Chapter 4 - The Man Austin Trusted Most
“Stay down,” Austin told Jacey.
She obeyed.
Richard Vale stopped ten feet from the SUV.
Twelve years had changed him, but not enough.
The same narrow eyes.
The same deliberate smile.
Austin stepped out.
Bruno followed.
Vale lifted the phone.
“Your reunion can wait.”
“Where is Elena?”
“Safe enough.”
“Let her go.”
Vale laughed.
“You used to negotiate better.”
“I used to care whether the other person walked away.”
Vale's smile disappeared.
“Give me the box.”
Austin glanced at the SUVs.
At least eight men.
Maybe more.
He could fight.
But not with Jacey behind him.
“What do you want from it?”
“One drive.”
“Which contains?”
“Insurance.”
“Against whom?”
Vale smiled again.
“Everyone.”
Austin understood.
Elena's records didn't expose one criminal organization.
They exposed a network.
Politicians.
Police.
Shipping executives.
Federal employees.
Men who had built respectable careers while children vanished through ports they controlled.
“Why Elena?”
“She kept records she should've destroyed.”
“And why take her now?”
“Because she discovered something new.”
Vale looked toward the SUV.
“Something about the child.”
Austin's hand tightened.
Vale knew.
Maybe not everything.
But enough.
“Give me the box and Elena lives.”
Austin opened the rear door.
Jacey looked up at him.
He handed her the metal box.
“Bring it.”
Bruno stared.
“Austin.”
“Trust me.”
Jacey climbed out.
Vale watched her approach.
Austin noticed one of Vale's men move.
“Don't.”
The man stopped.
Jacey carried the box with both arms.
When she reached Austin, he took it.
Then threw it onto the pavement.
Vale's expression changed.
Austin fired.
Not at Vale.
At the box.
The bullet tore through the metal casing.
Vale shouted.
His men drew weapons.
Bruno pulled Jacey behind the SUV.
Austin kicked the damaged box open.
Paper scattered.
The flash drive was gone.
Vale stared.
Austin smiled.
“You really thought Elena would put everything in one place?”
Vale's face became murderous.
“Where is it?”
“I don't know.”
That was true.
Vale looked toward Jacey.
“She does.”
Austin stepped between them.
“Look at her again and this ends differently.”
Sirens sounded in the distance.
Vale's men looked toward the road.
Vale frowned.
Austin hadn't called police.
Neither had Bruno.
Someone else had.
Vale retreated.
“You have until midnight tomorrow.”
“For what?”
“To bring me the drive.”
“And if I don't?”
Vale held up the phone.
The camera moved closer to Elena.
She looked exhausted.
Bruised.
But alive.
Then Elena suddenly looked directly into the camera.
“Austin!”
Someone grabbed her.
“Don't trust—”
The feed cut.
Vale entered his SUV.
The vehicles disappeared.
Austin turned toward Bruno.
“Who called the police?”
“Not me.”
Jacey emerged.
“I did.”
Austin stared.
She held a tiny emergency phone.
“Mom gave me three.”
Bruno laughed despite himself.
Austin rubbed his forehead.
“You have any grenades?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“I have pepper spray.”
“Of course you do.”
They left before police arrived.
Inside the car, Austin examined the documents he'd managed to recover.
One photograph showed Senator Charles Whitmore shaking hands with Richard Vale.
Another showed Nathan Pierce beside a shipping container.
Then Austin found a photograph of Marcus.
His stomach dropped.
Marcus stood beside Elena.
The photograph was dated two months earlier.
Marcus had told Austin he hadn't seen Elena in six years.
Austin called him.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Bruno looked over.
“Problem?”
“Turn around.”
They drove back toward Boston.
Jacey slept again.
Austin stared at the DNA report.
How had Elena kept this from him?
Then he understood.
She hadn't trusted his world.
Maybe she hadn't trusted him.
The thought hurt because he couldn't say she had been wrong.
They reached the mansion before dawn.
The front gates were open.
No guards.
Austin drew his weapon.
“Stay in the car.”
He and Bruno entered.
The foyer was empty.
A chair had been overturned.
Blood marked the marble floor.
Not much.
Enough.
“Marcus!”
Silence.
They searched the first floor.
In Austin's office, the safe stood open.
Nothing inside had been stolen.
Instead, something had been added.
A photograph.
Elena.
Marcus.
Jacey as a baby.
Austin turned it over.
Elena's handwriting.
Marcus knows why I disappeared.
Austin heard footsteps.
He raised his weapon.
Marcus entered with blood on his shirt.
“Put the gun down,” Austin said.
Marcus stopped.
“You found the photograph.”
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“You saw Elena.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Marcus looked toward the doorway.
Jacey stood there.
Austin's voice hardened.
“Tell me.”
Marcus took a breath.
“Elena contacted me two months ago.”
“Why you?”
“Because she discovered the leak.”
“Who?”
“I didn't know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
Marcus reached slowly inside his jacket.
Austin aimed.
Marcus removed a folded document.
“I expect you to believe this.”
He placed it on the desk.
Austin opened it.
It was a copy of his father's death certificate.
Attached was another page.
A confidential federal informant report.
Austin read the first paragraph.
Then stopped.
His father had not been murdered by Richard Vale.
He had been killed after attempting to expose Vale's trafficking network.
And the person who had given Vale his location was someone Austin had trusted since childhood.
Austin looked at the name.
Then toward Bruno.
Because the informant named in the report was Bruno's father.
Behind them, Jacey whispered, “Mr. Austin?”
Everyone turned.
She was holding Elena's emergency phone.
It was ringing.
The caller ID showed:
MOM.
Jacey answered.
For three seconds there was silence.
May you like
Then Elena whispered one sentence.
“Jacey, run—he's standing right behind you.”
