Chapter 7 - The Diagnosis
Thomas stared at Antoine as if the wounded man had begun speaking another language.
"For me?"
Antoine nodded weakly.
"Ask Moreau."
"Where is he?"
"Jacques took him."
Maya's expression sharpened.
"Thomas, what is wrong with you?"
"Nothing."
Antoine laughed, then winced.
"You sure about that?"
Thomas grabbed his coat.
"We are going to St. Agnes."
Maya blocked the doorway.
"Not with Rosa."
"There is nowhere safe."
"Then make somewhere safe. You're supposed to own half this city."
Thomas called the only man whose loyalty Jacques could not buy.
Father Lucien Broussard.
The priest answered on the fourth ring.
"Thomas, if this is about poker, I have mass in three hours."
"I need sanctuary."
Silence.
"For you?"
"For a child."
Another silence, longer this time.
"Bring her."
Twenty minutes later, Rosa stood inside the rectory kitchen at St. Cecilia's eating peanut butter crackers while Father Lucien stared at Thomas over his glasses.
"You have a daughter?"
"Apparently."
"God has a sense of humor."
"Tonight is not the night."
Maya knelt in front of Rosa.
"I have to go with him."
"No."
"Baby-"
"He is bad."
Thomas looked away.
Maya took Rosa's hands.
"Yes. But right now bad men are fighting other bad men, and I need to make sure the one who knows your name loses."
Rosa looked at Thomas.
"You bring her back."
"I will."
"Promise?"
Thomas had ordered deaths more easily than he said the next word.
"Promise."
At St. Agnes warehouse sixteen, the rain had risen above the loading dock drains.
Thomas and Maya entered through the south door using Antoine's card.
Inside, metal racks stretched into darkness.
They found Mateo tied to a chair in an office.
Alive.
Beside him sat Dr. Moreau.
The doctor looked twenty years older than he had four months earlier.
Thomas cut Mateo free.
"Where is Jacques?"
Moreau laughed nervously.
"Probably watching."
Thomas grabbed him by the collar.
"Why were you testing children for me?"
"I was told you knew."
"Know what?"
Moreau looked at Maya, then back at Thomas.
"You have myelodysplastic syndrome. Early stage. Your blood work showed it two years ago."
Thomas released him.
"I have never been diagnosed with that."
"Jacques intercepted the results before they reached you. He told me to find compatible marrow donors inside the Rousseau bloodline."
Maya's face hardened.
"And you imprisoned children?"
"I was trying to keep them alive."
"You put needles in my daughter while she begged to see me."
Moreau looked down.
"I am not asking forgiveness."
Thomas's voice became quiet.
"Why hide the diagnosis from me?"
Moreau swallowed.
"Because a sick king is easier to replace when the throne is ready."
The warehouse lights snapped off.
Emergency red lamps flickered on.
A speaker crackled overhead.
Jacques's voice filled the building.
"There it is, Thomas. The truth you never bothered to ask for."
Then another sound came through the speaker.
A little girl's scream.
Rosa.
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