Chapter 6
David moved first.
He shoved Logan behind me and stepped between us and Agent Cole.
Luca’s guards raised weapons.
Cole’s agents raised theirs.
The hospital room became a breath away from bloodshed.
Alessandro lay in the bed, pale and furious, a dying king who had been declared dead too soon.
Cole smiled like he owned every heartbeat in the room.
“Everyone calm down.”
No one did.
His eyes slid to me.
“Mrs. Winters, I’m Agent Marcus Cole. Your husband has been involved in a dangerous undercover operation. You and your son need federal protection.”
I laughed.
It surprised even me.
“Is that what you call kidnapping?”
His smile thinned.
“David was never kidnapped.”
David said, “You threatened my family.”
“I protected them.”
“You buried me.”
Cole’s voice hardened.
“You were useful buried.”
There it was.
The truth, careless and arrogant.
Alessandro’s mouth curved.
“You always did talk too much.”
Cole glanced toward him.
“You should have stayed dead.”
Logan whimpered.
I pulled him tighter against me.
Cole lifted one hand.
“Mrs. Winters, hand me the memory card.”
“I don’t have it.”
He looked at Captain Bear.
Logan clutched it.
Cole smiled.
“Children’s toys are dirty things. They hide all kinds of germs.”
David took one step forward.
“I will kill you before you touch him.”
Cole sighed.
“That is why you were never fit for fieldwork, David. Too emotional.”
Then the lights cut again.
But this time, I was ready.
David grabbed my wrist.
Luca shouted, “Move!”
Smoke erupted near the door.
Not from Cole.
From Alessandro’s men.
A planned distraction.
David pulled us through a side medical door into a surgical prep room.
Luca slammed it behind us.
Bullets hit metal.
Logan screamed.
I lifted him into my arms.
David tore open a supply cabinet and shoved a rolling cart against the door.
“Stairs,” Luca said.
We ran.
Down one level.
Then another.
My lungs burned.
Logan’s sneakers blinked against David’s hip.
At the fifth-floor landing, a man stepped from below.
Vanessa.
No uniform now.
Hair loose.
Face twisted with panic.
She held a gun with both hands.
“Give me the bear.”
David pushed us behind him.
Vanessa’s eyes darted to me.
“You stupid cleaning woman. You have no idea what that file is worth.”
I stared at her.
“You knew my son was in the closet.”
“Of course I knew. We watched you for months.”
My skin crawled.
“Why?”
“Because David wouldn’t finish the encryption. Cole needed leverage.”
David’s face collapsed with guilt.
I did not have time for it.
Vanessa lifted the gun.
“Bear. Now.”
Logan whispered, “Mommy.”
I reached for Captain Bear.
Then I saw Luca shift behind Vanessa through the stairwell railing.
Just a shadow.
Just enough.
I tossed the bear toward Vanessa’s feet.
She looked down.
Luca struck.
The gun went off.
The sound cracked through the stairwell.
David threw himself over me and Logan.
Vanessa screamed as Luca pinned her to the landing.
Blood ran from Luca’s arm, but he held her down.
David grabbed the bear.
“Go!”
We made it to the ambulance bay.
Father Matteo waited in a stolen hospital van.
“I confess,” he said as we climbed in, “I do not miss priesthood on nights like this.”
No one laughed.
The van sped into traffic.
David held Logan.
I held the laptop bag.
Logan cried himself sick.
By the time we reached the safehouse, my son was limp with exhaustion.
I cleaned his face.
Changed his shirt.
Laid him on a mattress between me and David because he refused to let either of us leave.
David watched him sleep.
Tears ran silently down his face.
“I thought I was protecting him.”
I looked at the boy between us.
“You missed his first steps.”
David closed his eyes.
“I know.”
“His first word.”
“I know.”
“His fevers. His nightmares. His birthdays. He asked why heaven needed his father more than he did.”
David broke then.
He covered his mouth and turned away.
I let him cry.
Not because I forgave him.
Because Logan slept better when the room was quiet.
At dawn, Alessandro sent word.
Cole had escaped.
Vanessa was in custody.
Luca survived.
The memory card had been copied to three places.
But the final encryption still needed David.
He looked at me.
“If I unlock it, this ends.”
I believed one thing now.
May you like
It would end.
But not before it took more from us.
