Chapter 13 - THE CHOICE
Sunrise was forty minutes away.
Lucas stood in the middle of the Blackwood war room.
Maps covered the walls.
Phones rang.
Men shouted coordinates.
Every available vehicle was being prepared.
Nathan sat at the table while a medic wrapped his shoulder.
Sarah stood beside him.
“We have to find her.”
Lucas stared at the city map.
“We will.”
“How?”
Lucas didn't answer.
Nathan looked at him.
“You're thinking like the old Lucas.”
Lucas turned.
“What does that mean?”
“The old Lucas would attack every location.”
“And?”
“And that's what Eleanor wants.”
Lucas went silent.
Nathan continued.
“She wants you angry.”
Sarah nodded.
“She knows you'll make mistakes.”
Lucas stared at the map.
Then he noticed something.
A small red mark.
The old Blackwood church.
He remembered his father taking him there when he was a child.
Lucas whispered:
“She always hated that place.”
Sarah frowned.
“Your mother?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Dad hid something there.”
Nathan stood.
“Then that's where she is.”
Lucas nodded.
They left immediately.
At the church, the doors were open.
Inside, candles burned.
Emma sat in the front pew.
Eleanor stood behind her.
Lucas entered alone.
“Let her go.”
Eleanor looked at him.
“You came.”
“Of course.”
She smiled.
“You look so much like your father.”
Lucas stepped forward.
“You killed him.”
“No.”
“I know about the gate.”
“I didn't pull the trigger.”
“You ordered it.”
Eleanor's eyes hardened.
“He was going to destroy everything.”
“He was your husband.”
“He chose the organization over me.”
Lucas laughed bitterly.
“No. He chose his children.”
Eleanor looked at Emma.
“Exactly.”
Lucas stopped.
“What?”
“Your father loved Emma more than anything.”
Lucas frowned.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It does when you know the truth.”
Eleanor walked toward him.
“Emma isn't simply Nathan's daughter.”
Lucas stared.
“Then whose is she?”
Eleanor whispered:
“Lucas.”
Silence.
“You're her biological father.”
Lucas stopped breathing.
“No.”
Eleanor smiled.
“Your father knew.”
Lucas looked at Emma.
The little girl stared back.
He remembered the moment she had walked into his study.
The oversized apron.
The trembling hands.
The words:
My mommy couldn't come today.
His chest tightened.
Eleanor continued.
“Sarah was protecting you.”
Lucas shook his head.
“How?”
“Your father discovered that you and Sarah had been together once.”
Lucas's memories surfaced.
Seven years earlier.
One night.
One woman.
A face he had never forgotten.
Sarah.
He had thought she left because she wanted nothing to do with him.
But she had been pregnant.
Emma was his daughter.
Lucas's eyes filled with disbelief.
“You're lying.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“Ask Sarah.”
Lucas looked behind him.
Sarah stood in the doorway.
Tears streamed down her face.
“It's true.”
Lucas couldn't move.
Emma stood.
“Mr. Blackwood?”
He looked at her.
She smiled nervously.
“Are you mad at Mommy?”
Lucas walked toward her.
Then dropped to his knees.
“No.”
Emma looked confused.
Lucas whispered:
“I'm mad that I missed eight years.”
Emma stared.
Lucas opened his arms.
She ran into them.
He held his daughter for the first time.
And everything inside him broke.
Eleanor watched silently.
Then she smiled.
May you like
Because she knew something Lucas didn't.
A gunman was standing behind him.
