Chapter 11 - Chicago’s Most Dangerous Witness
Josephine stared at Robert.
“You’re with her?”
Robert shook his head.
Evelyn pressed the gun into his back.
“No.”
Evelyn looked almost apologetic.
“I wanted to keep you out of this.”
Josephine’s heart hardened.
“Everyone says that right before ruining my life.”
Dante moved slightly.
Evelyn noticed.
“Don’t.”
She had armed men outside.
Victor smiled.
“I told you.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“You’re still the worst person in the room.”
“Not tonight.”
Josephine said, “Why move the money?”
“To finish Harbor.”
“We were already finishing it.”
“No. You exposed it.”
“What’s the difference?”
“Exposure destroys people who used Harbor to escape abusers, trafficking rings, criminal families.”
Josephine paused.
Not everyone in Harbor was criminal.
Sarah had used it.
Joseph had used it.
She had used it as a child.
Evelyn continued.
“If the entire archive becomes public, thousands of innocent people lose their new identities.”
Dante understood.
“The federal upload.”
“Yes.”
“Contains protected identities.”
“Yes.”
Joseph’s face changed.
“We need to stop release.”
Evelyn nodded.
“That is why I moved the funds. I needed infrastructure to relocate legitimate Harbor clients before the government unsealed records.”
Victor laughed.
“She makes herself sound noble.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“I’m not noble.”
She lowered the gun slightly.
“I forged deaths. I took bribes. Sometimes I told myself the money funded rescues. Sometimes I was simply scared.”
Josephine looked at Robert.
“Were you part of this?”
Robert nodded.
“Parts.”
“Did you kill my father?”
“No.”
“Did you love my mother?”
His face answered before his mouth.
“Yes.”
Josephine looked away.
“That’s why you stayed.”
“That’s why I made threats I’m ashamed of.”
“The cassette.”
“I told Michael to leave Sarah. I was angry. Jealous. Stupid.”
“But you didn’t order the crash?”
“No.”
Victor said, “Convenient.”
Robert turned toward him.
“You ordered the driver.”
Victor smiled.
Finally, clarity.
Josephine said, “Can you prove it?”
Robert nodded.
“Michael could.”
Josephine’s heart stopped.
“My father?”
Robert looked at Sarah.
“She never told you?”
Josephine’s entire body tightened.
“Tell me what?”
Robert whispered.
“Michael survived the crash for six days.”
Sarah had never mentioned it.
Josephine felt another betrayal.
“Where?”
“St. Catherine’s.”
Father Brennan hid him.
Before Michael died, he recorded a full statement naming Victor.
“That’s the evidence your mother hid,” Robert said.
“The missing metal box.”
“Yes.”
Evelyn looked toward Victor.
“And Victor took it tonight.”
All eyes turned.
Victor’s smile vanished.
Dante slammed him against the wall.
“Where is it?”
Victor laughed.
“You still think I came here voluntarily?”
Outside, explosions sounded.
Evelyn’s guards shouted.
Victor’s people attacked.
The room erupted.
Robert grabbed Josephine.
Joseph pulled her behind cover.
Dante fought toward the door.
Victor escaped through another passage.
Again.
Josephine almost admired the man’s survival instinct.
Almost.
They escaped the building.
Evelyn’s plan was now clear.
Stop federal public release.
Preserve victim identities.
Release only criminal evidence.
Joseph, Josephine, Dante, Robert, Sarah, and Evelyn reluctantly formed the strangest alliance Chicago had ever seen.
They contacted the prosecutor.
She agreed to seal victim identities if they could provide a filtered index.
They needed Michael’s recording.
Victor had it.
Where would he go?
Joseph knew.
“My father’s first house.”
Victor Hale had grown up in Cicero.
An ordinary brick bungalow.
The last place anyone would associate with an international criminal network.
They reached it before sunrise.
Inside, Victor was packing.
Dante blocked the front.
Joseph blocked the rear.
Josephine walked into the living room.
Victor looked at her.
“You’re persistent.”
“My family is exhausting.”
He smiled.
“That I understand.”
She saw the metal box.
“Give it to me.”
Victor lifted a pistol.
“You’re not going to shoot your husband’s father.”
Josephine stared.
“Why would that stop me?”
Victor laughed.
Then Joseph entered.
“Put it down.”
Victor looked at his son.
For the first time, the old man seemed tired.
“You could have inherited everything.”
“I did.”
Victor frowned.
Joseph took Josephine’s hand.
“This.”
Victor’s face hardened.
Sentiment again.
He raised the gun.
Dante fired first.
Victor dropped.
The bullet struck his shoulder.
Not fatal.
Dante walked forward.
“I promised prison.”
Federal agents arrived minutes later.
Victor Hale was arrested alive.
Josephine opened the metal box.
Inside was Michael’s recording.
Her father appeared on an old videotape.
Weak.
Injured.
He named Victor.
Explained everything.
Then looked directly at the camera.
“If Josephine ever sees this, tell her none of this was her burden.”
Josephine cried.
Michael continued.
“Tell her she was loved before any of these names, debts, or secrets existed.”
Josephine covered her mouth.
Joseph held her.
This time she let him.
The case was nearly over.
Nearly.
Then the recording reached its final minute.
Michael looked off-camera.
“Sarah, bring him in.”
A younger Robert entered carrying a baby.
Josephine.
Michael kissed her forehead.
Then said something unexpected.
“Robert, when I’m gone, tell Josephine the truth about her brother.”
Josephine pulled away from Joseph.
“Brother?”
Robert went pale.
The tape continued.
“He’s older than she is. Victor took him when he was born.”
Josephine turned toward Sarah.
Her mother began to cry.
Josephine whispered, “I have a brother?”
Sarah nodded.
“Where is he?”
Before Sarah could answer, Dante’s phone rang.
He listened.
Then slowly looked at Josephine.
“Victor escaped federal transport.”
Josephine stared.
“How?”
Dante’s face darkened.
“He didn’t do it alone.”
He turned the phone toward them.
Security footage showed the man who attacked the transport.
Josephine had never seen him before.
Sarah had.
She whispered his name.
“Daniel.”
Josephine froze.
The courier.
The man who delivered Joseph’s wedding ring.
May you like
Sarah started shaking.
“That’s your brother.”
