Chapter 6 - The Last Order
Eleanor hit the concrete.
Nathan’s chair toppled sideways.
Her mother screamed.
Daniel burst through the access door as Owen and Marcus emerged from opposite positions.
“Drop it!”
Thomas grabbed Eleanor and dragged her against him.
The gun pressed beneath her jaw.
Everyone froze.
“Back!”
Daniel stopped.
Thomas breathed hard against Eleanor’s ear.
“You always made this difficult.”
“You murdered Aaron.”
“He was going to destroy everything.”
“What exactly are you protecting now?”
“Enough money to disappear.”
“That’s it?”
Thomas laughed bitterly.
“You think everybody gets medals and second chances?”
“I didn’t want the medal.”
“No. You got something better.”
“What?”
“People believed in you.”
The answer surprised her.
Thomas’s grip tightened.
“They followed you. Even after Lantern.”
“And you hated that?”
“I hated that you walked away and they still talked about you like you were some legend.”
Eleanor looked at Daniel.
He was waiting.
Not for a shot.
For her.
Thomas had forgotten something.
He knew Captain Whitaker.
He remembered the twenty-two-year-old medic.
He did not know the woman who had spent seven years lifting patients, catching collapsing bodies, restraining delirious men twice her size, and learning exactly how human balance failed.
Eleanor relaxed.
Thomas felt it.
“What are you doing?”
“Giving up.”
He loosened his grip by less than an inch.
Enough.
Eleanor drove her heel down onto his foot, turned beneath his gun arm and dropped her weight.
Thomas fired.
The bullet struck concrete.
Daniel moved.
Thomas was on the ground before the echo disappeared.
Owen secured him.
Marcus freed Eleanor’s mother.
Daniel kicked the weapon away.
Eleanor went straight to Nathan.
Blood stained his shoulder.
“Where are you hit?”
“Shoulder.”
“Lucky.”
“I’m beginning to hate when medical people use that word.”
She laughed shakily.
Her mother wrapped both arms around her from behind.
“Ellie.”
Eleanor turned.
For several seconds she was no captain.
No nurse.
No witness.
Just a daughter holding her mother.
“I’m sorry.”
Her mother pulled back.
“For what?”
“Everything.”
“You didn’t kidnap me.”
“I brought this to you.”
“No. Bad men brought this to me. You brought four heavily armed gentlemen who appear to have excellent manners.”
Daniel looked away, hiding a smile.
Thomas was hauled toward the door.
He stopped beside Eleanor.
“You think this ends with me?”
“No.”
His expression changed.
“Because Voss isn’t the top.”
“I know.”
“You don’t know anything.”
Eleanor stepped closer.
“I know you’re frightened.”
Thomas laughed.
“I’m not.”
“You’ve checked the stairwell six times since Daniel caught you.”
Thomas stopped smiling.
“You’re expecting someone.”
Silence.
“Who?”
He looked away.
Daniel grabbed his arm.
“Who are you waiting for?”
Thomas said nothing.
Then the rooftop lights went out.
Gunfire erupted from the adjacent building.
Everyone dropped.
Daniel dragged Eleanor behind a ventilation structure.
Owen shielded Nathan and Eleanor’s mother.
Marcus returned fire toward a distant window.
Thomas laughed.
“They came.”
“Who?” Eleanor demanded.
“The people Voss was afraid of.”
A helicopter appeared beyond the skyline.
Not police.
Private.
Unmarked.
It moved toward the roof.
Daniel spoke into his radio.
“Federal support now!”
Lucas’s voice answered.
“Two minutes.”
“We don’t have two minutes.”
The helicopter approached.
Thomas suddenly twisted free from Owen.
He ran.
“Thomas!”
He sprinted toward the edge of the roof, waving at the aircraft.
The helicopter did not slow.
A shot came from inside it.
Thomas fell.
Eleanor instinctively moved toward him.
Daniel caught her.
“No.”
“He’s hit.”
“They just shot their own man.”
“He’s still my patient.”
“He tried to kill you!”
“And he’s still breathing.”
Daniel stared at her in disbelief.
Eleanor pulled away.
She crawled to Thomas.
Blood spread across his shirt.
His eyes found hers.
“Of course.”
“What?”
“You’d save me again.”
“Try not to make me regret it twice.”
He coughed.
“Name.”
“What name?”
“The one above Voss.”
“Tell me.”
Thomas whispered.
“Richard…”
His eyes fluttered.
“Richard who?”
“Your…”
His breathing stopped.
Eleanor began compressions.
The helicopter suddenly banked away as federal aircraft approached from the east.
Sirens filled the streets below.
For twenty minutes the rooftop became a trauma scene.
Thomas regained a pulse.
Nathan remained stable.
Eleanor’s mother was unharmed.
Federal agents secured the hospital.
By sunrise, Helix Meridian facilities across three states were being raided using Aaron’s files.
But one question remained.
Richard.
Your—
Thomas had not finished.
At 8:12 a.m., Eleanor finally sat inside an empty staff lounge.
Hale handed her coffee.
“You have been working for twenty hours.”
“Feels longer.”
“You’re suspended.”
She looked up.
“What?”
“Until you sleep.”
“That isn’t how suspension works.”
“It does today.”
She accepted the coffee.
Hale sat opposite her.
“I looked at your personnel file.”
Eleanor’s eyes narrowed.
“The legal one.”
“Good clarification.”
“It says you received a commendation for extraordinary medical service.”
“Yes.”
“It does not say much else.”
“That’s intentional.”
Hale nodded.
“I spent your first week assuming your quietness meant uncertainty.”
“It often does.”
“Not with you.”
“No.”
“I’m sorry.”
This apology sounded different.
Eleanor accepted it.
“Thank you.”
He stood.
“Go home.”
She almost did.
Then Daniel entered carrying a folder.
His face told her sleep would have to wait.
“What?”
“We identified Richard.”
Eleanor stood.
“Who is he?”
Daniel placed an old Lantern personnel photograph on the table.
A senior officer stood behind the medical team.
Colonel Richard Whitaker.
Eleanor stared at the photograph.
“No.”
Hale looked at her.
“Whitaker?”
Daniel spoke carefully.
“Your father.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“My father died eleven years ago.”
“That’s what your family was told.”
“No.”
“We ran the records.”
“No.”
“His death certificate was fabricated.”
Eleanor backed away.
Her father had supposedly died in a training accident when she was eighteen.
His death had pushed her toward military medicine.
His example had shaped her entire life.
Daniel placed another photograph down.
Taken six months ago.
An older Richard Whitaker stepped from a Helix Meridian vehicle.
Alive.
Eleanor stared at the face she had mourned for eleven years.
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
Daniel said, “Don’t answer.”
Eleanor answered.
For several seconds there was only breathing.
Then a man spoke.
May you like
A voice she had not heard since she was eighteen.
“Hello, Ellie.”
