Chapter 4 - The Price of Protection
Gabriel did not speak for three seconds.
Then everything moved.
Nico called the hospital.
Elena contacted police.
Gabriel reached for his phone.
Marlowe caught his wrist.
"Don't do something stupid."
"My father is missing."
"I know."
"The blanket came from my apartment."
"No."
Everyone looked at her.
Marlowe's mind raced.
"Oliver's blanket is upstairs."
Elena ran inside.
Thirty seconds later she returned carrying it.
Same rockets.
Same planets.
Same stars.
Gabriel stared.
"A duplicate."
Marlowe touched the fabric.
"Not identical."
She pointed.
"Oliver's has a burn mark here."
The blanket from the hospital did not.
Gabriel understood.
"A message."
"Someone wants you angry."
"They succeeded."
"That's the point."
His eyes met hers.
She could see the war inside him.
Instinct told him to retaliate.
Marlowe's voice stayed steady.
"Find him first."
Gabriel nodded.
They went to the hospital.
Security footage showed Salvatore being wheeled through a service corridor by a man in medical scrubs.
The man's face was hidden beneath a mask.
A second figure followed.
Darren Pike.
Marlowe stared at the monitor.
"That's him."
Gabriel's hands slowly closed into fists.
Nico said, "Vehicle?"
Hospital security switched cameras.
A white delivery van left the loading dock at 8:42.
Company logo:
VANTAGE COURIER.
Gabriel turned away.
Marlowe followed.
"What does Victor Saye want?"
"Control."
"Of what?"
"My father's company."
"I thought it was yours."
"It will be."
"That's why?"
"Partly."
He looked through the hospital window.
"My father was going to terminate Vantage's final contracts. Saye has spent years trying to make himself indispensable."
"So he threatens an old man?"
"Men like Saye confuse dependency with loyalty."
Marlowe studied Gabriel.
"Do you?"
He looked at her.
"What?"
"Confuse people needing you with people caring about you."
That hit harder than she expected.
Gabriel's expression closed.
"This isn't the time."
"Maybe it's exactly the time."
Nico interrupted.
"We found the van."
It had been abandoned near a freight yard.
No Salvatore.
Inside they found a wheelchair.
A torn medical bracelet.
And a phone.
Gabriel picked it up.
One saved audio file.
He pressed play.
Victor Saye's voice filled the van.
"Gabriel. If you're hearing this, your father is still alive. Whether he stays that way depends on how reasonable you become."
Marlowe felt sick.
"You will restore the Vantage contracts. You will withdraw your internal audit. And you will stop asking who moved money through Clifton Distribution."
Marlowe looked sharply at Gabriel.
Clifton.
Darren.
The recording continued.
"Do those things by midnight and your father comes home. Refuse, and the next snowstorm will finish what the first one started."
The recording ended.
Gabriel stood perfectly still.
Nico said, "We can locate—"
"Restore the contracts."
Nico stared.
"Gabriel."
"Do it."
"Your father would never—"
"I don't care."
Marlowe stepped closer.
"That's what Saye expects."
Gabriel turned on her.
"He has my father."
"I know."
"Then don't tell me to gamble with his life."
"I'm telling you not to give the man exactly what he planned for."
His voice rose.
"You think because you saved him once, you understand what's at stake?"
Silence.
The instant the words left his mouth, Gabriel regretted them.
Marlowe's face changed.
Not anger.
Hurt.
She stepped back.
"You're right."
"Marlowe—"
"No."
"I shouldn't have—"
"Find your father."
She walked away.
Gabriel caught up outside.
Snow had begun again.
Not heavy.
A thin white dust.
"Marlowe."
She kept walking.
"Marlowe, stop."
She turned.
"You don't get to order me around because you're scared."
"I know."
"Do you?"
"Yes."
"You stood in front of cameras yesterday and told the city I'm under your protection. You didn't ask me."
"I was trying to stop them."
"You made me sound owned."
His face tightened.
"That wasn't what I meant."
"But that's what people heard."
"I'm sorry."
She stared at him.
The words were simple.
