CHAPTER 24
A Mother Would Know
“You taught me how to disappear.”
Nesha stood behind Monica with a gun aimed at her head.
Fresh blood soaked through the bandage beneath her hospital gown.
Her legs shook.
Her face was nearly gray.
But her hand remained steady.
Monica didn’t turn around.
“If you shoot me, the button releases.”
“I know.”
“Then lower the gun.”
“No.”
Jayce stood beside her wearing the bomb vest.
Wires crossed his chest.
A red light blinked near his heart.
Monica’s thumb stayed pressed against the detonator.
One wrong movement would kill my son.
Amaya stood alone in the hallway with a red laser on her chest.
I didn’t know where the shooter was.
I didn’t know if the original key could disable the vest.
I only knew I couldn’t move fast enough to save both children at once.
“Nesha,” I said carefully, “how did you get here?”
“I woke up while they were moving me into surgery.”
“You left?”
“I heard a nurse say Monica escaped.”
“You can barely stand.”
“Neither can you.”
That was fair.
Monica’s mouth tightened.
“You followed me?”
“I hid inside your supervisor’s car.”
“He isn’t my supervisor.”
“I figured that out when he drove you to a private airfield.”
“Then how did you reach Carter House?”
“Kendrick left coordinates inside my phone.”
Monica finally glanced over her shoulder.
“What coordinates?”
“The ones you thought died with him.”
Something moved behind the glass wall to my right.
A shadow.
The person aiming the laser at Amaya.
I kept my face still.
“Nesha, where are Tasha and the others?”
“Locked inside the service tunnel.”
“Alive?”
“For now.”
Monica smiled.
“They have approximately eight minutes of air.”
Nesha pressed the gun closer to her head.
“Open the tunnel.”
“Put down your weapon.”
“Open it.”
“My daughter believes pointing a gun makes her powerful.”
“No,” Nesha said. “Surviving you made me powerful.”
Monica’s face changed.
The words found the part of her she kept buried beneath coldness.
But they didn’t move her thumb.
I touched the earpiece hidden beneath my bob.
“Meech.”
Static answered.
The basement blocked the signal.
The original key rested on the floor between Monica and me.
If I reached for it, she could release the button.
If she picked it up, she could control Carter House.
We were both waiting for the other person to make the first mistake.
“Why do you want the registry?” I asked.
“Because it belongs to me.”
“It belongs to the children whose names you stole.”
“Children need guidance.”
“You abandoned your own.”
“I protected her.”
Nesha laughed.
“Stop saying that.”
Monica’s eyes moved toward her.
“You believe I wanted to leave you?”
“Yes.”
“I had no choice.”
“There is always a choice.”
Monica stared at the daughter she hadn’t seen in years.
“Kendrick discovered I was working with the Circle. He gave me two options. Disappear or watch you die.”
“Then why come back now?”
“Because Kendrick is dead.”
“So you were waiting for him to die?”
“I was waiting to stop being controlled.”
“And now you want to control four hundred children.”
“I want enough power that nobody ever makes me leave anything again.”
There it was.
Not protection.
Not family.
Fear.
The Circle had taken Monica’s fear of helplessness and turned it into hunger.
She didn’t want money.
She wanted to become the person nobody could force to leave.
Even if she had to imprison children to do it.
“You can have the key,” I said.
Nesha looked at me.
“Key—”
“It’s not worth my son.”
Monica smiled.
“Slide it over.”
I placed my foot against the gold device and pushed.
It stopped inches from her shoe.
“Take the vest off first.”
“No.”
“You have the key.”
“I don’t have access.”
“You’re Carter blood.”
“Not enough.”
Her eyes moved toward Nesha.
She needed her daughter.
Kendrick’s daughter.
Two family lines.
Carter and Reed.
The original key required blood from both.
“You brought Nesha here because you need her authorization,” I said.
“I didn’t bring her.”
“But you planned to.”
Monica didn’t deny it.
“You escaped federal custody, took Momma, and came to Carter House. You knew Nesha would follow.”
“A mother knows her child.”
“No. A predator knows what bait to use.”
Nesha flinched.
Monica looked offended.
As if being called a predator was worse than strapping a bomb to a child.
“Janesha,” she said, “pick up the key.”
“No.”
“You want the children to live?”
“Of course.”
“Then help me open the registry.”
“What happens after?”
“We leave.”
“Together?”
“If you want.”
Nesha’s eyes filled with tears.
Monica saw them and softened her voice.
“We could start over.”
“You said that on the bridge.”
“I meant it.”
“You don’t know anything about me.”
