Glass rained onto the greenhouse floor.<\/p>\n
Curtis covered the back of his neck with one arm and pulled me behind a rusted metal table.<\/p>\n
"Stay down."<\/p>\n
Another shot struck the frame above us.<\/p>\n
I heard police shouting outside.<\/p>\n
Then return fire.<\/p>\n
Not close.<\/p>\n
Too far.<\/p>\n
Marquez's people had deliberately kept their distance so Curtis would believe I came alone.<\/p>\n
Whoever fired first had arrived between us and them.<\/p>\n
Curtis reached inside his jacket.<\/p>\n
I grabbed his wrist.<\/p>\n
He looked at me.<\/p>\n
"Gun?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Mrs. Collins\u2014"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"If they get through that door\u2014"<\/p>\n
"You pull a gun and police see you, you're dead."<\/p>\n
He stared.<\/p>\n
Then slowly removed his empty hand.<\/p>\n
"Fair."<\/p>\n
The shooting stopped.<\/p>\n
That silence frightened me more.<\/p>\n
Curtis whispered, "They're moving."<\/p>\n
"Who?"<\/p>\n
"No idea."<\/p>\n
"You shouted Pike."<\/p>\n
"Because that's his pattern."<\/p>\n
"What pattern?"<\/p>\n
"Create confusion. Arrive as police. Control the scene."<\/p>\n
Before I could answer, a voice boomed through the greenhouse.<\/p>\n
"CURTIS MERCER! SHOW YOUR HANDS!"<\/p>\n
Police voice.<\/p>\n
Authoritative.<\/p>\n
Curtis went rigid.<\/p>\n
"Pike."<\/p>\n
"How can you tell?"<\/p>\n
"He drags the R in Mercer."<\/p>\n
Under any other circumstances, that detail might have seemed absurd.<\/p>\n
Now it probably saved our lives.<\/p>\n
"Mrs. Collins!" Pike shouted. "Move away from him!"<\/p>\n
Curtis laughed quietly.<\/p>\n
"He knows you're here."<\/p>\n
"Marquez knows too."<\/p>\n
"Yeah, but Pike got here first."<\/p>\n
I thought of the corrupt officer under detention.<\/p>\n
"How is he even here?"<\/p>\n
Curtis's face hardened.<\/p>\n
"Then somebody let him out."<\/p>\n
Or moved him.<\/p>\n
Or Pike had escaped.<\/p>\n
Nothing made sense.<\/p>\n
Then another voice shouted from farther away.<\/p>\n
"Margaret! This is Detective Marquez! Stay where you are!"<\/p>\n
Two police voices.<\/p>\n
Two claims of authority.<\/p>\n
The nightmare of Michael's warning made real.<\/p>\n
Don't trust the system because someone inside is bought.<\/p>\n
Curtis whispered, "Marquez came from the north entrance."<\/p>\n
"How do you know?"<\/p>\n
"Her voice."<\/p>\n
"Pike's south."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"Then stay between them."<\/p>\n
Curtis looked at me.<\/p>\n
"That's your plan?"<\/p>\n
"It's better than getting up."<\/p>\n
A laugh escaped him despite everything.<\/p>\n
"Michael was right about you."<\/p>\n
"What did he say?"<\/p>\n
"That you're terrifying when people finally stop making decisions for you."<\/p>\n
I almost smiled.<\/p>\n
Then a shape appeared behind broken glass.<\/p>\n
Pike.<\/p>\n
No uniform.<\/p>\n
Plain clothes.<\/p>\n
Gun raised.<\/p>\n
Curtis saw him at the same moment.<\/p>\n
He pushed me lower.<\/p>\n
Pike fired.<\/p>\n
The bullet struck metal.<\/p>\n
Curtis drew his weapon.<\/p>\n
I grabbed his sleeve.<\/p>\n
"Don't."<\/p>\n
"He'll kill us."<\/p>\n
"Marquez!"<\/p>\n
I screamed her name.<\/p>\n
Pike moved.<\/p>\n
Then gunfire erupted from outside.<\/p>\n
He disappeared behind a brick wall.<\/p>\n
Marquez's voice came closer.<\/p>\n
"Pike! Drop it!"<\/p>\n
Pike shouted back.<\/p>\n
"Curtis has Margaret!"<\/p>\n
I realized immediately what he was doing.<\/p>\n
Creating the official story.<\/p>\n
Hostage situation.<\/p>\n
Armed criminal.<\/p>\n
Officer intervenes.<\/p>\n
Curtis dies.<\/p>\n
Maybe I die too.<\/p>\n
Everything becomes explainable.<\/p>\n
"He'll shoot me and blame you," I whispered.<\/p>\n
Curtis nodded.<\/p>\n
"That's what he does."<\/p>\n
"Then give me the gun."<\/p>\n
