Chapter 27: Rook's Warning

David's POV

The needle hit my arm like fire.

I jerked awake. White ceiling. Beeping machines. Hospital smell.

"Easy," Selena's voice. Soft and worried.

I tried to sit up. Pain shot through my side like lightning.

"Where are we?"

"Safe house medical room. Morrison's people brought us here."

Morrison. The name hit me like a punch. Everything came flooding back. The basement. The guns. Maria's lies.

"How long was I out?"

"Six hours. You lost too much blood."

I looked around. Small room. One bed. Medical equipment everywhere. But no windows. No exits I could see.

"We're prisoners."

"Guests," Selena said. But her eyes said otherwise.

"Where's Morrison?"

"Waiting for you to wake up. He wants to talk."

"And Maria?"

Selena's face went dark. "Gone. She disappeared when Morrison's men showed up."

I tried to swing my legs off the bed. The room spun like a carnival ride.

"Don't," Selena said. "You need rest."

"We need answers."

"Morrison says he'll give them to us."

"Morrison says a lot of things."

The door opened. Morrison walked in. Still wearing that expensive suit. Still looking like he owned the world.

"David. Good to see you awake."

"Wish I could say the same."

Morrison smiled. "I understand your suspicion. But we're on the same side."

"Are we?"

"Your real name is David Stone. Age thirty-two. Former military sniper. Parents died in a car crash when you were eighteen. You became an assassin to pay for your sister's cancer treatment."

My blood went cold. "How do you know about Emma?"

"Because I've been watching you for three years. Ever since you killed my daughter."

Selena grabbed my hand. "Your sister needed money for treatment. That's why you became a killer."

I nodded. Couldn't speak. The shame was too heavy.

"Emma died anyway," Morrison continued. "Two months after you started working for Enzo. The treatment didn't work."

"Stop," I whispered.

"You kept killing even after she was gone. Because you didn't know how to stop."

"Stop!"

"Because the guilt was eating you alive."

I wanted to hit him. But Selena's hand in mine kept me steady.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"I want the truth. About my real daughter. About how she really died."

"Your daughter?"

Morrison pulled out a photo. A young woman with dark hair and green eyes. Beautiful. But sad.

"Claire Morrison. She was twenty-four when she died. In Warehouse District 9."

Selena gasped. "That's where my mother died."

"Because Claire was your mother."

The world stopped. I looked at Selena. Her face had gone white.

"That's impossible," she said.

"Your birth certificate says Maria Rossi. But documents can be changed. DNA doesn't lie."

Morrison pulled out a folder. Thick with papers.

"Claire was working undercover. FBI. She got close to Enzo to gather evidence. But she fell in love with him. Really fell in love."

"No," Selena shook her head. "My father loved Maria."

"Your father loved Claire. But he thought her name was Maria."

I felt sick. "She was using a fake identity."

"Standard FBI procedure. But then she got pregnant. With you."

Selena's hand squeezed mine so hard it hurt. "My father doesn't know."

"He found out. Three years ago. Right before Claire was supposed to testify against him."

"So he had her killed."

Morrison shook his head. "That's what we thought. That's what Claire thought too. She went to the warehouse to meet her FBI handler. To ask for protection."

"But?"

"Someone else was waiting. Someone who knew about the meeting."

"Who?"

Morrison's eyes were full of pain. "We didn't know. Until three nights ago."

He pulled out a phone. Started a video.

Security footage. Black and white. A warehouse room.

Claire Morrison sat at a table. Young. Scared. Alone.

The door opened. Someone walked in.

My heart stopped.

It was Maria. The woman who raised Selena. But twenty-three years younger.

"Maria knew," Selena whispered. "She knew the whole time."

On the video, Maria sat across from Claire. They talked. I couldn't hear the words.

Then Maria pulled out a gun.

Claire tried to run. Maria shot her in the back.

Selena made a sound like a wounded animal.

"Your fake mother killed your real mother," Morrison said. "Then she took you and convinced Enzo you were his daughter with her."

"But the DNA..."

"Enzo never tested it. Why would he? Maria said you were his. He believed her."

I watched Selena's world collapse. Everything she knew was a lie.

"Where did you get this video?" I asked.

"Maria made a mistake three nights ago. She tried to retrieve it from the warehouse's old security system."

"It's been there all this time?"

"Hidden in the building's main computer. Claire was smart. She set up a backup system before she died."

Selena stood up. Her legs shook but her voice was steady. "I want to see it."

"See what?"

"The warehouse. Where she died."

"Absolutely not," I said. "It's too dangerous."

"Don't dig into the past," I warned her. "Some truths are better buried."

She looked at me like I'd slapped her. "That was my mother. My real mother. She died trying to protect me."

"And going there won't bring her back."

"But it might give me answers."

Morrison watched us argue. His face was unreadable.

"The warehouse is empty now," he said. "Abandoned for years."

"See?" Selena said. "It's safe."

"Nowhere is safe. Especially not for you."

"Why? Because I might learn the truth?"

"Because the truth might get you killed!"

