Chapter 6 - The Warehouse on the River
Daniel sent the location one hour later.
A warehouse beside the Chicago River.
Come alone.
Of course, I didn't.
Susan informed Marcus.
Elena came with us.
She refused to stay behind.
“You’re a nurse,” Marcus said.
“I’m also the person who knows what Ethan's injuries mean.”
We entered through the side door.
The warehouse smelled like oil and rain.
There were crates stacked to the ceiling.
A light flickered.
Then Ethan's voice came from somewhere inside.
“Claire.”
I ran toward him.
He was strapped to a metal chair.
Daniel stood behind him.
Nathaniel Shaw stood beside the wall.
I stopped.
“Let him go.”
Daniel smiled.
“You always were direct.”
“What do you want?”
“Your testimony.”
“My testimony?”
“We need someone to say Ethan forced the transactions.”
I stared.
“He didn't.”
Daniel shrugged.
“It doesn't matter.”
He held up a tablet.
“Your forged signature makes it look convincing.”
“You framed me.”
“We made it possible.”
Ethan looked at me.
“Don't listen.”
Daniel struck him.
I screamed.
Elena stepped forward.
“Stop!”
Daniel raised a gun.
She didn't move.
“You have a patient with spinal trauma,” she said calmly.
“You could kill him.”
Daniel laughed.
“That's the idea.”
Elena looked at Ethan.
“Breathe slowly.”
He did.
“You aren't dying here.”
Daniel sneered.
“Confident.”
“No,” Elena said. “Experienced.”
Then she took one step forward.
“If you shoot him, you'll kill him too quickly.”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
“His medication has been adjusted. His blood pressure is unstable. A sudden injury could cause catastrophic complications.”
Nathaniel looked concerned.
Daniel glanced at him.
“Is that true?”
Elena nodded.
“You don't know enough medicine to keep him alive.”
It was a bluff.
A brilliant one.
Daniel hesitated.
That gave Marcus time.
Federal agents stormed through the doors.
Gunfire erupted.
I ducked.
Elena dove toward Ethan.
She cut the restraints with a pocket tool.
Marcus tackled Daniel.
Nathaniel ran.
Susan blocked the side exit.
He froze.
“You're a lawyer.”
“Yes.”
“You can't arrest me.”
“No.”
She smiled.
“But they can.”
Agents seized him.
Daniel screamed as he was dragged away.
I knelt beside Ethan.
“Are you okay?”
He looked at me.
“I knew you'd come.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“Probably.”
I touched his face.
“Don't ever do that again.”
He smiled weakly.
“No promises.”
Elena checked his pulse.
“He needs a hospital.”
Marcus nodded.
As agents secured the warehouse, Elena noticed something.
A small locked metal case.
Inside were photographs.
Patients.
Hundreds of them.
Some alive.
Some dead.
And one photograph made Ethan go silent.
It showed me.
Outside my apartment.
Taken two months earlier.
He whispered:
“They were watching you long before you knew.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because I loved you.”
The words came quietly.
Not dramatic.
Not rehearsed.
Just true.
I began crying.
“I loved you too.”
Elena looked away.
Marcus cleared his throat.
“We need to talk.”
He held up another document.
A list of targets.
My name was second.
Ethan's was first.
Daniel had planned to kill us both.
But there was one name above Ethan's.
Nathaniel Shaw.
Someone had put Nathaniel on his own target list.
That meant there was another player.
May you like
Someone higher.
Someone neither of us knew.
