Chapter 4 - The Woman Behind the Gun
Leo fired through the door before it opened.
I screamed and dropped beside Liam's bed.
Someone outside fired back.
Wood exploded from the doorframe.
Leo shouted, “Bathroom!”
This time I obeyed halfway.
I grabbed Liam's emergency medical bag and dragged it toward the bathroom.
Then I realized Liam wasn't behind me.
He was standing.
Barely.
One hand gripped the bedpost while the other held his pistol.
“You're insane.”
“Frequently.”
“You'll tear your abdomen open.”
“Also likely.”
Leo fired twice more.
Then silence.
A voice came from the hall.
“Mr. Mercer?”
Leo frowned.
Liam raised his weapon.
“Identify yourself.”
“Maria.”
The housekeeper.
“I'm alone.”
Leo opened the damaged door cautiously.
Maria stumbled inside.
Blood covered her sleeve.
I ran to her.
“Sit down.”
“It's not mine.”
She looked terrified.
“They came through the kitchen.”
“How many?”
“Four. Maybe five.”
“Where's security?”
Maria shook her head.
“They knew the codes.”
Liam and Leo exchanged a look.
Inside job.
Again.
Then Maria looked at me.
“They were asking for the nurse.”
My stomach dropped.
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
Liam did.
I saw it immediately.
“What aren't you telling me?”
He looked away.
“Liam.”
The lights died.
Darkness swallowed the room.
A second later emergency lighting flickered red along the floor.
Leo moved to the hallway.
“Backup generator should've started.”
“Sabotaged,” Liam said.
I heard metal click.
A magazine being checked.
Then Liam whispered, “Nora, get behind me.”
It was absurd.
The man could barely stand.
Still, I moved.
Footsteps approached.
One set.
Slow.
Unhurried.
Leo aimed.
A figure appeared.
“Don't shoot.”
A woman.
She stepped into the red light with both hands raised.
She was perhaps sixty, elegant even in a black tactical jacket.
Liam went completely still.
“Mother.”
I looked at him.
His mother?
Catherine Mercer lowered her hands.
“You're difficult to protect when you insist on bleeding everywhere.”
Liam didn't lower the gun.
“You're supposed to be in Switzerland.”
“I lied.”
“Why?”
“Because someone has been trying to murder my son.”
Her gaze moved to me.
“And apparently Daniel Bennett's daughter has finally arrived.”
I stared.
“You knew my father too?”
Catherine's face softened.
“Very well.”
Before I could ask anything else, Leo's radio crackled.
“East corridor secure.”
Another voice followed.
“Three hostiles down. One escaped.”
The lights returned.
Catherine looked at Liam.
“We need to leave.”
“No. Tommy Bennett was taken.”
“I know.”
My entire body stiffened.
“How?”
“Because I know who took him.”
I crossed the room.
“Tell me.”
“Dr. Ellis.”
“We already suspected him.”
“No. You misunderstand.”
Catherine removed her gloves.
“Ellis isn't working for Calder.”
Liam frowned.
“Then who?”
Catherine looked directly at her son.
“Me.”
Nobody spoke.
My mind refused to process the sentence.
“You kidnapped my brother?”
“I relocated him.”
“You forged Liam's authorization.”
“Yes.”
I slapped her.
The sound cracked through the room.
Leo looked like he'd forgotten how to breathe.
Liam said nothing.
Catherine slowly turned her face back toward me.
“Good.”
“Good?”
“Daniel raised you properly.”
“Where is Tommy?”
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“Rush University Medical Center under another name, guarded by men Calder doesn't know.”
I looked at Liam.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
Catherine sighed.
“Calder had already accessed Tommy's records. Leaving him in place would've been irresponsible.”
“You could have told me!”
“And if this house was bugged?”
She looked around.
“Which it was.”
Leo's expression changed.
“Was?”
Catherine removed a tiny device from her pocket.
A listening transmitter.
“Found beneath the hallway console.”
Liam's face became murderous.
“How long?”
“Unknown.”
Then Catherine turned toward me.
“Your brother is alive. He's receiving treatment.”
“What treatment?”
“The trial.”
I stared.
“What?”
“His enrollment was approved this afternoon.”
“That isn't possible. We don't have the money.”
“You do now.”
My eyes moved to Liam.
He looked as surprised as I was.
Catherine continued.
“Daniel Bennett once saved my son's life. Consider the debt overdue.”
My legs nearly gave out.
“No.”
“Nora—”
“No. You don't get to buy Tommy because you knew my father.”
“I'm not buying anything.”
“Then why?”
Catherine's expression changed.
“Because your father died because of us.”
Silence.
I heard the clock on Liam's wall.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
“My father died in a car accident.”
“No.”
Catherine looked at Liam.
He appeared genuinely confused.
“Mother.”
“You were seventeen. Your father made sure you never knew.”
“Knew what?”
Catherine faced me.
“After Daniel saved Liam, he witnessed something he shouldn't have.”
My mouth went dry.
“What?”
“A murder.”
I couldn't move.
“Daniel agreed to testify.”
Liam whispered, “Against my father?”
“Yes.”
Catherine nodded.
“Your father ordered Daniel killed before he could reach federal investigators.”
The room tilted.
I grabbed the chair.
“No.”
“Nora—”
I turned on Liam.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
“Don't lie to me.”
“I swear.”
Catherine said quietly, “He didn't.”
Tears burned my eyes.
“My mother spent twelve years believing Dad fell asleep at the wheel.”
“I know.”
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing?”
“I was afraid.”
I laughed once.
It sounded broken.
“Everyone in this house seems very good at fear.”
I grabbed my bag.
Liam called my name.
I kept walking.
Then Catherine said something that stopped me.
“Daniel left evidence.”
I turned.
“What evidence?”
“We never found it.”
“What kind?”
“A recording.”
Liam stared at his mother.
“Of my father?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Catherine looked at me.
“Daniel told me he had hidden it somewhere no Mercer would ever think to search.”
I thought of my childhood home.
Sold after Dad died.
His ambulance locker.
Cleared out.
His possessions.
Mostly gone.
Then one memory surfaced.
A battered paperback my father used to carry everywhere.
The same book I had packed into my duffel.
The same book sitting upstairs beside Liam's bed.
My heart began hammering.
I ran.
Back upstairs.
Past the broken door.
The paperback was still on the chair.
I grabbed it.
Its spine had always been strangely thick.
I tore the cover.
Something small fell onto the carpet.
A memory card.
May you like
Liam stared down at it.
Then a gunshot shattered the window.
