Chapter 5 - The Ride That Never Reached Connecticut
I called Daniel instead.
“Track the SUV.”
“Already on it.”
“Do not contact anyone inside.”
“Why?”
“Driver’s compromised.”
Silence.
Then:
“Understood.”
Marcus was already moving toward another vehicle.
“I’m driving.”
“No convoy.”
“Agreed.”
“Two cars. Separate routes.”
Within ninety seconds, we were outside the gate.
Daniel fed coordinates through an encrypted channel.
“Vehicle is heading south.”
“That’s wrong,” Marcus said.
Connecticut was northeast.
“Where?”
Daniel answered.
“West Side Highway.”
I looked at the map.
“They’re taking them toward the river.”
We cut through traffic.
Every red light felt personal.
I kept seeing Lily’s drawing on the dining table.
Two chairs.
A child should not understand leverage.
A child should not be involved in my war.
Yet someone had decided she was useful.
That person had made a fatal calculation.
The SUV stopped inside an underground parking facility near Pier 76.
We arrived three minutes later.
No visible guards.
No pedestrians.
Marcus parked half a block away.
Daniel’s second car entered from the north.
I pulled my weapon.
“Julian.”
“What?”
“Alive if possible.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
I looked at him.
“Drive.”
The garage was dim.
We found the SUV on level three.
Doors closed.
Engine running.
No driver.
Marcus approached from the rear.
I took the passenger side.
He counted with his fingers.
Three.
Two.
One.
We opened the doors.
Empty.
Lily’s stuffed rabbit lay on the seat.
My pulse hammered once.
A phone began ringing inside the cup holder.
I answered.
Adrian.
“Hello, Julian.”
“Where are they?”
“Direct as ever.”
“Where?”
“I assume you saw the files.”
“Enough.”
“I told Victor we should have killed the maid months ago.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“But he said you’d notice.”
“He was right.”
“You always did like employees who looked helpless.”
“Put Elena on.”
“No.”
“Put Lily on.”
A pause.
Then Lily’s voice.
“Mister Julian?”
Everything inside me went still.
“I’m here.”
“Are we still having dinner?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
A muffled sound.
Elena shouting.
Then Adrian returned.
“You have something I want.”
“The card?”
“The copies.”
“How many do you think I made?”
“Enough to be irritating.”
“What do you want?”
“All of them. And you.”
Marcus shook his head.
I ignored him.
“Where?”
“You found Richard’s photograph.”
That confirmed it.
“You’ve been inside my father’s study.”
“We’ve been inside many places you assumed were yours.”
“Brooklyn?”
“Eleven thirty.”
“You take me. You release them first.”
Adrian laughed.
“No.”
“You know what happens if the girl is harmed.”
“I know exactly what happens. That’s why she’s useful.”
The call ended.
Marcus swore.
Daniel arrived.
“We need options.”
“We go to Brooklyn.”
“That’s not an option. That’s surrender.”
“No. It’s bait.”
At 11:15 p.m., I entered the warehouse alone.
At least, I looked alone.
Marcus had six men outside.
Daniel controlled surveillance from a nearby building.
A federal contact owed me enough favors to keep local patrols away for thirty minutes.
The warehouse was almost empty.
One table.
Three chairs.
A hanging light.
Elena sat in one chair.
Her wrists were tied.
Lily sat on her lap.
Adrian stood behind them.
Victor stood near the wall.
And Charles Mercer sat at the table.
CROWN-7.
He was sixty-two.
Silver hair.
Tailored navy suit.
Gold watch.
He looked exactly like the photographs newspapers printed beside headlines about hospital donations and scholarship programs.
“Julian,” Mercer said.
“Charles.”
“I’m sorry about the theatricality.”
“I’m not.”
He smiled.
“You look like Richard when you’re angry.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
“Your father was extraordinary.”
“My father was a bastard.”
“He would have agreed.”
I looked at Elena.
She shook her head slightly.
Alive.
Lily stared at me.
No visible injuries.
Good.
Mercer folded his hands.
“Do you have the drives?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere that ensures your reputation dies before I do.”
He smiled again.
“You learned.”
“From people who underestimated me.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“Enough.”
Mercer raised one finger.
Adrian stopped.
That told me everything about the hierarchy.