No justification.
No excuse.
Marlowe breathed out.
"You can't protect people by taking away their choices."
Gabriel nodded.
"Understood."
"Good."
She began walking.
Then stopped.
"I may know something."
He looked up.
"About Clifton."
She returned to the van.
"Two months ago, Darren suddenly started locking one loading bay after midnight."
"What bay?"
"Six."
"Why?"
"He said inventory loss."
"Anything unusual?"
"Unmarked trucks."
Gabriel stepped closer.
"How often?"
"Every Thursday."
Nico immediately began typing.
Marlowe continued.
"Darren would send regular staff to break early. Then he and two contractors handled whatever came in."
"Vantage?"
"I never saw logos."
Gabriel looked at Nico.
"Clifton Bay Six."
Nico nodded.
"We'll check."
Marlowe's phone rang.
Fairmont Senior Residence.
Her new job.
She stared at the screen.
Gabriel said, "Go."
"What?"
"Go to work."
"Your father is missing."
"And you have a son depending on you."
She hesitated.
"I'm not leaving because I'm afraid."
"I know."
"I'm leaving because my shift starts in forty minutes."
"I know."
She gave him a warning look.
"And nobody buys Fairmont tonight."
Despite everything, Gabriel smiled.
"I promise."
At Fairmont, Marlowe tried to focus.
Medication deliveries.
Staff schedules.
Maintenance requests.
At 10:17, a resident named Mrs. Allen complained that the television remote had been stolen by communists.
At 10:43, someone clogged a sink with oatmeal.
At 11:06, Marlowe realized ordinary problems were strangely comforting.
Then her phone vibrated.
Gabriel.
They found something at Clifton.
She stepped into the break room.
"What?"
"Bay Six contains a hidden office."
"And?"
"Financial ledgers."
"Illegal?"
"Very."
"Your company?"
"No."
"Victor?"
"Looks like it."
"Does that help find Salvatore?"
"Maybe."
A pause.
Then Gabriel said, "Marlowe."
"Yes?"
"I'm sorry again."
She leaned against the wall.
"I know."
"My father once told me the quickest way to lose good people is to treat them like property."
"Smart man."
"I ignored him."
"Also common."
"Are we okay?"
Marlowe smiled slightly.
"We're getting there."
At midnight, Victor Saye's deadline passed.
Gabriel did not restore the contracts.
Instead, police executed a warrant at Clifton.
Darren Pike disappeared minutes before officers arrived.
At 12:21, Elena called Marlowe.
"We found an address connected to Saye."
"Where?"
"Old printing warehouse near the river."
"Is Salvatore there?"
"Possibly."
"Gabriel?"
"Already moving."
Marlowe's stomach tightened.
"Tell him not to—"
A crash sounded from the lobby.
She ran out.
The front doors stood open.
Cold air poured inside.
A security guard lay on the floor, conscious but stunned.
A man in a Clifton jacket was running toward the parking lot.
Marlowe chased him to the doorway.
"Hey!"
He threw something toward her.
A small envelope.
Then he vanished into a car.
Elena shouted through the phone.
"Marlowe, what happened?"
Marlowe picked up the envelope.
Her name was written on it.
Inside was a photograph.
Salvatore.
Alive.
Seated in a chair.
Behind him was a wall clock showing 11:58.
On the back, written in black marker:
ASK GABRIEL WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR HUSBAND.
Marlowe stopped breathing.
Her husband.
Thomas Quinn.
The man who had disappeared three years earlier.
The man Marlowe believed had simply abandoned her.
She called Gabriel.
He answered immediately.
"Marlowe?"
Her voice shook.
"Gabriel."
"What happened?"
She stared at the words.
"Did you know my husband?"
Silence.
One second.
Two.
Three.
Then Gabriel said something that made the floor seem to move beneath her.
"Yes."
Marlowe's grip tightened around the phone.
"Then tell me why Victor Saye thinks you know what happened to him."
May you like
Gabriel did not answer.
And Marlowe knew, before he spoke another word, that whatever came next was going to change everything...
