CHAPTER 19 #2
“He won’t make it unless we stop the bleeding.”
“Then stop it!”
“I write code, Shay. I don’t perform surgery.”
Nesha leaned against the wall.
Her legs shook.
Tasha tried to support her.
“We can’t run with her like this.”
A black sedan entered the alley.
Everyone raised their weapons.
The driver’s window lowered.
Rome sat behind the wheel.
His hospital gown showed beneath an open jacket.
A bandage covered his side.
Laila sat beside him.
“You people are difficult to find,” he said.
“You left the hospital?” I asked.
“So did you.”
“That was different.”
“How?”
“I had a plan.”
Dymond looked around at the bodies.
“This was your plan?”
“It worked.”
Rome unlocked the doors.
“Argue while moving.”
We loaded Nesha into the back seat.
Karen climbed beside her.
Tasha and Shay squeezed in.
Dymond and I took the third row.
Rome drove away as police vehicles entered the opposite side of the alley.
Laila looked back at us.
“Is somebody going to explain what’s happening?”
“No,” Rome said.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t understand it either.”
Meech’s location appeared on Dymond’s phone.
We found the Escalade near an abandoned gas station.
Deon was unconscious in the back.
Meech’s hands were covered in blood.
“He stopped breathing once,” Meech said.
Shay climbed inside.
“Deon!”
His eyes remained closed.
She pressed her hand against his wound.
“Wake up.”
Rome transferred Deon to the sedan.
There wasn’t enough room for everybody.
“We need two vehicles,” Tasha said.
A pair of headlights appeared behind the gas station.
The black SUV belonged to one of Victor’s guards.
Dymond checked it.
Keys inside.
No bodies.
“I’ll drive this one,” she said.
“Where are we going?” Rome asked.
“We need a safe hospital.”
“There is no safe hospital,” Karen said. “The Circle has people in every major medical facility.”
“I know a place,” Meech answered.
“Where?”
“Across the river.”
“Indiana?” I asked.
“Private clinic outside New Albany. Cash only. No electronic records.”
We divided between the vehicles.
Rome took Nesha, Karen, Tasha, and Laila.
Dymond drove the SUV with me, Meech, Shay, and Deon.
As we approached the bridge, my phone began vibrating.
Message after message.
News alerts.
Videos.
Names from the archive filled every social media platform.
MAYOR DENIES CONNECTION TO CIRCLE PAYMENTS
THREE LOUISVILLE OFFICERS SUSPENDED AFTER LEAK
FEDERAL JUDGE NAMED IN CARTER ARCHIVE
DETECTIVE LAWSON RECEIVED $2.4 MILLION FROM SECRET NETWORK
Then another headline appeared.
EVIDENCE CLEARS KEYSHIA CARTER IN ANDRE WILLIAMS MURDER
I read it twice.
Meech looked over my shoulder.
“The court video.”
“It uploaded?”
“All angles. Including the remote weapon beneath your seat.”
My name wasn’t clean.
Not completely.
Lawson was still dead.
The bank had still exploded.
The riverboat was still covered in bodies.
But one lie had broken.
Dre’s murder no longer belonged to me.
I should have felt relief.
Instead, I stared at the words and thought about my father.
He had murdered Dre.
Used Shay’s phone.
Framed me.
Then died insisting he had done everything for me.
My phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
Monica’s voice came through.
“You released the archive.”
“Dymond did.”
“She signed all your death warrants.”
“Get in line.”
“You think those records destroyed the Circle?”
“They destroyed its protection.”
“No. They destroyed its weak members.”
“What do you want?”
“My daughter.”
I looked toward the sedan traveling ahead of us.
Nesha was inside.
“You abandoned her.”
“I kept her away from this life.”
“You watched her enter it anyway.”
“That was Kendrick’s fault.”
“The seven million was supposed to belong to Nesha.”
“It does.”
“You called it your payment.”
“For staying dead.”
“Who paid you?”
“Kendrick.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew who killed Karen’s father.”
My grip tightened around the phone.
“My grandfather?”
“The man who founded the Carter Empire before Karen inherited it.”
“Who killed him?”
Monica became quiet.
“Victor?”
“No.”
“My father?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“Karen.”
I looked at the sedan ahead.
My mother sat beside Nesha.
“What are you talking about?”
“Karen didn’t inherit the Carter Empire.”
Monica’s voice dropped lower.
“She murdered her father and took it.”
The call ended.
I immediately called Karen.
No answer.
I tried Tasha.
Nothing.
Rome’s sedan continued toward the bridge.
Then its brake lights flashed.
The car swerved.
Dymond slammed on the brakes.
Rome’s sedan struck the guardrail.
Metal exploded.
The vehicle spun across the road and stopped sideways.
“Momma!” Laila screamed through the open line on Rome’s phone.
We jumped from the SUV.
Dymond ran toward the driver’s side.
I opened the rear door.
Tasha was unconscious.
Nesha lay across the seat.
Karen was gone.
The opposite door hung open.
Blood stained the pavement.
Footprints led toward the edge of the bridge.
“Where is she?” I shouted.
Nesha opened her eyes.
“Monica.”
“What?”
“She took Karen.”
“Why?”
Nesha tried to sit.
“She said Momma owes her seven million dollars.”
Headlights appeared at the far end of the bridge.
A black car waited near the Indiana side.
Two women stood beside it.
Monica held a gun against Karen’s head.
Victor stood behind them.
Alive.
Smiling.
Dymond raised her weapon.
Victor pressed a button on his command device.
Explosives lit up beneath the bridge.
Red lights blinked along the steel supports.
My phone rang again.
Victor’s voice came through.
“Bring me Dymond, and everyone crosses safely.”
I stared at the explosives.
Then at my mother.
Then at the sister standing beside me.
Victor laughed.
“Still believe you can save everybody?”