Chapter 2 - The Dead Man's Code
Luca crossed the room in four silent strides.
"Stay behind me."
Vincent ignored him.
Elena didn't.
She remained beside the bed while Luca approached the narrow paneled section beside the bookcase.
The penthouse was filled with hidden security features Elena hadn't noticed when she entered. Doors blended into walls. Cameras sat behind decorative trim. Even the windows appeared capable of turning opaque at the touch of a button.
Luca pressed his palm against a concealed panel.
Nothing happened.
"The system's offline."
The knocking stopped.
Vincent's gun remained pointed at the wall.
"Open it."
"We don't know who's there."
"Open it."
Luca glanced at Elena.
"Can he stand?"
"No."
Vincent swung his legs off the bed.
Elena pushed him back.
"Apparently he also can't listen."
Vincent stared at her hand against his shoulder.
For one terrible second Elena remembered what Dr. Klein had told her.
Do not grab him.
Do not surprise him.
Do not corner him.
Then Vincent simply said, "You really don't scare easily."
"I scare normally. I just work anyway."
Another faint noise came from the corridor.
Luca inserted a key into a hidden mechanism.
The panel opened three inches.
He aimed his gun through the gap.
"Identify yourself."
No answer.
Luca opened it wider.
A man collapsed into the room.
Elena moved before anyone stopped her.
"Wait," Luca warned.
She dropped to her knees.
The stranger was young, perhaps twenty-five, wearing maintenance overalls soaked in blood.
A wound cut across his scalp.
His breathing was shallow.
"He's alive."
Vincent stared at the man.
"Do you know him?" Elena asked.
"No."
She checked his pockets.
No wallet.
No phone.
Nothing except a folded piece of paper.
Luca took it.
"What does it say?"
Luca unfolded the paper.
His expression hardened.
"It's for you."
Vincent held out his hand.
The note contained a single sentence.
ASK THE NURSE ABOUT ROSEMONT.
Elena read it twice.
Vincent looked at her.
"What is Rosemont?"
"A suburb."
"I know what Rosemont is."
"Then why ask me?"
"Because someone thinks you know."
Elena searched her memory.
Rosemont.
Airport hotels.
Convention center.
Nothing.
Then a childhood image surfaced.
Her mother driving past a red-brick medical building.
A sign.
Rosemont Rehabilitation Institute.
"My mother worked there."
Vincent's expression sharpened.
"When?"
"When I was a teenager."
"What was her name?"
"Teresa Rossi."
Luca stopped moving.
Vincent noticed.
"You know the name."
Luca looked uncomfortable.
"Maybe."
"That's not an answer."
"Teresa Rossi worked as a night nurse at a private recovery facility after your kidnapping."
Vincent's face emptied.
Elena slowly stood.
"No."
Luca looked at her.
"I'm sorry."
"My mother never worked with criminals."
Vincent's voice turned cold.
"Neither did most people who were forced to work for my father."
Elena stared at him.
"You think my mother treated you?"
"I don't remember nurses."
"How convenient."
"I was drugged for weeks."
The words silenced her anger.
Vincent looked away.
Something in his expression changed.
Not weakness.
Memory.
Elena had seen trauma victims avoid certain images. They often stared at walls when the past became too vivid.
"What happened eleven years ago?" she asked.
Luca answered instead.
"Vincent and his brother were taken."
Vincent shot him a warning glance.
Luca continued anyway.
"Anthony was twenty-nine. Vincent was thirty-one."
"What did the kidnappers want?"
"Control."
Vincent's jaw tightened.
"They wanted my father to surrender territory."
"Did he?"
"No."
Elena understood before Luca spoke again.
"Anthony died during the rescue."
"And Vincent?"
Luca's voice became quieter.
"Survived."
Vincent looked toward Elena.
"That's enough."
But Elena finally understood the touching.
It wasn't arrogance.
It wasn't intimidation.
