Chapter 7 - The woman above Derek
Margaret Cole was famous.
Business magazines.
Congressional hearings.
Healthcare conferences.
A fifty-nine-year-old executive praised for building Carroway into one of America’s most admired medical-technology firms.
I had seen her face on television.
Polished.
Elegant.
Calm.
The idea that she knew my name seemed absurd.
Nicole didn’t look surprised.
“She personally approved the shell companies.”
“How do you know?”
“Her authorization key was embedded in the ledger.”
“So why hasn’t she been arrested?”
“Because the ledger disappeared.”
“And my mother has it?”
“Maybe.”
Derek’s phone vibrated again.
M calling.
We stared.
Then Nicole whispered:
“Answer.”
“Are you insane?”
“She thinks Derek has the phone.”
I hit accept.
Didn’t speak.
Margaret’s voice came through.
Low.
Controlled.
“Derek?”
I kept breathing slow.
“You were instructed to scare her, not injure the pregnancy.”
My blood froze.
This had been ordered.
Not Derek’s improvisation.
Margaret continued.
“If Rachel reaches authorities before Laura contacts us, you have compromised everything.”
Nicole covered her mouth.
My mother was alive.
Or Margaret believed she was.
Then Margaret said:
“And get Nicole out of there tonight. Wade is becoming unreliable.”
We heard movement outside.
Wade had heard too.
Then Margaret’s voice sharpened.
“Derek?”
Nicole mouthed:
Say something.
I couldn’t imitate him.
Instead, I ended the call.
Instantly, a message appeared.
WHO IS THIS?
Then another.
Rachel?
My skin prickled.
Nicole grabbed the phone.
“Airplane mode.”
Too late for perfect concealment.
But enough to delay tracking through ordinary app traffic.
We moved.
Wade waited outside.
He looked at me.
“You heard?”
“Yes.”
He couldn’t meet my eyes.
“You knew Margaret ordered this?”
“I knew she wanted you frightened.”
“You didn’t care?”
“I told myself nobody would get seriously hurt.”
“That’s how cowards survive themselves.”
He accepted it.
No defense.
We reached the server-room corridor.
Then a shadow moved ahead.
Derek.
He came around the corner holding a metal pipe.
His eyes landed on Nicole.
Then me.
Then Wade.
“You.”
Wade stepped between us.
Derek laughed.
“You finally grew a conscience?”
“Get out of the way, Rachel.”
“No.”
Derek charged.
Wade intercepted him.
They crashed into a storage rack.
Nicole grabbed my arm.
“Go!”
We ran.
Behind us came shouting.
Metal striking concrete.
Then Wade screamed.
I almost turned back.
Nicole stopped me.
“If you turn around, all three of us lose.”
We reached the server room.
The key worked.
Inside, rows of old equipment hummed beneath emergency lighting.
And on the central desk sat a recent photograph.
May you like
My mother.
Taken three days ago.
