Chapter 4 - Until Sunrise
“Trace it,” Vincent said.
Marcus was already moving.
Evelyn stared at the screen.
The video feed showed Daniel Ross, Vincent’s attorney of fourteen years, bound to a wooden chair.
His lip was split.
Blood darkened the collar of his shirt.
But he was alive.
A black hooded figure stood behind him.
No face.
No voice.
Then words appeared across the bottom of the screen.
BRING THE LIGHTER TO PIER 17.
COME ALONE.
4:17 A.M.
The feed cut.
Vincent looked at the clock.
3:44.
Thirty-three minutes.
Marcus shook his head.
“You’re not going alone.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Vincent looked at him.
“Daniel dies if I don’t.”
“He may die if you do.”
Kerr moved closer.
“Pier 17 is city property. We can stage surveillance.”
“No police.”
“You’re assuming they can see us.”
“They watched Evelyn in her bedroom.”
That ended the argument.
Evelyn stood.
“Then you need to understand why they want the lighter.”
Vincent looked at her.
“We don’t have time.”
“That’s exactly why we do.”
She picked it up.
Turned it in her fingers.
Opened the lid.
Closed it.
Then frowned.
“What?”
Vincent watched her.
“It’s heavier than it looks.”
“It’s silver.”
“No.”
She shook it gently.
Something clicked inside.
Marcus approached.
“Give me that.”
He examined the bottom.
A tiny seam circled the base.
Vincent had never noticed it.
Marcus took out a pocket tool.
“Could be trapped.”
Evelyn said, “Then don’t open it.”
Vincent held out his hand.
Marcus gave it back.
Vincent twisted the bottom.
Nothing.
He tried pressing the engraving.
ELIAS.
A click.
The base released.
Inside was a tiny brass key.
Everyone stared.
Kerr whispered, “Well, that explains part of it.”
Vincent removed the key.
Attached to it was a paper strip no wider than a match.
One word.
MORGAN.
Evelyn looked at him.
“Who’s Morgan?”
Vincent’s face had gone unreadable.
“My mother.”
Evelyn blinked.
“I thought her name was Katherine.”
“It was.”
Kerr leaned forward.
“Then who is Morgan?”
Vincent looked at the key.
“My mother’s maiden name.”
Another secret.
Another buried thing.
Dominic Hale had taken it to his grave.
Or supposedly had.
Vincent checked the clock.
3:49.
“We move.”
Marcus nodded.
“Two teams shadowing from distance.”
“They said alone.”
“You’ll appear alone.”
Vincent considered it.
“Fine.”
Evelyn caught his sleeve.
“You’re not taking the real key.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Vincent stared at her.
She stared back.
“If this key opens whatever was in file 417, you give them Daniel and the only leverage we have.”
“So?”
“So make a copy.”
“We have twenty-five minutes.”
Marcus said, “I can do it in six.”
Vincent looked at him.
Marcus shrugged.
“Military.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Finally, a useful secret.”
Vincent almost smiled.
Again.
The copy was made in five minutes.
Vincent carried the lighter with the fake key hidden inside.
The real key remained with Evelyn.
At 4:03, he left the tower.
Pier 17 sat along the industrial riverfront.
Old warehouses.
Unused cranes.
Rows of rusting containers.
The kind of place where darkness had too many corners.
Vincent arrived at 4:14.
Alone, as far as anyone could see.
He stepped from the sedan.
Wind moved off the water.
His coat shifted.
No weapon visible.
The warehouse door stood open.
A light glowed inside.
Vincent entered.
Daniel remained tied to the chair.
No hooded figure.
No movement.
Vincent approached carefully.
“Daniel.”
His attorney opened his eyes.
“Don’t.”
Vincent stopped.
Daniel looked down.
A wire ran beneath his chair.
Vincent’s gaze followed it.
To a small device taped beneath the table.
Timer.
02:41.
“Pressure switch,” Daniel whispered.
“If I move?”
“Maybe.”
Vincent stared at him.
“Who did this?”
Daniel swallowed.
“You’re not going to believe me.”
“Try.”
“Elias.”
