Chapter 17 - THE BOY IN THE NARROWS
Eli was thirteen now.
Old enough to understand fear.
Young enough that Clara still saw the asthmatic little boy behind the apartment window.
Marcus Vale had chosen perfectly.
Clara boarded Victor’s jet before anyone finished arguing.
Victor sat opposite her.
“He needs you angry.”
“He has Eli.”
“I know.”
“He wants me.”
“I know.”
“Stop being calm.”
Victor’s voice sharpened.
“I am calm because if I stop being calm, I will kill every person between us and that boy.”
Clara fell silent.
Victor leaned forward.
“And you asked me to become something better.”
Her anger broke.
She reached across the space.
Victor took her hand.
When they landed, the hospital appeared normal.
Too normal.
Vale had entered using falsified credentials and taken Eli into the old surgical education wing.
Mercer was nowhere visible.
Clara entered alone.
Almost.
Victor had placed a tracker inside her shoe.
She knew.
She allowed it.
Vale waited in an operating theater.
Eli sat in the corner.
Unharmed.
Clara exhaled.
“Let him go.”
Vale smiled.
“You ruined me.”
“You ruined yourself.”
“I had everything.”
“You falsified imaging and helped murder a patient.”
“I survived.”
“No. You obeyed.”
Vale’s face changed.
Clara had learned where his wound lived.
Cowardice.
“You’ve spent your whole life serving stronger men.”
“Shut up.”
“Elias.”
Vale stepped closer.
“Samuel.”
Another step.
“Mercer.”
Vale pulled a gun.
Eli gasped.
Clara remained still.
“And now you need a thirteen-year-old to feel powerful.”
Vale struck her.
Clara fell.
Victor heard it through her concealed microphone.
Every muscle in his body tightened.
Roman grabbed his arm.
“Wait.”
Inside, Clara wiped blood from her lip.
“Feel better?”
Vale pointed the gun.
“No.”
“Didn't think so.”
Eli suddenly kicked a rolling stool.
It slammed into Vale’s knee.
Clara moved.
She grabbed Eli and dropped behind the surgical table.
Gunfire.
Victor’s team entered.
Vale ran.
Again.
This time Victor did not chase him.
He went directly to Clara.
That surprised everyone.
Including Clara.
“You stayed.”
Victor checked her face.
“You asked me to.”
Vale escaped through a service tunnel.
But he left something behind.
A laptop.
On it was a live video.
Jonathan Mercer sat inside Clara’s old apartment.
The same kitchen where Victor had first bled onto her table.
Mercer raised a glass.
“Come home, Doctor.”
Clara stared.
Then Mercer moved the camera.
S sat tied to a chair.
Again.
Clara almost laughed.
“Seriously?”
Victor looked at her.
“What?”
“They kidnapped S twice.”
Even Roman looked offended.
On-screen, S shouted:
“If you idiots pay these people anything, I’ll kill you myself!”
Mercer frowned.
S continued yelling.
Clara smiled despite herself.
“He’s going to regret choosing S.”
Victor reached for his coat.
Clara stopped him.
“No army.”
Victor sighed.
May you like
“Why do you keep saying that?”
“Because every time you bring two hundred men, somebody destroys my windows.”
