CHAPTER 10 The Man Who Took the Bullet
CHAPTER 10
The Man Who Took the Bullet
BANG!
The gunshot shattered the silence.
Time seemed to stop.
Benjamin Whitmore didn't think.
He moved.
Instinct overruled fear.
He threw himself across Lucy's hospital bed just as the bullet tore through the air.
THUD!
Benjamin's body jerked violently.
The round buried itself deep into his right shoulder, spinning him sideways.
Blood splattered across the white hospital sheets.
Lucy screamed.
"Dad!"
The word escaped before she even realized she had spoken it.
Benjamin looked at her through the pain.
Despite the blood soaking his suit...
He smiled.
She had called him Dad.
For the first time in twenty-six years.
The masked gunman raised his pistol again.
He wasn't finished.
His eyes never left Lucy.
"You were supposed to disappear with your mother."
Before he could fire a second shot...
Ethan lunged.
The rookie tackled the gunman into the shattered window frame.
Glass exploded across the floor.
The pistol skidded under a medical cart.
The two men slammed into the wall.
The gunman fought with terrifying precision.
Not like a common criminal.
Every movement was controlled.
Disciplined.
Military.
He drove an elbow into Ethan's ribs.
The rookie gasped.
The masked man reached for a combat knife hidden behind his belt.
Steel flashed beneath the emergency lights.
Outside the ICU...
Alex heard Lucy scream.
His heart nearly stopped.
"DAD!"
The word echoed through the hallway.
Alex froze.
Dad?
Lucy had always told him both of her parents were dead.
Then another gunshot rang out.
Alex snapped back to reality.
He lowered his shoulder and charged the locked ICU door.
BAM!
The hinges groaned.
Again.
BAM!
The door cracked.
One more hit.
The frame splintered.
Alex burst inside.
The scene looked like a battlefield.
Glass everywhere.
Benjamin bleeding heavily beside Lucy's bed.
Ethan wrestling a masked attacker.
A knife raised high.
Without hesitation...
Alex grabbed the nearest object.
An oxygen cylinder.
He swung it with every ounce of strength he had.
CRACK!
The cylinder slammed into the attacker's forearm.
The knife clattered across the floor.
The masked man stumbled backward.
His eyes met Alex's.
For just one second.
Then he smiled.
A cold...
Almost amused smile.
"You."
Alex stepped forward.
"Who are you?"
The man laughed quietly.
"You still don't remember."
"What?"
The attacker tilted his head.
"You've always been slow, Lieutenant."
Alex's pulse quickened.
They knew each other.
Somehow.
Before he could ask another question...
The attacker pulled a small metal sphere from his pocket.
Smoke grenade.
He slammed it onto the floor.
HISSSSS!
White smoke exploded through the ICU.
Within seconds...
Visibility disappeared.
Doctors coughed.
Nurses shouted.
Security officers rushed in blindly.
When the smoke finally cleared...
The attacker was gone.
Only one thing remained.
A black raven pin.
No larger than a coin.
Marcus Reynolds picked it up with a gloved hand.
Rachel Morgan immediately recognized it.
"The Raven."
Marcus frowned.
"You know this symbol?"
Rachel nodded slowly.
"I've only seen it once."
"Fifteen years ago."
"An FBI briefing."
Alex looked at her.
"What is it?"
Rachel's expression turned grave.
"It's not just a symbol."
"It's an organization."
"A very dangerous one."
Benjamin, despite the pain, suddenly looked up.
"No..."
Rachel turned toward him.
"You know them?"
Benjamin closed his eyes.
"I spent half my life hiding Lucy from them."
The room fell silent.
Alex stared at Benjamin.
"Hiding her?"
Benjamin nodded weakly.
"They murdered her mother."
"They kidnapped children."
"They erased identities."
"They built new lives..."
"...for people they intended to use."
Alex struggled to process the words.
"What does that have to do with Lucy?"
Benjamin looked directly into his eyes.
"Everything."
Dr. Carter rushed Benjamin onto another stretcher.
Before they wheeled him away...
He grabbed Alex's wrist.
His grip was surprisingly strong.
"Listen carefully."
Alex leaned closer.
"The key..."
Alex nodded.
"What about it?"
Benjamin's breathing became labored.
"It doesn't open a box."
Alex frowned.
"What?"
"It opens..."
Benjamin coughed violently.
"...a vault."
Silence.
"A vault?"
Benjamin nodded.
"Inside..."
"...is proof."
"Proof of what?"
Benjamin looked toward Lucy.
Then back at Alex.
His voice dropped to almost nothing.
"Proof..."
"...that this wasn't the first time someone tried to kill her."
Alex's blood ran cold.
"What are you saying?"
Benjamin's eyes filled with fear.
"They've been watching Lucy..."
"...since the day she was born."
The heart monitor beside Benjamin suddenly screamed.
BEEEEEEEEEP!
Doctors rushed him toward the operating room.
Lucy reached out desperately.
"Dad!"
The operating room doors slammed shut before she could touch him.
An hour later...
Detective Rachel Morgan entered the hospital security office.
Every surveillance camera from the attack was displayed across six monitors.
One technician paused the footage.
"There."
Rachel leaned closer.
The masked gunman had escaped through a restricted stairwell.
Just before disappearing...
He looked directly into Camera 14.
Slowly...
He removed his mask.
The room fell silent.
Rachel's eyes widened.
She whispered,
"No..."
The technician frowned.
"You know him?"
Rachel didn't answer.
She couldn't.
Because the face staring back from the monitor...
Belonged to someone officially declared dead...
May you like
Twelve years ago.
End of Chapter 10
