Chapter 12 - Forty Million Reasons to Kill
“Move away from him,” Elena said.
Beatrice didn't.
Bastion stepped between them.
“Put it down.”
Elena's hand shook.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
“Beatrice has the key.”
Beatrice frowned.
“What key?”
“The forty million was never the real account.”
Of course it wasn't.
Nothing in this nightmare was ever the real thing.
Elena explained.
Alexander had accumulated evidence against Meridian in an encrypted archive.
Names of officials.
Bankers.
Executives.
Killers.
The archive could destroy the organization permanently.
Access required two components.
Alexander's signet ring.
And a mathematical key hidden inside the forensic trail.
Beatrice had unknowingly reconstructed it while tracing the twenty-three companies.
Voss needed her alive until she completed it.
Then he needed her dead.
“Why point a gun at her?” Bastion asked.
“Because Marcus is listening.”
Elena tilted the weapon slightly.
A microphone was attached beneath the desk.
She had been pretending.
Bastion destroyed it.
Elena lowered the gun.
Beatrice exhaled.
“I'd appreciate fewer guns in future explanations.”
A slow clap came from the doorway.
Marcus.
He held a pistol against Evelyn.
“Touching.”
Bastion went still.
Marcus demanded the key.
Beatrice lied.
“I don't have it.”
Marcus shot the wall beside her.
“Try again.”
She looked at the twenty-three numbers in her notebook.
Then understood.
The key wasn't a code.
It was the order.
The coordinates mapped onto dates.
Dates mapped onto company registrations.
Registration numbers produced a phrase.
She wrote it down.
Marcus snatched the paper.
He released Evelyn.
Then smiled.
“Thank you.”
He left.
Bastion looked at Beatrice.
“You gave it to him?”
“No.”
“What did you give him?”
“A bomb.”
Not literally.
A forensic trap.
The false key would open a decoy archive and permanently log the device accessing it.
Marcus would lead them directly to Voss.
Thirty minutes later, the signal appeared.
A private estate outside the city.
They followed.
Federal agents moved with them.
Voss was there.
So was Marcus.
The decoy had worked.
But Voss discovered it before authorities entered.
He shot Marcus.
Then fled underground.
Bastion pursued him.
Beatrice followed despite everyone shouting otherwise.
The tunnel ended at a private dock.
Voss waited beside a boat.
“You could have inherited everything,” he told Bastion.
“I already have everything I need.”
Voss looked at Beatrice.
Understanding appeared.
He raised his gun.
Bastion moved.
A shot exploded.
Beatrice fell.
Bastion screamed her name.
For one terrifying second, she couldn't breathe.
Then she realized the bullet had struck the concrete beside her.
Voss ran.
Bastion helped her up.
“You're okay?”
“Yes.”
His hands shook.
That frightened her more than the gunfire.
They continued.
At the dock, Voss's boat was gone.
But a phone remained.
One message glowed on-screen.
YOU STILL DON'T KNOW WHO KILLED ALEXANDER.
Below it was an audio file.
Bastion pressed play.
Alexander's voice filled the darkness.
“If I die, Gabriel Voss isn't the person responsible.”
Bastion and Beatrice looked at each other.
The recording continued.
May you like
“The person who kills me will be someone I trusted enough to call family.”
Then a name began to play.
