Chapter 6 - The Woman in the Locked RoomI woke to the sound of dripping water.
My mouth tasted like metal.
My shoulder burned.
My abdomen felt as though someone had pulled every stitch tighter.
I opened my eyes.
Concrete ceiling.
Single hanging bulb.
No windows.
My wrists were tied to the arms of a chair.
I tried to move.
Pain punished me immediately.
“Don’t.”
A man’s voice came from the darkness.
Vincent Mercer stepped into the light.
He was older than Ethan.
Maybe fifty.
Silver beginning at his temples.
Expensive coat.
No mask.
No reason to hide.
He dragged another chair across the floor and sat facing me.
“You’re difficult to kill.”
I stared at him.
“You should fire your people.”
He smiled.
“Ethan likes that mouth?”
My stomach tightened.
“He doesn’t own me.”
“No?”
Mercer leaned back.
“He looks at you like he does.”
I said nothing.
“Five bullets.”
He shook his head.
“Most people would resent the woman they nearly died protecting.”
“I don’t.”
“Margaret Callahan isn’t your mother.”
“No.”
“But Rebecca Doyle was.”
My pulse changed.
Mercer noticed.
“There she is.”
I kept my face still.
“Where am I?”
“Somewhere your father once visited.”
“Where?”
“A place where men told the truth.”
“That sounds unlikely around you.”
He laughed.
“I understand why Ethan is distracted.”
The word bothered me.
Distracted.
Like I was a weakness.
Mercer reached into his pocket.
He placed the photograph from my father’s grave on the table.
I stared at it.
“You took that.”
“I took everything.”
“The flash drive?”
“Yes.”
“It won’t help you.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“You will.”
“I don’t know the password.”
“I know.”
“Then what do you want?”
Mercer leaned forward.
“Your blood.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“Daniel Cross was paranoid.”
“That much seems reasonable.”
“He designed biometric protections into parts of Black Harbor.”
My stomach dropped.
“You need DNA.”
“Yes.”
“Take it.”
Mercer’s smile disappeared.
“We did.”
My blood ran cold.
“The hospital.”
“The fake nurse.”
“She wasn’t there to kill you.”
“The pills?”
“Sedative. Genetic collection.”
I remembered the assassin’s words.
Emily was never supposed to die in the garage.
“Then why shoot me five times?”
Mercer’s expression darkened.
“Poor discipline.”
I stared at him.
“One of your men went off-plan?”
“Caleb did not tell me how emotionally invested Ethan had become.”
My chest tightened.
“That has nothing to do with a sniper.”
“It has everything to do with panic.”
He leaned forward.
“My gunman saw Ethan moving toward you. Thought he was losing the angle. Fired too fast.”
“So I almost died because your assassin got nervous.”
“Yes.”
Mercer said it without remorse.
I hated him.
He saw it.
“Good.”
“What?”
“Hatred keeps people awake.”
He stood.
“Your father hated me too.”
“You knew him?”
“Very well.”
“How?”
Mercer walked toward a metal door.
“Daniel came here once to make a trade.”
“What trade?”
He smiled.
“You’ll see.”
The door opened.
Two guards entered.
They untied the chair and lifted me.
My knees nearly collapsed.
One guard supported my left arm.
I wanted to fight.
I couldn’t.
They led me through a corridor.
Old warehouse.
Rust.
Pipes.
The smell of river water.
We passed several locked rooms.
Then stopped at one.
Mercer entered a code.
The door opened.
Inside was a small apartment-like room.
Bed.
Table.
Books.
No windows.
And an elderly woman sitting near a lamp.
Her hair was mostly white.
Her body thin.
Her face lined by decades I had never witnessed.
But her eyes—
My eyes.
She looked at me.
The book slipped from her hands.
For several seconds, neither of us breathed.
Then she stood slowly.
“Emily?”
My knees gave out.
The guard caught me.
I stared.
“No.”
The woman began crying.
“Oh, baby.”
No.
No.
No.
I had imagined my mother countless times as a child.
At birthday parties.
Graduations.
When other girls went dress shopping with their moms.
I imagined her dead because dead was easier than abandoned.
The woman crossed the room.
Mercer stopped her.
She glared at him.
“If you touch her—”
“You’ll do what, Rebecca?”
My entire body went cold.
Rebecca.
My mother.
Alive.
She looked at me.
“I’m sorry.”
That sentence broke me.
Not hello.
Not I love you.
I’m sorry.
I began sobbing.
She moved forward.
This time Mercer let her.
Rebecca dropped to her knees beside me and touched my face.
Her hands trembled violently.
“You look like Daniel.”
I cried harder.
“You’re alive.”
“I know.”
“You were alive.”
“I know.”
“Twenty-two years.”
“I know.”
“Why didn’t you come?”
Her face collapsed.
“I tried.”
“Why didn’t you come?”
“I tried.”
“You had twenty-two years!”
Mercer smiled behind her.
Rebecca turned on him.
“Get out.”
He laughed.
