Chapter 3 - The Woman Behind the DoorNoah ran.
Mara caught him around the waist before he reached the opening.
“Wait!”
“That’s my mother!”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t!”
The door opened another inch.
The hand vanished.
Then came silence.
Daniel drew his phone flashlight.
“Back up.”
Elias suddenly grabbed his arm.
“Do not open it.”
Daniel stared.
“You’ve spent years telling lies. Why should I believe you now?”
“Because the thing behind that door killed six people.”
Noah looked at him.
“You said Mom was alive.”
Elias closed his eyes.
“She is.”
“Then who did she kill?”
“No one.”
A voice came from the darkness.
“Elias is lying again.”
Everyone froze.
The door opened fully.
A woman stepped into the red light.
Long dark hair.
Pale face.
A scar crossing her right eyebrow.
Noah’s mouth fell open.
“Mom?”
The woman looked at him.
Her eyes filled with tears.
But she didn’t move.
“Noah…”
He ran to her.
She dropped to her knees.
They collided.
For several seconds, the world outside the stairwell disappeared.
Mara looked at Elias.
“You told everyone your daughter died.”
“I had to.”
“Why?”
The woman answered.
“Because if they believed I was dead, they would stop hunting Noah.”
Elias looked at her.
“They already found him.”
She looked at the broken cast.
Then at the packet in Daniel’s hand.
“You opened it.”
Daniel nodded.
She whispered:
“Then we have hours.”
“Before what?”
“Before the people who own this hospital realize the boy has seen the evidence.”
Noah held her hand.
“Mom, what happened?”
She looked at him.
“Your mother made a mistake.”
“No.”
She touched his face.
“She trusted the wrong people.”
Elias stepped forward.
“We need to leave.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because the only safe place is the one they don’t know about.”
Daniel frowned.
“What place?”
She looked directly at Noah.
“Your father’s house.”
Noah’s face changed.
“My father is dead.”
“No,” she said.
“He isn’t.”
Mara stared.
“What are you saying?”
The woman looked toward the stairwell door.
Footsteps were approaching.
“They told you your father died seven years ago.”
She squeezed Noah’s hand.
“He disappeared.”
Another series of footsteps.
Closer.
“He was taken because he discovered what the cast was hiding.”
Daniel looked confused.
“What cast?”
The woman glanced at Elias.
“The medical program.”
Elias whispered:
“Don’t.”
She ignored him.
“They have been manufacturing illnesses in rich families for years. Broken bones. Neurological disorders. Fake paralysis. Fake cancers.”
Mara’s face hardened.
“To steal money?”
“No.”
The woman looked at the packet.
“To control people.”
The stairwell door shook.
Someone was trying to open it.
Noah whispered:
“Why would they care about me?”
His mother looked terrified.
“Because you saw something your father discovered.”
“I don’t remember.”
“You were six.”
“I remember the fire.”
She went silent.
“What fire?”
Noah looked at her.
“The basement.”
Elias stepped backward.
His face collapsed.
Mara noticed.
“What basement?”
Noah stared at Elias.
“The house had a basement.”
“What did you see?”
Noah closed his eyes.
“A room full of beds.”
The stairwell door began to bend inward.
His mother grabbed him.
“We need to go.”
But Daniel wasn’t moving.
He was staring at Elias.
“You knew.”
The old man said nothing.
Daniel stepped closer.
“You knew all along.”
Elias whispered:
“I was trying to protect him.”
The door exploded.
Men flooded into the stairwell.
Noah’s mother pushed him behind her.
A gun raised.
Mara screamed.
Then Elias moved.
The supposedly crippled old man crossed the space in two seconds and struck the gunman’s wrist.
The weapon hit the floor.
Daniel stared in disbelief.
Elias looked over his shoulder.
“Now you understand why the cast had to stay on.”
The lights flickered.
May you like
And someone behind the attackers whispered:
“Take the boy alive.”