“I know you’re loyal.”
“To Keyshia.”
“I know you’re brave.”
“Because I stepped in front of a bullet meant for Karen.”
“I know you deserve more than a beauty supply store.”
Nesha’s expression hardened.
“That store gave me more family than you ever did.”
My throat tightened.
Monica had seven million dollars, a command device, and an international organization.
I had an almost-destroyed beauty supply store.
Nesha still chose me.
“Pick up the key,” Monica ordered.
“No.”
Her thumb shifted against the detonator.
The red light on Jayce’s vest blinked faster.
“Momma,” he whispered.
“I’m right here.”
“I’m scared.”
“I know, baby.”
“Don’t let it hurt Amaya.”
My child stood inside a bomb and worried about his little sister.
Something inside me cracked.
I looked toward the glass.
The shadow moved again.
A rifle barrel appeared through a narrow opening.
The shooter had a clear view of Amaya.
Not me.
Not Nesha.
Only my daughter.
Monica had planned for every choice.
Except one.
“Amaya,” I said softly.
She looked at me.
“Remember when we practiced for the tornado?”
She nodded.
“When I say now, do exactly what you practiced.”
Monica frowned.
“What are you doing?”
“Being a mother.”
I kicked the original key beneath the glass wall.
The device struck the base of the hidden panel.
Its screen lit up.
CARTER HOUSE NETWORK DETECTED
The laser on Amaya’s chest disappeared for half a second.
The shooter looked down at the key.
“Now!”
Amaya dropped flat and covered her head.
I fired through the glass.
The bullet struck the rifle.
Nesha hit Monica’s wrist with the barrel of her gun.
The detonator flew from her hand.
Monica grabbed for it.
I dove.
My fingers closed around the device before hers.
The button released.
Jayce’s vest began beeping.
TEN
NINE
Monica kicked me in the chest.
Pain exploded through my wound.
I held on to the detonator.
Nesha struck her mother across the face.
Monica fell against the wall.
EIGHT
I crawled toward the original key.
SEVEN
The shooter behind the glass reached for another gun.
Amaya stayed on the floor.
I fired twice.
He disappeared from view.
SIX
I grabbed the key and pressed it against the detonator.
Nothing happened.
FIVE
“Come on!”
FOUR
The screen asked for blood authorization.
I pressed my wounded palm against it.
CARTER BLOOD VERIFIED
A second message appeared.
REED BLOOD REQUIRED
“Nesha!”
She ran toward me.
Monica grabbed her hospital gown.
Nesha tore away.
She pressed her bleeding hand against the device.
DUAL BLOODLINE VERIFIED
THREE
A menu appeared.
DISARM ASSET
PRESERVE ASSET
“Which one?” Nesha shouted.
“Disarm!”
I selected it.
TWO
The vest stopped beeping.
The red light turned green.
For one second, nobody moved.
Then Jayce began crying.
I ran to him.
My hands shook as I pulled at the straps.
The vest remained locked.
“Why won’t it open?”
“The key,” Nesha said.
I pressed the device against the center clasp.
The restraints released.
I tore the vest from Jayce and threw it inside an empty glass room.
Then I pulled both children against me.
Amaya wrapped her arms around my waist.
Jayce buried his face in my shoulder.
I kissed everything I could reach.
Their hair.
Their foreheads.
Their cheeks.
“You came,” Jayce whispered.
“I told you I would.”
Monica moved behind us.
Nesha raised her gun again.
“Don’t.”
Monica stopped.
Tears ran down Nesha’s face.
“You used a child.”
“I needed the key.”
“You used Keyshia’s son.”
“I knew she would save him.”
“That doesn’t make it better.”
“It makes it calculated.”
“It makes you evil.”
Monica’s expression turned cold again.
“I did what survival required.”
“No.”
Nesha cocked the gun.
“You did what power required.”
Monica stared at the weapon.
“Are you going to kill your mother?”
Nesha’s lips trembled.
“You stopped being my mother when you decided those children weren’t yours.”
She aimed at Monica’s chest.
I wanted to stop her.
Not for Monica.
For Nesha.
Killing your parent placed a weight inside you that no truth could remove.
I had watched my father die.
Part of me would always wonder whether another choice existed.
“Nesha,” I said.
“She deserves it.”
“Maybe.”
“She threatened your babies.”
“I know.”
“She abandoned me.”
“I know.”
“She doesn’t love anybody.”
“I know.”
Nesha’s finger tightened against the trigger.
I stepped beside her.
“But you do.”
Her eyes moved toward me.
