CHAPTER 25 #2
Tasha raised her weapon.
The helicopter blades moved faster.
Harris opened the door.
“If you follow me to Washington, the children die.”
“You keep saying that like it will stop me.”
“It should.”
“Then you still don’t know me.”
A crash sounded from the airfield below.
Rome’s truck slammed into the white transport van.
The van rolled onto its side.
Circle guards fired.
Rome jumped from the truck and took cover behind the engine.
Laila kicked at the rear window.
Karen and Shay fired from the barn.
Harris looked toward the airfield.
That distraction was enough.
Tasha shot the first roof guard.
I fired at the second.
Harris jumped into the helicopter.
I ran.
The aircraft lifted.
I grabbed the landing skid with both hands.
My feet left the roof.
“Keyshia!” Tasha screamed.
The helicopter climbed above Carter House.
Wind tore at my coat.
My wounded shoulder felt like it was separating from my body.
Harris looked through the open door.
“You’re going to fall.”
“Then pull me up.”
He kicked at my hands.
I swung beneath the helicopter.
The Carter House grounds moved below me.
Children ran through open doors toward the horse field.
Circle vehicles burned near the entrance.
Rome pulled Laila from the overturned van and wrapped his arms around her.
My babies were safe.
That gave me strength.
I hooked one elbow around the skid and reached for Harris’s ankle.
He tried to kick me again.
I grabbed his shoe and pulled.
He fell halfway through the open door.
The laptop slid from his hands.
It struck the edge.
Harris caught it.
For one second, he had to choose.
The laptop.
Or his life.
He released the laptop.
It fell toward the ground.
The surviving registry shattered against the roof of the administration building.
Harris grabbed the seat and pulled himself inside.
Then he slammed his heel against my fingers.
One hand slipped.
The helicopter crossed beyond the property.
Trees rushed beneath me.
I couldn’t hold on much longer.
A gun appeared in Harris’s hand.
“Goodbye, Keyshia.”
He aimed.
A shot came from behind him.
The pilot collapsed.
The helicopter tilted sharply.
Harris fell against the opposite door.
The aircraft spun.
I lost my grip.
The ground rushed toward me.
Then someone grabbed my wrist.
Shay.
She hung from the opposite skid with one arm and held me with the other.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I shouted.
“Saving you!”
“How did you get on the helicopter?”
“I climbed the other side!”
“That’s crazy!”
“You jumped first!”
The helicopter lost altitude.
Trees struck the landing gear.
The aircraft spun toward an open field.
“Let go!” Shay screamed.
We dropped.
The ground struck hard.
Pain exploded through my body.
The helicopter crashed fifty yards away.
Metal tore apart.
Fuel sprayed across the grass.
The blades stopped.
For several seconds, neither Shay nor I moved.
Then she groaned.
“Worst birthday ever.”
I rolled onto my back.
“You’re still wearing the dress.”
“It cost eight hundred dollars.”
Smoke rose from the helicopter.
Harris crawled from the wreckage.
His face was covered in blood.
One arm hung uselessly beside him.
But he was alive.
Of course he was.
I forced myself upright.
Shay reached for her gun.
Gone.
Mine had disappeared during the fall.
Harris raised his weapon.
Before he could fire, a horse struck him.
A full-grown black stallion slammed into his side and knocked him into the grass.
Eli sat on its back.
The other Carter House children followed behind him on horses from the barn.
Harris tried to stand.
The children surrounded him.
Not attacking.
Blocking every escape.
Eli looked down at the man who had controlled their lives.
“You’re not our headmaster.”
Harris raised the gun toward him.
I tackled Harris from behind.
The weapon fired into the air.
We rolled through the grass.
His wounded arm gave out.
I took the gun and pressed it against his forehead.
“Where is Circle House One?”
He laughed through the blood.
“Washington.”
“Where in Washington?”
“Under the place that protects every American child.”
“What does that mean?”
He smiled.
“Find the final command.”
Sirens approached Carter House.
Federal vehicles.
State police.
Ambulances.
This time, their arrival didn’t matter.
The archive was public.
Cameras throughout Carter House had recorded everything.
Harris couldn’t explain away a bomb vest on my son or twenty-three imprisoned children.
He had finally run out of badges to hide behind.
I pulled him to his feet.
“You’re coming with us.”
“No.”
He bit down hard.
Foam appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Poison.
I forced my fingers into his mouth, but it was too late.
His body began convulsing.
“Call a medic!”
Harris collapsed.
His eyes rolled back.
I searched his pockets.
No identification.
No phone.
No copy of the registry.
Only a small silver coin.
A child stood on one side.
A shield on the other.
Around the edge were four words.
PROTECT THE FUTURE AT ALL COSTS
I turned the coin over.
Tiny numbers were engraved beneath the shield.
1600
Washington.
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The White House.
Under the place that protects every American child.
Not the White House itself.
Something beneath or near it.
A federal institution connected to children.
Serena reached us with Karen and Tasha.
Rome followed with Laila.
Jayce and Amaya ran toward me.
I dropped to my knees and pulled them close.
Jayce examined the blood on my face.
“Did you get hurt again?”
“A little.”
“You need to stop doing that.”
“I’m going to try.”
Amaya looked toward Harris.
“Is the bad man dead?”
Paramedics surrounded him.
One checked for a pulse.
Then shook his head.
“Yes,” I said.
This time, I knew.
Harris was dead.
But the Circle’s final facility remained alive.
Serena took the silver coin.
Her face changed when she saw the number.
“You know what it means?” I asked.
“Sixteen hundred isn’t an address.”
“Then what?”
“It’s the number of children who passed through Circle House One.”
I stared at her.
“Sixteen hundred?”
“Over forty years.”
“Where did they go?”
“Judges. Police commissioners. Senators. Governors.”
She turned the coin beneath the sunlight.
“Some of them are already inside the White House.”
My phone rang.
Dymond’s surgeon.
I answered.
“Is she alive?”
“She woke up.”
Relief moved through me.
Then I heard Dymond’s weak voice.
“Key?”
“I’m here.”
“Meech told me about the children.”
“They’re safe.”
“All of them?”
“All the ones here.”
“Then you found Carter House.”
“We shut it down.”
A pause.
“There are eleven more.”
“I know.”
“And Circle House One?”
“We’re going to Washington.”
“No.”
“Dymond—”
“Don’t go until I get there.”
“You were shot.”
“So were you.”
I almost laughed.
She continued.
“Serena doesn’t know the final command.”
“She said that.”
“But I do.”
Everyone looked toward the phone.
“How?”
“Victor told me before he fell from the boat.”
“What did he say?”
“I thought he was threatening me.”
Her breathing became heavier.
“What were his exact words?”
Dymond repeated them.
“An empire needs a key. A circle needs a sacrifice.”
Serena dropped the coin.
“No.”
“What does it mean?” I asked.
Her face went pale.
“The master system doesn’t require three bloodlines.”
“What does it require?”
“Three living Carter women enter Circle House One.”
“And?”
Serena looked at me.
“Only two are allowed to leave.”