Chapter 11 - THE ROOM WITH NO AIR
Ethan slammed his shoulder into the door.
Nothing.
Claire wrapped her shirt over Margaret’s nose.
“Find another exit!”
Thomas smashed a chair against the window.
The glass didn’t crack.
Reinforced.
Of course.
Nora screamed again.
“ETHAN!”
“I’M HERE!”
A pounding came from behind the wall.
Ethan looked around.
“Mom! Keep hitting the wall!”
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
He followed the sound to an old cabinet.
Behind it was a narrow maintenance panel.
“Help me!”
Thomas and Ethan pulled together.
The cabinet tipped over.
Ethan ripped the panel open.
A service corridor ran behind the wall.
Fresh air.
“Go!”
Claire helped Margaret inside.
Ethan crawled last.
The gas thickened behind them.
They reached another maintenance door.
Locked.
Thomas kicked it twice.
Claire took the tire iron and smashed the latch.
The door burst open.
Ethan almost laughed.
“Remind me never to argue with you.”
“You already did.”
They ran.
Nora’s voice came from Room 214.
Ethan rammed the door.
Locked.
Thomas’s security man fired at the lock.
“Jesus!” Claire shouted.
The door opened.
Nora was tied to a chair.
Her face was bruised.
Tape covered her mouth.
Ethan ripped it away.
She gasped.
“Behind you.”
A man hit Ethan with a metal flashlight.
He went down.
Claire swung the tire iron.
Crack.
The attacker collapsed.
Nora stared at her.
Claire breathed hard.
“Hi. I’m your daughter-in-law.”
Despite everything, Nora laughed.
It turned into a sob.
Ethan untied her.
For the first time, he put his arms around his mother knowing exactly who she was.
Nora broke.
Twenty-five years came out of her in one sound.
“My baby.”
Ethan shut his eyes.
“I’m here.”
“I looked for you.”
“I know.”
“I never stopped.”
“I know.”
Gunfire echoed downstairs.
Thomas turned.
“We need to move.”
They reached the lobby.
Charles Vane stood at the opposite end.
A pistol in his hand.
He was in his sixties, silver-haired, wearing a raincoat over an expensive suit.
“You should have stayed married and happy, Ethan.”
Ethan moved in front of Nora.
“You destroyed her life.”
“No. Richard did.”
“And you helped him.”
“I was an attorney.”
“You forged documents.”
“I solved problems.”
Nora stepped beside Ethan.
“You stole my son.”
Vane smiled without warmth.
“Richard stole your son. I prepared the paperwork.”
Claire raised her phone.
“I recorded that.”
Vane’s smile disappeared.
He lifted the gun.
Thomas stepped in front of his daughter.
A shot exploded.
Then another.
Vane fell.
Marcus Voss stood in the doorway behind him.
One hand held a gun.
The other held a cane.
His injured leg was heavily bandaged.
Ethan stared.
Marcus looked at Vane’s body.
Then at Nora.
“I told you he wasn’t one of Richard’s men.”
Nora’s face hardened.
“You’re not forgiven.”
Marcus nodded.
“I know.”
Police sirens approached outside.
Ethan looked around.
“Who called them?”
Marcus gave a tired smile.
“Your father.”
Ethan went cold.
“What?”
Marcus pointed toward the doorway.
Richard Hale stepped in from the rain.
May you like
And Nora began shaking.
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