Chapter 6 - Where Is Ethan?
Dominic hit the elevator door hard enough to dent the brass trim.
"Stairs."
Marco was already moving.
I handed Lily to a guard.
"No."
Dominic turned.
"Anna."
"He left because he thought I was hurt. I'm coming."
"This isn't a negotiation."
"Then stop talking."
I ran past him.
The underground stairwell smelled like concrete and machine oil.
Marco reached B2 first.
His gun cleared the corner.
"Hall clear."
Dominic pushed past him.
The service level had three storage rooms, a wine vault, mechanical access, and an old panic shelter built by Dominic's father.
The panic-room door was shut.
Red light above the keypad.
Dominic entered a code.
Denied.
"Again."
Denied.
Marco knelt at the panel.
"It's been reprogrammed."
A muffled thump came from inside.
"Ethan!"
"Dad!"
Dominic's face changed.
He put both hands against the steel door.
"Back away from it."
"I can't open it."
"Back away anyway."
Marco connected a bypass unit.
The panel flashed.
M-11.
I grabbed his shoulder.
"That code."
He shrugged me off.
"Not now."
"It was on the note."
Dominic heard me.
"Marco."
"Legacy maintenance identifier. I told you, old system."
The lock clicked.
Dominic ripped the door open.
Ethan sat on the floor in the far corner.
Alive.
Dominic reached him in two strides.
"Are you hurt?"
Ethan shook his head.
"He pushed me."
I stepped inside.
A syringe lay near the wall.
Cap still on.
Dr. Harris's kind of syringe.
I had seen enough of them around Ethan's allergy supplies to recognize the shape.
Dominic saw it too.
He did not touch it.
"Who brought you here?"
Ethan swallowed.
"A man."
"What man?"
"I couldn't see his face. He had a hood."
"Did he say anything?"
Ethan nodded.
"He said, 'Dom won't make the same mistake twice.'"
Dominic froze.
Marco stood behind him.
I looked from one to the other.
"Dom."
Neither man spoke.
"Who calls you that?"
Dominic's mouth tightened.
"Family. People who've known me a long time."
Marco lifted his hands slightly.
"Half the house has heard people call him Dom."
"Half the house?"
"Staff talk."
Ethan grabbed Dominic's sleeve.
"Dad."
"What?"
"It wasn't Uncle Marco."
The room went still.
Marco let out a breath through his nose.
"How do you know?"
"Voice was different."
Ethan looked past him.
Boots sounded in the hall.
Dr. Harris appeared with his medical bag.
"Ethan."
The boy's fingers tightened around Dominic's sleeve.
He stared at the doctor.
"Like him."
Harris stopped.
"What?"
Ethan pointed.
"The man sounded like Dr. Harris."
The medical bag slipped from Harris's hand.
It hit the concrete.
Metal instruments scattered.
One small silver box spun across the floor.
Lily's words came back so clearly I heard them in her voice.
He had a silver box.
Dominic raised his gun.
Harris lifted both hands.
"Dominic, wait."
Marco stepped behind him and pressed a weapon to his spine.
"Don't move."
Harris looked at me.
Then at the syringe on the floor.
"That isn't mine."
Dominic's voice dropped.
"You have five seconds to make me believe you."
Harris swallowed.
"Then don't ask about the syringe."
"Four."
"Ask why your security chief knew where to find the bypass unit before anyone told him which door was locked."
Marco's gun pushed harder into his back.
Harris smiled without humor.
"Three, Dominic."
Dominic's eyes shifted to Marco.
May you like
And Marco's finger tightened on the trigger—
