Chapter 7 - THE MAN INSIDE THE HOUSE
Harper heard tires scream before she saw anyone.
A vehicle tore out of the garage through the far ramp.
Elias reached the van seconds later.
"Harper!"
"Here."
He pulled open the rear door.
She crawled toward him, one arm wrapped around her ribs.
"Did you see him?"
"Lawson?"
"Malcolm."
Elias went still.
"What about Malcolm?"
"Derek called his name."
"You are sure?"
"I heard someone answer him."
Elias swore.
Two of Gabriel's men swept the garage.
The corrupt transport officer was gone.
So was Derek.
So was whoever had helped him.
Elias took out his phone.
"We are moving."
Harper grabbed his sleeve.
"Where is Noah?"
"Still at the house."
"With Morrison?"
"Yes."
"And Malcolm knows where the house is."
Elias's face hardened.
He made the call.
No one answered.
He called again.
Nothing.
Harper's heartbeat climbed into her throat.
"Call the security room."
Elias did.
Still nothing.
"Drive."
They reached Beacon Hill in eleven minutes.
The front gate stood open.
That was wrong.
One guard lay unconscious beside the gatehouse.
Another was missing.
Elias drew his weapon.
Harper pushed open her door.
"Stay in the car."
"No."
"Harper."
"My brother is inside."
She ran before he could stop her.
The front doors were unlocked.
The foyer was empty.
A vase lay broken near the stairs.
A smear of blood crossed the marble.
"Noah!"
Elias caught up behind her.
"Do not shout."
"He needs to know I am here."
"So does whoever did this."
Harper hated that he was right.
They moved upstairs.
Noah's room was empty.
The bed was unmade.
A cup of cocoa lay shattered near the window.
Harper saw red on the carpet and stopped breathing.
Then Elias crouched.
"Jam."
He touched the red stain.
Harper nearly collapsed from relief.
"Noah likes strawberry."
A floorboard creaked behind them.
Elias turned with his weapon raised.
Mrs. Morrison stepped from the bathroom.
Blood ran from a cut at her temple.
"Do not shoot me."
Harper rushed to her.
"Where is Noah?"
"Safe."
"Where?"
Morrison looked at Elias.
"The old wine cellar."
Elias frowned.
"That door was sealed years ago."
"There is another entrance from the pantry."
"Who knows about it?"
"Gabriel."
Morrison hesitated.
"And Malcolm."
Harper's stomach turned.
"What happened?"
"The west cameras went dark around three twenty."
Morrison touched her temple.
"I went to the security office."
"Who hit you?"
"Daniel Price."
Elias swore.
"One of the men from South Station."
"Yes."
"Where is he now?"
"Gone."
"Malcolm?"
"I have not seen him since morning."
Harper looked around Noah's room.
"Derek called his name in the garage."
Morrison closed her eyes.
"Then Thomas was right."
"About the man inside?"
She nodded.
"Malcolm knew every route Thomas used."
Elias's face darkened.
"He also knew Gabriel was taking Harper to South Station."
They found Noah in the old wine cellar behind a false pantry wall.
He sat wrapped in a blanket with a flashlight and a kitchen knife that looked absurdly large in his hands.
The moment he saw Harper, he burst into tears.
She gathered him against her.
"I am here."
"Mrs. Morrison said bad men came."
"She was right."
"Is Gabriel dead?"
Harper pulled back.
"Why would you ask that?"
Noah wiped his face.
"The man said he would be soon."
Every adult in the cellar went still.
"What man?"
"Mr. Malcolm."
Harper's pulse spiked.
"You saw him?"
Noah nodded.
"He came into my room before Mrs. Morrison did."
"What did he say?"
"He asked where you put the little recorder."
Morrison looked at Harper.
"Did you tell him?"
"No."
Noah straightened slightly.
"I told him I did not know what he meant."
Harper kissed his forehead.
"Good."
"Then he asked about Grandma's box."
Harper froze.
"What box?"
"The wooden one."
"The music box?"
Noah nodded.
Harper remembered Derek breaking open the boxes in the apartment.
He had searched for something but had not found the key because Noah took it first.
Now Malcolm was asking about the music box.