Vincent said nothing.
Daniel looked terrified.
“He’s alive.”
The timer continued.
02:19.
Vincent crouched.
“How do you know?”
“I saw him.”
“Face?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
“He sat in front of me for twenty minutes.”
Vincent’s voice remained steady.
“What does he want?”
“You.”
“That isn’t useful.”
“He said you stole his life.”
The timer read 01:52.
Vincent studied the wire.
He knew enough about explosives to understand how little he knew.
“Marcus,” he said softly.
No response.
He had a tiny receiver in his collar.
“Marcus.”
Static.
Jammed.
Vincent looked around.
Camera.
Upper corner.
Watching him.
He removed the lighter.
Held it up.
“I brought it.”
A speaker crackled.
Then a voice.
“You always were obedient when someone else paid the price.”
Vincent froze.
Elias.
Older.
Rougher.
But unmistakable.
“Show yourself.”
“No.”
“Release Daniel.”
“You still give orders like Father.”
Vincent looked at the timer.
01:23.
“What do you want?”
“The key.”
“You get it when he walks out.”
Elias laughed softly through the speaker.
“You think you’re negotiating.”
Vincent looked at Daniel.
Daniel’s eyes were fixed on something behind him.
Vincent turned.
A red laser dot appeared on his chest.
Sniper.
Elias spoke.
“Put the lighter on the floor.”
Vincent did.
“Step back.”
He stepped back.
A small remote-controlled machine rolled from beneath a container stack.
It collected the lighter.
The timer stopped.
Daniel exhaled.
Vincent moved toward him.
“Don’t,” Elias said.
Vincent stopped.
“The timer stopped.”
“Not the switch.”
Vincent’s jaw tightened.
“What do you want now?”
“You’ll leave him.”
“No.”
“Then he dies.”
Vincent stared toward the speaker.
Daniel whispered, “Go.”
Vincent did not look at him.
“No.”
“Vincent.”
“No.”
Daniel laughed weakly.
“You were always impossible.”
Vincent crouched beside the chair without touching it.
He examined the pressure mechanism.
A metal plate.
Simple.
Maybe deliberately simple.
He took off his coat.
Rolled it tightly.
Elias spoke.
“Don’t.”
Vincent ignored him.
He wedged the coat beneath one side.
Daniel whispered, “If you’re wrong—”
“I’m not.”
“Your confidence has killed people before.”
Vincent looked at him.
“So has yours.”
Daniel almost smiled.
Together they shifted Daniel’s weight.
Slow.
The plate remained depressed.
Vincent slid a heavy tool case onto it.
Daniel moved free.
Nothing happened.
For three seconds.
Then the timer restarted.
00:10.
“Run,” Vincent said.
They ran.
00:07.
Outside.
00:05.
Behind a concrete barrier.
00:02.
Vincent covered Daniel with his body.
The blast shattered every warehouse window.
Flames rolled through the doorway.
Marcus’s vehicles arrived seconds later.
He jumped out.
“Boss!”
Vincent stood.
Daniel coughed.
Alive.
Marcus looked furious.
“You went inside without a signal.”
“It was jammed.”
“I know.”
Sirens sounded far away.
Kerr’s teams.
Vincent looked toward the burning warehouse.
Elias had the lighter.
But not the real key.
Daniel grabbed his arm.
“There’s something else.”
Vincent turned.
“What?”
“He kept asking about Evelyn.”
Vincent’s blood went cold.
“What about her?”
“He said she was the reason you would finally understand.”
Vincent pulled out his phone.
Called Marcus’s deputy.
No answer.
Called Evelyn.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Marcus called the tower.
Static.
Then Vincent’s private phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A man breathed once.
Then Elias spoke.
“You left the queen on the board.”
Vincent’s face hardened.
“What did you do?”
Elias laughed.
“I didn’t touch her.”
Vincent looked at Marcus.
“Then why are you calling?”
“Because someone else did.”
The line went dead.
Vincent’s phone received a photograph.
Evelyn’s empty hospital wheelchair stood inside his office.
May you like
Beside it was a pool of blood.
And the real brass key was gone.
