Chapter 6 - THE MAN BEHIND THE GLASSKayla placed Milo on the steel table.
The old dog trembled.
“Easy.”
Cyrus refused.
His lips curled when Voss approached.
Maisie put both arms around his neck.
“Don't touch him.”
Voss looked amused.
“You're the famous child.”
Maisie listened to his breathing.
“You're scared.”
His smile vanished.
“Am I?”
“Yes.”
“Of what?”
She turned her face toward the glass.
“Him.”
Richard.
Kayla saw Voss's jaw tighten.
Maisie had found the crack.
Voss had control.
But Richard frightened him.
Why?
Kayla stroked Milo.
“What is inside them?”
Voss put on surgical gloves.
“Insurance.”
Julian said:
“Against whom?”
“Everyone.”
He gestured toward Milo.
“Richard pioneered a decentralized archive. Financial ledgers. names. routes. politicians. judges. officers. corporate intermediaries.”
Kayla stared at her husband.
Richard had always said data lasted longer than bullets.
Voss continued.
“He divided the archive into pieces.”
Julian understood.
“The dogs.”
“Precisely.”
Cyrus snarled.
“Milo carries one key. Cyrus carries another.”
“And the other dogs?”
“Some living. Some dead.”
Kayla's heart tightened.
“How many keys?”
“Seven.”
“So you need these two.”
“Yes.”
“Then why keep Richard alive?”
Voss smiled.
“Because keys change.”
Richard struck the glass with his fist.
The red sniper dot moved to his forehead.
Kayla's voice hardened.
“Stop.”
Voss lifted a syringe.
Milo whimpered.
Kayla grabbed his wrist.
Every guard raised a weapon.
Voss looked down at her hand.
“Release me.”
“No.”
“Or Richard dies.”
“You need Milo alive.”
“Not necessarily.”
Kayla stared into his eyes.
He was bluffing.
Maybe.
The thing about grief was that once you had survived the worst thing imaginable, threats lost some of their power.
Kayla slowly pushed Voss's hand away.
“You won't kill Richard.”
Voss smiled.
“You seem certain.”
“You kept him ten years.”
She glanced at Milo.
“You kept Cyrus alive after he mauled your people.”
Cyrus growled louder.
“You don't kill assets.”
Voss's eyes cooled.
Julian stepped forward.
“And neither do we.”
A gunshot thundered.
One guard dropped.
Leo.
He fired from the balcony.
Chaos erupted.
Julian tackled Ron.
Kayla flipped the operating table.
Milo slid safely behind it.
Maisie shouted:
“Cyrus!”
The dog launched.
Not at a throat.
At an arm.
He clamped onto the weapon hand of a guard and dragged him down.
Danny grabbed Maisie and crawled behind cover.
Kayla fired twice.
Lights shattered.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Red emergency lamps flashed.
Richard slammed against the glass.
Again.
Again.
A crack appeared.
Voss ran.
Kayla saw him.
She chased.
He vanished through a service door.
Julian fought Ron on the floor.
Mrs. Dixon grabbed Tyler by the hair and pulled him toward an exit.
“You're coming.”
Tyler fought.
“Let go!”
She slapped him.
“Do what you're told.”
Tyler looked at the woman he had terrorized for weeks.
“Kayla!”
Kayla turned.
Mrs. Dixon raised a gun.
Tyler bit her wrist.
She screamed.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Tyler broke free.
Kayla pulled him behind cover.
“Stay with Danny.”
“But—”
“GO.”
Above them, glass exploded.
Richard fell through the observation window.
Kayla screamed.
He struck the operating table.
Julian caught part of his weight.
Richard rolled to the floor.
Kayla reached him.
She touched his face.
Real.
Warm.
Older.
Alive.
Richard opened his eyes.
“Hi.”
Kayla hit him.
He blinked.
“You deserved that.”
Then she kissed him.
Hard.
For three seconds, the hospital disappeared.
Ten years disappeared.
Then Richard groaned.
“My ribs.”
Kayla pulled back.
“You're alive.”
“Mostly.”
“How?”
“Later.”
Gunfire sounded down the corridor.
Julian hauled him up.
“Family reunion after we leave.”
Richard looked at Julian.
“You still ugly?”
“More expensive.”
They moved.
Leo led them toward the east stairwell.
Maisie held Cyrus.
Danny held Tyler.
Milo stayed beside Kayla.
Richard looked at the old dog.
“Milo.”
The dog stopped.
His tail moved.
One slow wag.
Richard dropped to his knees.
Milo walked into his arms.
Kayla had seen Milo greet people for years.
Never like this.
The dog made a sound somewhere between a whine and a sob.
Richard buried his face in his fur.
“My boy.”
Kayla turned away because watching it hurt too much.
A siren began.
Not police.
Building alarm.
Richard stood.
“Voss initiated purge.”
Julian looked at him.
“What purge?”
“Explosives.”
Everyone froze.
“How long?”
Richard checked the flashing wall panel.
“Six minutes.”
They ran.
Halfway down the stairwell, Richard stopped.
“The archive.”
Kayla stared.
“No.”
“If Voss destroys the servers—”
“No.”
“Kayla, everything is there.”
“So are you.”
“We need proof.”
“We need to live.”
Richard looked at Julian.
Julian sighed.
“I hate when he's right.”
Kayla stared at both men.
“No.”
Richard touched her face.
“The Crown owns judges, police commanders, city officials.”
“Then we expose them later.”
“There won't be later.”
He looked toward Cyrus and Milo.
“The keys open the system.”
Maisie tilted her head.
“There's another way.”
Everyone looked at her.
“The generators.”
“What?”
“One is underground.”
Richard understood.
“The backup server room.”
Maisie nodded.
“I heard it when we came in.”
Richard smiled.
“You're incredible.”
Danny pointed at the collapsing building.
“She is also leaving.”
Richard grabbed a fallen radio.
“Server room is below us. Exit tunnel is past it.”
Julian checked his weapon.
“Then we go together.”
Kayla looked at the timer.
Four minutes thirty seconds.
She had waited ten years to find Richard.
May you like
Now she had less than five minutes to save him.
Again.
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