Chapter 4 - One Child for Another
“No.”
Alejandro’s answer came before Marco finished speaking.
Rafael looked toward him.
Bellini closed his eyes.
Maria held Emma so tightly the child could hear her mother’s heartbeat.
Marco’s voice came again.
“You haven’t heard the terms.”
“I heard enough.”
“One child walks out. One child walks in.”
“Not happening.”
“Then Luca remains with me.”
Alejandro stepped toward the intercom.
“You hurt my son and this ends one way.”
Marco laughed.
“You still think threats matter?”
“I wasn’t threatening you.”
“What do you call it?”
“A schedule.”
Silence.
Rafael almost smiled.
Marco didn’t.
“You have ten minutes.”
The transmission ended.
Alejandro turned.
“Rafael, destroy the tracker.”
Rafael crushed Emma’s GPS device beneath his boot.
“Done.”
“Can they breach the door?”
“Eventually.”
“How long?”
“Five minutes. Maybe seven.”
Alejandro looked at Bellini.
“St. Catherine’s. Where?”
“Old pediatric wing.”
“How many men?”
“I saw eight.”
“Saw?”
Bellini nodded.
“I was there.”
“You left Luca with Marco?”
“He had guns on the boy.”
“And you walked away.”
“I came to warn you.”
“You came because Marco decided he didn’t need you anymore.”
Bellini looked down.
Alejandro had no patience left for guilt.
He opened an equipment locker.
Inside were old tactical vests, flashlights and emergency radios.
Maria watched him.
“You’re going through that tunnel?”
“Yes.”
“What about the men outside?”
“They expect us to defend the bunker.”
Rafael understood.
“So we leave.”
Alejandro nodded.
The bunker had a second passage.
One Marco apparently didn’t know about.
They moved quickly.
Bellini came with them.
Maria protested.
“He tried to have you killed.”
“I know.”
“And you’re letting him walk behind us?”
“Right now, he knows where my son is.”
Bellini looked at Emma.
“And I know why Marco wants her.”
Alejandro stopped.
“You already explained that.”
“Not everything.”
Rafael turned.
Bellini swallowed.
“The camera.”
“What about it?”
“It didn’t belong to you.”
Alejandro stared at him.
Bellini continued.
“The Council installed it.”
“Why?”
“To watch you.”
“You’ve been recording me in my own study?”
“For years.”
Alejandro almost laughed.
Instead, he looked terrifyingly calm.
“What else did it record?”
Bellini hesitated.
“Meetings. Conversations.”
“And?”
“Marco wasn’t the only person who entered the study tonight.”
Rafael frowned.
“We watched everything.”
“No. You watched the local recording.”
Alejandro’s eyes narrowed.
Bellini continued.
“The Council has a separate feed.”
“Who else came in?”
Bellini looked toward Maria.
“Her.”
Maria froze.
“What?”
Bellini pointed at her.
“At 7:46 p.m.”
Maria shook her head.
“I was cleaning the dining room.”
“You entered the study.”
“No.”
Emma looked at her mother.
“Mommy?”
“I didn’t.”
Alejandro studied Maria.
Bellini continued.
“You were carrying a tray.”
Maria’s confusion was real.
Or appeared real.
“I never entered this room tonight.”
Rafael raised his weapon slightly.
Maria saw.
“You think I poisoned him?”
“Everybody is a question right now,” Rafael said.
Emma stepped in front of her mother.
“She didn’t.”
Maria pulled her back.
“Emma.”
Alejandro held up a hand.
“Bellini. Describe what you saw.”
“Maria entered carrying tea.”
“I never bring Mr. Moretti tea.”
Alejandro nodded.
“That’s true.”
Bellini looked surprised.
Alejandro continued.
“She knows I hate tea.”
Emma whispered, “You should try hot chocolate.”
Alejandro glanced down.
“Later.”
Bellini shook his head.
“It was her.”
Maria suddenly understood.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
“There is another woman working here who looks like me.”
Rafael frowned.
“Who?”
“My cousin.”
“Elena?”
Maria nodded.
“Elena Ruiz. Similar height. Similar hair. Staff uniform.”
Emma said, “Miss Elena brought the wine.”
Alejandro remembered the recording.
Elena had entered at 8:13.
But if Bellini was right, she had entered before that too.
Disguised enough to be mistaken for Maria.
“Why?”
Maria’s face changed.
“I don’t know.”
Emma suddenly spoke.
“Miss Elena was crying.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
Maria turned.
“You saw her?”
“In the laundry room.”
“What happened?”
“She said she was sorry.”
Maria stared at her daughter.
“Sorry for what?”
“She didn’t say.”
Alejandro looked at Rafael.
“Elena may know something.”
“If she’s alive.”
They kept moving.
The passage led beneath the garage.
Rafael activated a concealed door.
They emerged behind a storage wall.
The garage appeared empty.
Four vehicles remained.
Alejandro selected an old maintenance van.
Bellini frowned.
“You’re going to St. Catherine’s in that?”
