Chapter 4 - The Man in the Photograph
Adrian had experienced rage before.
This was something colder.
Mia was gone.
Victor Serrano’s daughter had taken her.
And now Julian was suggesting that Thomas Vale might have survived the shooting Adrian had spent half his life believing killed him.
Adrian turned toward Charles.
“You start talking.”
Charles glanced at Rachel.
“Not with her here.”
Rachel, still recovering her breath, said, “I already heard you threaten to kill me. I’m staying.”
Julian almost smiled.
Adrian did not.
“Thomas,” Adrian said. “Alive or dead?”
Charles looked at Julian.
“Ask your brother.”
“I’m asking you.”
Charles leaned against the concrete wall.
“Thomas survived the first shot.”
Adrian’s stomach tightened.
“The first?”
“Your brother got him to a private clinic.”
Julian said, “For eleven hours.”
Adrian turned.
“What happened?”
“He disappeared.”
“How does a dying man disappear?”
“When the doctor disappears too.”
Charles gave a quiet laugh.
“Thomas was always resourceful.”
Adrian wanted to shoot him.
Instead he asked, “Where?”
“No one knows.”
Julian corrected him.
“Someone knows.”
“Elena?”
“Maybe Victor.”
Adrian checked his phone.
Midnight.
Five hours.
Grace and Marcus arrived through the maintenance passage twenty minutes later.
Grace saw Rachel and ran to her.
The sisters embraced.
Then Grace looked around.
“Where’s Mia?”
Adrian did not soften the truth.
“Elena Serrano has her.”
Grace went still.
“No.”
“We'll get her back.”
“No.”
She turned on him.
“You said she would be safe.”
“I know.”
“You promised me.”
“I know.”
“You don't know anything.”
She struck his chest with both hands.
Marcus moved instinctively.
Adrian stopped him.
Grace hit Adrian again.
“You brought this down on her.”
“I did.”
She expected an argument.
He gave her none.
Her anger collapsed into fear.
“She’s four.”
“I know.”
“She doesn’t sleep without her rabbit.”
Adrian remembered the child behind the trash cans.
Tiny fingers gripping his hand.
“You'll see her tonight.”
Grace looked into his eyes.
“If you lie to me—”
“I won't.”
Julian studied Adrian as if meeting him for the first time.
Charles remained restrained in the corner.
Adrian turned toward him.
“Where would Elena take her?”
Charles said nothing.
Julian pulled a chair over.
“Charles.”
The attorney smiled.
“Still pretending you're different from us?”
Julian leaned close.
“No. I stopped pretending years ago.”
Charles’s smile weakened.
Adrian walked away.
He did not need to see what happened next.
Ten minutes later, Julian found him in the corridor.
“Pier 19.”
Adrian looked at him.
“That's Serrano territory.”
“Not officially.”
“Nothing useful is official today.”
Julian held up a key.
“Charles says Victor uses a private warehouse beneath the old customs building.”
“Trap?”
“Obviously.”
“Thomas?”
“Maybe.”
Adrian stared at his brother.
“You've known pieces of this for thirteen years.”
“Yes.”
“And you never came to me.”
“I couldn't.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because every time I got close, someone around you died.”
Adrian’s expression tightened.
Julian continued.
“Your first driver. Remember?”
“Heart attack.”
“Poison.”
Adrian said nothing.
“Your accountant, David Mercer.”
“Car accident.”
“Brake line.”
Adrian looked away.
Julian’s voice softened.
“I stayed dead because someone was monitoring you.”
“Who?”
“I thought it was Charles.”
“And now?”
“I think Charles was only one layer.”
“What’s above him?”
Julian looked at the ring on Adrian’s hand.
“Dad.”
Adrian stared.
“You think Thomas ran the network?”
“I think he may have created part of it.”
“No.”
“You heard the recording.”
“He discovered it.”
“Or recorded himself pretending to discover it.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“You better have more than suspicion.”
Julian pulled a photograph from his pocket.
Thomas Vale.
Older.
Gray-haired.
Walking beside Victor Serrano.
Timestamped eight months earlier.
Adrian stared so long the image blurred.
“Where?”
“Montreal.”
“Confirmed?”
“I took the photograph.”
Adrian looked up.
“You saw him.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“He ran.”
Adrian laughed once.
“My dead father ran from my dead brother.”
“Pretty much.”
Adrian handed the photograph back.
“Tonight we end this.”
Marcus prepared three teams.
No insignias.
No family vehicles.
No phones connected to the estate network.
Grace insisted on going.
Adrian refused.
She refused his refusal.
Eventually he gave her a bulletproof vest and put her behind Marcus.
Pier 19 had been abandoned for twelve years.
At 11:41 p.m., waves slapped black pilings beneath the warehouse.
Adrian entered through the customs tunnel.
Julian beside him.
Marcus behind.
Grace farther back.
Inside, rows of containers created narrow corridors.
A child's cry echoed somewhere ahead.
Grace moved.
Marcus caught her.
“Mia!”
Adrian raised a hand.
“Wait.”
A speaker crackled.
Victor Serrano’s voice filled the warehouse.
“Right on time.”
Lights snapped on.
Mia sat beneath a hanging lamp fifty yards away.
Tied to a chair.
Elena stood beside her.
Grace made a broken sound.
Mia saw her.
“Mommy!”
Elena placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder.
