Chapter 3 - The Maid on the List
Sadi stared at the photograph until the hallway seemed to tilt beneath her.
“That isn’t possible.”
Roman took the photograph from Gabriel.
“It’s possible.”
“No. I mean…”
Her breathing shortened.
“That picture was taken outside my building.”
Gabriel’s head snapped toward her.
“You’re sure?”
“That awning.”
She pointed to the background.
“That’s the grocery store next door.”
Roman pulled out his phone.
“Address.”
Sadi told him.
Within thirty seconds, four armed men were moving toward the mansion entrance.
Sadi looked at Gabriel.
“What are they doing?”
“Checking your apartment.”
“My cousin is there.”
Gabriel’s expression changed.
“Who?”
“My cousin Mateo.”
“How old?”
“Nineteen.”
Gabriel looked at Roman.
Roman was already calling.
Sadi grabbed her phone.
Mateo did not answer.
She called again.
Nothing.
Again.
Voicemail.
She started toward the stairs.
Gabriel caught her wrist with his good hand.
“Don’t.”
“My cousin—”
“If someone followed you, walking out the front door helps them.”
“I can’t sit here.”
“You can if it keeps you alive.”
“That’s easy for you to say.”
Gabriel’s eyes hardened.
“You think I don’t know what it feels like to wait while someone you love might be in danger?”
Something in his voice stopped her.
Not threat.
Memory.
Roman returned.
“Team is three minutes out.”
Sadi pulled her wrist free.
“Three minutes is a long time.”
No one disagreed.
The call came four minutes later.
Roman answered.
Sadi watched his face.
“Well?”
Roman looked at Gabriel.
“The apartment door was open.”
Sadi’s knees weakened.
“Mateo?”
“Not there.”
Her hand went over her mouth.
Roman continued listening.
“Place has been searched. Drawers emptied. Mattress cut.”
Sadi whispered, “Oh God.”
Gabriel leaned forward.
“Blood?”
Roman asked.
Then shook his head.
“No blood.”
Sadi forced herself to breathe.
Her phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
Everyone saw it.
Gabriel held out his hand.
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
“Sadi.”
“It’s my phone.”
“And someone may be using your cousin as leverage.”
She looked at the screen.
A text message appeared.
DON’T LET FALCONE FIND THE SECOND THREAD.
Sadi felt ice move through her veins.
Gabriel read it over her shoulder.
Mercer spoke first.
“Second thread?”
Everyone looked toward Gabriel’s wound.
The surgeon immediately rolled the wheelchair back toward the medical room.
“Get him under the light.”
Gabriel’s face darkened.
“You already examined it.”
“I examined the obvious reaction site.”
Mercer’s voice became urgent.
“If they used two delivery points—”
He didn’t finish.
Back inside the library, Gabriel sat on the bed while Mercer cut away the remaining bandage.
Sadi stood nearby.
The surgeon inspected each stitch.
One.
Two.
Three.
Every remaining thread appeared identical.
“Nothing.”
Sadi leaned closer.
“What about underneath?”
Mercer looked at her.
“What?”
“The message didn’t say second stitch.”
“It said second thread.”
She pointed toward the wound.
“Could it be inside?”
Mercer’s eyes sharpened.
He ordered ultrasound equipment.
Ten minutes later, the portable screen showed a thin line embedded deep in the swollen tissue.
Not a closing suture.
Something deliberately inserted beneath the skin.
Mercer whispered, “There.”
Gabriel watched the monitor.
“How deep?”
“Two centimeters.”
“Get it out.”
“That requires local anesthesia and an incision.”
“Then make one.”
Mercer prepared quickly.
Sadi expected to be sent away.
Gabriel told her to stay.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because you’re good luck.”
“I found poison in your body.”
“Exactly.”
The extraction took twelve minutes.
When Mercer finally lifted the thread free, everyone saw the tiny metal bead attached to the end.
A hollow bead.
Designed to hold liquid.
The surgeon’s face became grim.
“This is sophisticated.”
“How sophisticated?”
“Not something assembled in somebody’s kitchen.”
Roman frowned.
“Military?”
“Possibly pharmaceutical research. Possibly intelligence-grade.”
Gabriel looked toward him.
“Find out who can make it.”
Mercer placed the thread into evidence.
Then he looked at Sadi’s phone.
“The message saved his life again.”
Gabriel did not smile.
“Which means whoever sent it wants something.”
Sadi’s phone vibrated a second time.
A photograph appeared.
Mateo.
Alive.
Sitting in a chair.
His hands were tied.
Behind him stood a concrete wall.
Sadi made a sound that barely resembled a word.
Gabriel took the phone.
A second message arrived.
BRING THE SILVER CASE TO PIER 19. ALONE. 4 A.M.
Roman checked the time.
3:17.
Gabriel looked at Sadi.
