LOGINThe silence shattered instantly."What is it?"The question left Raymond's mouth before anyone else could speak.The doctor stepped fully into the room, the folder still held firmly in one hand. His expression remained serious. Professional and controlled. The kind of expression doctors wore when choosing words carefully.Unfortunately, after everything that had happened over the past months, controlled expressions rarely inspired confidence.Tricia felt her stomach tighten immediately. Her pulse hammered against her ribs.Beside her, General Watson had gone completely still. The military commander disappeared instantly. The father remained. Waiting. Bracing. Preparing for impact.The doctor glanced briefly between all three of them. Then exhaled."Please don't panic."The statement achieved precisely the opposite effect.Tricia's heart sank. Raymond took a step closer to the bed.The doctor seemed to realise his mistake immediately."Let me explain properly."Nobody interrupted. Nobo
Nobody spoke.The paper remained in General Watson's hands while evening sunlight stretched across the hospital room in long golden bands, slowly surrendering to approaching darkness.Tricia could hear her own heartbeat. Steady. Fast. Unforgiving.General Watson was not a man easily surprised. Years of military command had trained every visible reaction from his face. Yet whatever he had just read had broken through that discipline, if only briefly.Raymond stood beside the chair now. Waiting and watching. Patient on the surface. Tense underneath."Sir," he finally said quietly. "What does it say?"General Watson lowered the pages. For a moment he simply studied the two people in front of him.His daughter. And the man she once planned to build a future with before everything collapsed.Then he handed the first page to Raymond."You should read it aloud."The room grew still.Raymond accepted the letter carefully. His eyes moved across the opening lines. Almost immediately something f
For several seconds neither of them moved. The room seemed to shrink around the envelope resting in Raymond's hand.Outside the window, sunlight still poured across the military grounds. Inside, the warmth vanished instantly.Tricia could not take her eyes off the handwriting. She knew every curve of those letters. Every deliberate stroke of the pen.Months ago she had smiled seeing that handwriting appeared across notes left on kitchen counters and hurried messages tucked inside photography equipment cases.Now it felt like a ghost had reached through prison walls."Mark," she whispered.Raymond gave a slow nod. His expression revealed nothing. Military discipline. Years of practice controlling emotion.But she noticed the slight tightening of his jaw. The brief hardening around his eyes. The same reaction she felt inside herself. Not fear. Not exactly.Something more complicated. A mixture of sadness, regret, and unfinished history.The courier remained standing awkwardly near the d
The remainder of the morning passed more peacefully than any day Tricia could remember in recent months.Doctors came and went. Nurses checked charts. Medication schedules were reviewed. The twins were monitored.Everything proceeded with such ordinary predictability that it almost felt strange.For too long, every day had carried catastrophe waiting around the corner.A phone call announcing a death. A confession. An arrest. A courtroom verdict. A medical emergency.Now life seemed content doing something far less dramatic. Moving forward. Slowly and steadily. Like a wound healing beneath a bandage.General Watson eventually left for military headquarters after receiving several calls that required his attention, though not before reminding both of them that recovery remained the priority whether they liked it or not.The moment he disappeared through the door, Tricia looked toward Raymond."He still thinks I'm twelve."Raymond sipped his coffee."You once climbed onto the roof of an
Sometime during the night, the rain finally stopped.The relentless tapping against the windows faded gradually into silence, leaving only the distant hum of hospital machinery and the occasional muted footsteps drifting through the corridor outside.For the first time in weeks, Tricia slept without waking from nightmares.No warehouse. No gunshots. No blood spreading across concrete floors. No desperate screaming.Only darkness, rest and peace. The kind she had forgotten existed.Morning sunlight slipped gently through the curtains when she finally opened her eyes.For several moments she remained perfectly still beneath the blankets, disoriented by the unfamiliar feeling settling inside her chest.Calm. Actual calm. Not happiness. Not yet. But something close enough to make her realise how exhausted she had become carrying fear every waking moment.She turned her head slowly. Raymond was still there.The sight caught her completely off guard. The chair beside the bed remained occupi
For a long time neither of them spoke.The rain continued its steady rhythm beyond the hospital windows while the muted glow of evening lamps cast soft shadows across the room, turning the world smaller somehow, quieter, as though the hospital itself understood the fragile nature of the moment unfolding between them.Tricia's fingers remained wrapped around Raymond's hand. Neither had consciously decided to hold on. It had simply happened. Natural and instinctive.The way breathing happened. The way memory happened. The way love sometimes refused to die even when logic insisted it should.She stared down at their joined hands resting against the blanket. The sight alone threatened tears again. Not because it was romantic. But because it was familiar.Months ago she would have reached for him without hesitation. Before secrets. Before lies. Before warehouse floors were stained with blood.Now even something as simple as touching his hand felt precious, dangerous and earned.Raymond sat
The warehouse fell into a terrible silence after the gunshot.For a moment, even Sean seemed frozen, staring at the body that had just collapsed onto the cold concrete floor.Across the room, Raymond lay face down where the bullet had struck him from behind. His fingers twitched slightly as he stru
The warehouse was cold and silent except for the faint hum of a loose lightbulb swinging above the center of the room. Dust floated through the weak light.Two figures were tied to metal chairs beneath it.Raymond slowly lifted his head, consciousness returning in painful waves. His skull throbbed
Mark Coleman barely slept that night. The thought kept circling his mind like a predator stalking its prey.Raymond and Tricia.A getaway.Alone.Every time he pictured it, something inside him twisted violently. He imagined them walking together somewhere quiet, Raymond speaking softly to her, Tri
Mark stared at the tablet in his hands.The parking structure felt colder now.The system log on the screen showed the terminal ID used to access the navigation controls before the mission.He knew that terminal. Too well.His voice came out quietly.“That terminal… belongs to Sean Carter.”Daniel







