Chapter 10 - Eddie broke.He fell against the wall.
“They took him.”
Hammer lowered his gun.
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
Mara looked at the monitors.
“There has to be a location embedded in the footage.”
Hammer stepped closer.
The laboratory doors opened.
A guard stepped inside.
Then another.
Then five more.
All wearing courthouse security uniforms.
Hammer lifted his weapon.
“Back up.”
The guards raised theirs.
Ellie whispered:
“They aren't guards.”
Hammer looked at her.
“What are they?”
“Witnesses.”
The first man removed his helmet.
He was an older detective.
Hammer recognized him.
Detective Nolan Price.
Price pointed his weapon toward Hammer.
“Ray, put the gun down.”
“You're involved.”
Price nodded.
“Yes.”
Mara whispered:
“You all are.”
Price looked exhausted.
“We were trying to keep the system contained.”
“You kidnapped children.”
“We moved them away from worse people.”
Hammer stepped forward.
“Don't dress murder in noble language.”
Price flinched.
“You don't understand how big it is.”
“I understand enough.”
Price looked at Ellie.
“She was supposed to disappear tonight.”
Hammer's eyes hardened.
“Who ordered it?”
Price hesitated.
Then said:
“Your attorney.”
Everyone turned toward Mara.
Mara froze.
“What?”
Price looked at her.
“You're the one who authorized the transfer.”
Hammer stared at Mara.
“No.”
Mara shook her head.
“I didn't.”
Price held up a document.
Her signature.
Her authorization.
Ellie shook her head.
“Fake.”
Price looked at her.
“You know her signature?”
Ellie nodded.
“My mother taught me.”
Hammer looked at the document.
Something was wrong.
The signature lacked Mara's distinctive loop.
Hammer had seen it hundreds of times.
“This is forged.”
Price sighed.
“Maybe.”
Hammer looked at him.
“Then who forged it?”
Price didn't answer.
A gunshot echoed.
Price fell.
The guards scattered.
The laboratory lights exploded.
Hammer grabbed Ellie.
“Move!”
They ran through a side corridor.
Mara followed.
Eddie stayed behind.
Hammer turned.
“Eddie!”
Eddie shouted:
“Go!”
Three gunshots.
Hammer almost turned back.
Ellie pulled his hand.
“Don't.”
Hammer stared at her.
“Why?”
“He chose.”
Another explosion shook the building.
The tunnel collapsed behind them.
They ran until they reached an underground parking area.
A black car waited.
The driver's door opened.
Clara stepped out.
Hammer stopped dead.
She looked older.
Thinner.
But alive.
They stared at each other.
Nine years disappeared in a single second.
Hammer whispered:
“You're real.”
Clara smiled sadly.
“Yes.”
He walked toward her.
Then stopped.
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I had to.”
“You let me go to prison.”
“I saved your life.”
“You destroyed it.”
Clara's eyes filled with tears.
“I know.”
Hammer stood inches away.
“Why Ellie?”
Clara looked at her daughter.
“Because they wanted Lucy.”
“They had her.”
“They thought they did.”
“What changed?”
Clara hesitated.
“She remembered.”
Ellie stepped forward.
“What?”
Clara knelt.
“When you were four, you remembered the ledger.”
Ellie frowned.
“What ledger?”
“The Red Ledger.”
Hammer's eyes narrowed.
“Where is it?”
Clara looked at him.
“You're standing on it.”
Hammer looked down.
Beneath the cracked concrete was a metal plate.
He moved it.
A hidden compartment.
Inside was a red book.
The Red Ledger.
Hammer reached for it.
Clara grabbed his wrist.
“Don't.”
“Why?”
“Because the moment you open it, every person named inside will know that we found it.”
Hammer looked at the book.
Then at Ellie.
Clara whispered:
“That's exactly what happened last time.”
The book suddenly started vibrating.
A phone had been hidden inside it.
It rang.
Hammer answered.
A man's voice whispered:
“Hello, Ray.”
Hammer knew that voice.
It belonged to Eddie.
But Eddie was supposed to be dead.
The voice continued:
“You still think you know who I am.”
Then the line cut.
Clara looked at Hammer.
“He has the boy.”
Hammer's expression became stone.
“And he wants the book.”
Clara shook her head.
“No.”
“He wants something else.”
“What?”
May you like
Clara looked at Ellie.
“She does.”
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