Chapter 6 - THE BROTHER'S GHOST
Emma pulled a small, worn, square piece of paper from her pocket and handed it up to Jack.
It was a tiny, faded photograph, its edges yellowed and slightly frayed by years of being carried inside a wallet.
Jack took the tiny photograph into his large, calloused palm. He looked down at the image under the bright Walmart fluorescent lights.
The camera revealed the front of the photograph: a young, twenty-three-year-old Jack Mercer, wearing a plain black T-shirt without his biker vest, standing shoulder-to-shoulder outside a garage with another young man who looked strikingly similar to him—same dark hair, same sharp jawline, and warm, laughing eyes.
Jack froze completely. The entire store seemed to fall dead silent. The noise of the cash registers, the store announcements, and the distant hum of traffic outside vanished from his mind.
"Daniel...?" Jack whispered, his voice cracking into a raw, hollow gasp.
He raised his eyes, looking down at Emma's pale, waiting face.
"That's my brother," Jack breathed, his hands shaking slightly as he held the tiny piece of paper. "Daniel... he died fifteen years ago in a motorcycle accident."
Emma did not answer verbally. She did not sign another word.
Slowly, deliberately, she extended her right arm, pointing her small index finger past the end of the toy display, directing Jack’s attention toward the main exit doors where the Stranger had stopped near the sliding glass panels.
The Stranger had paused near the exit sensors, looking back down the central aisle to see if he was being followed. His eyes fell upon the tiny photograph held between Jack’s massive, tattooed fingers.
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The moment the Stranger saw the photograph, he froze in place. The cold, aggressive composure on his face completely collapsed, replaced by an expression of sudden, absolute shock and terror.
Jack looked down at the photograph in his trembling hand, then raised his dark eyes to lock onto the Stranger across the store.