Selena stepped back. "You don't want me to know, do you? You want to keep me in the dark."

"I want to keep you alive."

"Maybe those aren't the same thing."

She turned to Morrison. "Take me there."

"Selena, don't," I begged.

"My whole life has been a lie. I deserve to know why."

Morrison nodded. "I agree. But we go together. All three of us."

"No," I said. "I won't let her walk into a trap."

"It's not a trap. It's a graveyard."

"Same thing."

Selena moved toward the door. "I'm going with or without you."

I tried to stand. Pain exploded through my chest. But I forced myself up.

"Then I'm coming with you."

"You can barely walk."

"I can barely breathe. Doesn't mean I'll stop."

Morrison smiled. "Young love. How touching."

"This isn't love," I said. "This is survival."

"Sometimes they're the same thing."

We left the medical room. Morrison's men were waiting outside. Six of them. All armed.

"Insurance," Morrison explained. "The warehouse isn't as empty as I said."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Maria's not the only one with secrets buried there."

We walked down a long hallway. Morrison's base was bigger than I'd thought. Military-style. Professional.

"Who are you really?" I asked.

"FBI. Retired. I've been hunting Claire's killer for twenty-six years."

"And now you've found her."

"Now I've found her. But she's not the only one responsible."

"What do you mean?"

Morrison stopped walking. "Maria didn't act alone. Someone helped her. Someone with access to FBI files. Someone who knew about Claire's mission."

"A mole."

"A traitor. And they're still alive."

Selena was very quiet. Too quiet.

"What is it?" I asked her.

"The phone call. Before Maria showed up. The woman who claimed to be my real mother."

"What about it?"

"She knew things. Personal things. About my life. About you."

Morrison's face went hard. "What things?"

"She knew David was protecting me. She knew about the safe house."

"That's impossible. Unless..."

"Unless what?"

Morrison pulled out his phone. Made a call.

"Check the warehouse. Now... What do you mean someone's already there?... How many?... Armed?... Damn."

He hung up.

"What's wrong?" Selena asked.

"The warehouse isn't empty. There are twelve men inside. Waiting."

"For what?"

"For us."

I grabbed Selena's arm. "We're not going."

"Yes, we are," she said. "Because someone doesn't want me to see what's in there."

"Exactly why we shouldn't go!"

"Exactly why we should!"

Morrison checked his weapon. "She's right. If they're guarding it, it's important."

"It's a trap!"

"Then we spring it. On our terms."

I wanted to argue more. But Selena's eyes were blazing with determination. She was going to that warehouse whether I helped or not.

"Fine," I said. "But we do this smart."

"How?"

I smiled for the first time in days. "We don't go through the front door."

Twenty minutes later we were in Morrison's car. Racing through the city toward Warehouse District 9.

Selena sat next to me. She hadn't spoken since we left.

"Talk to me," I said.

"I keep thinking about her. Claire. My real mother."

"What about her?"

"She was trying to do the right thing. And it got her killed."

"Sometimes doing right is dangerous."

"Is that why you warned me? About digging into the past?"

I looked out the window. The city was dark and full of shadows.

"I warned you because some truths change everything. And you can never go back."

"Maybe I don't want to go back."

"Maybe you don't know what going forward means."

She took my hand. "Then we'll find out together."

Morrison's phone rang. He answered while driving.

"What?... When?... Are you sure?... Double-check... Call me back."

He hung up. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel.

"What now?" I asked.

"The warehouse. It's on fire."

Selena sat up straight. "What?"

"Someone torched it. Twenty minutes ago."

"The evidence..."

"Gone. All of it."

But then Morrison smiled. "Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless Claire was smarter than we thought."

He turned down a side street. We were getting close to the warehouse district now. I could see smoke rising in the distance.

"What do you mean?" Selena asked.

"Your mother was FBI. She knew how to hide things. Really hide them."

"So?"

"So maybe the warehouse was a decoy."

Morrison pulled to a stop. We were two blocks from the fire. Police cars and fire trucks filled the street.

"Get out," Morrison said.

"Here?"

"We walk from here. Stay low. Stay quiet."

We got out of the car. The smell of smoke was thick in the air.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

Morrison pointed to a building across from the burning warehouse. Small. Dark. Forgotten.

"There. Building 46. Right next door."

"Why?"

"Because that's where Claire really hid the files."

We moved through the shadows. My wound burned with every step. But something else burned worse.

The feeling that we were being watched.

"Morrison," I said quietly.

"Yeah?"

"How did you know about Building 46?"

He stopped walking. "What do you mean?"

"You said Claire hid files there. How do you know?"

Morrison's face changed. "Because..."

A gunshot cracked through the night.

Morrison spun around. Blood bloomed across his shirt.

Behind us, someone stepped out of the shadows.

Someone wearing Maria's face.

But it wasn't Maria.

"Hello, David," she said. "Miss me?"

My blood turned to ice water.

It was Emma. My dead sister.

Standing there. Alive. Pointing a gun at Selena's head.

"Surprise," Emma smiled. "I've been waiting three years to meet my brother's girlfriend."