Rage flooded through me.
“You son of a—”
Alan moved faster than I expected. He grabbed a metal oxygen canister and hurled it at Ortiz. Her shot went wide. The canister smashed the mirror, glass exploding across the room.
Alan ran.
Ortiz cursed and chased him. I started after them, but Emily grabbed my sleeve.
“Dad—the files.”
She pointed to the bandage taped along her right side, near her ribs. Not the shoulder. Not the implant.
Another hidden object.
I tore the dressing away. Beneath it was a thin flash drive sealed in plastic.
Emily whispered, “Daniel hid it on me before he sent me out.”
Then my phone rang.
Daniel.
I answered on speaker.
“Richard,” he said, tense and urgent, “don’t trust Mercer. I’m in the hospital garage. I have copies of everything. Men are following me.”
A crash sounded behind him. Footsteps.
“Daniel, listen to me,” I said. “Emily’s alive.”
