Chapter 5 - The Escape
Marcus led them through service corridors beneath the Whitmore.
Jackson kept Emily's hand firmly in his.
Behind them came footsteps.
Victor's men were close.
They reached the underground garage.
Marcus tossed Jackson a key.
“Black sedan. Level two.”
“What about you?”
“I'll slow them down.”
Jackson stopped.
“No more sacrifices.”
Marcus smiled faintly.
“Then consider this repayment.”
He disappeared toward the opposite corridor.
Jackson and Emily ran.
The sedan appeared twenty yards ahead.
Then a man stepped from behind a concrete pillar.
Jackson pushed Emily behind him.
The stranger reached inside his coat.
Jackson charged before the weapon cleared.
They collided.
Jackson knocked him against the vehicle.
The gun slid away.
Emily grabbed it but didn't fire.
“Jackson!”
Two more men appeared.
They got into the sedan.
Jackson accelerated toward the exit.
A black SUV followed.
The chase spilled onto Manhattan streets.
Emily clutched the dashboard.
“This is exactly how it happened.”
“What?”
“The night of the crash.”
Jackson looked into the mirror.
Headlights behind them.
Memory exploded through him.
Rain.
Emily beside him.
A truck.
Brakes that didn't respond.
Jackson remembered her screaming his name.
He swerved around traffic.
The SUV followed.
“Hold on.”
Jackson turned sharply into a parking structure.
The SUV overshot the entrance.
They had seconds.
He drove upward.
“Where are we going?” Emily asked.
“Somewhere Victor doesn't know about.”
“Does such a place exist?”
Jackson looked at her.
“My mother.”
Emily's expression changed.
“Your mother thinks I'm dead.”
“What?”
“That's what Victor told her.”
Jackson's anger deepened.
Victor had isolated every person who might reconnect the truth.
They reached Evelyn Reed's country house before sunrise.
Jackson knocked.
His mother opened the door.
She looked at him.
Then at Emily.
The older woman's hand flew to her mouth.
“No.”
Emily began crying.
Evelyn stepped forward.
“Emily?”
They embraced.
Jackson watched, stunned.
His mother knew her.
Evelyn finally turned toward her son.
“You remember her?”
“Not everything.”
His mother's eyes filled with guilt.
“Jackson, forgive me.”
Victor had threatened Evelyn too.
He had told her Emily died after the accident.
Then he convinced everyone Jackson's missing memories should never be challenged because emotional shock might harm his recovery.
Jackson felt betrayed.
“You let me believe she was a stranger.”
“I thought she was dead.”
Emily touched Jackson's hand.
“Your mother was another victim.”
Before Jackson could answer, Evelyn said something unexpected.
“Your father knew Victor would eventually come for you.”
She walked toward an old bookshelf.
Behind one volume was a small steel key.
“He left this.”
Jackson took it.
“What does it open?”
“A deposit box.”
“Where?”
Evelyn looked toward Emily.
“Your father said that if the day ever came when Jackson brought the girl with the silver hair home…”
Emily froze.
“…the two of you should open it together.”
Jackson stared at the key.
May you like
His father had known about Emily.
And whatever waited inside that box had been hidden for more than a decade.
