Chapter 5 - THE SILVER BLADEThe abandoned hospital looked dead from the highway.
Broken windows.
Collapsed fencing.
A rusted sign half swallowed by weeds.
But Kayla saw the lights.
One on the third floor.
Another behind the loading bay.
Security.
Leo parked half a mile away.
“No visible patrol.”
“That means invisible patrol,” Julian said.
Danny whispered:
“I hate that sentence.”
Maisie sat between Milo and Cyrus.
Kayla checked her weapon.
“You stay in the vehicle.”
Maisie shook her head.
“No.”
Danny groaned.
Julian almost smiled.
Kayla crouched.
“Maisie, listen to me.”
“I hear better than you.”
“That isn't the point.”
“It might be.”
Kayla paused.
Maisie pointed toward the hospital.
“There are generators.”
Leo stared.
“You can hear them?”
“Two.”
She pointed.
“One behind the building. One underground.”
Kayla and Julian exchanged a look.
“She's coming,” Julian said.
Danny turned on him.
“Absolutely not.”
“We keep her behind us.”
“No.”
Maisie folded her arms.
“I'm already here.”
Danny muttered something unprintable.
They moved through the trees.
Cyrus walked without a leash beside Maisie.
Milo stayed close to Kayla.
At the loading bay, Julian's men disabled one guard silently.
The man's forearm carried a tattoo.
A silver knife beneath a crown.
Tyler had bragged about the Silver Blade.
He had thought it was a neighborhood gang.
It wasn't.
They entered.
The smell hit Kayla first.
Bleach.
Rust.
Old damp walls.
Milo stopped.
His body stiffened.
Then he pulled toward the corridor.
“Milo?”
He whined.
Kayla followed.
The old dog moved faster than she had seen in years.
Down one hallway.
Then another.
He stopped before a metal door.
Scratches marked the bottom.
Dog scratches.
Cyrus began growling.
Leo forced the lock.
Inside stood rows of cages.
Empty.
Mostly.
One held blood-stained blankets.
Another contained collars.
Dozens.
Kayla picked one up.
Each had a small tag.
Names.
Human names.
Not dog names.
Julian stared.
“What the hell is this?”
Maisie touched one tag.
“Samuel.”
Another.
“Nora.”
Another.
“Elijah.”
Kayla's stomach turned.
“These aren't pets.”
Julian understood.
“Codes.”
Leo opened a cabinet.
Files.
Photos.
Street addresses.
Family names.
Children.
Targets.
The Crown used animals to transport encrypted information because law enforcement rarely searched dog collars with the same scrutiny as phones.
Cyrus had been a courier.
Maybe Milo had too.
Kayla looked at her old dog.
“No.”
Milo stared back.
Richard had given Milo to her eleven years earlier.
A year before the explosion.
Had Richard known?
A speaker clicked overhead.
“Welcome, Kayla.”
She froze.
The voice was male.
Distorted.
“Julian Hart. Leo Markham. Danny Doyle. And little Maisie.”
Danny pulled Maisie against him.
The speaker continued.
“You brought everything we asked for.”
Julian looked at the ceiling.
“Show yourself.”
Laughter.
“You always were impatient.”
Kayla recognized the cadence.
Not the voice.
Something about it.
Familiar.
“Where's Tyler?”
A monitor turned on.
Tyler sat tied to a chair.
Mrs. Dixon stood beside him.
Kayla frowned.
Mrs. Dixon wasn't restrained.
She smiled.
Tyler looked at his mother.
“Mom?”
Mrs. Dixon removed her coat.
A silver crown pin gleamed on her blouse.
Kayla understood.
“You.”
Mrs. Dixon laughed.
“You thought I was some bitter housewife?”
Ron appeared beside her.
He wore the same pin.
Tyler stared at both parents.
“What is this?”
Ron slapped him.
“Quiet.”
Tyler's face crumpled.
The swagger vanished.
Mrs. Dixon looked into the camera.
“We moved onto Ashgrove eight years ago to watch the Mercer property.”
Kayla's blood chilled.
“You knew who I was.”
“We suspected.”
“The trash.”
“Testing you.”
“The music.”
“Testing you.”
“Milo?”
Mrs. Dixon smiled.
“We needed to see what broke your restraint.”
Kayla's hands curled.
Tyler stared at his mother.
“You said we were just messing with her.”
Mrs. Dixon ignored him.
Julian stepped closer to the monitor.
“You used your own son.”
“Children are useful.”
Maisie whispered:
“She doesn't love him.”
Danny looked at her.
Mrs. Dixon heard.
Her expression twisted.
“Blind little brat.”
Cyrus lunged toward the screen.
The speaker crackled.
“Enough.”
The distorted male voice returned.
“Bring Cyrus and Milo to operating theater B.”
Kayla drew her gun.
“No.”
“Then Tyler dies.”
Ron placed a pistol against his son's head.
Tyler began crying.
“Dad?”
Ron didn't look at him.
Julian whispered to Kayla:
“We need time.”
Kayla looked at Milo.
Then Cyrus.
“Fine.”
They moved deeper into the building.
Leo stayed behind, hidden in the cage room.
Operating Theater B had been restored.
Bright lights.
Steel table.
Medical equipment.
Tyler sat near the wall.
Mrs. Dixon stood behind him.
Ron held the gun.
Three armed men guarded the exits.
And beside the operating table stood an elderly man in a white coat.
Kayla knew him.
Dr. Elias Voss.
The surgeon who had declared Richard dead.
Kayla raised her weapon.
“You.”
Voss smiled.
“Hello, Kayla.”
She had spent ten years believing he had handed her ashes.
“What did you do to my husband?”
“Saved him.”
“Where is he?”
Voss looked toward a glass observation room above them.
A light came on.
A man stood behind the glass.
Thin.
Bearded.
Scar across his eyebrow.
Richard.
Kayla stopped breathing.
Milo barked.
Richard placed one hand against the glass.
Kayla whispered his name.
“Richard.”
His lips moved.
Run.
Then a red dot appeared on his chest.
Sniper laser.
Voss smiled.
“Both dogs on the table.”
Kayla stared at the husband she had mourned for ten years.
“One wrong move,” Voss said, “and he dies in front of you.”
Richard shook his head desperately.
Run.
Kayla slowly lowered her gun.
Julian whispered:
“Kayla.”
She looked at him.
May you like
And for the first time since she'd picked up a weapon again, Julian saw tears in his sister's eyes.
“I can't lose him twice.”
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