Chapter 3 - The Man Behind the DoorDetective Ruiz raised her gun.
“Don't move.”
The knocking came again.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Ethan looked at his mother.
Claire was shaking.
Not because she recognized the sound.
Because she understood the message.
Someone had learned the code.
Ruiz motioned toward the officers.
One moved to the left side of the door.
The other moved right.
“Who is it?”
Silence.
Then a man's voice.
“Delivery.”
Ruiz didn't lower her weapon.
“Show me your badge.”
A pause.
Then a card slid beneath the door.
Ruiz crouched.
She picked it up.
Ethan watched her expression change.
“What's wrong?”
She didn't answer.
The badge belonged to a federal agent.
But the photograph didn't match the man standing outside.
“Step away from the door,” Ruiz ordered.
The doorknob turned.
The officer on the left fired into the ceiling.
The knob stopped.
Someone ran.
Ruiz kicked open the door.
The hallway was empty.
Only the federal badge remained on the floor.
“Fake,” Ruiz said.
Claire exhaled.
Ethan remembered the envelope.
Morrow.
“Mom.”
She looked at him.
“The envelope said trust no one.”
Claire nodded.
“What else?”
“Nothing.”
“You're lying.”
Claire stared at him.
For a moment, she looked more like the mother who used to tuck him into bed than the terrified woman sitting in a hospital gown.
Then she reached beneath her pillow.
She pulled out a small memory card.
“I didn't put everything in the envelope.”
Ruiz took it.
“What is this?”
“A copy.”
“Of what?”
Claire hesitated.
“A ledger.”
Ruiz's face hardened.
“What kind of ledger?”
“The kind people kill for.”
Before Ruiz could respond, the hospital lights went out.
Everything became black.
Someone screamed in the corridor.
A gunshot cracked.
The emergency lights flickered on.
Ruiz shouted, “Stay down!”
The hallway exploded into movement.
A shadow appeared in the doorway.
A man wearing a medical mask.
He held a knife.
Ruiz fired.
The man vanished around the corner.
The officers chased him.
Ethan looked at Claire.
“Is this because of the ledger?”
“Yes.”
“Then give it to the police.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
Claire stared at him.
“Because half the police department may be on it.”
Ethan's stomach dropped.
Ruiz returned seconds later.
“He got away.”
She looked at Claire.
Then at the memory card.
“We're leaving.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere nobody knows.”
They moved Claire through a hidden service corridor.
Ethan followed.
The rain outside was violent.
A black SUV waited in the alley.
Ruiz opened the rear door.
“Get in.”
They drove without headlights.
After ten minutes, Ruiz handed Ethan a phone.
“Your mother wants you to see something.”
He looked at Claire.
She nodded.
Ethan pressed play.
The video showed Richard.
He stood in the Parker kitchen.
His voice was clear.
“You said the woman had to disappear.”
Another voice answered.
Victor Morrow.
“I said Claire Parker had to become a corpse.”
Richard looked nervous.
“And the boy?”
Morrow smiled.
“Children are easy.”
The video ended.
Ethan stared at the dark screen.
His mother's hand covered his.
“Morrow wasn't talking about killing me,” Claire whispered.
“He was talking about killing you.”
Ethan looked up.
“Why?”
Claire's eyes filled with terror.
“Because you saw something.”
“What?”
“You saw the wrong person.”
The SUV suddenly swerved.
Ruiz looked in the rearview mirror.
A black sedan was following them.
Then another.
May you like
Claire whispered one word.
“Run.”
