Chapter 13 - BOTH ELMORES
Caitlyn woke to the sound of a machine breathing.
For one terrible second, she thought she was back in the ICU three years earlier.
Then she opened her eyes.
The ceiling was low.
The walls were pale green.
A fluorescent light hummed above her.
Her wrists were not tied.
That was the first good thing.
The second was sitting six feet away.
"Noah."
Her voice broke.
Her brother lay in a hospital bed near the wall.
His eyes were open.
A thin blanket covered his legs.
An IV line ran into his arm.
His left hand rested against the rail.
Caitlyn moved so quickly the room spun.
She caught the edge of a metal chair.
"Noah."
His eyes shifted toward her.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then his fingers moved.
Once.
Twice.
Caitlyn reached him and wrapped both hands around his.
"It's me."
Noah's mouth moved.
"Cait."
The single syllable nearly destroyed her.
She bent over him.
"I'm here."
Noah's fingers squeezed weakly.
Caitlyn pressed her forehead to his hand.
She did not realize she was crying until a tear landed on his knuckles.
"I'm sorry."
His eyes moved toward her.
"No."
The word was faint.
Caitlyn looked up.
Noah tried again.
"No... sorry."
She laughed through the tears.
"You always were bossy."
A lock clicked behind her.
Caitlyn stood and turned.
Eleanor Price entered.
There was blood on the sleeve of her beige coat.
A different coat had been thrown over it, but Caitlyn could still see the stain.
"Did you get shot?"
Eleanor looked down.
"Grazed."
"Pity."
The older woman almost smiled.
"There is the Caitlyn I remember."
"You do not get to remember me fondly."
Eleanor's expression tightened.
"I never wanted this."
"You sent men to take my brother."
"Mercer did."
"You gave him the information."
Silence.
Caitlyn stepped between Eleanor and Noah.
"You approved his insurance exception."
"You knew where he lived."
"You knew which records would tell Mercer how to move him."
Eleanor lowered her eyes.
"Yes."
The admission felt like another betrayal.
"Why?"
"Because Mercer had records on me that would destroy my life."
Caitlyn laughed once.
"So you destroyed mine first."
"It was not supposed to go this far."
"People say that when they want credit for the line they crossed before the next line."
Eleanor looked at her sharply.
Caitlyn had heard Damian say something similar during a negotiation months earlier.
She wondered whether he knew how much of his language she had memorized.
"Mercer only wanted the ledger," Eleanor said.
"Then give him your copy."
"I don't have one."
"You were in the network."
"That does not mean I controlled the ledger."
Caitlyn folded her arms.
"You accepted four point eight million dollars."
Eleanor's face went pale.
"You really opened it."
"Yes."
"Then you understand what is inside."
"I understand you sold information for years and kept taking a salary from Damian."
"It is more complicated."
"It usually is when guilty people explain themselves."
Eleanor stepped closer.
"Do you know what Robert Hamilton did to people who disappointed him?"
"No."
"Do you know what Malcolm did before he found his conscience?"
"No."
"Do you know what Vincent has done for Damian?"
Caitlyn's jaw tightened.
"No."
"Exactly."
Eleanor's voice softened.
"You have spent two years arranging one man's calendar and convinced yourself you know him."
The words found a vulnerable place.
Caitlyn hated that.
"I know enough."
"Do you?"
Eleanor looked toward Noah.
"Ask Damian what happened to the man who tried to kidnap his younger cousin ten years ago."
"Ask Vincent how many bodies were never found after the dock war."
"Ask Malcolm how Northstar made its first fortune."
Caitlyn said nothing.
Eleanor stepped closer.
"These are not good men."
"Neither is Mercer."
"No."
Eleanor's eyes became tired.
"He is worse."
"Then help me stop him."
The older woman looked away.
That answer hurt too.
The door opened again.
Elias Mercer entered.
He wore a dark overcoat and no visible weapon.
Caitlyn hated the confidence of that.
"Family reunion."
She moved closer to Noah.
"Let him go."
"Soon."
"You have said soon for a day."
"I have said many things for a day."
Mercer pulled a chair toward the bed.
He sat as if this were a consultation.
"You opened Thomas's drive."
Caitlyn did not answer.
"Eleanor confirmed it."
He smiled.
"You always were bright."
"You don't know me."
"I know your father."
"Knew."
Mercer's smile faded.
"Yes."
Caitlyn felt rage rise.
"You killed him."
"The truck driver lost control."
"Because you changed his route and sent him toward my family's car."
Mercer studied her.
"Damian showed you the recording."
"You admitted it to him."
"Admission is a flexible word."
Caitlyn wanted to cross the room and hit him.
Noah's hand tightened weakly around hers.
She stayed where she was.
Mercer noticed the movement.
"He remembers."
Caitlyn looked at him.
"That frightens you."
Mercer smiled again.
"Very little frightens me."
