Chapter 12 - The Shot
Elena saw the laser.
“Down!”
She slammed into Price.
The rifle cracked.
The bullet shattered a library window.
Everyone hit the floor.
Brooks dragged Ruth behind a concrete pillar.
Price crawled toward cover.
Another shot.
Then another.
“Roof across the street!” Brooks shouted.
Price drew his weapon.
“No clean angle.”
Elena spotted a maintenance door.
“Back exit!”
They moved.
Glass rained across the floor.
Outside, police units closed streets.
The sniper disappeared before tactical officers reached the rooftop.
But he left something behind.
One shell casing.
And a police department radio.
Mercer’s network was collapsing, so he had started using men directly under his command.
That made him dangerous.
It also made him desperate.
By evening, the attorney general issued an arrest warrant for Sheriff Thomas Mercer.
Mercer vanished.
His house was empty.
Bank accounts untouched.
Passport still in his desk.
Price stared at the evidence board.
“He’s not running.”
Brooks agreed.
“He’s finishing something.”
Elena sat nearby with an ice pack against her shoulder.
“Harrison.”
“Vale’s in federal custody.”
“Evelyn?”
“State detention under armed guard.”
“Then who?”
Sofia entered carrying coffee.
“Maybe me.”
Elena turned.
“What?”
Sofia placed her phone on the table.
A text message.
COME ALONE OR YOUR SISTER DIES.
Attached was a photograph.
Elena leaving physical therapy the week before.
Taken from across the street.
“He’s been watching us,” Sofia said.
Price looked at the timestamp.
“This was sent ten minutes ago.”
Elena stood.
“No.”
Sofia looked at her.
“No what?”
“You’re leaving.”
“Absolutely not.”
“I mean leaving the state.”
“You think I’m going to—”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Sofia.”
“No!”
Her voice cracked.
“You almost died while I was three hours away living my normal life. I am not going somewhere safe so I can wait for another phone call telling me you’re dead.”
Elena softened.
“This isn’t your fight.”
Sofia wiped her eyes.
“You’re my sister. That makes it my fight.”
Price suddenly looked toward the parking lot camera.
A black sedan had stopped outside.
Nobody got out.
Brooks grabbed binoculars.
License plate.
County government.
Price swore.
“Mercer.”
The sedan sped away.
Price ran after it.
Too late.
Then Sofia’s phone rang.
Mercer.
She put it on speaker.
“You should’ve listened,” he said.
Price grabbed the phone.
“Where are you?”
Mercer laughed.
“You always were a terrible deputy.”
“You tried to have me shot.”
“I gave you every chance.”
“Turn yourself in.”
“To who? People already bought by people richer than me?”
His voice became colder.
“You think this ends with Vale?”
Price glanced at Elena.
Mercer continued.
“Harrison was never the top.”
“We know about Evelyn.”
Mercer laughed again.
“I’m not talking about Evelyn.”
Silence filled the room.
Elena felt something heavy settle in her stomach.
“Who, then?”
Mercer answered with five words.
May you like
“Ask who appointed the judge.”
Then the line went dead.
