Chapter 44 - Victor’s Choice
The bomb threat activated every old instinct Victor possessed.
Run.
Command.
Control.
Destroy.
He grabbed his coat.
Marcus blocked him.
“Bomb squad is already there.”
“Hannah is there.”
“And you running into the building helps how?”
Victor shoved past.
Matthew’s voice came through the radio.
“Dad.”
Victor stopped.
Evelyn stood ten feet from Matthew holding the trigger.
“Your wife or your son,” she said.
Matthew stared.
“You’re recreating a forced-choice experiment.”
“Precisely.”
“You’re insane.”
“Clinical terminology has improved.”
Victor heard everything.
Evelyn continued.
“If federal agents move on me, the foundation device triggers.”
Dana Wu confirmed they could not determine whether the remote was real.
At the foundation, Hannah and thirty-one employees were evacuating.
But a children’s dialysis unit occupied the lower floor.
Some patients could not be moved quickly.
Victor demanded a vehicle.
Marcus refused.
“You are not going there.”
“My wife—”
“Has bomb technicians.”
Victor’s fists clenched.
Marcus stepped closer.
“You spent thirty years learning not every crisis requires Victor Davis personally entering the room.”
Victor stared.
Marcus had earned the right to say it.
At the theater, Evelyn told Matthew:
“Call your father.”
Matthew did.
Victor answered.
Evelyn placed the phone on speaker.
“Victor.”
“Evelyn.”
“Choose.”
Victor’s voice was flat.
“No.”
She smiled.
“You don’t understand.”
“I do.”
“If agents arrest me, Hannah may die.”
Victor closed his eyes.
“If they don’t, Matthew remains with you.”
“Yes.”
“So choose.”
Old Victor would have attacked the premise.
Threatened.
Negotiated.
Promised money.
Instead he asked:
“Hannah, are you listening?”
Her voice came through another channel.
“Yes.”
“Do you want me to surrender the operation?”
“No.”
Victor’s eyes filled.
“Matthew?”
“No.”
Evelyn frowned.
Victor said:
“There is your answer.”
“That isn’t a choice.”
“It is.”
“You’re risking them.”
“No.”
Victor breathed.
“I am respecting them.”
Matthew smiled despite everything.
Evelyn’s calm began cracking.
Victor continued:
“My father would have chosen whoever preserved his power.”
“He would have called that strength.”
“I used to believe him.”
Evelyn gripped the trigger.
“I don’t anymore.”
Bomb technicians found the device at the foundation.
It was real.
But the receiver operated on a specific frequency.
Signal jammers were deployed.
Dana gave the order.
Agents moved.
Evelyn pressed the trigger.
Nothing.
Her face changed.
For the first time, fear.
Matthew ducked.
Agents tackled her.
The remote fell across the stage.
Victor exhaled so violently Marcus thought he might collapse.
At the foundation, bomb technicians dismantled the device.
Hannah walked outside with the last evacuated dialysis patient holding her hand.
Cameras captured the image.
But Victor did not see television coverage.
He drove there after the all-clear.
No convoy.
No screaming.
He simply ran from the car.
Hannah saw him.
Victor stopped three feet away.
For one strange moment, neither moved.
Then Hannah said:
“You respected my choice.”
He nodded.
“That was horrible.”
She laughed through tears.
“For me too.”
“I hated every second.”
“I know.”
He hugged her.
At the theater, Matthew sat on the edge of the stage.
Caleb returned after agents declared the building safe.
“You okay?” Matthew asked.
Caleb shrugged.
“No.”
“Good answer.”
Caleb sat beside him.
“Was she right?”
“About what?”
“That you help kids because of what happened to you.”
Matthew thought.
“Partly.”
“Is that bad?”
“No.”
He looked at Caleb.
“Pain can explain what we care about.”
Caleb waited.
“It just shouldn’t get to control what everyone else owes us.”
Caleb nodded slowly.
Outside, Evelyn Shaw was placed into a federal vehicle.
This time four agents accompanied her.
Dana personally checked the restraints.
Before the door closed, Evelyn looked at Matthew.
“You think you disproved me?”
Matthew shook his head.
“No.”
“What, then?”
“I think people will keep surprising you.”
She almost smiled.
Then the door closed.
The crisis should have ended there.
Instead, the next morning, Lily entered Matthew’s apartment holding a pregnancy test.
Matthew looked at it.
Then at her.
Then back at it.
His knees nearly gave out.
“Is that—”
“Yes.”
He sat down.
Lily laughed nervously.
“You’re a psychologist. Say something.”
Matthew stared at the two pink lines.
May you like
Then whispered:
“My father is going to become unbearable.”