"Did Derek ever ask you about it?"
Noah looked frightened.
"A long time ago."
"When?"
"Before Grandma died."
Harper knelt so they were eye level.
"Tell me exactly what happened."
Noah twisted the blanket between his fingers.
"You were at work."
"Okay."
"Derek came over."
"Grandma was sick?"
"She was sleeping."
Noah's voice became smaller.
"He went through her closet."
Harper's skin prickled.
"Did she wake up?"
"Yes."
"What did she do?"
"She yelled at him."
Harper had almost never heard her mother yell.
"What did she say?"
Noah thought.
"She said, 'You already took one son from her. You are not taking my daughter.'"
Harper stopped breathing.
"One son from who?"
"I do not know."
Morrison made a sound behind her.
Harper turned.
The older woman looked as if she had been struck.
"What?"
Morrison's lips parted.
No words came.
Harper rose.
"What did my mother mean?"
Morrison shook her head.
"I do not know."
"Do not lie to me again."
"I am not."
Harper stepped closer.
"One son from her."
She pointed at Morrison.
"Thomas was your son."
Morrison's face drained of color.
"My mother said Derek had already taken one son from someone."
"Harper-"
"She meant Thomas."
Elias looked between them.
"How would Mara know Thomas was Mrs. Morrison's son?"
No one answered.
Then Morrison sat down slowly on an old wooden crate.
"Because Mara was the only person at the hospital who knew my real name."
Harper frowned.
"Eleanor Morrison is not your real name?"
"It is now."
"What was it?"
Morrison looked at her.
"Eleanor Vale."
Harper's mind went blank.
Elias lowered his weapon slowly.
"Vale?"
Morrison nodded.
"Adrian Vale is my younger brother."
Harper stared.
The enemy Gabriel had spent years fighting was Thomas's uncle.
And Thomas had died while trying to expose a traitor inside Gabriel's organization.
"Does Gabriel know any of this?"
Morrison whispered the answer.
"No."
After they found Noah in the cellar, Harper sat with him on the floor while Elias searched the rest of the house.
Noah kept the kitchen knife beside his shoe until Harper gently moved it away.
"You do not need that now."
"What if they come back?"
"Then the adults handle it."
Noah looked at her with a seriousness no eight-year-old should have needed.
"Adults do not always handle things."
Harper's throat tightened.
"You are right."
She refused to lie to him.
"Sometimes adults fail."
"Did you fail?"
The question hurt.
Harper considered giving the easy answer.
Then she remembered Morrison's words about loving the dead without lying about them.
"Sometimes."
Noah looked down.
"When Derek was mean?"
"Yes."
"Why did we stay?"
Harper took a breath.
"Because I was scared."
"Of him?"
"Of him."
"Of money."
"Of losing our apartment."
"Of the police believing him."
"Of what would happen if I tried to leave and failed."
Noah picked at a loose thread in the blanket.
"Were you scared I would be mad?"
Harper blinked.
"Why would you be mad?"
"Because you did not leave sooner."
Her eyes filled.
"Were you?"
Noah shook his head.
"I just wanted him gone."
Harper pulled him close.
"Me too."
He leaned against her.
"Gabriel is scary."
Harper almost laughed through the tears.
"Yes."
"But not the same scary."
"No."
"How do you know?"
Harper thought carefully.
"I do not know everything yet."
"Then why are we here?"
"Because when I tell Gabriel no, he gets annoyed."
Noah frowned.
"That sounds bad."
"Sometimes it is."
Harper smiled faintly.
"But then he stops."
Noah considered that with the solemn attention of a scientist.
"Derek did not stop."
"No."
"So that matters."
Harper kissed his hair.
"A lot."
A phone rang upstairs.
Elias checked his screen.
"It is him."
Gabriel.
Elias answered.
For several seconds he listened without speaking.
Then he looked at Morrison.
"He knows Malcolm is gone."
Morrison closed her eyes.
Elias's expression became grim.
"And he wants everyone brought to the safe house."
Harper looked at him.
"Why?"
May you like
Elias lowered the phone.
"Because Malcolm just emptied three Ashford accounts and sent Adrian Vale a list of every protected address Gabriel owns."
