Chapter 7 - Rafe Calder’s Rules
Rafe read the first page of the ledger twice.
Then he closed it.
“What does it say?” June demanded.
“Nothing useful.”
“That means it says something horrible.”
Rafe didn’t answer.
I held out my hand.
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
“You brought me because this involves Kabul.”
“I brought you because you refused to stay behind.”
“Technical distinction.”
“Elena.”
“Rafe.”
June walked between us, grabbed the ledger from her brother and handed it to me.
“There. Democracy.”
Rafe stared at her.
June smiled.
“I’ve always wanted to do that.”
The ledger contained dates, shipping numbers, initials and payment amounts.
Most meant nothing to me.
But several entries included the initials E.M.
Elias Mercer.
Another column showed A.V.
Adrian Voss.
I looked at Rafe.
“Voss is in here.”
“I saw.”
“What does your father’s company have to do with him?”
Rafe took the book back.
“We’ll find out.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the only one I have.”
Malcolm was studying the old photograph.
Four men stood beside a cargo plane.
Thomas Calder was one.
A younger Adrian Voss was another.
The third was Elias Mercer.
The fourth man’s face had been scratched away.
On the back, a date.
Seven years earlier.
Three months before Kabul.
My stomach twisted.
“They knew each other before the hospital.”
Rafe nodded.
“So Voss lied.”
“To you?”
“To everybody.”
I sat at Thomas Calder’s old desk.
My memories were changing shape.
What had seemed like random arguments during deployment now felt different.
Voss insisting certain patients be transferred.
Voss taking private calls.
Elias receiving unusual priority.
The missing ambulance.
Perhaps it had never been a random theft.
June opened another drawer.
“Rafe.”
He turned.
She held a small digital recorder.
Old.
Dusty.
“Dad used these.”
Malcolm checked the battery compartment.
“Dead.”
“Can you recover it?”
“Probably.”
Rafe nodded.
“Do it.”
A noise sounded downstairs.
Everyone froze.
Malcolm drew his weapon.
Two guards moved toward the corridor.
Rafe pulled June behind him.
I hated how natural that movement looked.
“Stay here,” he said.
“No.”
“Elena.”
“I’m a medical professional.”
“This is not a medical emergency.”
“Not yet.”
He gave me a look.
Then another sound.
Glass breaking.
Malcolm signaled.
The guards disappeared down the stairs.
Seconds stretched.
I heard Rafe’s breathing change.
His injury.
I moved beside him.
“You’re overexerting.”
“Not now.”
“Especially now.”
His hand tightened around the doorframe.
“You’re in pain.”
“Elena.”
“Sit.”
He actually gave me an incredulous look.
“Someone may be inside the house.”
“And you have six armed guards.”
“Seven.”
“Wonderful. Sit.”
June whispered, “Please.”
That did it.
Rafe sat in his father’s chair.
I checked his dressing.
A faint new stain.
“You tore something.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re never allowed to say that again.”
Malcolm returned.
“Window in the kitchen. Nobody inside.”
“Animal?” June asked.
“No.”
He held something.
A rock.
Wrapped around it was a note.
Rafe unfolded the paper.
YOU OPENED THE BOX.
Everyone went silent.
Someone was watching Calder House.
Malcolm immediately ordered exterior sweeps.
Rafe stood again.
“No.”
He ignored me.
“Move June to the interior room.”
June protested.
Rafe turned on her.
“Not this time.”
His voice cracked like a command.
She stopped.
Not because he frightened her.
Because his fear frightened her.
I followed him into the hallway.
“You cannot keep doing this.”
“Doing what?”
“Acting like getting yourself killed is acceptable as long as everybody else survives.”
His face hardened.
“You don’t understand.”
“I understand more than you think.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“You walk into danger because you believe you can fix people.”
“And you walk into danger because you believe you’re expendable.”
His expression changed.
That landed.
“Don’t analyze me.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
“I’m telling you something obvious.”
“What?”
“Your sister needs a brother, not a martyr.”
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then quietly, “You talk too much.”
“You bleed too much.”
A faint smile touched his mouth.
“Fair.”
That was the first moment we stood close enough for me to notice his eyes weren’t truly gray.
There was green in them.
I stepped back.
Bad time for observations.
Extremely bad.
“Sit down.”
“You’ve said that before.”
“And yet you keep needing to hear it.”
He returned to the study.
Malcolm connected the recorder to a portable power source.
Static filled the room.
Then Thomas Calder’s voice.
Older.
Tired.
“If you’re hearing this, something went wrong.”
June covered her mouth.
Rafe froze.
The recording continued.
“Elias Mercer discovered what Armitage was moving through our ships.”
Rafe’s expression hardened.
“Not medicine. Not relief supplies. Weapons, stolen pharmaceuticals, and money.”
June whispered, “Oh my God.”
Thomas continued.
“When Elias threatened to expose them, Armitage arranged his disappearance. I helped him escape.”
I looked at Rafe.
His father hadn’t killed Elias.
He had saved him.
“Elias went underground. Adrian Voss helped create new medical documents.”
My heart raced.
So Voss had been part of the escape.
Thomas’s voice became weaker.
“Claire believes Elias died. We could never tell her the truth because Armitage watched the family.”
Rafe leaned forward.
“Elias is alive?”
The recording couldn’t answer.
Then Thomas said something worse.
“The evidence Elias collected is stored where our family began. If Armitage learns I have it, they will come for my children.”
The recording clicked off.
Silence.
June was crying quietly.
Rafe stared at the recorder.
“Dad knew.”
“Yes,” I said.
“He knew someone might come after us.”
Malcolm asked, “Where our family began.”
June looked at Rafe.
“The restaurant.”
“What restaurant?” I asked.
“Calder’s.”
Their parents had opened a small North End restaurant decades ago.
The Calder family empire began there.
Rafe stood.
“We go tonight.”
Malcolm shook his head.
“They’re watching us.”
“Then we give them something to watch.”
I stepped in front of him.
“You need a doctor.”
“I have you.”
“I am not your personal physician.”
“No.”
His gaze held mine.
“You’re worse.”
June laughed through her tears.
But Rafe’s expression remained serious.
For the first time I understood the strange rules governing his world.
Rafe Calder could threaten rivals.
Command armed men.
Control businesses worth millions.
But everything he did was built around one rule.
Protect June.
Even from the truth.
Especially from the truth.
And now somebody had discovered the weakness behind the feared name.
They weren’t trying to destroy Rafe Calder’s empire.
They were trying to make him choose between the empire and his sister.
What they didn’t understand yet was that he had already made that choice years ago.
May you like
June would always win.
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