Chapter 5 - The Price of Silence
“Put Adrian on the phone.”
The man laughed.
“Your husband is alive.”
“I said put him on.”
“You’re not in a position to give instructions.”
Elena looked at Daniel.
He was already tracing the call.
“Then tell me what you want.”
“The drive.”
“You just said you have him. Search him.”
“We did.”
Elena’s mind raced.
Adrian had taken the drive from Gabriel.
Unless he had passed it.
Or hidden it.
The caller’s voice hardened.
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Wrong answer.”
A sound came through.
A groan.
Adrian.
Elena’s fingers tightened around the phone.
“If you hurt him—”
“What?”
The man sounded almost amused.
“You’ll send your lawyers?”
“No.”
Elena’s voice became steady.
“I’ll release everything I have.”
Silence.
Rebecca looked at her sharply.
Elena continued.
“Payroll reports. Employee statements. Marcus’s threats. Digital timestamps. All of it.”
“You don’t have enough.”
“Then why are you calling?”
Another silence.
Good.
He was listening.
Elena looked at Rebecca.
She mouthed: Can we release it?
Rebecca nodded.
The man said, “You’re smarter than Marcus claimed.”
“Marcus talks too much.”
“He does.”
That mattered.
The caller did not respect Marcus.
“He also gets scared,” Elena said.
“Most weak men do.”
Rebecca began writing on paper.
KEEP HIM TALKING.
Elena continued.
“Is Marcus working for you?”
“Marcus works for money.”
“You work for Charles?”
The line went silent.
Then the caller said, “You should be careful using names you don’t understand.”
There.
Not denial.
Elena looked at Daniel.
He had noticed too.
“You mean Charles Cross?”
“Elena.”
Adrian’s voice suddenly came through.
Weak.
Urgent.
“Hang up.”
“Adrian?”
“Don’t give them—”
A blow.
The sound cut him off.
Elena’s vision blurred.
The caller returned.
“Midnight. Pier 46. Bring every copy you have.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Make it possible.”
“And my husband?”
“You get him when we get the files.”
The call ended.
Daniel stared at his screen.
“Trace failed.”
Rebecca stood.
“They’re not getting those files.”
“They have Adrian.”
“And they’ll kill both of you if you go.”
Elena looked at her.
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do.”
“How?”
Rebecca’s face tightened.
“Because I made that mistake once.”
Everyone turned.
Rebecca slowly sat.
“Four years ago, before I joined Cross Meridian, my brother worked at Hartwell.”
“What happened?” Elena asked.
“He found a transfer ledger. Same system Gabriel found.”
Her voice became thinner.
“They took him.”
Elena understood.
“You traded evidence.”
“I gave them everything.”
“And?”
Rebecca looked down.
“They killed him anyway.”
Silence filled the room.
Sofia moved toward her.
Rebecca shook her head.
“Don’t.”
Elena stared at the wall.
Midnight.
Less than two hours.
“We need federal law enforcement.”
Daniel nodded.
“I’m reaching out through Adrian’s counsel.”
“No.”
Rebecca stood.
“Not anyone connected to the existing investigation.”
“Then who?”
“Department of Labor inspector general.”
Daniel frowned.
“Why them?”
“Because wage-theft cases crossed their office. Gabriel contacted someone there.”
“Name?”
Rebecca opened the folder.
“Special Agent Naomi Pierce.”
Daniel made the call.
Twenty minutes later, Naomi Pierce arrived with four federal agents.
She was in her forties, composed, practical, and visibly unhappy about the situation.
“I want to be clear,” she told Elena. “You are not going to Pier 46.”
“They asked for me.”
“They asked for leverage.”
“They have my husband.”
“That is exactly why you don’t negotiate alone.”
Elena looked at Daniel.
“Can you locate Adrian’s watch?”
Daniel froze.
Rebecca turned.
“His watch?”
“Elena’s emergency alert automatically notifies my team,” Daniel said. “Adrian wears a similar device.”
“Track it.”
“I already tried.”
“And?”
“It’s offline.”
Elena thought.
“His regular watch?”
Daniel frowned.
“What?”
“Adrian wears two watches sometimes.”
Sofia stared at her.
“What kind of billionaire wears two watches?”
“A ridiculous one.”
Elena almost smiled.
“His left wrist has the security watch. His right wrist sometimes has the old mechanical watch his grandfather gave him.”
“That doesn’t transmit.”
“No.”
Elena looked at Daniel.
“But Adrian had it serviced last month.”
Daniel understood.
“The authentication tag.”
“What is that?” Naomi asked.
“A passive NFC security tag inside the clasp,” Daniel said. “It logs when he enters certain company buildings.”
“Can you track it remotely?”
“Not like GPS.”
Elena’s disappointment showed.
“But if it passes a Cross Meridian sensor?”
Daniel was already typing.
“Or any partner system.”
Naomi stepped closer.
“How many partner systems?”
“Thousands.”
Daniel’s screen changed.
He stared.
“What?”
“There was a hit.”
“Where?”
“Forty-two minutes ago.”
He enlarged the map.
A commercial parking garage in Brooklyn.
Naomi turned to her agents.
“Move.”
Elena caught her arm.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“They want me.”
“And that makes you a liability at the scene.”
“I can identify Adrian.”
“We know what Adrian Cross looks like.”
Elena glared.
Naomi softened slightly.
“I need you alive. Your husband needs you alive.”
Elena hated that the argument worked.
The agents left.
Daniel went with them.
Rebecca remained.
Sofia sat beside Elena.
For twenty minutes, they received nothing.
Then a message.
GARAGE EMPTY. VEHICLE FOUND.
Elena’s heart sank.
Another.
BLOOD IN REAR SEAT.
Sofia grabbed her hand.
Then Daniel called.
“Adrian isn’t here.”
“Gabriel?”
“No.”
“Whose blood?”
“Unknown.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“Anything else?”
“A phone.”
“Whose?”
“Burner.”
“And?”
Daniel hesitated.
“There’s a scheduled message on it.”
“To whom?”
“You.”
Elena’s pulse accelerated.
“Send it.”
Seconds later, a video appeared.
Marcus Bell sat in a dim room.
His tie was gone.
His face bruised.
He looked terrified.
“Elena,” he said into the camera, “if you’re watching this, they know I talked.”
Elena stared.
Marcus swallowed.
“I never wanted anyone hurt.”
Rebecca scoffed.
Marcus continued.
“I skimmed payroll because I was told to. First small amounts. Then more. They said everybody did it.”
He started crying.
“I thought Charles Cross was protecting us.”
Elena felt Adrian’s name like a weight in her chest.
Marcus leaned closer to the camera.
“But Charles isn’t the one giving orders anymore.”
Elena’s eyes narrowed.
“What?”
Marcus looked toward someone offscreen.
“I found out who replaced him.”
The video abruptly cut.
A second file appeared.
Just text.
ONE NAME.
Elena opened it.
Her breath stopped.
There were only two words on the screen.
SOFIA MARTINEZ.
Elena slowly looked toward her mother.
Sofia was gone.
The chair beside the bed was empty.
May you like
The hospital-room door stood open.
And the red folder had disappeared with her.