“Touching reunion.”
“GET OUT!”
For once, he obeyed.
The door closed.
I shoved Rebecca’s hands away.
Pain exploded through my shoulder.
She reached for me.
“Don’t.”
She stopped.
I cried into my palms.
My stitches hurt.
Everything hurt.
“You let me think you were dead.”
“Daniel did that to protect you.”
“So you knew?”
“For years, no.”
She sat across from me.
“I was held in different places. New Jersey. Montreal. Boston. Sometimes months without seeing anyone except guards.”
“Why?”
“Black Harbor.”
“Everyone keeps saying that like it explains ruining my life.”
Rebecca looked down.
“Black Harbor was supposed to destroy people like Patrick.”
“Your brother.”
“Yes.”
“And Michael Callahan.”
“Yes.”
“Ethan’s father.”
“Yes.”
“And Mercer.”
“His father first. Vincent later.”
I stared at her.
“How are you still here?”
She exhaled slowly.
“Because I became useful.”
“To them?”
“Yes.”
“I thought you were an informant.”
“I was.”
“Then what?”
“They forced me to become their accountant.”
I stared.
Rebecca laughed bitterly.
“Apparently numbers are hereditary.”
“Dad said he looked for you.”
“He found me.”
My entire body went still.
“When?”
“Fifteen years ago.”
Thomas had said he found Dad around then.
“What happened?”
Rebecca looked at the floor.
“He came here.”
My heart pounded.
“This warehouse?”
“Not exactly. Mercer has moved operations. But yes, an earlier version.”
“Did he see you?”
“Yes.”
My anger exploded.
“He saw you and left?”
Rebecca immediately shook her head.
“No.”
“He came to trade Black Harbor for me.”
“And?”
“I refused.”
“You refused?”
“I told him to leave.”
“Why?”
“Because Mercer wanted the archive. Daniel was ready to give it.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“If he gave them Black Harbor, everyone who had ever helped us would have died.”
“So you stayed.”
“Yes.”
“For fifteen years.”
“Yes.”
“And Dad let me believe you were dead.”
“Because I begged him.”
I hated that answer.
It made sense.
I hated it more because it made sense.
“Caleb?”
Rebecca’s face changed.
“Caleb is alive?”
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
“He works for Ethan.”
Her expression froze.
“What?”
“He spent fifteen years beside Ethan while planning revenge.”
“Oh God.”
“He thinks Dad destroyed Patrick.”
Rebecca started shaking.
“No.”
“He thinks Patrick loved you.”
“No.”
“He thinks the Callahans stole you.”
“No.”
Her voice became desperate.
“No, no, no.”
“What really happened?”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
“Patrick found out I was helping Black Harbor.”
“What did he do?”
“He beat me.”
I stopped breathing.
“He kept asking who else knew.”
Her voice was far away.
“Caleb came downstairs.”
My heart broke.
“How old?”
“Nine.”
“He saw?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Patrick told him I was sick. That Daniel had poisoned me against our family.”
Rebecca wiped tears away.
“Then Mercer’s father arrived.”
I whispered, “Patrick sold you.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Mercer promised to keep me alive long enough to find the archive.”
“And Caleb saw him take you?”
“Yes.”
“Then why doesn’t he remember?”
“Patrick gave him something.”
“What?”
“Sedatives.”
My stomach turned.
“Patrick kept Caleb drugged for almost a week.”
Rebecca looked at me.
“When Caleb woke, I was gone. Patrick told him Daniel and Michael had arranged it.”
I felt sick.
“He spent his entire life hating the wrong people.”
“Patrick designed it that way.”
A sound came from the wall.
A speaker.
Mercer’s voice.
“Touching.”
Rebecca froze.
“Vincent.”
“Time.”
The door opened.
Guards entered.
Rebecca stood between them and me.
“No.”
Mercer appeared.
“Move.”
“She was shot five times.”
“And yet here she is.”
“You are not taking her.”
Mercer smiled.
“You misunderstand.”
He looked at me.
“I’m not taking Emily anywhere.”
A television mounted in the corner turned on.
Live footage.
Ethan.
Caleb.
Thomas, wounded but alive.
Margaret.
They stood inside the Callahan estate.
Mercer spoke softly.
“I invited Ethan to trade.”
My throat tightened.
“Trade what?”
“You.”
“For?”
Mercer smiled.
“The second key.”
Rebecca’s face drained.
“What second key?”
Mercer looked at her.
“You truly never knew?”
The camera zoomed in on Margaret.
“She has carried it for twenty-seven years.”
Margaret touched the gold crucifix around her neck.
I had seen it every day.
Mercer smiled.
“Daniel hid his second encryption key inside Margaret Callahan’s necklace.”
Then another camera appeared.
A sniper scope.
Centered on Margaret’s forehead.
I screamed.
Mercer looked at me.
“Ethan has twenty minutes to choose.”
The speaker crackled.
“Give me the necklace…”
May you like
He smiled.
“Or I kill his mother.”
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