I hung up before I could say more.
Before I could admit how much it hurt to even think it.
I walked back into the clinic and looked around.
At the notes scattered on the desk. At the missing files. At the frayed nerves and broken system, we were trying to prop up with duct tape and sheer fucking willpower.
We weren’t just being watched.
We were being discredited.
Bit by bit.
Byte by byte.
And somewhere deep down, I knew Erin wasn’t finished.
She was just getting started.
CHAPTER 44
AVA - CAUTIONARY TALE
It happened on a Thursday in April.
After what seemed light endless days of scrambling to keep up, to figure out what Erin's end goal was... Keep our head above water.
It was mid-morning, and there was a beautiful cloudless sky.
The kind of day that felt too calm to be real.
The kind of day that made us think that we would be ok.
We were reviewing intake reports, mine on one side of the desk, Remi’s on the other, talking about whether we could afford another part-time intake worker. If we could use some of the extra grant income to take over the space next door and turn it into an overflow for the clinic when the shelters were full.
Remi was making her second cup of coffee. I was debating yogurt or a granola bar.
Nothing about it felt like a before.
Until the glass shattered.
I didn’t even register the noise at first. The crash of the front door giving way. The sound of boots slamming into hardwood. Someone shouting, “CLEAR!”
Not until I saw the red dots sweep across the floor, one landing right across Remi’s chest.
“What the...” I started, then froze as the wall behind her filled with tactical gear, rifles, and bulletproof vests stamped withPOLICE.
Patients screamed.
A young mother with a baby dropped to her knees, shielding the infant with her body.
Another client bolted for the hallway and was shoved down, face-first, into the floor.
I stood. Arms raised on instinct. “What is happening?”
“Step away from the desk!” a voice barked. Male. Harsh.
And then camehervoice.