“You killed Sophia,” I said.
Mercer’s smile disappeared.
“I authorized a problem to be solved.”
“She was twenty-five.”
“She accessed records she didn’t understand.”
“She understood enough.”
“She was like you. Curious at inconvenient times.”
I took one step closer.
Victor raised his gun.
Lily flinched.
I stopped.
Mercer continued.
“Your father built the Meridian network with me.”
“He hated you.”
“Publicly.”
Of course.
Enemies attract less scrutiny than partners.
“He wanted out,” Mercer said. “Near the end.”
“So you killed him too?”
Adrian looked at Mercer.
Interesting.
Mercer leaned back.
“No.”
I believed him.
Not because he was honest.
Because Adrian had reacted.
I looked at Adrian.
“You?”
He stared at me.
Mercer turned slowly.
“Adrian?”
There it was.
A fracture.
Small.
Useful.
Adrian’s expression changed.
Victor raised his gun toward Mercer.
Now everything made sense.
Adrian had not simply served Crown-7.
He planned to replace him.
Mercer stood.
“You idiot.”
Adrian smiled.
“Old men always think loyalty lasts longer than fear.”
Victor pointed his weapon at Mercer’s chest.
I looked at Elena.
She understood something was happening.
Marcus’s voice whispered through the hidden receiver in my ear.
“On your signal.”
Adrian looked at me.
“Your father died because he was going to expose Meridian. Sophia found proof two years later. Mercer ordered her death. I handled it.”
Mercer’s face hardened.
“You talk too much.”
“You’re finished, Charles.”
Adrian looked back at me.
“And so are you.”
He raised his weapon.
I gave Marcus the signal.
The warehouse lights exploded.
Darkness.
Gunfire.
Elena screamed.
I dropped.
Two shots crossed above me.
Emergency lights flickered on.
Victor was down.
Mercer had disappeared behind the table.
Adrian ran toward a side exit.
Daniel’s men entered.
I reached Elena.
“Lily!”
“She’s here.”
I cut the restraints.
Lily grabbed my neck.
I lifted her.
Elena clutched my arm.
“Julian.”
“What?”
She pointed.
Mercer was standing ten feet away.
Gun in hand.
Not aimed at me.
Aimed at Adrian.
Adrian stopped at the exit.
Mercer fired.
Adrian fell.
Before Mercer could fire again, Marcus tackled him.
Daniel kicked away the weapon.
It was over in six seconds.
Except Adrian was still alive.
I crossed the floor.
Blood spread beneath him.
He looked at me and laughed weakly.
“You still don’t know.”
“Know what?”
“Your father.”
“What about him?”
“He left one more ledger.”
“Where?”
Adrian coughed.
Mercer shouted, “Don’t.”
Adrian smiled.
“The family chapel.”
Then his head fell back.
Alive.
Barely.
Paramedics would get their chance.
I turned toward Mercer.
He had gone pale.
“What’s in the chapel?”
He said nothing.
I looked at Marcus.
“Take him.”
Elena stepped beside me.
Lily was still in my arms.
She touched my cheek.
“You look mad.”
“I am.”
“Don’t be mad.”
I looked at her.
“I’ll work on it.”
She rested her head against my shoulder.
At 2:00 a.m., Mercer was secured.
Adrian was in surgery under guard.
Victor was dead.
Elena and Lily were finally safe.
I should have stopped.
I should have slept.
Instead, Marcus and I drove to the private family chapel my father built on an estate outside the city.
We entered at 3:40.
No priest.
No staff.
Only old wood and stone.
Behind the altar was a locked cabinet.
Inside we found a ledger.
And a letter addressed to me.
I opened the first page.
My father’s handwriting filled it.
JULIAN,
IF SOPHIA IS DEAD WHEN YOU READ THIS, THEN I FAILED BOTH OF YOU.
I sat down.
Marcus remained silent.
The next line was worse.
THE MAN WHO ORDERED HER DEATH WILL NOT BE THE PERSON YOU EXPECT.
I looked at Marcus.
Mercer had admitted authorizing it.
So what did my father mean?
I turned the page.
A photograph slipped out.
Sophia.
Adrian.
Mercer.
And one more person.
A woman.
May you like
Someone I had believed dead for twenty-three years.
My mother.
