Chapter 12 - The Harbor List
Bruno did not reach for his gun.
He looked tired.
“That isn't the whole recording.”
Austin's voice was almost inaudible.
“Then play the rest.”
Jacey pressed the button.
His father's voice continued.
“If Bruno Santoro is standing beside Austin when this plays, trust him. His name is the key, not the answer.”
Austin slowly lowered his weapon.
Bruno exhaled.
“I would really appreciate everyone finishing recordings before pointing guns at me.”
Even Elena laughed once from sheer nerves.
The message explained that Bruno's father had created an encrypted index called the Harbor List.
The true leader's identity was hidden behind a series of transactions under the Santoro name.
Bruno knew nothing about it.
But he knew where his father had stored his personal records.
A family church in South Boston.
They found the ledger inside a sealed compartment beneath a memorial plaque.
Daniel's location meant they had no time for careful analysis.
Judge Bell worked while Austin prepared to go to Vermont.
At 11:39 she called.
“I found the name.”
Austin stopped.
“Who?”
“Jonathan Reed.”
Elena went white.
“My father?”
Austin stared at her.
Elena's father had supposedly died when she was sixteen.
Bell continued.
“He financed Catherine.”
Elena sat down.
“No.”
“I'm sorry.”
The pattern suddenly became clear.
Elena hadn't stumbled into Bullard's accounts by accident.
She had been born into the family that financed them.
Her escape had threatened her own father.
Austin took her hand.
“You didn't know.”
“How can you know that?”
“Because if you did, you would've burned him down yourself.”
She looked at him.
That was the first thing that made her breathe again.
They reached Vermont minutes before midnight.
The yellow house was dark.
Austin entered with Elena and Bruno.
Jacey remained with Judge Bell.
This time, there would be no argument.
Daniel was tied in the kitchen.
Alive.
Austin cut him loose.
“Where's Catherine?”
Daniel coughed.
“Upstairs.”
They heard footsteps.
Catherine appeared.
Alone.
“You found Jonathan.”
Elena stepped forward.
“My father is alive?”
Catherine smiled.
“He always was.”
“Where?”
“Closer than you think.”
A door opened behind them.
An elderly man entered.
Elena froze.
“Dad?”
Jonathan Reed looked at his daughter without warmth.
“You should've stayed hidden.”
Austin moved in front of her.
Jonathan laughed.
“You.”
Austin's hands curled.
“You took her.”
“I protected my interests.”
“You trafficked children.”
“I moved assets.”
Elena recoiled.
Austin had heard cruel men rationalize evil before.
The language was always clean.
The acts never were.
Jonathan looked at Catherine.
“Give me the girl.”
“She isn't here,” Catherine said.
Jonathan's expression changed.
“You failed.”
Catherine smiled.
“No. I finally stopped obeying you.”
She raised a gun.
Not at Austin.
At Jonathan.
Austin moved.
The gun fired.
Jonathan fell.
Not dead.
Shot through the shoulder.
Catherine stared at Austin.
“Why did you save him?”
“I didn't.”
Austin kicked the gun away.
“I saved you from becoming the last thing he made you.”
Police sirens approached.
Judge Bell had coordinated the raid.
Jonathan looked at Elena.
“You think this ends with me?”
Elena stood over him.
“No.”
She held up her phone.
“But your confession helps.”
She had recorded everything.
Jonathan's face finally showed fear.
Agents entered.
Catherine didn't resist.
Neither did Jonathan.
Austin found himself standing in the yellow kitchen afterward.
The same room where he'd once heated bottles at three in the morning.
Daniel leaned against the counter.
“So that's it?”
Austin looked toward the window.
“No.”
His phone vibrated.
A message from Judge Bell.
They had decrypted the Harbor List.
Most of the network was exposed.
But one active account remained.
One person inside Austin's own mansion had transferred money to Jonathan Reed less than twenty-four hours earlier.
Austin opened the account record.
The name was hidden.
Only an employee identification number appeared.
He knew that number.
It belonged to someone who had been caring for Jacey since the night she arrived.
Austin looked at Elena.
“Call the mansion.”
“Why?”
“Now.”
She called Rosa.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then Jacey's emergency phone connected automatically.
A child's frightened breathing came through.
“Dad?”
Austin gripped the phone.
“Jacey?”
A door creaked through the speaker.
May you like
Then Rosa's voice whispered from somewhere beside her.
“Sweetheart, don't scream.”
