Chapter 4 - The Night Lorenzo Vale Died
The first gunshot shattered the stairwell light.
Adrian pushed Ellie behind the concrete wall.
Marco fired downward.
Julian ducked as bullets struck the railing.
“Move!”
They ran upward.
Three floors.
Then four.
The attacking men were fast.
Adrian counted at least six.
At Thirty-Six, Marco kicked open the fire door.
They entered an unfinished executive floor.
Plastic sheets.
Bare concrete.
Construction equipment.
No civilians.
Good.
Adrian pulled Ellie behind a support column.
“Stay down.”
She nodded.
This time, she looked terrified.
Adrian hated that.
Children were supposed to fear monsters under beds.
Not men with suppressed rifles.
Julian crouched nearby.
Adrian pointed his gun at him.
“Talk.”
“Now?”
“Now.”
Bullets punched through the drywall behind them.
Marco returned fire.
Julian looked at Adrian.
“Yes. I knew Dominic.”
“How?”
“He found me after your father died.”
“Why?”
Julian hesitated.
Adrian stepped closer.
“Why?”
“Because he knew my brother.”
Adrian froze.
Julian’s older brother, Nathan Cross, had vanished when Julian was fifteen.
No body.
No explanation.
Adrian had always assumed Nathan died over gambling debts.
“Dominic knew Nathan?”
Julian nodded.
“Nathan worked for him.”
“Doing what?”
“Whatever Dominic needed.”
“Spying?”
“Sometimes.”
“For my father?”
“On your father.”
Adrian absorbed it.
“Was Nathan part of the murder?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Because Nathan tried to stop it.”
A round struck the pillar.
Concrete dust exploded.
Ellie covered her ears.
Marco shouted, “Thirty seconds before they flank us.”
Adrian said, “Keep going.”
Julian spoke quickly.
“Nathan found out Dominic was planning something against Lorenzo. He tried to warn your father.”
“When?”
“The night before the crash.”
“And?”
“Your father didn’t believe him.”
“Why not?”
“Because Dominic had convinced him Nathan was stealing.”
Adrian remembered.
Vaguely.
His father complaining about a kid who had vanished with money.
That kid had been Nathan.
“Where is he?”
Julian’s face changed.
“Dead.”
“How?”
“Dominic killed him.”
Adrian tightened his grip on the gun.
“And afterward you worked with Dominic?”
“No.”
“He said you did.”
“I met him.”
“How many times?”
“Three.”
“When?”
“After Lorenzo died.”
“Why?”
Julian looked ashamed.
“Because I wanted to kill him.”
Adrian stared.
“I was seventeen,” Julian said. “I blamed him for Nathan. I found him. He told me everything.”
“Everything?”
“He said Lorenzo ordered Nathan’s murder.”
Adrian’s expression changed.
“That’s a lie.”
“I know that now.”
“But you believed him then.”
“For a while.”
“And what did you do?”
Julian looked away.
“Nothing.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“That’s not an answer.”
“I almost helped him.”
“With what?”
Julian’s eyes lifted.
“Getting inside your father’s garage.”
The words landed harder than any bullet.
Adrian said nothing.
Julian’s voice cracked.
“I gave Dominic a schedule. That’s all.”
“The schedule that told him when my father’s car would be unattended?”
“I didn’t know what he planned.”
“You helped him.”
“I was a kid.”
“So was I.”
“I know.”
“You stood beside me at the funeral.”
“I know.”
“You watched me bury my father.”
“I know.”
“And you said nothing.”
Julian’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Adrian raised the gun.
Marco shouted, “Adrian!”
Not because of Julian.
Because two armed men rounded the far corner.
Marco fired.
One dropped.
Adrian fired twice.
The second fell.
They moved.
Across the construction floor.
Into another stairwell.
The gunmen followed.
Ellie stumbled.
Julian grabbed her before she fell.
Adrian saw it.
For one second, the instinctive tenderness complicated everything.
Then they reached Level Forty.
An access door led into a private apartment Adrian maintained for emergencies.
No one else had biometric clearance.
He pressed his palm to the scanner.
Red.
ACCESS DENIED.
Again.
Their systems had been rewritten.
Julian kicked the lock.
Nothing.
Marco pulled a small explosive strip from his belt.
Adrian looked at him.
“You carry breaching charges to work?”
Marco shrugged.
“I work for you.”
He placed it.
“Back.”
The lock blew.
They entered.
Marco barricaded the door.
The apartment still had an old landline physically isolated from the network.
Adrian checked.
Dial tone.
He called one number.
Detective Samuel Reed.
A homicide officer.
Technically an enemy.
Practically one of the few honest men Adrian knew.
Reed answered.
“Vale?”
“I need a favor.”
“I’m hanging up.”
“Claire Hart has been kidnapped.”
Silence.
“That your employee?”
“Yes.”
“A child is involved.”
Another silence.
Then Reed said, “Talk.”
Adrian gave him Pier 17.
“Don’t send uniforms. You don’t know who’s compromised.”
