Chapter 12 - The Door Beneath the Warehouse
Maria walked out of the warehouse.
Chloe stared at her mother.
“No.”
Maria raised both hands.
“Listen.”
“You?”
“No.”
Derek struggled upright.
“I saw her talking to Marco.”
Maria looked at him.
“Because I was buying time.”
Chloe didn’t know whom to believe.
Then Marco appeared behind Maria.
Gun raised.
“Touching reunion.”
Maria closed her eyes.
Marco pushed her forward.
“I told you she’d come.”
Chloe realized the truth.
Maria had contacted Marco.
But not to betray Chloe.
To trade herself.
“Mom.”
“I wanted him to stop hunting you.”
Marco laughed.
“She offered me the ledger.”
“You already have it.”
“Copies.”
He wanted originals.
Maria knew where they were.
The underground vault.
Vincent was already inside.
Chloe’s pulse hammered.
Marco forced them into the warehouse.
A steel door stood open beneath the main floor.
Stairs descended into darkness.
They reached the vault.
Vincent was there.
So were federal agents.
Disarmed.
Marco’s men surrounded them.
Vincent looked at Chloe.
Not angry.
Worried.
Marco ordered Maria to open the vault.
She entered a code.
The door unlocked.
Inside were decades of records.
Marco poured gasoline across the floor.
Chloe understood.
He wasn’t stealing evidence.
He was erasing history.
Maria suddenly grabbed his arm.
Vincent attacked the nearest guard.
The agents moved.
Chloe pulled Derek behind a concrete pillar.
A shot rang out.
Maria fell.
“Mom!”
Chloe ran to her.
The bullet had struck her shoulder.
Alive.
Vincent fought Marco near the vault.
Marco escaped through a second door.
Vincent pursued him.
Chloe pressed cloth against Maria’s wound.
Derek picked up a dropped weapon but handed it immediately to an agent.
The fire alarm activated.
Sprinklers erupted.
The gasoline diluted before flames could spread.
The records survived.
Maria smiled weakly.
“We got them.”
Chloe held her hand.
“Yes.”
An explosion shook the building.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
“Vincent.”
Chloe ran.
She reached the lower corridor.
The second door had collapsed.
Smoke filled the passage.
She shouted his name.
Nothing.
Then a hand appeared through the smoke.
Vincent stumbled forward.
Alone.
“Marco?”
Vincent shook his head.
“Escaped.”
They emerged as firefighters arrived.
The warehouse was secured.
The evidence survived.
Maria went to surgery.
Derek surrendered himself voluntarily.
Vincent sat beside Chloe in the hospital.
Neither spoke for a long time.
Then Chloe rested her head against his shoulder.
He stayed perfectly still.
“You can move,” she murmured.
“I’m afraid you’ll change your mind.”
She almost smiled.
Then Vincent’s phone buzzed.
He looked at the screen.
His expression hardened.
Marco had sent a photograph.
It showed Chloe’s apartment.
Taken from inside her bedroom.
May you like
And beneath it were four words.
I LEFT SOMETHING THERE.
