Chapter 5 - The Man Behind the Glass
Dominic saw it first.
He slammed Adrian sideways.
The shot struck the steel doorframe.
Cole fired.
The shooter dropped.
I pulled Lily under a loading platform.
The blond woman ran.
Daniel, bleeding from the shoulder, tried to follow.
I grabbed him.
“Stop.”
“She’ll get away.”
“You’ll die.”
He looked at Lily.
Then stayed.
The shooter on the floor wore black tactical clothing.
Dominic rolled him over.
Everyone went silent.
Harold Vance.
The hospital administrator.
Cole stared.
“Your administrator.”
Adrian looked at the body.
“Not the man she meant.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Vance never entered my room before tonight.”
Dominic understood.
“Doctors.”
Adrian nodded.
“Nurses.”
Cole looked toward the blond woman’s escape route.
“We take her alive.”
They found her ten minutes later near the freight tracks.
She had been shot in the leg.
Her real name was Evelyn Cross.
Former military medic.
Former private contractor.
Current ghost.
She did not talk.
Not at first.
Then Cole showed her the fake card.
“You killed people for nothing.”
Evelyn smiled.
“We didn’t.”
Adrian stood behind the glass of the interrogation room.
We had moved to an off-site safe location owned by Cole’s federal contact.
Lily slept in a small office nearby.
Daniel was in surgery.
“Why poison me?” Adrian asked.
Evelyn looked at him.
“To remove you.”
“For whom?”
“You know.”
“No.”
“That’s the funny part.”
Adrian did not react.
“You were so busy watching enemies that you never looked at family.”
Dominic went still.
Adrian’s expression changed almost invisibly.
“Which family?”
Evelyn smiled.
“Ask your brother.”
Silence.
I looked at Adrian.
“You have a brother?”
He did not answer.
Dominic did.
“Julian.”
“Where is he?”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“Europe.”
Evelyn laughed.
“No.”
That single word landed harder than a gunshot.
Cole placed photographs on the table.
“Julian Vale returned to New York six weeks ago.”
Adrian stared at them.
“How did you get these?”
“Federal surveillance.”
“You knew?”
Cole shook her head.
“Not until tonight.”
Julian Vale.
Adrian’s younger brother.
The man who had supposedly left the family business ten years earlier.
The man who publicly ran hotels in Milan and Monaco.
The man Adrian had once protected.
According to Dominic, Julian hated violence.
Hated their father.
Hated everything the Vale name represented.
Which made him either the least likely suspect.
Or the perfect one.
Evelyn leaned forward.
“Julian found something better than fear.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“What?”
“Respectability.”
She laughed softly.
“He discovered politicians hate criminals but love investors.”
Cole said, “Why kill Adrian?”
“Because Adrian knows where the bodies are.”
Adrian did not blink.
“And you?”
“I get paid.”
“By Julian?”
She smiled.
“You want it too easy.”
Cole leaned forward.
“We have attempted murder, kidnapping, assault on a child—”
“I didn’t hurt the girl.”
“You kidnapped her.”
“She was leverage.”
My body went cold.
I stepped into the room.
Cole tried to stop me.
“No.”
I looked directly at Evelyn.
“She is three years old.”
Evelyn shrugged.
“You should choose better people to clean for.”
I slapped her.
Hard.
Cole closed her eyes.
Dominic almost smiled.
Evelyn turned back slowly.
“That felt good?”
“Yes.”
“Enjoy it.”
“Why?”
“Because you still think this ends with me.”
Cole pulled me back.
Evelyn looked at Adrian.
“Your brother knew about the card.”
“How?”
“Ask who stitched the rabbit.”
I froze.
I had sewn Bun-Bun’s ear.
But someone had restitched it.
Who had access?
Lily carried the rabbit almost everywhere.
Except daycare.
The hospital employee lounge.
Our apartment.
Daniel.
My stomach turned.
Daniel.
But Daniel had not known about the card.
Had he?
I went to the recovery room.
Daniel was conscious.
Barely.
“Elena.”
“Who repaired Bun-Bun?”
He frowned.
“What?”
“The rabbit’s ear.”
“You did.”
“Someone sewed it again.”
He stared at me.
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
Then his expression changed.
“What?”
“The birthday.”
“What birthday?”
“Lily’s.”
My heart pounded.
“You weren’t there.”
“No.”
“But I sent a gift.”
I remembered.
A package had arrived.
No return address.
A little pink coat.
A wooden puzzle.
I had thrown away the note.
“You sent that?”
“Yes.”
“Anything else?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“A repair kit.”
“What?”
“Small sewing kit. I remembered Bun-Bun was torn.”
My skin prickled.
“I never got one.”
Daniel opened his eyes.
“I put it in the package.”
“Who mailed it?”
His face went white.
“A man from work.”
“What man?”
“He said he was helping me stay hidden.”
“Name.”
Daniel whispered, “Julian.”
I stepped back.
“You knew him?”
“Not as Vale.”
“What name?”
“Jules Bennett.”
Of course.
An ordinary name.
A safe name.
Daniel continued.
“He said he could erase my debts.”
“For what?”
“Information.”
“About Adrian?”
“At first, shipping.”
“Then me.”
Daniel looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
“And Lily.”
His eyes filled.
“Yes.”
I wanted to hate him.
But fear was bigger.
“Julian had access to the package.”
“Yes.”
“He could have put something in Bun-Bun.”
Daniel stared at me.
“The card?”
“No.”
“The tracking device.”
We cut Bun-Bun open again.
Deep inside the stuffing, hidden beneath the plastic eyes, Dominic found a transmitter.
Tiny.
Active.
Blinking.
We had carried it from the hospital.
To the apartment.
To the docks.
To the safe house.
Dominic swore.
“Kill every light.”
May you like
Too late.
The windows exploded inward.
