Chapter 7 - The Man in the Gray Coat
The man began walking toward her.
Slowly.
Without hurry.
His hands remained inside his coat pockets.
Emily glanced around.
The basement held only rows of lockers, two vending machines, and a narrow emergency exit marked with a faded red sign.
The woman on the phone spoke quickly.
"Do not let him take the keycard."
"Who is he?"
"Someone who believes Daniel has already told you too much."
"He hasn't told me anything."
"That will not matter."
The man was twenty feet away now.
"Emily Carter?" he asked.
His voice was polite.
That frightened her more than anger would have.
Emily slipped the keycard into her sleeve.
"I think you have the wrong person."
"No, I don't."
He stopped beside the vending machines.
"Your husband asked me to bring you home."
Daniel knew where she was.
Either the cameras had exposed her departure or the suitcase alert had triggered a wider search.
The man smiled slightly.
"You shouldn't have opened the folder."
Emily's blood turned cold.
She moved toward the emergency exit.
The man followed.
"Mrs. Carter, please don't make this difficult."
The woman on the phone whispered, "Pull the fire alarm."
Emily saw it mounted on the wall beside the exit.
She ran.
The man lunged forward.
His fingers caught the strap of her handbag.
Emily twisted free, leaving the bag in his hand, and slammed her palm against the alarm.
A violent bell exploded through the building.
Red lights flashed.
The basement door unlocked automatically.
People began shouting upstairs.
The man cursed and reached for her again, but Emily pushed through the emergency exit into a narrow service corridor.
"Left," the woman instructed through the phone.
Emily ran left.
"Second door."
She shoved it open and found a staircase leading upward.
Her shoes struck the concrete steps as she climbed.
Behind her, the man entered the corridor.
He was no longer pretending to be calm.
"Emily!"
She reached the ground floor and burst into the crowded reading hall.
Security guards were already directing people toward the exits.
Emily disappeared into the moving crowd.
Outside, she crossed the construction zone and entered a bakery through the rear entrance.
Only then did she stop.
Her lungs burned.
The prepaid phone remained pressed to her ear.
"Who are you?" Emily demanded.
The woman hesitated.
"My name is Claire."
Emily leaned against the wall.
"Why are you helping me?"
"Because eight years ago, Daniel was assigned to protect my sister."
A pause followed.
"He failed."
Emily looked down at the hospital keycard hidden inside her sleeve.
"What happened to her?"
Claire's voice became unsteady.
"According to the official record, she died during surgery."
"And according to you?"
"She never entered Operating Room 6."
Emily felt the room tilt.
Claire continued.
"Someone used her identity to leave the hospital that night."
Before Emily could respond, the bakery's front door opened.
Daniel stepped inside.
He scanned the room once.
May you like
Then his eyes found her.
And in his hand, he was carrying the handbag she had left behind.
