Chapter 10 - The Voice from Eleven Years Ago
Her name was Mara Voss.
Commander Mara Voss, the last time I had seen her.
She had stood on the rain-dark flight deck of a ship in the Arabian Sea and told me Ranger’s handler was dead. Then she had handed me a sealed report and ordered me never to discuss the mission that caused it.
I had obeyed for eleven years.
Until her voice came through a gangster’s scanner on a Chicago bus.
“Bring Noah Mercer to me alive.”
Claire watched my face.
“You know her.”
I kept my hand on the steering wheel.
“Yes.”
“Police?”
“No.”
That answer frightened her more.
Outside, the masked team spread along both sides of the bus. One approached the broken window holding a canister.
I yanked the emergency brake.
“Everyone down.”
The canister sailed through the opening.
Ranger moved before it struck the floor. He caught the trailing strap in his teeth and whipped his head toward the broken window.
The canister flew back outside.
A muffled blast erupted beside the SUV, releasing a cloud of white vapor around the tactical team.
Ranger returned to my leg.
“Good,” I said.
His eyes remained on the front doors.
Vince stared at him.
“That dog was military.”
Claire looked at Ranger’s harness, then at me.
“What unit?”
I ignored the question.
Mara’s voice returned through the scanner.
“Noah, I know you can hear me.”
No one moved.
“Send Claire Dalton out with the drive, and the passengers live.”
Claire shook her head.
“She’ll kill them anyway.”
“Yes.”
My certainty silenced the bus.
Mara continued. “You have thirty seconds before we breach.”
I took the hidden lens from my pocket and held it toward my face.
“What does Raymond Cole have to do with me?”
A pause.
Then Mara laughed softly.
“You always did ask the wrong question first.”
“What’s the right one?”
“Ask why Cole survived long enough to say your name.”
Claire looked at me sharply.
I felt something cold move through my chest.
“Did you cause the crash?”
“Noah,” Mara said, “you’re still assuming Cole was the target.”
The transmission ended.
Claire gripped the edge of the driver’s partition.
“What did she mean?”
“I don’t know.”
That was true, and I hated it.
The bus lights flickered.
Cal climbed onto a seat near the rear emergency hatch and began pulling at its edge with both hands. Mason joined him.
Vince remained on the floor, watching everyone.
I saw calculation return to his face.
He slipped one hand under the seat.
The knife had slid there.
“Vince,” I said.
He froze.
“Leave it.”
His fingers closed around something beneath the seat.
Not the knife.
A small black phone.
He pulled it out and stared at the screen.
Claire’s face changed.
“That’s mine.”
The phone must have fallen from her purse and slid under the seat during the struggle.
Vince pressed the side button.
The screen lit.
A message preview appeared.
Elias Grant: I found the second patient. She’s alive.
Vince read it aloud.
Claire went completely still.
“What second patient?” I asked.
She grabbed for the phone.
Vince held it away.
Another message appeared.
Elias Grant: Her records use the name Nora Mercer.
I forgot the people outside.
Forgot the gas.
Forgot the blade beneath the seat.
My sister Nora had been declared dead twelve years earlier.
Vince looked from the screen to me.
Then the phone rang.
The caller ID displayed one word.
May you like
NORA.
📖 Read what the caller claiming to be Noah’s dead sister says before the tactical team cuts the bus power in CHAPTER 11. 👇