“Quiet.”
Adrian's gaze became lethal.
“Take your hand off her.”
Elena smiled.
“You almost married me.”
“Fortunately, I developed standards.”
She laughed.
“Still charming.”
“Let Mia go.”
“Drive first.”
Grace held up the storage chip.
“I have it.”
Adrian turned.
He had told her not to bring it.
She whispered, “I made another copy.”
Elena saw the bracelet.
“Bring it.”
Grace started forward.
Adrian stopped her.
“No.”
“She wants me.”
“She wants evidence.”
“She has my child.”
Elena sighed theatrically.
“Touching.”
Adrian looked around.
“Where’s Victor?”
“Busy.”
“Where’s Thomas?”
Elena’s smile changed.
“Closer than you think.”
Footsteps sounded above them.
A man descended a metal staircase.
Adrian saw silver hair.
Broad shoulders despite age.
The familiar way he adjusted his left cuff.
His father.
Thomas Vale reached the floor.
Adrian forgot how to breathe.
Thomas looked exactly like the photograph.
Older.
Alive.
His gaze moved to Julian.
Then Adrian.
“My sons.”
Julian lifted his weapon.
“Don't.”
Thomas looked wounded.
“You're going to shoot your father?”
“You died.”
“I had reasons.”
Adrian spoke quietly.
“Did you build the trafficking network?”
Thomas did not answer immediately.
That was enough.
Adrian felt the last surviving piece of childhood inside him disappear.
“You did.”
“I built routes.”
“For children.”
“For people.”
“For profit.”
“For survival.”
Grace stared at him with disgust.
Thomas looked at her.
“You're the maid.”
Adrian moved between them.
“My name is Grace Holloway.”
Thomas smiled faintly.
“I know exactly who you are.”
Grace went still.
“What?”
Thomas looked toward Mia.
“And I know who her father was.”
Grace’s face drained.
Adrian noticed.
“You told me Mia’s father died.”
“He did.”
“When?”
Grace didn't answer.
Thomas did.
“Four years ago.”
He stepped closer.
“His name was Daniel Holloway.”
Grace whispered, “Stop.”
Thomas continued.
“He wasn't merely Grace’s husband.”
Adrian looked at her.
“What was he?”
Thomas smiled.
“One of mine.”
Grace shook her head.
“No.”
“He worked undercover inside the foundation operation.”
“No.”
“He collected names. Routes. Accounts.”
Grace began crying.
“Daniel was an accountant.”
“He told you that.”
Thomas glanced at Mia.
“He died because he found the master ledger.”
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
“The drive?”
“Contains fragments.”
Thomas tapped his chest.
“The complete ledger is with me.”
Elena interrupted.
“Enough.”
Thomas looked annoyed.
She raised a gun.
Not at Adrian.
At Thomas.
Victor emerged behind her.
“She's right.”
Adrian saw the power structure immediately.
Thomas was not controlling this meeting.
Victor was.
Victor smiled at Adrian.
“Families are complicated.”
“Release Mia.”
“Soon.”
Victor looked toward Thomas.
“You promised both brothers would cooperate.”
Thomas's jaw tightened.
“I promised nothing.”
Elena moved her weapon toward Mia.
Grace screamed.
Adrian took one step.
Victor raised his hand.
“Don't.”
Julian whispered, “Adrian.”
His eyes shifted upward.
A catwalk.
Marcus’s sniper had reached position.
Adrian needed seconds.
He looked at Thomas.
“Why fake your death?”
Thomas understood the delay.
His eyes flickered almost imperceptibly toward the catwalk.
“Because Victor's father tried to kill me.”
Victor smiled.
“And yet you joined him.”
“I infiltrated him.”
Julian laughed bitterly.
“You expect us to believe that?”
“No.”
Thomas looked at Adrian.
“But I expect you to believe evidence.”
He slowly removed a flash drive.
Victor’s face changed.
“There it is.”
Thomas held it up.
“The complete ledger.”
Elena turned her gun away from Mia for one second.
One second was enough.
Adrian moved.
A suppressed shot cracked from above.
Elena's weapon flew from her hand.
Marcus rushed Grace toward Mia.
Julian tackled Victor.
Adrian reached Thomas.
Gunfire erupted from the far side of the warehouse.
Thomas shouted, “Down!”
Adrian hit the floor.
Grace reached Mia.
She cut the restraints.
“Mama!”
“I have you.”
A man appeared behind Grace.
Adrian raised his gun.
Too late.
Thomas fired first.
The man dropped.
Grace carried Mia toward cover.
Julian fought Victor beside a container.
Elena disappeared into darkness.
Marcus shouted, “Vehicle leaving north side!”
Adrian looked toward Thomas.
“Ledger.”
Thomas held out the drive.
Then his chest jerked.
A shot.
Blood spread across his shirt.
“Dad!”
Adrian caught him.
Thomas fell against him.
Julian turned.
“Thomas!”
The warehouse doors exploded open.
Police vehicles flooded the pier.
Too fast.
Far too fast.
Adrian looked toward Charles’s warning in his mind.
Judges.
Police.
Officials.
Thomas gripped his lapel.
“Not cops.”
Adrian looked at the approaching tactical officers.
Thomas pushed the drive into his hand.
“They belong to Victor.”
May you like
The first officer raised his rifle.
And aimed directly at Mia.
