately.
Tomas entered.
“We have movement outside.”
“How long?”
“Minutes.”
Willa examined Ruth.
“She can’t walk.”
“I’ll carry her.”
Tomas lifted Ruth.
They moved.
Gunfire erupted at the front.
Tomas’s men returned fire.
Willa ran beside him.
Ruth became frightened.
“Where are we going?”
“Home.”
“I don’t know you.”
Willa fought tears.
“That’s okay.”
“I know you.”
They reached the rear exit.
A man appeared.
Gun raised.
Tomas turned.
Willa saw the muzzle flash.
Tomas stumbled.
“Tom!”
He fell to one knee.
One of his men shot the attacker.
Blood spread across Tomas’s shoulder.
“I’m fine.”
“You were shot!”
“It missed everything important.”
He shoved Ruth toward Willa.
“Go!”
They reached the car.
Willa climbed in with her mother.
Tomas followed.
As they pulled away, the facility caught fire.
Willa looked back.
“No!”
“Sterling’s men.”
“But there were people inside!”
“My team is getting them out.”
Flames climbed from the windows.
Willa held Ruth.
Her mother trembled.
“Are we in trouble?”
Willa kissed her forehead.
“No.”
Ruth looked at her carefully.
For one brief second, clarity returned.
“Willa?”
Willa stopped breathing.
“Yes.”
Ruth touched her face.
“My baby.”
Willa broke.
“I’m here.”
Then Ruth’s eyes drifted.
The moment disappeared.
But Willa had gotten it.
One second.
Enough.
When they returned to the school, Everett was no longer in the gymnasium.
Willa froze.
“Where is he?”
A guard looked nervous.
“Upstairs.”
“Why?”
“He collapsed.”
Willa ran.
She found Everett on a cot.
A medic worked beside him.
Everett was conscious.
Barely.
Willa went to him.
“We found her.”
His eyes opened.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Relief crossed his face.
“Good.”
Then Willa noticed blood beside his ear.
“What happened?”
Everett shook his head.
“Withdrawal.”
The medic looked worried.
“His blood pressure is unstable.”
Willa checked him.
“We need imaging.”
Everett shook his head.
“No hospitals.”
“Then we need equipment.”
Tomas entered holding his injured shoulder.
“We can get it.”
Everett looked toward him.
“Sterling?”
Tomas’s expression changed.
Willa turned.
“What?”
Sterling’s chair downstairs was empty.
Tomas swore.
“He escaped during the rescue.”
Everett closed his eyes.
Then every light in the building shut off.
A speaker crackled overhead.
Sterling’s voice filled the school.
“Hello, cousin.”
Willa froze.
Everett opened his eyes.
Sterling continued.
May you like
“You should have stayed asleep.”
Then the first explosion hit the ground floor.
