Father's Warning

Thomas Morrison's POV

Thomas Morrison quickly closed his eyes and tried to breathe slowly like he was still sick. The emergency lights were flashing red through his hospital room, and he could hear Maya and that fake doctor moving around in the darkness.

His mind was clearer than it had been in weeks. Whatever drug they'd been giving him was finally leaving his body, and he could think straight again.

He'd recognized the fake doctor the moment the man walked into his room earlier. It was Frank Delacroix, one of Judge Brennan's paid killers. Twenty years ago, Frank had threatened Thomas's family when Thomas was just a young lawyer asking too many questions about missing court papers.

Now Frank was back to finish what he'd started.

Thomas kept his eyes closed but listened carefully to everything going around him. He heard Maya speaking to him, trying to help him stand up. He heard Frank cursing as he tripped in the dark.

Most importantly, he heard the footsteps in the hallway getting closer.

"Maya," Thomas whispered as quietly as he could. "We need to hide. Now."

"Can you walk?" Maya asked, her voice shaking with fear.

"Better than they think," Thomas said, surprising himself with how strong he felt.

In the red emergency lights, Thomas could see Frank looking for his dropped gun. They had maybe thirty seconds before the other killers reached his room.

Thomas grabbed Maya's hand and pulled her toward the bathroom. "In here. Quick."

They squeezed into the tiny bathroom and Thomas carefully closed the door, leaving it open just a crack so they could see out.

Just in time.

Three more guys in fake doctor coats came into the room, all carrying guns with silencers attached.

"Where are they?" one man hissed.

"The girl was just here," Frank said, still looking for his weapon. "And the old man was awake."

"Awake? I thought you said the medicine was working."

"It was working! But something's changed. He's been getting stronger instead of weaker."

Thomas felt a chill run down his spine. They'd been trying to kill him slowly, making it look like his cancer was getting worse.

"Find them," the leader said. "Check every room on this floor. They can't have gone far."

The fake doctors spread out, and Thomas heard them kicking open doors and checking other rooms. Scared patients were crying and calling for real nurses.

"What do they want from you?" Maya whispered in his ear.

Thomas thought about the secret he'd been keeping for twenty years. The real reason Judge Brennan and his friends had been trying to kill him.

"I have something they need," Thomas muttered back. "Evidence that could send them all to prison forever."

"What kind of evidence?"

"Photos. Documents. Recordings." Thomas's voice got sadder. "I've been collecting proof of their crimes since Jake was just a little boy. I knew someday they'd try to stop me."

Maya's eyes got wide. "Where is it hidden?"

Before Thomas could answer, they heard Frank's voice getting closer.

"Boss, I found something."

Thomas peeked through the crack in the door. Frank was holding up a piece of paper.

It was the message Thomas had been trying to write earlier, before the fake medicine made him too dizzy to finish. The paper had only three words: "Jake - treehouse - evidence."

"What's a treehouse got to do with anything?" one of the other killers asked.

Frank smiled evilly. "Morrison's kid used to play in an old treehouse behind their house. If the old man hid something there..."

"Should we check it out?"

"Not yet. First we deal with Morrison and the girl. Then we search the treehouse and burn it down."

Thomas felt sick with worry. All his evidence was hidden in that treehouse - photos of Judge Brennan taking bribes, recordings of Sheriff Morrison planning murders, papers showing they'd been poisoning the town's water supply for years.

If they found that evidence and destroyed it, Jake would never be able to show the truth about Tommy and Danny's cases.

"We have to warn Jake," Thomas whispered to Maya.

"How? We're stuck in here."

That's when Thomas remembered something that gave him hope. His old cell phone was in the box next to his bed. If he could reach it without being seen...

"Maya, I need you to create a distraction."

"What kind of distraction?"

"Make noise. Get them to chase you toward the lift. I'll try to reach my phone and call Jake."

"That's too scary! They'll catch me!"

"Not if you're smart about it." Thomas squeezed her hand. "You're brave, Maya. Braver than most people I know. Jake is lucky to have you on his side."

Maya took a deep breath. "What if something happens to me?"

"Nothing will happen to you. I promise."

But before Maya could move, something terrible happened.

Frank's radio crackled with a message that made Thomas's heart stop.

"Frank, this is base. We've got eyes on Jake Morrison. He just walked into the hospital through the emergency door. He's coming up to the fourth floor right now."

Thomas felt like he couldn't breathe. Jake was walking right into the trap.

"Perfect," Frank said into his radio. "Let him come. We'll get the whole family at once."

Through the crack in the door, Thomas could see Frank checking his gun and smiling.

"Maya," Thomas whispered quickly. "My son is coming up here. He doesn't know it's a trap."

"We have to warn him!"

"How? If we leave this bathroom, they'll kill us. If we stay here, they'll kill Jake."

Maya looked at Thomas with tears in her eyes. "There has to be something we can do."

That's when Thomas heard the sound that filled him with both hope and fear.

The elevator doors opening down the hall.

Footsteps coming toward his room.

Jake's voice calling out: "Dad? Maya? I heard your message on the radio!"

Frank raised his gun and pointed it at the opening, waiting.

Thomas understood with growing horror that his son was about to walk into a room full of killers, and there was no way to warn him without getting everyone killed.

The footsteps got closer.

"Dad? Are you okay? I heard there was trouble at the hospital."

Frank's finger moved to the trigger.

Thomas made a choice that could save his son's life or get them all killed.

He took the deepest breath he could and shouted at the top of his lungs: "JAKE! IT'S A TRAP! RUN!"

Gunshots burst through the hospital room.

Glass broke.

Someone screamed.

And in the chaos and darkness, Thomas heard the most frightening sound of all.

His son's voice, crying out in pain.

"Dad! I'm hit! I can't move!"

Then silence.

Thomas tried to get out of the bathroom to help Jake, but Maya grabbed his arm.

"Wait," she whispered. "Listen."

Through the broken door, Thomas could hear Frank talking on his radio again.

"We got him. Jake Morrison is down. But he's not dead yet."

"Keep him alive for now," came the reply. "The boss wants to ask him first. Find out what he knows about the Santos boy."

Thomas understood with growing terror that this was all part of a bigger plan.

They weren't just trying to kill his family.

They were trying to find Danny Santos and Tommy Whitfield.

And they were going to use Jake as bait.

"Maya," Thomas whispered, his voice shaking with fear and rage. "We're the only ones who can save my son now."

But as they prepared to leave their hiding place, they heard something that made them freeze.

More footsteps in the hallway.

More sounds.

And the sound of someone being dragged across the floor.

Frank was taking Jake somewhere else in the hospital.

Somewhere no one would hear him scream.