“You’re not going.”
“That’s my cousin.”
“They’ll kill both of you.”
“They’ll kill him if I don’t.”
Gabriel turned toward Roman.
“Prepare a team.”
The message continued.
IF FALCONE’S MEN COME, THE BOY DIES.
Roman said, “Could be bluffing.”
Sadi rounded on him.
“You want to gamble with somebody else’s family?”
Roman fell silent.
Gabriel looked at the photograph.
Then at Sadi.
“I’ll go.”
She stared at him.
“You can barely stand.”
“I don’t need to stand to be useful.”
Mercer laughed once in disbelief.
“You are not leaving this room.”
Gabriel ignored him.
Sadi shook her head.
“They asked for me.”
“They asked for the case.”
“They photographed me.”
“They also poisoned me. We both have complaints.”
Despite everything, Sadi almost laughed.
Gabriel continued.
“They expect a frightened maid.”
“I am frightened.”
“Good.”
She stared at him.
“Good?”
“Fear keeps intelligent people alive.”
Roman began planning.
Pier 19 was an abandoned cargo terminal controlled indirectly by a Falcone competitor, Luca Bellandi.
The name changed the room.
Isabella had returned after hearing about Lena’s death.
“Bellandi?”
Gabriel nodded.
“He’s wanted the north docks for years.”
Roman shook his head.
“Too obvious.”
“Which means either he’s stupid or someone wants us looking at him.”
Sadi listened.
She was beginning to understand Gabriel’s world.
Every fact had two meanings.
Every betrayal could be genuine or staged.
Every friend could become bait.
She hated it.
At 3:43, Gabriel’s convoy left through the underground garage.
Mercer came because he refused to let Gabriel travel without medical supervision.
Isabella stayed behind under guard.
Sadi sat beside Gabriel in an armored SUV.
She held the silver case.
Gabriel noticed her shaking.
“Mateo your only family?”
“In New York.”
“Parents?”
“Gone.”
“Siblings?”
“My older brother is in Texas. We don’t talk much.”
“Why?”
She looked at him.
“You ask personal questions when people are kidnapped?”
“I’m distracting you.”
“It isn’t working.”
“Clearly.”
She looked out the window.
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Isabella your only family?”
“Only family I trust.”
Sadi turned back.
“Do you trust her now?”
Gabriel did not answer.
That was answer enough.
At Pier 19, fog rolled off the river.
Roman’s men stayed several blocks away.
A small tracking transmitter had been placed inside the case.
Gabriel remained in the vehicle.
Sadi stepped out alone.
Her knees felt weak.
She forced herself forward.
The terminal door stood open.
Inside, one overhead light flickered.
“Mateo?”
Nothing.
She walked deeper.
“Mateo!”
A chair sat beneath the light.
Empty.
On it was Mateo’s jacket.
Sadi ran toward it.
A phone began ringing on the floor.
She picked it up.
A distorted voice spoke.
“Leave the case.”
“Where is Mateo?”
“Leave it.”
“Let me hear him.”
Silence.
Then Mateo’s voice.
“Sadi!”
She closed her eyes.
He was alive.
“Sadi, don’t—”
The line went dead.
The distorted voice returned.
“Case.”
She set it down.
“Now tell me where he is.”
“Walk away.”
“No.”
“Sadi.”
“No.”
Behind her, a door slammed.
She turned.
Three masked men entered.
One carried a gun.
Sadi backed away.
“You said alone.”
“We said Falcone’s men couldn’t come.”
The gunman smiled beneath his mask.
“We never said you could leave.”
A shot cracked.
The gun flew from his hand.
Gabriel’s voice echoed from the darkness.
“You should read your own rules more carefully.”
Roman’s men appeared from both sides.
Within seconds, the masked men were on the floor.
Gabriel rolled forward in his wheelchair, pale but furious.
Sadi stared at him.
“You followed me.”
“Obviously.”
“They could have killed Mateo.”
“They were going to kill you either way.”
Roman ripped the mask from one prisoner.
Gabriel’s face changed.
He knew him.
“Anthony.”
The man spat blood onto the floor.
Anthony Rusk.
Former Falcone security.
Fired six months earlier for stealing.
Gabriel leaned closer.
“Where’s the boy?”
Anthony smiled.
“You still don’t understand.”
Gabriel’s gaze sharpened.
“Understand what?”
Anthony looked toward Sadi.
Then laughed.
“This was never about the docks.”
Roman grabbed him.
“Where is Mateo?”
Anthony’s smile widened.
“He’s with the person who paid us.”
“Name.”
Anthony said nothing.
Gabriel leaned forward.
“Name.”
Anthony looked him directly in the eyes.
Then whispered two words.
“Your doctor.”
Behind them, Mercer slowly stepped out of the SUV.
May you like
Everyone turned.
And Mercer had a gun in his hand.
