Chapter 10 - The Price of a Father
"You're lying," I told Wren.
"I wish I were. He called Rusk when his chamber opened. He said his daughters were coming, and she promised to spare the women upstairs."
We found Elias at the emergency station, pale and breathing through an oxygen mask. The gas alarm had stopped, but he looked ready to collapse.
"You called her?" I asked.
He didn't try to deny it.
"She threatened the tank room. I thought I could keep everyone alive until I found another way."
"You used us as bargaining chips."
"Yes," he said quietly. "And I was wrong."
I wanted him to make excuses. Instead he opened a maintenance panel and handed Ada an override key.
"This will keep the oxygen system running if Rusk locks down the central server. I can't leave the patients."
Iris looked at him. "You can leave with us and tell the police."
"I signed the authorization that began this. If I'm going to answer for it, I'd rather these women still be alive when I do."
Ada nodded once. "I'll stay. We know the equipment."
Wren led Iris and me to an old drainage tunnel. Aboveground, rain thrashed against the trees. Through a grate, I saw the first gray light of morning.
Marcus was gone from the clearing. A dark smear remained on the gravel where he'd stood.
Iris pulled the grate loose. We crawled into the forest, soaked and shaking. My phone connected to a tower for the first time in hours.
Three missed calls from an unknown number.
A new message appeared as I watched: RETURN THE DOCUMENTS. YOU HAVE UNTIL TOMORROW AT FOUR.
Then another image loaded.
It showed my childhood house in Portland. The porch light was on.
Iris recognized the address from my driver's license and swore.
A second photograph arrived, taken through the front window.
May you like
On the kitchen table sat my mother's red cassette player.
And beside it, someone had written three names in lipstick: CLARA. IRIS. WREN.
