Chapter 15 - RHEA COMES FOR PERRIN
The hospital went into lockdown.
Every elevator stopped.
Security sealed the stairwells.
Perrin was downstairs.
That was all I cared about.
I ran toward the door.
Ortiz grabbed my arm.
"Security is bringing him here."
"I'm going to him."
"You'll get in their way."
"My son is somewhere in this building with Rhea."
"Caleb."
Mara spoke from the bed.
"Listen to her."
I hated that she was right.
Three minutes felt like thirty.
Then the door opened.
Two officers entered.
Perrin ran straight into my arms.
I lifted him.
"You're okay?"
He nodded rapidly.
"A nurse tried to take me."
Ortiz stepped closer.
"What nurse?"
"She had yellow hair."
Rhea's hair was dark.
But disguises were easy.
"Did she say anything?"
Perrin nodded.
"She said Mommy needed me."
Mara closed her eyes.
Ortiz spoke into her radio.
A security photograph appeared minutes later.
A woman in a blonde wig had entered through a service entrance wearing stolen scrubs.
Rhea.
She had left the family floor less than ninety seconds before lockdown.
Camera footage showed her entering a stairwell.
Officers searched every level.
Nothing.
Then a maintenance worker discovered an open panel behind the laundry room.
A service shaft led into a parking structure.
Rhea had escaped again.
But she left something behind.
Scout.
Perrin's stuffed dog was sitting on a concrete step.
He had been carrying it downstairs.
Rhea had taken it from him.
Ortiz examined the toy.
A folded paper had been pushed beneath the collar.
It contained one sentence.
YOU TOOK MY FAMILY.
NOW I TAKE YOURS.
Mara read it.
Her expression changed.
"She's not talking about Perrin."
"What?"
"She knows Perrin is protected now."
"Then who?"
Mara looked at me.
"Your company."
I understood.
Mercer Architectural Group was more than money.
Thousands of people depended on it.
Government contracts.
International projects.
Sensitive financial systems.
The blue ledger contained enough evidence to destroy the company's reputation.
Rhea might not be able to take my son.
But she could burn everything carrying my name.
Daniel Price called less than ten minutes later.
Our corporate servers were under attack.
Accounts were being emptied.
Documents were disappearing.
Anonymous packages containing portions of the ledger had been sent to journalists.
I almost laughed.
"Let them publish."
Daniel was stunned.
"Caleb?"
"Give the police everything."
"Everything?"
"Every account."
"Every payment."
"Every contract."
"Open the company."
"But if our father's records become public—"
"They should."
Mara watched me.
I continued.
"If Mercer survives, it survives without lies."
"And if it doesn't?"
"Then it doesn't."
For the first time since I found Perrin behind the wall, I felt completely certain about something.
Rhea had survived because everyone around her protected secrets.
Simon protected his crimes.
Bell protected the network.
Voss protected his daughter.
My father protected his legacy.
I was finished protecting any of it.
Ortiz's phone rang.
She listened.
Then looked at me.
"Rhea just made a mistake."
"What?"
"She accessed one of Mercer's hidden accounts."
"From where?"
May you like
Ortiz smiled without warmth.
"Your house."
