Chapter 4 - The Rule Gunther Broke
A flash drive.
Victor placed it on the table.
“No weapon,” he said.
Gunther's security men relaxed slightly.
Kayla did not.
“What is that?”
“Insurance.”
Victor looked at Gunther.
“Anthony gave it to me three years ago.”
“You told me he was dead.”
“I believed he was.”
“Why didn't I know about this?”
“Because your father ordered me not to tell you.”
The room went silent.
Gunther's father had been dead for two years.
Victor inserted the drive into a secure laptop.
Files appeared.
Payments.
Vehicle registrations.
Photographs.
One folder carried Samuel Hughes's name.
Kayla covered her mouth.
The records showed that Sam had witnessed a meeting between Anthony and Gunther's father shortly before Anthony vanished.
Sam hadn't understood what he saw.
But someone had feared he had.
The crash had been designed to silence him.
“Your father?” Kayla whispered.
Gunther's face was unreadable.
“I didn't know.”
She looked at him.
For once, she believed him without question.
The files also revealed something else.
Someone had continued making payments after Gunther's father died.
Someone inside the organization had inherited the cleanup operation.
Victor denied involvement.
Gunther wanted proof.
Kayla wanted her brother.
Anthony called again.
This time he gave them an address.
An abandoned Woods shipping warehouse.
“Come alone,” Anthony said.
Gunther laughed quietly.
“No.”
“Then Sam stays with me.”
Kayla grabbed the phone.
“I'll come.”
Gunther turned sharply.
Anthony went silent.
“Kayla?”
“Yes.”
“Come with Gunther.”
Gunther took the phone.
“Why her?”
“Because she has something you need.”
“What?”
Anthony disconnected.
Gunther refused to take Kayla.
Kayla refused to stay.
Their argument lasted four minutes.
She won.
It was the first argument Gunther Woods had lost in years.
At the warehouse, Sam was waiting.
Alive.
Kayla ran to him.
She dropped to her knees beside his wheelchair and wrapped her arms around him.
Gunther watched.
Something inside him shifted.
Anthony stepped from the shadows.
Older.
Thinner.
Alive.
“You came.”
Gunther's hand remained near his weapon.
“Talk.”
Anthony looked at Kayla.
“Your mother worked for Gunther's father.”
Kayla froze.
“My mother died when I was nine.”
“I know.”
“You knew her?”
Anthony nodded.
“She kept records.”
“What records?”
“The ones that could destroy the person who tried to kill your brother.”
Kayla shook her head.
“My mother was a bookkeeper.”
Anthony smiled sadly.
“Exactly.”
He handed Kayla a small brass key.
She stared at it.
“What does this open?”
Anthony looked toward Gunther.
“Something hidden inside the Woods estate.”
Gunther's phone suddenly vibrated.
Security alert.
MASTER SUITE: MOTION DETECTED.
He opened the camera feed.
Someone was inside his bedroom.
Someone was standing beside the bed where Kayla had slept.
Then the figure turned toward the camera.
Gunther recognized the face.
May you like
It belonged to Mrs. Gable.
And she was holding a can of gasoline.
