CHAPTER 7 — THE LOCKED STAIRWELL

The first gunshot struck the metal door.

Mara shoved a cabinet against it.

“We have less than a minute.”

Gabriel pointed toward the rear hallway.

“There’s a service stairwell.”

Celeste grabbed Evelyn’s hand.

“Not that way.”

“Why?”

“Because Gabriel designed it.”

Another shot hit the lock.

Gabriel’s voice hardened.

“There is no time for this.”

Celeste pulled a small brass key from beneath her hospital gown.

“This opens a tunnel under the treatment wing.”

Gabriel stared at the key.

“You were searched every day.”

“I learned patience from you.”

They moved through the dark corridor as Julian’s security team entered the clinic.

The brass key opened a narrow maintenance shaft behind an old medicine cabinet.

Mara went first.

Celeste followed.

Evelyn turned back toward Gabriel.

“Are you coming?”

He looked down the hallway where armed men were approaching.

“I’ll slow them down.”

Evelyn studied him.

“Did you fake my mother’s death?”

“Yes.”

“Did my father know?”

Gabriel hesitated.

That was answer enough.

Evelyn stepped into the shaft.

Gabriel grabbed her arm.

“Your mother is not innocent.”

“Neither are you.”

She pulled away and closed the panel.

Minutes later, Evelyn, Mara, and Celeste emerged in a wooded area behind the clinic.

A black SUV waited near the tree line.

Mara raised her weapon.

The driver’s door opened.

Nathan Thorne stepped out.

Julian’s younger brother had always appeared nervous and obedient around his family.

Now he held a rifle with the calm posture of a trained soldier.

Evelyn stared at him.

“You followed us.”

“I helped you escape.”

He tossed her a phone.

On the screen was live footage from the clinic.

Julian’s men had Gabriel on his knees.

Julian stood in front of him.

“Tell me where Evelyn went,” Julian demanded.

Gabriel smiled through a split lip.

“You still think this is about your wife?”

Julian raised his weapon.

Gabriel looked directly into the security camera.

“Evelyn, Nightingale was never built to expose the Thorne family.”

He paused.

“It was built to replace them.”

The feed cut to black.

Nathan opened the SUV’s rear door.

“We need to leave.”

Evelyn did not move.

“Who are you really?”

Nathan looked at Celeste.

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Then he answered.

“I’m the son Daniel Vance hid inside the Thorne family.”