Chapter 1 - THE CALL COLONEL MERCER NEVER EXPECTED
Colonel Richard Mercer had spent thirty-two years learning how to react when bad news arrived.
Do not assume.
Do not panic.
Get facts.
Secure people.
Then act.
That discipline disappeared the moment Dr. Alan Mercer called.
Alan was not family despite the surname.
He and Richard had known each other since college, before Richard joined the Army and Alan went to medical school. For more than three decades, the shared last name had been a running joke.
That evening, Alan did not joke.
“Richard, you need to come to St. Catherine’s.”
Richard stood from his kitchen table.
“Who?”
A pause.
“Emily.”
His daughter was thirty.
Married for four years to Daniel Voss, a corporate attorney Richard had never entirely trusted and never been able to explain why.
Richard asked:
“Car accident?”
“No.”
“What happened?”
“I need you here.”
“Alan.”
Another pause.
“She’s safe right now.”
Right now.
Military language without meaning to be military.
Richard grabbed his keys.
He wore an old dark service uniform jacket because he had just returned from a retirement dinner at the base association. He did not change.
On the drive, he called Emily.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
Daniel answered on the third call to his own phone.
“Colonel.”
Richard hated when he called him that.
“Where’s Emily?”
Silence.
“Daniel.”
“I thought she was with you.”
Richard’s grip tightened on the steering wheel.
“She’s in the emergency room.”
Another silence.
Longer.
Then Daniel said:
“Is she hurt?”
Too clean.
Too neutral.
Richard heard lawyers in the sentence.
“What happened to my daughter?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where are you?”
“At the office.”
Richard looked at the dashboard clock.
8:42 p.m.
“What office?”
“My office.”
Then Daniel added:
“Richard, Emily has been struggling lately.”
There.
Not:
I’m coming.
Not:
Is she conscious?
She has been struggling.
Richard asked:
“What does that mean?”
“You should talk to Alan.”
Call ended.
Richard stared at the road.
For the first time, he remembered something Emily had said at Thanksgiving.
Daniel worries too much about how things look.
At the time, Richard thought she meant career.
He reached St. Catherine’s eleven minutes later.
Alan met him outside trauma bay four.
White coat.
Serious eyes.
Richard said:
“Tell me.”
Alan answered:
“I don’t know everything yet.”
“Is she conscious?”
“Yes.”
“Can I see her?”
“Yes.”
Then Alan caught Richard’s arm.
“Listen to me first.”
Richard stared.
“She is frightened. Not confused. Not intoxicated. Frightened.”
“Of who?”
Alan shook his head.
“She won’t say.”
Richard pushed through the doors.
Emily lay on the bed in a hospital gown.
Bruises visible along her arms and legs.
She saw him.
And broke.
“Dad.”
May you like
Richard reached her before the thought finished forming.
Then she grabbed both his hands like she believed someone might take him away.