“That’s the difference between you.”
Monica took one step forward.
Nesha fired.
The bullet struck Monica’s leg.
She collapsed.
Nesha walked toward her and kicked the gun away.
“I’m not going to become you.”
Monica pressed both hands against the wound.
“You’ll regret leaving me alive.”
“No.”
Nesha looked down at her.
“You’ll regret knowing I chose mercy when you never could.”
I took zip ties from the guard behind the glass and restrained Monica’s hands.
Then I used the original key to open the service tunnel.
Karen entered first.
Tasha followed.
Serena came behind them holding a stolen rifle.
They were bruised but alive.
Karen saw Monica on the floor.
“What happened?”
“Your niece shot her,” I said.
Serena looked toward Nesha.
“Good.”
“In the leg,” Nesha clarified.
Serena looked disappointed.
Tasha ran toward Jayce and Amaya.
She pulled them into her arms.
“My babies.”
Amaya pointed toward Nesha.
“Auntie Nesha saved us.”
Nesha looked away.
She wasn’t ready for the love in those words.
I understood.
Sometimes being forgiven felt more painful than being blamed.
Meech’s voice returned through my earpiece.
“Key, can you hear me?”
“Now I can.”
“The key connected me to the internal network.”
“Open every child’s room.”
“I’m trying. Harris activated a facility lockdown.”
“Where is he?”
“Still restrained upstairs.”
“Good.”
“Not good.”
“Why?”
“His heart rate is gone.”
I looked toward the staircase.
“What does that mean?”
“Either he removed the monitor or somebody killed him.”
The lights inside Carter House turned red.
A woman’s voice announced:
“Headmaster terminated.”
Every glass room unlocked.
Children stepped into the hallway.
Some were crying.
Others remained silent.
Watching.
Waiting for instructions.
Then another announcement followed.
“Emergency heir transfer initiated.”
Serena grabbed the key from my hand.
“No.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“When Carter House loses its headmaster, every child is transferred to the next facility.”
“Where?”
“There are twelve Carter Houses.”
I stared at her.
“Twelve?”
“This is only the first.”
Steel doors began closing throughout the basement.
Meech shouted through the earpiece.
“Vehicles are approaching from the east!”
“How many?”
“Twenty.”
Circle members were coming to move the children.
We had minutes.
Maybe less.
“Can you cancel the transfer?” I asked.
“Not from here.”
“You have the original key.”
“The transfer was authorized from a master facility.”
“Where is it?”
Serena looked toward the gold device.
A map appeared.
Eleven locations flashed across the country.
The twelfth sat in Washington, D.C.
CIRCLE HOUSE ONE
“The first house,” Serena whispered.
“The place where the Circle began training heirs.”
“Can we shut down the others from there?”
“Yes.”
“Then we’re going.”
“Keyshia, twenty armed vehicles are outside this property.”
“First we save these children.”
I looked around at the twenty-three frightened faces in the hallway.
Some were younger than Amaya.
Some were teenagers.
Every one of them had been taught that obedience was survival.
I raised my voice.
“My name is Keyshia Carter.”
They watched me.
“Nobody is taking you anywhere tonight.”
An older boy stepped forward.
“You’re not the headmaster.”
“No.”
“Then who are you?”
I looked at the original key in Serena’s hand.
Then at my children.
“I’m the woman shutting this place down.”
The boy studied me.
“What do you want us to do?”
For years, adults had given these children orders.
Memorize.
Lie.
Watch.
Obey.
I gave them something different.
A choice.
“You can stay here and hide,” I said. “Or you can help us get everybody out.”
The boy looked toward the other children.
One by one, they stepped forward.
Not because they had been commanded.
Because they had chosen.
The first gunshots struck the front gates.
Carter House was under attack.
Tasha pulled Jayce and Amaya behind a concrete wall.
Serena handed me the rifle.
Karen picked up another weapon.
Nesha leaned against the wall, barely able to stand, and raised her gun.
I looked at her.
“You need to sit down.”
She checked her magazine.
“You need to stop telling me that.”
The children moved through hidden passages only they knew.
They opened equipment rooms.
Disabled cameras.
Locked outside doors.
Carter House had trained them to protect the Circle.
Tonight, they were going to use every lesson to destroy it.
The main entrance exploded.
Smoke rolled through the hallway.
Men rushed inside.
I aimed the rifle.
For the first time, the heirs of the empire stood behind me.
Not as property.
Not as weapons.
As children fighting for the right to choose who they became.
“Welcome to Carter House,” I whispered.
Then I pulled the trigger.