Chapter 15 - The River Tunnel
Marcus carried Hope into the tunnel.
I followed despite Owen ordering me back.
The passage narrowed near the river pumps.
Water moved beneath metal grates.
Marcus held Hope with one arm and the gun with the other.
She was crying harder.
“You are frightening her.”
“You did this.”
“You imprisoned us.”
“You made me desperate.”
“You were desperate for control.”
He reached the old pump room.
The exterior door had rusted shut.
He was trapped.
Owen entered behind me with his weapon lowered.
“Put the baby on the floor.”
Marcus laughed wildly.
“You want me to hand over the only thing that belongs to me?”
“She does not belong to you,” I said.
“She is my blood.”
“She is a person.”
Marcus’s hand shook.
Hope’s blanket slipped slightly.
I saw her face.
Red.
Terrified.
Alive.
I remembered every night inside the cage.
Every threat.
Every rotten apple.
Every moment I placed my hands over my stomach and promised she would see daylight.
I stepped closer.
Marcus pointed the gun at me.
“Stop.”
“You want me.”
“You always wanted my trust.”
“My company.”
“My name.”
“Take me.”
He looked down at Hope.
That single glance gave Owen time.
The detective moved.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
I caught Hope as Marcus lost his grip.
Owen drove him against the pump housing.
The gun fell through the grate into the water.
Marcus screamed my name while officers secured him.
I held Hope against my chest.
Her crying slowed.
“You came back,” I whispered.
“No.”
“I came back.”
Above us, agents captured Lionel and Dr. Wallace near the loading bay.
Richard escaped through a drainage shaft.
His cane was found beside the river.
No body was recovered.
Marcus insisted his father could not swim.
Owen did not believe the abandoned cane meant death.
Neither did I.
Richard had staged his death once before.
He had spent decades manufacturing disappearances.
The river was another door.
But Marcus was back in custody.
Hope was safe.
The live transmission had captured every confession inside the plant.
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For the first time, the Hale network could not claim the women were confused.
The entire country could hear Richard’s voice.
