Chapter 10 - The Fall
---
I didn't feel the bullet.
I heard it. A crack. A roar. Something hot and sharp ripping past my ear.
Then I was on the ground. Jake on top of me. Screaming.
"Shots fired! Shots fired!"
Mom ran. Through the back door. Into the woods.
Jake was off me in seconds. Pursuing. His team followed.
I lay there. Staring at the ceiling. Ears ringing.
I touched my face. My ear was bleeding. The bullet had grazed me.
I was alive.
I got up. Followed the sound of shouting.
The woods were dark. Confusing. I stumbled through the trees. Branches hitting my face.
Then I saw them.
Mom was on the ground. Jake standing over her. Gun drawn.
"Don't move."
She wasn't moving. Her leg was twisted. Wrong. She'd fallen.
"Marcus." Her voice was weak. "Help me."
I stood there. Looking at her. The woman who'd raised me. Who'd taught me to read. Who'd kissed my scraped knees.
The woman who'd killed my father. Who'd tried to kill my sister.
"I'm not helping you."
"Please. I'm your mother."
"You stopped being my mother when you locked Karen in that freezer."
Jake cuffed her. Read her rights. She didn't resist. She just stared at me. Eyes empty.
"I did it all for you," she whispered. "For the family."
"There is no family," I said. "You destroyed it."
They took her away. I watched the car disappear into the trees.
Jake put a hand on my shoulder. "You okay?"
I touched my ear. Blood. But the bleeding had stopped.
"I don't know."
"We got her. That's what matters."
"She'll go to prison."
"She will."
"For the rest of her life."
"Probably."
I closed my eyes. Took a breath.
"What about the others? Ray? Danny?"
"We'll find them. They can't run forever."
"And the people she worked for? The ones she was so afraid of?"
Jake was quiet. "That's a bigger problem. But we'll deal with it. One step at a time."
I opened my eyes. Looked at the sky. The sun was fully up now. Warm.
"Take me to Karen."
---
Karen was sitting up when I got there. Watching TV. She looked better. Color in her cheeks.
"You look like hell."
"Feel like it too."
"Mom?"
"Arrested."
She closed her eyes. Let out a breath. "It's over."
"For now."
"What does that mean?"
I sat beside her. Took her hand.
"She said there were others. People she worked for. People who might come after us."
Karen nodded. "I know."
"You knew?"
"I told you. It goes higher than you can imagine."
"Then what do we do?"
She smiled. Tired. But determined.
"We fight. We survive. We make sure they can never hurt anyone again."
I looked at my sister. The one who'd been through hell. The one who'd never stopped fighting.
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"Okay." I squeezed her hand. "We fight."
She leaned back. Closed her eyes.
"Good."
"Rest now. I'll be here."
"I know."
I sat there. Watching her sleep. The machines beeping. The world outside the window.
It wasn't over. Not really. Mom was in custody, but her network was still out there. Ray. Danny. Whoever they worked for.
But Karen was alive. I was alive. We had the ledger. The evidence.
We had a chance.
And that was enough.
---
May you like
If you enjoyed the story, bookmark my site: https://vibe.treeiq.biz New stories are posted daily, so check back for updates.
---