It was a body remembering captivity.
"Did they restrain you?"
Vincent's eyes hardened.
She knew she'd gone too far.
"Forget I asked."
He looked at her for several seconds.
Then said, "Yes."
Elena nodded.
Nothing more.
No pity.
She returned to the injured maintenance worker.
His eyelids fluttered.
"Can you hear me?"
He groaned.
"What's your name?"
"Daniel."
"Daniel, who hurt you?"
His eyes opened.
He looked directly at Vincent.
"They're inside."
Luca crouched.
"Who's inside?"
"Mercer security."
Vincent exchanged a look with Luca.
"How many?"
Daniel shook his head.
"I don't know."
He struggled for air.
Elena checked his wound.
"Stay still."
Daniel suddenly grabbed her sleeve.
"Your mother knew."
Elena froze.
"Knew what?"
"Anthony."
Vincent stepped forward despite the pain.
"What about Anthony?"
Daniel's eyes rolled toward him.
"He didn't die there."
Silence.
Vincent's gun lowered.
"What did you say?"
Daniel coughed.
Blood touched his lips.
Elena leaned closer.
"Don't talk."
Vincent ignored her.
"Where is my brother?"
Daniel's eyes closed.
Luca shook him.
"Daniel."
Elena pushed Luca away.
"Stop."
"We need the answer."
"You'll kill him."
Vincent stared down at the unconscious man.
Eleven years.
Eleven years believing Anthony was dead.
Elena watched something crack behind his eyes.
Then Vincent swayed.
She caught him instinctively.
His arm came around her shoulders.
For a moment, neither of them seemed to realize what had happened.
Vincent was leaning against her.
Touching her.
Allowing her to support him.
Luca noticed.
His expression registered shock.
Vincent pulled away.
But not quickly.
Elena helped him back onto the bed.
"You need surgery now."
Vincent spoke without looking at her.
"Not until he wakes up."
"You'll be dead before he does."
"I've waited eleven years."
"Your brother won't matter if you're in a coffin."
Vincent finally looked at her.
"You don't understand."
"My mother might be involved. I understand enough."
That landed.
He studied her face.
"You believe him?"
"I believe someone used your dead brother's code to bring me here."
Vincent looked toward Daniel.
"And the clamp?"
"Probably another message."
"Or a threat."
Elena nodded.
"Or both."
Luca's phone suddenly recovered signal.
Messages flooded the screen.
He answered one.
"What?"
His face changed.
"Lock it down."
He ended the call.
Vincent looked at him.
"The blood delivery never arrived."
"Why?"
"Ambushed."
Elena's chest tightened.
"What about the driver?"
"Dead."
Vincent's jaw hardened.
"This isn't an assassination."
"No," Luca said. "Someone wants you alive long enough to hear something."
Elena looked at Daniel.
"Then they wanted him to reach us."
Vincent's eyes moved toward the unconscious messenger.
"Which means the shooter missed on purpose."
Luca nodded.
A quiet alarm sounded.
Not the general security alarm.
Something softer.
A single electronic chime.
Luca checked the wall panel.
"Private elevator."
Vincent's face darkened.
"Who authorized it?"
"No one."
The elevator indicator outside the room began climbing.
Floor 41.
Luca raised his weapon.
Elena pulled the emergency cart closer.
Vincent checked his pistol.
The penthouse occupied floor 46.
Elena looked toward Daniel.
Then toward Vincent.
The elevator stopped.
A bell chimed.
The doors opened somewhere beyond the hall.
No footsteps followed.
Instead, a woman's voice came through the penthouse intercom.
"Vincent?"
He froze.
Elena stared at him.
Vincent's pistol slowly dropped.
He knew that voice.
"That's impossible," he whispered.
The speaker crackled again.
"Vincent, don't shoot."
A pause.
May you like
Then the woman said the name no one had spoken in eleven years.
"Anthony sent me."
