Chapter 7: The Warden’s Daughter
Maya backed away from Rafe.
Rainwater from the sprinklers ran down his face.
“Tell me he’s lying.”
Rafe lowered the baton.
“I was convicted of killing Adrian Cross.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“That isn’t the same as proving you didn’t.”
Officers entered the corridor behind them.
Rafe pushed open a maintenance door.
“Question me after we survive.”
They raced through the prison kitchen and reached a refrigerated storage room. Rafe locked the door behind them.
Maya grabbed a carving knife from a shelf and held it against his throat.
“Start talking.”
“Your father was investigating Helix Correctional Industries. The company that owns half the medical equipment in this prison.”
“What does that have to do with you?”
“I was his informant.”
“You were fourteen when he died.”
“I was already running drugs for my uncle.”
Maya’s grip tightened.
“Adrian arranged witness protection for me. The night he disappeared, I was found beside his burned car with his blood on my clothes.”
“Why?”
“Because he had pulled me from the vehicle before it exploded.”
“Then where did he go?”
“I thought he died.”
“You recognized Elias.”
Rafe hesitated.
“I recognized his voice.”
Maya lowered the knife slightly.
Before Rafe could explain, the storage door opened.
Warden Mercer entered alone.
He carried no weapon.
“If I intended to arrest you, I wouldn’t have come alone,” he said.
Maya kept the knife raised.
“You knew Elias was my father.”
“I suspected.”
“You told him to stay away from me.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“Everyone in this prison says that right before they lie.”
Mercer removed a photograph from his jacket.
It showed a teenage girl with red hair standing beside Lucas.
“My daughter, Anna,” he said. “She worked as a prison nurse. She died during the same riot as your brother.”
Maya examined the picture.
Anna wore a necklace shaped like a black bird with one broken wing.
The same symbol from the note.
“She sent the message?” Maya asked.
“She has been dead for three years.”
“Then who used her symbol?”
“That is what I have been trying to discover.”
Mercer explained that Anna had uncovered unauthorized medical procedures beneath Block D. She had contacted Lucas, who helped her steal patient records.
The night of the riot, both disappeared.
Mercer received two sealed coffins.
He was ordered not to open them.
“Did you?” Maya asked.
“Yes.”
“And?”
“They were empty.”
Rafe leaned against a freezer shelf.
“Why maintain the lie?”
“Because Helix threatened every remaining member of my family.”
“You’re the warden,” Maya said.
“I am the public face of a prison I no longer control.”
A gunshot struck the storage door.
Mercer turned.
Another shot shattered the lock.
“Shaw found us,” he said.
Rafe pushed a heavy shelf in front of the entrance.
Mercer opened a floor drain and removed a concealed ladder.
“This leads to the old execution wing.”
Maya descended first.
Rafe followed.
Before Mercer could enter, the storage door burst inward.
Captain Shaw’s voice shouted, “Step away from the drain!”
Mercer looked down at Maya.
“Find Anna’s necklace,” he said.
“Why?”
“It contains the only copy of the Lazarus patient list.”
A shot echoed.
Mercer’s body jerked.
He fell into the drain, landing at Maya’s feet.
Above them, Shaw aimed his pistol into the opening.
Then the freezer lights went dark.
Someone behind Shaw screamed.
When the lights returned, Shaw had vanished.
May you like
Written across the freezer wall in fresh blood were four words:
ANNA MERCER IS ALIVE.