"Then why kidnap someone who can barely speak?"
The smile disappeared.
Caitlyn had found the nerve.
She pressed it.
"Because Noah saw you."
"Because for three years you thought his injury protected you."
"Then one little video made you cross three states to grab him."
Mercer's eyes became cold.
"Careful."
Caitlyn lifted her chin.
"No."
She heard Damian in the word.
That gave her strength.
Mercer stood.
"The passphrase."
"I don't know it."
"You opened the drive."
"That doesn't mean I know what worked."
"Caitlyn."
"Elias."
Eleanor closed her eyes briefly.
Mercer stepped toward Caitlyn.
Noah made a strained sound.
Mercer stopped.
Caitlyn saw it.
He did not want to upset Noah too much.
Not from compassion.
Because Noah was medically fragile and useful alive.
That was information.
Caitlyn held onto it.
"You need both of us conscious."
Mercer's expression changed.
"Excuse me?"
"You need me to unlock the ledger."
"And you need Noah because he is leverage."
Caitlyn looked toward the monitors.
"His heart rate jumps when you come near him."
"If you push too hard and he crashes, you lose control of me."
Mercer's eyes narrowed.
"You think I won't hurt him?"
"I think you need him alive more than you want me frightened."
The room went quiet.
Eleanor looked at Caitlyn almost with admiration.
Mercer did not.
"You have spent too much time with Hamilton."
"Maybe."
"He will not save you."
Caitlyn's heartbeat stumbled.
She forced herself not to show it.
"You don't know him as well as you think."
Mercer's mouth hardened.
"I knew his father."
"That was your first mistake."
The door opened.
A guard entered and whispered into Mercer's ear.
Mercer's expression changed.
Only slightly.
But Caitlyn saw it.
Something outside was going wrong.
"What happened?"
He ignored her.
He looked at Eleanor.
"Come with me."
They left.
The door locked.
Caitlyn waited until the footsteps faded.
Then she turned to Noah.
"Okay."
She pulled her chair close.
"We need to talk."
Noah blinked.
Caitlyn took his left hand.
"One squeeze for yes."
She squeezed once.
"Two for no."
She squeezed twice.
"Can you do that?"
One weak squeeze answered.
Caitlyn's throat tightened.
"Good."
"Did you see Mercer the night of the crash?"
One squeeze.
"Was he in the black sedan?"
One squeeze.
"Was Malcolm in our car?"
One squeeze.
"Did Dad know Mercer was following you?"
One squeeze.
Caitlyn's heart pounded.
"Did Dad say anything after the crash?"
Noah hesitated.
Then squeezed once.
"Was it about the drive?"
Two squeezes.
"About me?"
One squeeze.
Her eyes filled.
"Was it the thing Malcolm told me?"
Noah's fingers trembled.
Then one squeeze.
Caitlyn looked down.
Tell Cait this wasn't her fault.
She swallowed hard.
"Okay."
Her voice broke.
"Okay."
Noah's fingers moved again.
Three squeezes.
Caitlyn frowned.
"Three?"
He repeated it.
Three squeezes.
"What does three mean?"
Noah's eyes moved toward the wall.
Caitlyn followed his gaze.
A small red light blinked above the door.
Camera.
Three squeezes.
Three notes.
The cartoon tune.
Find north.
Caitlyn understood.
Noah was not answering a question.
He was reminding her of the code their father used.
"North?"
One squeeze.
She looked around the room.
No windows.
No compass.
But hospitals had plans.
Emergency evacuation maps.
Caitlyn stood and checked behind the door.
Nothing.
She looked beneath a cabinet.
Nothing.
Then she saw a small building-inspection sticker on the oxygen panel.
Facility address.
Pier 9 Medical Storage Annex.
Brooklyn waterfront.
Caitlyn's breath caught.
Pier Nine.
The same pier Damian had confronted the freight executives about in Chicago.
The same dock named at the beginning of the entire chain.
Mercer had hidden Noah inside Damian's own shipping network.
Caitlyn looked at the camera.
If she could see the address, Mercer knew she could too.
Unless he had forgotten it was there.
She needed to get the information out.
Her eyes moved to the medical monitor.
Network cable.
Hospital devices transmitted data.
Maybe not to the internet.
Maybe only internally.
But internal was enough if Damian's people were searching the building's systems.
Caitlyn remembered two years of scheduling Damian's technology briefings.
She knew one thing about network administrators.
They noticed unusual device names.
She opened the monitor settings.
A password prompt appeared.
She tried NOAH.
Rejected.
She tried ROWAN.
Rejected.
Then she tried 0719.
The old Shipment 719 code.
The settings opened.
Caitlyn almost laughed.
Criminals were not immune to terrible passwords.
She found the device-name field.
Current name: BED03.
Caitlyn changed it.
CAITLYN_ELMORE_PIER9_NOAH_ALIVE.
May you like
Then she pressed save.
