Chapter 9 - The Marina
The marina was almost empty in the rain.
We found the medical van backed toward a private dock.
Its rear doors were open.
A wheelchair sat abandoned inside.
"Dad!"
Ortiz grabbed my jacket.
"Quiet."
Voices came from the dock.
Elise Dane stood beside a covered speedboat arguing with Calvin Ross.
Between them, strapped into a transport chair, was my father.
He looked smaller than I remembered.
His hair was white. His hands shook badly.
But he was alive.
"Henry!" I shouted.
His head snapped toward me.
For one second he looked confused.
Then his face broke.
"Noah?"
Calvin reached inside his coat.
Police flooded the dock.
"Hands! Now!"
Elise stepped away immediately.
Calvin hesitated.
Then he raised both hands.
I ran to my father.
He touched my face like he needed proof I was real.
"You got old," he whispered.
I laughed and cried at the same time.
"You missed a few birthdays."
His fingers curled around mine.
"Your mother said you believed I abandoned you."
"She said you drowned."
Pain moved across his face.
"I tried to get letters out."
"Briar found them."
"Briar. Your wife. Is she safe?"
My phone rang again.
Colleen.
I answered.
"Noah, you need to get back."
"The baby?"
"Briar's bleeding. Dr. Patel is preparing the operating room."
My father heard every word.
"Go," he said.
"I'm not leaving you again."
"You didn't leave me the first time."
He squeezed my hand with surprising strength.
"Go meet your son."
Ortiz nodded toward an ambulance pulling in.
"I'll get him to a secure hospital."
I started running.
Behind me, Elise shouted to Ortiz:
"You don't understand! Maris never ordered Henry moved tonight!"
I stopped.
Ortiz turned.
Elise's face was wet with rain and panic.
"Victor did."
May you like
Then she said the name that made my father begin to shake.
"My father has been running this for eleven years."