He stared at me.<\/p>\n
"What?"<\/p>\n
"If police come in and see you armed, Pike wins."<\/p>\n
"You holding it is worse."<\/p>\n
"Not if I put it on the ground away from us."<\/p>\n
He considered for half a second.<\/p>\n
Then handed it over grip-first.<\/p>\n
I slid it beneath another table.<\/p>\n
"Hands visible."<\/p>\n
He obeyed.<\/p>\n
That mattered.<\/p>\n
Maybe for the first time in his adult life, Curtis Mercer surrendered control to someone instead of fear.<\/p>\n
I lifted both hands.<\/p>\n
"MARQUEZ! CURTIS IS UNARMED!"<\/p>\n
"Margaret, stay down!"<\/p>\n
"Pike is shooting at us!"<\/p>\n
No answer for a second.<\/p>\n
Then:<\/p>\n
"Understood!"<\/p>\n
The word changed the atmosphere.<\/p>\n
Marquez believed me.<\/p>\n
Or at least accepted the possibility.<\/p>\n
Pike moved again.<\/p>\n
This time I saw his face.<\/p>\n
Not calm.<\/p>\n
Not professional.<\/p>\n
Desperate.<\/p>\n
He shouted:<\/p>\n
"Rebecca says you're done, Curtis!"<\/p>\n
Curtis went pale.<\/p>\n
Confirmation.<\/p>\n
Pike wasn't improvising.<\/p>\n
Rebecca had sent him.<\/p>\n
"Come out," Pike shouted. "I can still fix this."<\/p>\n
Curtis answered for the first time.<\/p>\n
"You've been fixing things for twenty years!"<\/p>\n
Pike laughed.<\/p>\n
"You think you're different?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Then stop pretending."<\/p>\n
Curtis looked at me.<\/p>\n
That accusation hurt him because it was partly true.<\/p>\n
He had participated.<\/p>\n
Delivered money.<\/p>\n
Helped abduct Michael.<\/p>\n
Watched Leonard.<\/p>\n
Lied.<\/p>\n
Fear had not made him innocent.<\/p>\n
He stood suddenly.<\/p>\n
I grabbed for him.<\/p>\n
"Don't."<\/p>\n
"I need him looking at me."<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"Because Marquez needs an angle."<\/p>\n
I hated the logic.<\/p>\n
Curtis rose halfway, hands visible.<\/p>\n
"Pike!"<\/p>\n
"On your knees!"<\/p>\n
"I don't have the gun."<\/p>\n
"Liar."<\/p>\n
"You know me better than that."<\/p>\n
"Exactly."<\/p>\n
Curtis stepped into the open aisle.<\/p>\n
Pike appeared behind a broken partition.<\/p>\n
"Hands!"<\/p>\n
Curtis spread them.<\/p>\n
"No gun."<\/p>\n
Pike saw it.<\/p>\n
He hesitated.<\/p>\n
That hesitation destroyed his story.<\/p>\n
If Curtis were the armed hostage taker Pike claimed, he should have reacted with relief.<\/p>\n
Instead Pike looked frustrated.<\/p>\n
"Where's the page?"<\/p>\n
Curtis smiled.<\/p>\n
"That's what this is really about."<\/p>\n
Pike's weapon remained trained on him.<\/p>\n
"Give it to me."<\/p>\n
"Rebecca didn't send you for Margaret."<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
Pike glanced toward where I crouched.<\/p>\n
"She's collateral."<\/p>\n
The word hit me with strange clarity.<\/p>\n
Collateral.<\/p>\n
Twenty-one years of my family's suffering condensed into the language people used when they wanted to avoid saying victim.<\/p>\n
Curtis said, "Rebecca wants the authorization page."<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"Because it proves Robert ordered the targets."<\/p>\n
"Give it to me."<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Then you die."<\/p>\n
Curtis laughed.<\/p>\n
"Been hearing that since I was nineteen."<\/p>\n
Pike fired.<\/p>\n
At almost the same instant, another gunshot answered.<\/p>\n
Pike jerked backward.<\/p>\n
Curtis collapsed.<\/p>\n
I screamed.<\/p>\n
Marquez rushed in from the opposite side with Reynolds and two tactical officers.<\/p>\n
I crawled toward Curtis.<\/p>\n
Blood spread across his jacket near the shoulder.<\/p>\n
"Stay still."<\/p>\n
He looked almost annoyed.<\/p>\n
"Wasn't planning a jog."<\/p>\n
Pike lay near the wall.<\/p>\n
Alive.<\/p>\n
Hit in the leg.<\/p>\n
His gun several feet away.<\/p>\n
Reynolds kicked it farther.<\/p>\n
