Chapter 6 - THE MAN IN THE GRAY JACKET
Hospital security moved quickly after Daniel’s call. Two guards were posted near Lily’s room, and another was sent to review visitor footage. Daniel stayed close to his niece, but his eyes kept moving, measuring every person who passed the hallway.
Alex stood near the window, trying to put the pieces together.
A medical emergency. A missed flight. A message from the executive of the company where he was supposed to interview. Then a stranger in a gray jacket trying to scare Lily into blaming him.
None of it made sense.
Unless someone wanted him gone.
But why?
He was nobody. A broke applicant with a weak bank account and an eviction deadline. He had no enemies powerful enough to follow him into an airport and a hospital.
At least, none he knew about.
Daniel approached him quietly.
“I asked my assistant to pull your application file,” he said.
Alex frowned. “Why?”
“Because your interview today wasn’t ordinary.”
Alex gave a tired laugh. “It felt ordinary to me. I was one of hundreds.”
“No,” Daniel said. “You were one of three finalists for a position tied to an internal investigation.”
Alex’s expression changed. “What kind of investigation?”
Daniel glanced toward Lily before lowering his voice.
“Marlowe Global has been dealing with procurement fraud. Someone inside the company has been leaking contracts, manipulating vendor bids, and covering it with false compliance reports.”
Alex stared at him. “What does that have to do with me?”
“The job you applied for wasn’t just operations analysis. We needed someone with your background—auditing, logistics, data reconstruction. Someone outside our internal politics.”
Alex remembered the job description: process integrity, cross-department review, vendor performance mapping. It had sounded complicated, but nothing like this.
“So you’re saying someone didn’t want me to make that interview?”
“I’m saying I don’t believe in coincidences anymore.”
Before Alex could respond, Daniel’s phone buzzed. He read the message, and his face hardened.
“They found him.”
He turned the screen toward Alex.
The hospital security image was grainy but clear enough. A man in a gray jacket stood near Lily’s hallway, head slightly lowered, face half-turned from the camera.
Alex’s heart jumped.
“I saw him,” he whispered.
Daniel’s gaze sharpened. “Where?”
“At the airport,” Alex said. “Near Gate 42. He was standing by the window after I missed my flight. I thought he was just another passenger.”
Daniel zoomed in on the image.
“Look carefully. Are you sure?”
Alex nodded slowly. “Yes.”
Daniel’s phone buzzed again. Another image appeared—this one from airport security. The same gray-jacketed man stood several yards behind Alex at the gate. In the image, Alex was speaking to the airline worker, desperate and breathless.
The man was watching him.
Not the plane.
Not the commotion.
Him.
Alex felt his mouth go dry.
Daniel swore under his breath.
Then a doctor stepped out of Hannah’s room.
“Mr. Reed?”
Daniel turned immediately. “Is she awake?”
The doctor’s expression was serious.
“For now. But only briefly. She’s asking to speak to both of you.”
Alex pointed to himself. “Me?”
The doctor nodded.
Daniel looked at Alex, and for the first time since they met, there was something like fear in his eyes.
They entered the room together.
Hannah Reed lay pale against the pillows, wires attached to her arms, her breathing weak but steady. Her eyes opened halfway when they approached.
Daniel took her hand. “Hannah, I’m here.”
Her gaze shifted past him.
To Alex.
Her lips moved.
Alex stepped closer.
Hannah’s voice was barely a whisper.
“The man at the airport…”
Alex leaned in.
Hannah struggled for breath.
“He wasn’t following me.”
May you like
Her eyes locked onto his.
“He was following you.”
