Chapter 26
What Protection Costs
Adrian put Linnea in a protected apartment before they went to St. Augustine Medical Center.
Mara watched the security team escort her friend through the underground garage.
“She didn’t agree to that,” Mara said.
“She agreed when she saw the men who came for the footage.”
“You decided for her.”
“I prevented her from being killed.”
“You always turn protection into ownership.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
“You want her alive or independent?”
“Both.”
He looked toward the elevator.
“Then give her control of the security account.”
“What?”
“The account. The cameras. The people assigned to her. Put them in her name.”
Adrian studied Mara.
“You are asking for another amendment.”
“I am asking you to protect people without making them answer to you.”
He took out his phone.
“Daniel will draft it.”
At St. Augustine Medical Center, the old surgery wing was empty.
Julian had left one door open.
Inside, the floor was wet with disinfectant. A hospital bracelet lay beneath the operating table.
The name was Eleanor Quinn.
Mara stopped breathing.
Adrian bent to pick it up.
“Your mother was treated here.”
“After the date of her death.”
Behind the table, they found a recording device.
Julian’s voice played from it.
“Mara, if you’re hearing this, I was taken before I could call.”
The recording crackled.
“Q-17 is not the child. Q-17 is the protection order. The child is listed under another name.”
A door closed somewhere beyond the wing.
Adrian drew a concealed weapon.
Mara caught his arm.
“You said no weapons.”
“I said no weapons in the penthouse.”
Footsteps approached.
The door opened.
Dr. Iris Vale stood in the frame, holding a bloodstained surgical mask.
“You need to leave,” she said.
Mara looked at the bracelet.
“Where is my mother?”
Iris’s eyes filled with something close to pity.
“She is the reason Adrian’s brother died.”