Marquez ordered everyone secured.<\/p>\n
Then she turned to me.<\/p>\n
"Are you hurt?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Sure?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
My body was shaking hard enough to betray me.<\/p>\n
Curtis groaned.<\/p>\n
Paramedics were called in.<\/p>\n
As they cut open his sleeve, he grabbed my wrist.<\/p>\n
"Page."<\/p>\n
"What?"<\/p>\n
"Don't let them take it."<\/p>\n
"Who?"<\/p>\n
He looked toward the officers.<\/p>\n
Even now he didn't trust them.<\/p>\n
Marquez heard.<\/p>\n
"Where is it?"<\/p>\n
Curtis's eyes narrowed.<\/p>\n
I answered before him.<\/p>\n
"Not here."<\/p>\n
She looked at me sharply.<\/p>\n
I had seen him show it.<\/p>\n
But I suddenly understood why he had chosen a plastic sleeve he could fold into his jacket.<\/p>\n
If Pike searched him, he'd expect it there.<\/p>\n
After the first shots, Curtis had shoved me down.<\/p>\n
At some point during that movement, he must have transferred it.<\/p>\n
I felt inside my coat.<\/p>\n
Nothing.<\/p>\n
Then my fingers touched something at the back of my waistband.<\/p>\n
The sleeve.<\/p>\n
He had placed it on me while protecting me.<\/p>\n
I did not reveal it in front of everyone.<\/p>\n
"Later," I told Marquez.<\/p>\n
Her eyes locked with mine.<\/p>\n
Then she nodded.<\/p>\n
Trust, cautiously given.<\/p>\n
Pike laughed from the floor.<\/p>\n
"You're all dead anyway."<\/p>\n
Reynolds cuffed him.<\/p>\n
"Save it."<\/p>\n
"No, listen."<\/p>\n
Pike's face had gone gray.<\/p>\n
"Rebecca has Leonard."<\/p>\n
Curtis stopped moving.<\/p>\n
"What?"<\/p>\n
Pike smiled through pain.<\/p>\n
"She got him an hour ago."<\/p>\n
Curtis stared.<\/p>\n
"Where?"<\/p>\n
"Same place she's taking James Varden."<\/p>\n
My stomach dropped.<\/p>\n
James.<\/p>\n
"Where?"<\/p>\n
Pike shook his head.<\/p>\n
"Deal."<\/p>\n
Marquez stepped closer.<\/p>\n
"You are in no position."<\/p>\n
"I have the location."<\/p>\n
"You also have attempted murder, corruption and obstruction."<\/p>\n
"Then I need something."<\/p>\n
"What?"<\/p>\n
"Witness protection."<\/p>\n
Curtis laughed bitterly.<\/p>\n
"For you?"<\/p>\n
Pike looked at him.<\/p>\n
"Same thing you wanted."<\/p>\n
"Difference is I didn't shoot a woman."<\/p>\n
"You helped kidnap a man."<\/p>\n
Curtis went quiet.<\/p>\n
Again, no easy heroes.<\/p>\n
No clean villains except perhaps those at the center.<\/p>\n
Marquez told Pike prosecutors would decide any deal.<\/p>\n
He refused to give the location without assurances.<\/p>\n
Then Curtis said, "I know where."<\/p>\n
Everyone turned.<\/p>\n
"Rebecca's father's property," he said.<\/p>\n
"What property?"<\/p>\n
"Not the house."<\/p>\n
"Then what?"<\/p>\n
"The old courthouse annex."<\/p>\n
Marquez frowned.<\/p>\n
"That's county property."<\/p>\n
"Not the original building."<\/p>\n
Curtis explained.<\/p>\n
Robert Varden had once owned a private records warehouse used by law firms and political campaigns before donating it to a charitable trust.<\/p>\n
The building had been vacant for years.<\/p>\n
North side of Columbus.<\/p>\n
Basement archive room.<\/p>\n
No working public utilities.<\/p>\n
Multiple entrances.<\/p>\n
"Why there?"<\/p>\n
"Because Rebecca grew up using it."<\/p>\n
Pike's expression told us Curtis was right.<\/p>\n
Marquez noticed.<\/p>\n
"So that's the location."<\/p>\n
Pike remained silent.<\/p>\n
"James and Leonard are there?"<\/p>\n
No answer.<\/p>\n
Curtis said, "Probably."<\/p>\n
"What does she want from James?"<\/p>\n
"The federal memorandum."<\/p>\n
"And Leonard?"<\/p>\n
"The case."<\/p>\n
"And Michael?"<\/p>\n
Curtis looked toward me.<\/p>\n
"She'll want him too."<\/p>\n
My stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
"But he's at the hospital."<\/p>\n
Pike smiled.<\/p>\n
"For now."<\/p>\n
