CHAPTER 23
Carter House
Serena stitched my shoulder while Dymond fought for her life in the next room.
No anesthesia.
No hospital bed.
Just a chair, a bottle of alcohol, and another Carter woman telling me not to move.
“You’ve reopened this wound three times,” she said.
“I’ve been busy.”
“You’re going to bleed to death.”
“Then sew faster.”
She pulled the thread tighter.
Pain shot through my chest.
I refused to make a sound.
“How long will Dymond be in surgery?”
“If nothing else goes wrong, two hours.”
“I don’t have two hours.”
“Harris gave you twenty-four.”
“Harris is moving my children to a prison.”
“Carter House isn’t a prison.”
“Then why is it designed to contain Carter blood?”
Serena tied the final stitch.
“Because children brought there rarely know they’re prisoners.”
She covered the wound with a fresh bandage.
“The bedrooms are beautiful. The classrooms are private. The food is prepared by chefs. They have horses, swimming pools, tennis courts, tutors.”
“And guards.”
“Everywhere.”
“You’ve been there?”
“Once.”
“When?”
“I was eleven.”
She removed her gloves.
“My father took Simone and me to inspect the property. He told us it was a school for exceptional children.”
“What did you see?”
“A six-year-old boy being punished because he refused to memorize the names of three senators.”
“What kind of punishment?”
Serena looked away.
“That’s when I understood it wasn’t a school.”
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
“You were eleven.”
“That excuse stopped helping years ago.”
The operating-room door opened.
The surgeon stepped out wearing scrubs covered in blood.
I stood too quickly.
The room tilted.
Serena caught my arm.
“Dymond?”
“The bullet has been removed. We repaired the lung.”
“Is she going to live?”
“She survived surgery.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“The next twelve hours are critical.”
“Can I see her?”
“For one minute.”
Dymond looked small beneath the blankets.
Machines surrounded her.
A tube ran into her mouth.
Her face had lost the strength it usually carried.
I sat beside her and took her hand.
“You saved me twice,” I whispered. “That means you don’t get to leave until I return the favor.”
Her fingers remained still.
“I have to get the kids.”
The monitor continued beeping.
“I’m coming back.”
I leaned closer.
“You better be here when I do.”
As I stood, the machine changed rhythm.
One of her fingers moved.
Barely.
But it moved.
I kissed her forehead and left.
Serena waited in the hallway holding the original Circle key.
“You’re not coming,” I said.
“It’s my key.”
“I’ll bring it back.”
“That device contains more than access.”
“What else?”
“My father’s final command.”
“You said the heir registry was the last system.”
“I said it was the original system. I didn’t say it was the last.”
I stared at her.
“What does the final command do?”
“I don’t know.”
“You had this for thirty years and never opened it?”
“It requires two active Carter bloodlines.”
“You had Karen.”
“Karen tried to kill me for it.”
“That sounds like her.”
“And now I have you.”
“You’re staying with Dymond.”
“Dymond has doctors.”
“My children have Harris.”
“Which is why you need someone who knows Carter House.”
I hated that she was right.
Again.
“Who protects Dymond if we leave?”
Serena handed the surgeon another gun.
He checked the magazine.
“Everybody who works here owes Serena their life,” he said. “Nobody enters without losing theirs.”
That was as close to reassurance as I was going to get.
My phone rang.
Rome.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“Federal holding room.”
“Still?”
“They took the cuffs off after the archive proved Lawson was dirty.”
“Tasha?”
“Across the hall.”
“Nesha?”
“On the way to surgery.”
“Karen?”
“Being questioned.”
“Where are my babies?”
“We’re going to get them.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“Laila is there too.”
His voice cracked on her name.
Rome was trying to remain calm.
But underneath the control, I heard the same fear inside me.
“Serena knows where Carter House is,” I said.
“She coming?”
“Yes.”
“Can we trust her?”
“No.”
Serena raised one eyebrow.
I continued.
“But we need her.”
“What’s the plan?”
“First, get out of federal custody.”
“I’m working on that.”
“How?”
A door opened on his end.
I heard Tasha arguing.
Then another voice.
Monica.
“Put me on speaker,” she said.
Rome hesitated.
I heard the phone move.
Monica’s voice became clearer.
“I can get them released.”
“You’re in custody too,” I said.
“Yes, but I know which federal supervisor isn’t Circle.”
“How?”
“Because I helped bury evidence against him fifteen years ago.”
“That doesn’t sound trustworthy.”
“It means he owes me.”
“You want something.”
“My daughter.”
“Nesha is going into surgery.”
“I know.”
“You abandoned her.”
“I know.”
“You handed her to the Circle.”
“I made mistakes.”
“That’s a pretty small word for what you did.”
“I can’t change the past.”
“But you can bargain with the future?”
“If I help you recover the children, I want to see Nesha.”
“That’s her decision.”
“Then ask her.”
“She’s being prepared for surgery.”
“Ask when she wakes.”
I looked at Serena.