“Neither do you.”
“That’s why I called you.”
Reed sighed.
“I’ll check it.”
“Call this number.”
Adrian gave him the landline.
Reed said, “Vale.”
“What?”
“If this is one of your wars—”
“It isn’t.”
Adrian looked at Ellie.
“Not anymore.”
He hung up.
Julian sat against the wall.
His face was drained.
Adrian stood over him.
“Finish the story.”
“I already did.”
“No.”
Adrian crouched.
“Dominic said ask who cut the brakes.”
Julian shook his head.
“I didn’t.”
“Then who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Wrong answer.”
“I swear.”
“You gave him the schedule.”
“Yes.”
“Did you give him access?”
“No.”
“Keys?”
“No.”
“Garage codes?”
“No.”
“Then how did he get in?”
Julian hesitated.
There it was.
Another secret.
Adrian saw it immediately.
“Who helped him?”
Julian whispered, “Marco.”
Marco turned from the barricaded door.
The room went silent.
Adrian stood.
Marco’s expression was unreadable.
“That true?”
Marco did not answer.
Adrian raised his gun.
“Marco.”
“Yes.”
Ellie stared at him.
Julian whispered, “I knew it.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“You gave Dominic access to my father’s garage.”
Marco nodded once.
“Why?”
“Because Lorenzo ordered me to.”
Adrian blinked.
“What?”
“Your father was meeting Dominic secretly.”
“Why?”
“I never knew.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
Marco walked slowly toward the window.
“He told me to issue Dominic temporary access. He said it was business. I did what I was told.”
“And the next morning my father died.”
“Yes.”
“You never told me.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I blamed myself.”
Adrian laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“How many men in this family built their loyalty out of silence?”
No one answered.
Ellie spoke softly.
“My mom says secrets get mean when you keep feeding them.”
Three grown men looked at her.
Adrian almost asked what that meant.
Then the phone rang.
Everyone froze.
Adrian picked it up.
“Reed.”
“No.”
A woman.
Weak.
Claire.
“Adrian?”
Ellie ran toward the phone.
“Mom!”
Adrian held up one hand.
“Claire, where are you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Can you see anything?”
“Metal walls. Water nearby.”
Pier.
“Are you alone?”
“No.”
“Who’s with you?”
Claire began crying.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“I should have told you sooner.”
“Told me what?”
“My husband didn’t work for Dominic.”
Adrian looked at Marco.
Then Julian.
“Who did Thomas work for?”
Claire whispered, “Your father.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“What did he do?”
“He kept the real books.”
“The real books for what?”
“Lorenzo’s escape plan.”
Adrian frowned.
“What escape plan?”
“He was trying to dismantle everything.”
The statement made no sense.
Lorenzo Vale had been ruthless.
Greedy.
Proud of what he built.
Claire continued.
“Your father found out Dominic was trafficking weapons through Vale companies. He wanted out. Thomas helped him collect proof.”
Adrian could barely process it.
“Why didn’t Thomas come forward?”
“He tried. Dominic found him.”
“And killed him.”
“Yes.”
“Four years ago.”
“Yes.”
“Why wait eleven years?”
“Thomas hid.”
The phone crackled.
Claire breathed quickly.
“Adrian, listen. Dominic didn’t kill Lorenzo because of money.”
“Why?”
“Because your father discovered who Dominic really worked for.”
The connection weakened.
“Claire.”
Static.
“Who?”
“I found the file.”
“What file?”
“417.”
Adrian gripped the receiver.
“What does 417 mean?”
Claire began to answer.
A loud crash sounded on her end.
She screamed.
Ellie cried, “Mom!”
Then another voice came on the line.
Dominic.
“You’ve always been impatient, Adrian.”
“Let her go.”
“I will.”
“When?”
“When you bring me what your father stole.”
“I don’t know what that is.”
“Yes, you do.”
The call ended.
Ellie started crying.
Adrian stood motionless.
Then Marco said, “What could Lorenzo have stolen?”
Julian looked toward the bracelet.
The hidden paper.
The numbers.
“The records.”
Adrian shook his head.
“No. Dominic already has access to the records.”
He looked at the photograph in his pocket.
The old image.
Two teenage boys.
Brothers don’t betray brothers.
Then he remembered something.
The photograph had once belonged to his father.
Lorenzo took it the night Adrian brought Julian home.
On the back, there had originally been nothing.
Julian added the message later.
Adrian pulled the photo out again.
He held it near the lamp.
Something looked wrong.
The paper was thicker than it should be.
He tore gently along the edge.
Julian stared.
Inside the photograph was a second layer.
A tiny strip of microfilm.
Marco whispered, “Lorenzo.”
Adrian held it up to the light.
Numbers.
Names.
Government seals.
And at the bottom, one handwritten line:
IF I DIE, TRUST THE CHILD OF THOMAS HART.
Adrian looked at Ellie.
Before anyone could speak, the apartment door handle began turning.
Slowly.
May you like
The barricade had not moved.
Someone was already inside.