Marquez immediately ordered the hospital team changed again.<\/p>\n
Only then did she ask me quietly:<\/p>\n
"What did Curtis give you?"<\/p>\n
I pulled the authorization sheet from my waistband.<\/p>\n
Her face changed.<\/p>\n
"You had that during the shooting?"<\/p>\n
"Apparently."<\/p>\n
Curtis looked almost amused from the stretcher.<\/p>\n
"Safest place."<\/p>\n
"I was being shot at."<\/p>\n
"Nobody searched you."<\/p>\n
The paramedic pushed him back.<\/p>\n
Marquez photographed the sheet.<\/p>\n
Then paused.<\/p>\n
"There's writing on the back."<\/p>\n
I hadn't noticed.<\/p>\n
The reverse contained a date and one sentence.<\/p>\n
Evelyn refused the second signature.<\/p>\n
"What second signature?" I asked.<\/p>\n
Curtis answered weakly.<\/p>\n
"The liability transfer."<\/p>\n
"Meaning?"<\/p>\n
"Frank wanted her to sign a confession saying Daniel ordered everything."<\/p>\n
My mother had refused.<\/p>\n
"If she'd signed?"<\/p>\n
"Your father would've taken the fall."<\/p>\n
"Why didn't they force her?"<\/p>\n
"Daniel arrived."<\/p>\n
That was the photograph.<\/p>\n
Mom captive.<\/p>\n
Frank pressuring her.<\/p>\n
Leonard there.<\/p>\n
Dad arriving.<\/p>\n
The morning of the fire.<\/p>\n
"What happened then?"<\/p>\n
Curtis closed his eyes.<\/p>\n
"My father hit Daniel."<\/p>\n
I remembered Dad's collapse after Michael's funeral.<\/p>\n
Heart problems.<\/p>\n
But perhaps some of his later health issues began with violence that day.<\/p>\n
"Michael arrived during the fight," Curtis continued.<\/p>\n
"Then?"<\/p>\n
"Everything broke apart."<\/p>\n
The fire.<\/p>\n
Samuel.<\/p>\n
Michael disappearing.<\/p>\n
Frank dying.<\/p>\n
The false body.<\/p>\n
Twenty-one years of aftermath.<\/p>\n
Marquez's phone rang.<\/p>\n
Her face hardened.<\/p>\n
"What now?" I asked.<\/p>\n
"Hospital security."<\/p>\n
My heart stopped.<\/p>\n
"Michael?"<\/p>\n
"Still there."<\/p>\n
I exhaled.<\/p>\n
"But someone tried to access his room using credentials from a county judge."<\/p>\n
Rebecca.<\/p>\n
"Did they get in?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Who?"<\/p>\n
"A woman."<\/p>\n
"Rebecca?"<\/p>\n
"Security footage is coming."<\/p>\n
Seconds later the image appeared.<\/p>\n
Not Rebecca.<\/p>\n
A younger woman.<\/p>\n
Mid-thirties.<\/p>\n
Blonde hair pulled back.<\/p>\n
Professional clothes.<\/p>\n
Tyler, who had been brought to the scene perimeter and now stood several yards away with an officer, saw the image on Marquez's tablet.<\/p>\n
He went white.<\/p>\n
"I know her."<\/p>\n
Every head turned.<\/p>\n
"Who?"<\/p>\n
Tyler swallowed.<\/p>\n
"She told me her name was Claire."<\/p>\n
"Claire what?"<\/p>\n
"I don't know."<\/p>\n
"Where did you meet her?"<\/p>\n
"Michael introduced us."<\/p>\n
My skin went cold.<\/p>\n
"When?"<\/p>\n
"At the motel."<\/p>\n
That meant there had been another person inside the network from the beginning.<\/p>\n
"What did Michael say about her?"<\/p>\n
Tyler stared at the image.<\/p>\n
"That she was his daughter."<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
"Michael has a daughter?"<\/p>\n
Tyler nodded.<\/p>\n
And just like that, another member of my family appeared out of a secret I had never been allowed to know.<\/p>\n
Glass rained onto the greenhouse floor. Curtis covered the back of his neck with one arm and pulled me behind a rusted metal table. "Stay down." Another shot struck the … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feel-one-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15928"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15976,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15928\/revisions\/15976"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/feelonestory.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}