Chapter 4 - ISAAC'S PROMISE
Mercer didn't touch us. He didn't have to. He stood there until Lena put the folder in her locked cabinet, then escorted me out through the service gate.
My lecture was canceled. Ryan Cole had won that much.
At Mercy County Hospital, Rosa Ortega sat beside bed nineteen holding a paper cup of coffee gone cold. She stood when she saw me. Her face crumpled, and for one instant I saw the young woman Isaac used to describe in letters from home.
“He looks like his dad when he sleeps,” she said.
Ben lay under a thin blanket. A monitor measured a heartbeat that sounded much too fragile. A bruise marked the inside of one elbow where an IV had been placed. His chest moved steadily with the rhythm of assisted breathing.
I reached for Rosa's hand. “I'm here.”
“Isaac used to say you kept people alive by refusing to quit.”
“Isaac did the hard part.”
She shook her head. “Don't turn him into a saint. He stole all the good cereal and forgot birthdays. He was a good man because he kept showing up.”
That nearly broke me.
Rosa opened her purse and handed me a folded note. Ben had left it on the kitchen counter before the drill.
MOM, IF THEY CALL, ASK WHAT TIME I GOT HELP. NOT WHAT TIME I FELL.
Underneath, in smaller writing, he'd added: THEY KEEP CHANGING THE CLOCKS.
“Ben was scared,” Rosa said. “He told me the drill equipment was dangerous. Ryan made everyone sign forms saying it was safe.”
“Did he tell anyone else?”
“A boy named Drew. He came to the hospital and stood outside Ben's room for ten minutes. Then he ran when a security car pulled up.”
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My phone vibrated. An unknown number had sent one sentence.
STOP ASKING ABOUT IRON GATE. ISAAC WON'T BE HERE TO SAVE YOU THIS TIME.