“Marco knows every car I own.”
They loaded into the van.
Maria and Emma sat in back.
Rafael drove.
Alejandro rode passenger.
Bellini sat between them with his hands visible.
As the van approached the service gate, two armed men stepped into the road.
Rafael slowed.
Alejandro lowered himself.
The men glanced at the logo on the van.
Moretti Estate Maintenance.
One waved them through.
Emma exhaled.
Maria kissed her forehead.
For three minutes, nobody spoke.
Then Emma asked Bellini, “Did you really try to kill Mr. Moretti?”
Maria closed her eyes.
“Emma.”
“What?”
Bellini looked back at the child.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I told you.”
“You were scared.”
“Yes.”
“Are you still scared?”
Bellini stared through the windshield.
“More than ever.”
“Then stop doing bad things.”
Rafael gave a short laugh.
Bellini didn’t.
Maybe because no judge in his courtroom had ever delivered a sentence more efficiently.
They crossed downtown.
Alejandro’s phone had no secure service.
Rafael used an emergency satellite handset.
He called Daniel.
No answer.
Called Dr. Nathan Mercer.
Nothing.
Then an unknown number rang.
Alejandro answered.
“Moretti.”
A woman whispered, “Don’t say my name.”
Alejandro recognized her immediately.
“Elena.”
Maria sat upright.
Emma looked toward the phone.
Elena’s breathing was frantic.
“They took the staff.”
“Where are you?”
“Laundry room.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Why did you enter my study twice tonight?”
Silence.
Maria’s expression changed.
Elena whispered, “They made me.”
“Who?”
“Marco.”
“Why?”
“My brother owes money. Marco said he would make the debt disappear.”
“For what?”
“The first time, I placed a device beneath your desk.”
Alejandro looked at Bellini.
“The Council camera.”
“I didn’t know what it was.”
“And the wine?”
“I brought it because Marco ordered me to. But I didn’t put anything in it.”
“We saw him do that.”
Elena started crying.
“I’m sorry.”
“Where is the device now?”
“Still there.”
“What does it do?”
“I don’t know.”
Bellini suddenly leaned toward the phone.
“Ask what color.”
Alejandro did.
Elena answered.
“Silver. About the size of a coin.”
Bellini went pale.
“That wasn’t a camera transmitter.”
“What was it?”
“A biometric monitor.”
Rafael looked over.
Bellini continued.
“It tracks pulse and respiratory changes.”
Alejandro understood.
“They wanted to know when I died.”
Bellini nodded.
Elena whispered through the phone.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“I heard Marco talking.”
Alejandro waited.
“He isn’t taking Luca to St. Catherine’s for a trade.”
Bellini turned.
“Then why?”
Elena began crying harder.
“He plans to kill him there.”
Alejandro’s hand tightened around the phone.
“Why?”
“To blame Bellini.”
Everyone looked at the judge.
Elena continued.
“Marco said when Luca is dead, you’ll kill Bellini. Then the Council will kill you. Marco takes control after everyone is gone.”
Bellini slumped back.
Marco wasn’t staging a coup.
He was wiping the board clean.
Alejandro looked toward Rafael.
“Faster.”
Rafael accelerated.
Maria held Emma.
Then Elena whispered one final thing.
“And Mr. Moretti?”
“Yes?”
“Marco knows you’re coming.”
The line went silent.
At that exact moment, headlights appeared behind them.
One vehicle.
Then three.
Then five.
Black SUVs.
Rafael checked the mirror.
“They found us.”
Alejandro turned toward Emma.
“Get down.”
Maria pulled her daughter to the floor.
The first SUV accelerated beside them.
Its window lowered.
A man raised a weapon.
Rafael swerved.
The maintenance van slammed into the SUV.
Metal screamed.
Emma buried her face against Maria.
Alejandro fired through the passenger window.
The SUV dropped behind.
Another came forward.
Bellini shouted, “Bridge ahead!”
Rafael glanced toward Alejandro.
“I can lose them.”
“How?”
“You’re not going to like it.”
“I stopped liking tonight around the poison.”
Rafael jerked the wheel.
The van smashed through a construction barrier and raced down an unfinished access road.
The SUVs followed.
Ahead, the road narrowed.
Beyond it stood a half-finished bridge.
Maria looked through the windshield.
“There’s no road!”
Rafael accelerated.
Emma screamed.
Alejandro grabbed the dashboard.
The van hit the end of the pavement.
For one impossible second, it left the ground.
Then it crashed onto the unfinished lower ramp.
The suspension snapped.
Glass shattered.
The van spun.
Finally, everything stopped.
Emma opened her eyes.
Everyone was alive.
Behind them, two SUVs had stopped at the barrier.
But a third had followed.
It landed hard on the ramp.
Its doors opened.
Four armed men emerged.
Rafael tried the ignition.
Nothing.
Alejandro looked toward St. Catherine’s Hospital, visible only six blocks away.
May you like
Then he opened his door.
“Run.”
