Chapter 13: The Last Person I Expected to Save Me
“DOWN!””
Agent Grant threw herself toward me as another gunshot shattered the study window.
Glass exploded across the floor.
My father lay beside the desk, one hand pressed against his shoulder. Blood seeped between his fingers.
Outside, Derek stood near the stone fountain.
He wasn't hiding.
He wasn't running.
He was looking directly at me.
“Claire!”” he shouted.
“Come outside!””
Agent Grant pulled me behind the desk.
“Stay down!””
I looked at my father.
“Is he alive?””
“Medical team!”” Grant shouted into her radio.
“We have an injured civilian inside the residence!””
My father groaned.
I reached for his hand.
“Dad?””
His eyes opened.
“Don't let him take the files.””
I glanced at the folder.
The financial transfers.
The original Project Phoenix authorization.
The evidence connecting Derek, Evelyn, Reddick, and my father.
I pulled the folder toward me.
Then another gunshot struck the window.
The agents returned fire from outside.
Derek disappeared behind the fountain.
“Where is he?”” I asked.
Agent Grant checked the hallway.
“Still on the property.””
I looked toward the window.
“Why would he come here?””
“Because he knows we've found the evidence.””
My father coughed.
“Claire.””
I leaned closer.
“He wasn't supposed to come himself.””
“What?””
“Reddick sent him.””
I stared at him.
“Why?””
My father swallowed.
“Because Derek knows where the original server is.””
Agent Grant turned.
“Where?””
My father pointed toward the floor.
“Below the house.””
The study became silent.
“There is a secured room beneath the garage,” he continued.
“The central Phoenix server is there.””
Agent Grant immediately contacted the technical team.
Then she looked at me.
“Can you identify the shutdown mechanism?””
“Yes.””
“Then I need you to tell us everything you know.””
Before I could answer, a loud crash came from the hallway.
One of the agents shouted.
“CONTACT!””
Derek had entered the house.
I heard footsteps.
Then his voice.
“Claire! I know you're in there!””
Agent Grant raised her weapon.
“Federal agents! Put your weapon down!””
Derek laughed.
“You people have no idea what you're protecting!””
A burst of gunfire echoed through the house.
The agents moved toward the hallway.
I stayed beside my father.
He gripped my wrist.
“Listen to me.””
“Not now.””
“You need to know what happened to your mother.””
I looked at him.
“She's dead because of you.””
His eyes filled with tears.
“I know.””
“Then why are you telling me now?””
“Because I didn't tell you everything.””
He struggled to breathe.
“Your mother wasn't killed during the transport.””
I froze.
“What?””
“She survived the accident.””
My heart began pounding.
“Where is she?””
He looked toward the ceiling.
“Evelyn took her.””
I couldn't speak.
My father continued.
“She was kept at a private medical facility. Under another identity.””
“Why?””
“Because she had the original Project Phoenix records.””
I stared at him.
“Is she alive?””
He nodded weakly.
“I believe so.””
The world seemed to tilt.
My mother.
The woman I had buried eleven years earlier.
The woman whose photographs I still kept beside my bed.
She might be alive.
“Where is she?””
“Northstar Medical Center. Private wing. Room 804.””
I gripped his hand.
“Why didn't you tell me?””
“Because Reddick threatened to kill her if I ever contacted you.””
I closed my eyes.
Eleven years.
Eleven years of grief.
And my father had known where she was.
I wanted to scream.
I wanted to strike him.
Instead, I whispered:
“I hope she never forgives you.””
He nodded.
“I hope so too.””
Then a voice came from the hallway.
“Claire!””
Derek.
He appeared at the study entrance.
His hair was disheveled.
There was blood on his sleeve.
He held a weapon pointed toward the floor.
Agent Grant raised hers.
“Drop it!””
Derek looked at me.
“Tell them to lower their weapons.””
I didn't move.
“Why did you come here?””
He smiled.
“Because you took something that belongs to me.””
I held up the folder.
“This?””
“No. The project.””
“It's mine.””
“It was never yours.””
“Neither was my body.””
His expression changed.
For a moment, he looked almost offended.
“Claire, you have no idea what I sacrificed.””
I stared at him.
“You held the scalpel while I was unconscious.””
He shook his head.
“I was trying to save you.””
“You just admitted it.””
“I did what your father asked.””
My father groaned behind me.
Derek looked toward him.
“Andrew, you should have stayed dead.””
Agent Grant stepped forward.
“Put the weapon down, Mr. Halston.””
Derek raised it.
I saw the movement before anyone else.
“Derek, don't!””
He turned toward me.
And in that split second, a shot rang out.
Derek staggered.
His weapon fell.
Agent Grant rushed forward while another officer restrained him.
I looked toward the doorway.
A man stood there, holding a military pistol.
His face was pale.
His uniform was stained with dust.
A scar ran along his jaw.
Nathan Cole.
He was alive.
He looked directly at me.
“Sorry I'm late, Commander.””
I stared at him.
Then I began to cry.
Not because I was afraid.
Because the man I had mourned for three years was standing in front of me.
Nathan lowered his weapon.
“Claire.””
I couldn't find the words.
He approached slowly.
“I should have come sooner.””
I looked at his scar.
“What happened to you?””
He glanced at Derek, now being handcuffed.
“Ask him.””
Derek laughed weakly.
“You still don't understand, do you, Nathan?””
Nathan turned.
“Understand what?””
Derek looked at me.
“The explosion wasn't supposed to kill Claire.””
I felt my stomach tighten.
“I know.””
He smiled.
“No. You don't.””
He coughed.
“Michael Reddick was the real target.””
Nathan's expression changed.
I stared at Derek.
“What?””
Derek looked almost pleased.
“The boy you saved wasn't supposed to survive that convoy.””
Agent Grant grabbed his shoulder.
“Explain.””
Derek laughed again.
“Ask his father.””
Nathan stepped closer.
“Thomas Reddick ordered the attack because Michael had discovered the original Project Phoenix files.””
My mind raced.
The tracking device.
The altered manifest.
The explosion.
The boy I had dragged from the burning vehicle.
Michael hadn't been an accidental casualty.
He had been the target.
And I had become an obstacle because I saved him.
Derek looked at me one last time.
“You should have left him in that vehicle, Claire.””
Nathan struck the table with his fist.
“Shut up.””
Derek smiled.
Then he said something that made Nathan's face turn white.
“Michael is alive, by the way.””
I looked at him.
“Where?””
Derek leaned back.
“Ask Reddick. He's keeping his own son somewhere safe.””
Nathan immediately turned toward Agent Grant.
“Get a team to Northstar Medical Center.””
I remembered my father's words.
Room 804.
My mother.
But Nathan was already speaking.
“Michael is there too.””
I stared at him.
“Both of them?””
Nathan nodded.
“Thomas Reddick has been keeping them in the same facility.””
And suddenly, the truth became clear.
The next people I needed to save were the two people who had survived the same conspiracy that had nearly destroyed me.
May you like
My mother.
And the young soldier whose life I had risked everything to save.
