Chapter 8 - The Brother Who Came Back
Brandon was alive.
Barely.
We dragged him into the dining room and pressed a towel against the gunshot wound in his side.
“You shot him?” Reyes asked.
“No.”
Brandon coughed.
“They did.”
“Who?”
He looked at me.
“The people above us.”
I stared.
“You said the Prescotts controlled everything.”
He laughed weakly.
“We controlled nothing.”
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because fear was the only currency my family had.”
Reyes knelt beside him.
“Where is Emily?”
“Ethan took her.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
I grabbed his collar.
“You'd better start remembering.”
“He's taking her to the old Meridian facility.”
“Where is that?”
“Outside Raleigh.”
Reyes stood.
“Coordinates.”
Brandon gave them.
I memorized them.
Then I asked the question that mattered.
“Who shot you?”
Brandon looked at Vale.
“He did.”
Vale's face hardened.
“That's a lie.”
Brandon smiled.
“Still protecting the general?”
“You know nothing.”
“I know enough.”
I looked at Vale.
“Did you shoot him?”
“No.”
Brandon coughed.
“He ordered it.”
Vale said nothing.
That silence told me there was history between them.
Reyes's agents arrived.
Brandon was taken into custody.
Vale was handcuffed.
I wanted to watch him break.
Instead, he looked at me.
“Victoria.”
I stopped.
“You're walking into a trap.”
“Good.”
His eyes hardened.
“They want you angry.”
“They already have me angry.”
“They want you reckless.”
I stepped closer.
“They took my daughter.”
Vale lowered his voice.
“That's exactly what they wanted.”
We reached the Meridian facility before dawn.
It looked abandoned.
An old research campus surrounded by chain-link fencing.
Reyes led the team inside.
The buildings were empty.
Then we heard a voice.
“Mom?”
Emily.
I ran.
Reyes caught my arm.
“Wait.”
“That's my daughter.”
“Could be a recording.”
It wasn't.
Emily appeared behind a glass partition.
Her hands were zip-tied.
Ethan stood behind her.
He held a gun.
“Stop!”
Everyone froze.
Ethan looked at me.
“You came.”
“Let her go.”
“Not until you listen.”
“What do you want?”
“You think I did this.”
“You did.”
“I did terrible things.”
He swallowed.
“But I didn't start this.”
Emily screamed.
“Mom, don't trust him!”
Ethan looked at her.
“I'm trying to get you out!”
He turned back to me.
“Margaret is dead.”
I froze.
“What?”
“Someone killed her two hours ago.”
Reyes whispered to an agent.
“Verify.”
Ethan continued.
“Brandon was supposed to die too.”
“Who ordered it?”
He laughed.
“You still don't understand.”
Then the lights went out.
Gunfire erupted.
Ethan grabbed Emily and pulled her through a side door.
I ran after them.
Reyes shouted.
“Victoria!”
I didn't stop.
I reached the corridor.
Emily screamed.
Then Ethan pushed her toward me.
“Take her.”
He turned.
A bullet hit him in the chest.
He collapsed.
Emily fell to her knees.
“Ethan!”
I dragged her away.
He looked at me.
Blood spread across his shirt.
“Listen,” he gasped.
“What?”
“The card…”
“What about it?”
“It isn't evidence.”
“What is it?”
“A key.”
“To what?”
He smiled sadly.
“Your husband's location.”
Then his eyes closed.
I checked his pulse.
Weak.
Still alive.
Reyes reached us.
“Get him stabilized.”
We carried Ethan out.
Emily clung to me.
“Mom.”
“What?”
She was crying.
“I lied.”
My heart sank.
“About what?”
“The card.”
“Emily.”
She looked at me.
“I didn't steal it.”
“Then who gave it to you?”
Her face crumpled.
“Dad.”
I stared.
“Your father?”
She nodded.
“David came to see me two weeks before I was attacked.”
Everything went silent.
“What did he tell you?”
May you like
She whispered:
“He said never trust the woman who looks exactly like me.”