She shook her head.
Monica heard the silence.
“Serena is with you, isn’t she?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t trust her.”
“She said the same about you.”
“She killed Simone.”
“Serena says Simone ordered Momma’s death.”
“Both things are true.”
“Then why shouldn’t I trust her?”
“Because Serena wasn’t protecting Karen when she shot Simone.”
I looked toward my aunt.
Serena’s expression didn’t change.
“What was she protecting?” I asked.
Monica answered.
“The original key.”
Serena ended the call from my phone.
I pulled away.
“You could’ve just asked me to hang up.”
“She would’ve kept lying.”
“Was that a lie?”
Serena walked toward the back exit.
“We don’t have time.”
I grabbed her arm.
“Was protecting the key the reason you killed Simone?”
“It was one reason.”
“What was the other?”
Serena looked toward the operating room.
“Simone knew Karen’s oldest daughter was alive.”
“Dymond?”
“Yes.”
“She planned to take her?”
“She planned to kill her.”
“Why?”
“Because Dymond connected Karen’s blood to Victor’s. Simone believed that if Dymond lived long enough to have children, one of them could inherit both systems.”
“Dymond doesn’t have children.”
“Not yet.”
I released her.
“So you killed one sister to protect another sister’s child.”
“I killed Simone because she had already murdered twelve people.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“No,” Serena said. “It isn’t.”
At least she knew when she was avoiding the truth.
We left through the funeral home garage.
Serena drove a dark blue medical transport van.
Not black.
She was serious about black vehicles being obvious.
Meech joined us by video call.
His face appeared on a screen mounted near the dashboard.
“I have the route Harris used.”
“How?” I asked.
“He activated three heir profiles. Every time Carter House scans them, the system updates.”
“Are they inside?”
“Not yet.”
A map appeared.
The signals had stopped near Bowling Green.
“Why aren’t they moving?”
“Could be switching vehicles.”
“Or separating the children,” Serena said.
“Can you tell?”
Meech enlarged the map.
Jayce and Amaya’s signals remained together.
Laila’s moved east.
Rome received his own instructions.
Harris was dividing us.
“Where is Laila going?” I asked.
“A private airfield outside Glasgow.”
“He’s taking her out of state.”
“Maybe out of the country.”
“Call Rome.”
“He’s already moving,” Meech said.
A second map appeared.
Rome’s phone traveled south from Louisville.
“How did he get released so fast?”
“Monica’s supervisor signed the order.”
Serena laughed.
“What?”
“Monica doesn’t know any honest federal supervisors.”
“She said he wasn’t Circle.”
“He isn’t.”
“Then what is he?”
“CIA.”
I closed my eyes.
Police.
Federal agents.
Intelligence officers.
Every time we peeled back one layer, another badge appeared beneath it.
“Does that help us or hurt us?”
Serena pressed the gas.
“We’ll find out when somebody starts shooting.”
???
Carter House sat on three hundred acres outside Franklin, Kentucky.
From the road, it looked like an expensive boarding school.
A stone entrance.
Perfect landscaping.
White buildings with tall columns.
The main house stood on a hill behind a black iron fence.
Children played soccer on a field near the east wing.
Others rode horses beside a barn.
None of them looked imprisoned.
That made it worse.
“How many children live here?” I asked.
“Twenty-three signals,” Meech answered.
“Harris only had three active profiles.”
“These were already inside.”
Serena stopped the van a mile from the gate.
“We can’t drive closer without being scanned.”
“Can you shut down the cameras?”
“Not from outside,” Meech said. “The system is isolated.”
“What about the key?”
Serena placed the gold device between us.
“It can open the front gate.”
“And tell Harris we’re here.”
“He already knows you’re coming.”
“That doesn’t mean we announce ourselves.”
A truck stopped behind us.
Karen stepped out.
Tasha was beside her.
Shay climbed from the passenger side.
I stared at them.
“How did you get here?”
Tasha lifted one shoulder.
“Monica’s supervisor.”
“You left Nesha?”
“She’s still in surgery.”
“And Monica?”
“Gone.”
“What do you mean gone?”
“The lights went out inside the federal building. When they came back, her cell was empty.”
Serena didn’t look surprised.
“She never needed that supervisor to release her.”
“Then why help Rome and Tasha?”
“To make sure we led her here,” Karen said.
I looked around the property.
“Where is she?”
“Close.”
Shay checked her gun.
“She might be terrible, but I respect her exits.”
“You’re supposed to be in custody too,” I said.
“I signed a cooperation agreement.”
“That quickly?”
“The archive showed your father used my phone to kill Dre. Apparently almost dying on a bridge makes prosecutors generous.”
“And Deon?”
“In surgery.”
“Will he live?”
“If the doctors enjoy a challenge.”
Tasha looked toward the school.
“What’s the plan?”
Serena opened an old map across the hood of the van.
“Carter House has four sections. The main residence. The classrooms. Medical. Administration.”
“Where will they keep Jayce and Amaya?”