Chapter 4 - The Man Behind the BlackoutEmergency lights flickered red.
People ran.
Alarms screamed.
Adrian grabbed me before I could reach the ICU.
“Stay behind me.”
“That’s my brother!”
“I know.”
Another gunshot.
Adrian pushed open the door.
Two guards entered first.
The room was chaos.
Toby was still in bed.
Alive.
A nurse crouched beside him.
The window was shattered.
The red-haired woman was gone.
Adrian crossed the room.
“She escaped through the window?”
“Fourth floor,” one guard said.
Adrian stared at the broken glass.
“No.”
He pointed upward.
“She had help.”
A thin cable hung outside.
Someone had lowered her.
I stared.
“How could someone get onto the fourth floor?”
Adrian looked at me.
“Someone already inside this hospital.”
He turned toward the nurse.
“Who had access to this wing?”
The nurse hesitated.
“Doctors. Nurses. Security.”
“Give me the names.”
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
She looked terrified.
Then she whispered one name.
“Dr. Evan Mercer.”
Adrian’s expression changed.
“Mercer.”
The name sounded familiar.
“Who is he?” I asked.
“Former Duca Foundation researcher.”
“What happened?”
“He disappeared eighteen months ago.”
The nurse looked confused.
“Wasn’t he fired?”
Adrian’s eyes stayed on the broken window.
“He was presumed dead.”
That sentence followed us into the elevator.
Toby was transferred to another secure floor.
Adrian put a guard outside his room.
I stood beside the elevator.
“You keep telling me people are dead.”
He looked at me.
“Because they were.”
“Then why are they coming back?”
He said nothing.
The elevator doors opened.
A man stepped inside.
White coat.
Blue surgical mask.
Eyes lowered.
He passed us.
Three seconds later, Adrian said:
“Stop.”
The man kept walking.
Adrian’s guard grabbed him.
The mask came off.
Dr. Evan Mercer smiled.
“Good evening, Adrian.”
Every guard drew a weapon.
Mercer laughed.
“You still react exactly the same.”
Adrian stared at him.
“You’re dead.”
“So I’ve been told.”
Mercer looked at me.
Then his smile vanished.
“Oh.”
He pointed at me.
“You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into.”
Adrian shoved him against the wall.
“What did Elena want?”
Mercer’s eyes moved toward me.
“She didn’t want you.”
He smiled.
“She wanted Cara.”
My heart stopped.
“Why?”
Mercer whispered:
“Because your mother left something behind.”
Adrian froze.
“My mother?”
Mercer laughed.
“You never wondered why your mother died?”
Adrian’s fist tightened.
“What are you talking about?”
Mercer looked at me.
“Ask Cara.”
Every eye turned toward me.
“I don’t know anything.”
Mercer smiled.
“She does.”
I stepped backward.
Adrian looked at me.
For the first time, suspicion entered his eyes.
Not anger.
Not accusation.
Something worse.
Doubt.
Then Mercer bit down.
A capsule cracked between his teeth.
His body convulsed.
May you like
He collapsed.
Dead before he hit the floor.
