Chapter 15 - When the King Chose a Different War
Mina did not scream.
That surprised Adrian Cole.
She could see it.
He expected fear.
Maybe pleading.
Instead Mina looked at the door.
Distance approximately fourteen feet.
Call button beside bed.
Three steps from her.
Cole’s right hand remained inside his coat.
Weapon likely.
He was in his late fifties.
Silver hair.
Expensive glasses.
Exactly as Dr. Ward described Elias North.
Only calmer.
“Why are you here?”
“To finish something.”
“Octavio?”
“You.”
Mina kept breathing.
“You could have disappeared.”
“I tried.”
“You're on every watch list in the country.”
Cole smiled.
“You'd be amazed how little that matters if you prepared early enough.”
“What do you want?”
“The original photographs.”
“Federal agents have them.”
“Copies.”
“Also federal agents.”
“Your father kept negatives.”
Mina almost laughed.
“He used digital cameras.”
“Not always.”
That was interesting.
Cole did not know what existed.
He was guessing.
Searching.
Afraid.
“You've been running for three weeks over photographs you don't even know exist.”
His smile disappeared.
Good.
Mina continued.
“Victor talked.”
“He's weak.”
“Elias North talked.”
“Coward.”
“Holloway talked.”
“Predictable.”
“Lauren talked.”
No response.
“You're alone.”
Cole’s eyes hardened.
“People like you always misunderstand men like me.”
“People like me?”
“Ordinary.”
Mina smiled.
“My father was ordinary.”
Cole said nothing.
“He still frightened you for twelve years.”
That hit him.
His hand came out of his coat.
A gun.
Mina’s heartbeat surged.
But she kept her face calm.
Cole stepped closer.
“Where are the negatives?”
“I don't know.”
“Wrong answer.”
“It's the only answer.”
Outside the room, footsteps passed.
Cole waited.
Nobody entered.
Mina looked toward the monitor.
Room 1208 no longer housed a patient.
No automatic alarms.
No constant observation.
Cole had chosen well.
Except Mina had chosen too.
When she returned to the hospital that evening, Gabriel insisted she wear a small emergency transmitter.
She had complained.
He had insisted.
Octavio had said nothing.
Which meant it was probably his idea.
The transmitter sat clipped beneath her hospital ID.
Mina had pressed it the moment Cole entered.
She needed time.
“Why did you attack Octavio?”
Cole sighed.
“He was inefficient.”
“That's your reason?”
“He built power and then became sentimental about controlling it.”
“You wanted his organization.”
“I wanted what it could become.”
“And Victor?”
“A useful grievance.”
“You manipulated him.”
“He volunteered.”
Mina heard movement outside.
Cole heard it too.
He turned.
The door opened.
Octavio Rain stood there.
No cane.
For the first time.
Gabriel beside him.
Security behind.
Cole raised the gun toward Mina.
Everything stopped.
Octavio’s face became perfectly still.
“Let her go.”
Cole smiled.
“There he is.”
“Let her go.”
“You came without federal agents?”
“No.”
Cole’s smile faded.
Agent Sloan appeared behind Gabriel.
“You're surrounded.”
Cole laughed.
“Of course.”
Mina remained still.
Cole's weapon stayed angled toward her.
Octavio took one step forward.
“Don't.”
Mina said.
He stopped.
Cole looked at him.
“You finally learned obedience.”
“No.”
Octavio's voice was quiet.
“I learned patience.”
Sirens approached outside.
Cole’s eyes moved.
Mina noticed his grip change.
Uncertain.
Fear was useful for three seconds.
She remembered.
After that, details.
His wrist rigid.
Elbow locked.
Attention divided.
Distance.
She moved.
Not toward him.
Sideways.
Behind the hospital bed.
Cole turned instinctively.
Gabriel moved at the same moment.
No gunshot.
Security overwhelmed Cole before he could regain position.
The weapon hit the floor.
Agent Sloan cuffed him.
Cole stared at Octavio.
“You think you've won?”
Octavio walked closer.
“No.”
“What then?”
Octavio looked at Mina.
“We survived.”
Cole was taken away.
Mina sat on the edge of the bed.
Her legs finally started shaking.
Octavio crouched in front of her.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“You're shaking.”
“Adrenaline.”
He nodded.
Then Mina looked at him.
“You walked.”
Octavio seemed confused.
“What?”
“You walked in.”
He looked toward the doorway.
Six weeks of rehabilitation.
Thousands of painful steps.
He had entered Room 1208 without his cane and had not noticed.
Mina smiled.
Octavio began laughing.
Then she did.
Gabriel looked at both of them.
“This is a strange time for celebration.”
Mina wiped tears from her eyes.
“You wouldn't understand.”
Octavio sat beside her.
For a moment they looked around the room.
The place where everything began.
The bed.
The monitor.
The window.
Seven months of silence.
One night of violence.
And a life neither of them expected afterward.
Cole’s arrest should have ended the story.
But it did not.
Because surviving the conspiracy was only the first battle.
Octavio still had to face the consequences of the life he had lived before the coma.
May you like
And this time, Mina could not save him from them.
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