Chapter 4 - The Room Beneath Pier Nine
Alessandro went perfectly still.
The voice from the monitor continued.
"Still grieving me, little brother?"
Marco whispered, "Impossible."
Alessandro's brother, Matteo Romano, had supposedly died seven years earlier.
A boating explosion.
No body recovered.
Apparently death in our new world was becoming negotiable.
"Show yourself," Alessandro said.
The screen flickered.
The camera adjusted.
A man's face appeared.
Older than Alessandro.
Similar eyes.
Same strong jaw.
A scar ran from his temple toward his ear.
Matteo Romano smiled.
"Hello."
Alessandro's expression didn't change.
But his hand tightened around the desk.
"You died."
"So did you last night."
The smile widened.
"Runs in the family."
I stepped forward.
"Where is David?"
Matteo looked at me.
"Ah. Catherine."
Every protective instinct in my body rebelled at the way he said my name.
"I've seen you through cameras for two years."
"Where is my husband?"
"Alive."
One word.
Everything inside me stopped.
Alive.
Not maybe.
Not eleven months ago.
Alive.
"Prove it."
Matteo leaned back.
"Pier Nine. Midnight."
Alessandro shook his head.
"No."
Matteo laughed.
"You don't control the room anymore."
"David isn't there."
"Perhaps."
I moved closer to the monitor.
"What do you want?"
"The ring."
My fingers closed around it.
Of course.
"What's on it?"
Matteo smiled.
"The thing that destroys everyone."
The screen went black.
Marco immediately started tracing the connection.
"Signal bounced through six servers."
Alessandro turned toward me.
"We're leaving."
"I'm going to Pier Nine."
"No."
"I wasn't asking."
"Catherine, that was bait."
"Of course it was."
"And you're still going?"
"My husband is alive."
"Maybe."
"He knew Logan. He was at the hospital."
Alessandro's face hardened.
"And if Matteo arranged that?"
That possibility struck me.
"No."
"Think. Someone guided your son into my trauma room. Someone knew the exact moment I was declared dead."
"David spoke to him."
"You have a note written in David's handwriting. That proves handwriting."
I hated that he was right.
We returned to the safe house.
For the next several hours, Marco analyzed the files from the ring.
A ledger revealed payments to judges, contractors, police units and shell companies.
Then one name appeared repeatedly.
VALE, J.
Jonathan Vale.
David's mentor.
But beneath Vale's payments were authorizations marked M.R.
Matteo Romano.
Meridian wasn't simply using Alessandro's organization.
Matteo had helped build the network.
Alessandro stared at the records.
"I thought Matteo died because of me."
"What happened?" I asked.
"Seven years ago, I refused a partnership with a group trafficking surveillance hardware. Matteo wanted it. We fought. Two days later, his boat exploded."
"You blamed yourself."
"Yes."
"He used your guilt."
Alessandro gave a humorless smile.
"He always was the smarter brother."
"No."
He looked at me.
"He was the crueler one. That's not the same thing."
Something softened briefly in his expression.
That evening, I called my mother.
I lied.
I said Logan and I had stayed with a friend because of trouble at work.
She offered to come get him.
For one second, I wanted to send him away.
Then I remembered Meridian had watched my family.
"No. Stay home."
"Catherine, are you okay?"
I looked at Logan sleeping on the sofa.
"No."
My mother went quiet.
Then she said, "David would tell you to come home."
I almost laughed.
Apparently nobody knew what David would tell me anymore.
At 10:30 p.m., we prepared for Pier Nine.
Alessandro wore body armor beneath a dark jacket despite his injuries.
Marco carried enough equipment to invade a small country.
I carried the ring.
And Logan?
He stayed with the senior doctor from the hospital, Dr. Samuel Grant, who had unexpectedly become an ally after refusing to let armed criminals dictate medicine.
Alessandro placed two guards with them.
Before leaving, Logan hugged me.
"You find Daddy?"
I swallowed.
"I'm going to try."
He held Captain Bear out.
"For Daddy."
I took the bear.
"Okay."
Pier Nine was abandoned except for one warehouse.
Rain began around eleven forty-five.
We approached from the water side.
Marco disabled exterior cameras.
Inside, rows of shipping containers created narrow corridors.
A single light glowed at the center.
A chair stood beneath it.
Empty.
Then speakers crackled.
"Catherine."
Matteo.
"Put the ring on the chair."
I stepped forward.
Alessandro caught my arm.
"Don't."
"I need David."
"You don't know he's here."
A metallic door slammed behind us.
Armed men emerged above the catwalk.
At least ten.
Matteo appeared on an upper platform.
"Brother."
Alessandro raised his gun.
Matteo laughed.
"If you shoot me, you'll never find Winters."
"Where is he?"
"Closer than you think."
I lifted the ring.
"You want this?"
Matteo's attention shifted to me.
"Very much."
"Then show me David."
He snapped his fingers.
A container door opened.
My heart stopped.
Inside was a man tied to a chair.
Beard.
Longer hair.
Bruised face.
David.
My husband.
Alive.
"David!"
His head lifted.
His eyes found me.
Everything disappeared.
The warehouse.
The guns.
The rain.
Two years.
All of it.
"Catherine."
I nearly ran toward him.
Alessandro stopped me.
"Wait."
David struggled against the restraints.
"Don't give him the ring!"
Matteo smiled.
"There. Proof."
My knees trembled.
David looked at me.
Then at Captain Bear tucked beneath my arm.
His face broke.
"Logan?"
"Safe."
Tears filled his eyes.
"He's so big."
That nearly destroyed me.
I wanted to hit him.
Hold him.
Scream.
Kiss him.
Instead I raised the ring.
"Release him."
Matteo shook his head.
"Ring first."
"No."
His expression sharpened.
A gun pressed against David's head.
"Catherine."
David yelled, "Don't!"
I looked at Alessandro.
He gave the smallest shake of his head.
There was a plan.
I had no idea what it was.
So I trusted the only thing I understood.
People like Matteo thought women like me were weak.
Invisible.
Desperate.
Easy to control.
I dropped the ring.
It bounced once.
Matteo's eyes followed it.
That was all Marco needed.
The warehouse lights exploded.
Darkness.
Gunfire.
I hit the floor.
Alessandro moved.
Men shouted.
A smoke canister rolled beneath the catwalk.
I crawled toward David's container.
A man grabbed me.
I slammed Captain Bear into his face.
Ridiculous.
But inside the bear was the ceramic emergency knife Marco had hidden there.
I pulled it free and cut David's restraints.
He grabbed my face with both hands.
"Catherine."
I slapped him.
Hard.
His eyes widened.
"That's for the funeral."
Then I kissed him.
Just once.
Furious and desperate.
"That's for being alive."
Gunfire cracked nearby.
David grabbed my hand.
"We need to move."
We ran.
Alessandro appeared through the smoke.
Blood soaked one side of his jacket.
"Go!"
"You're hit."
"Old wound."
Marco shouted from the exit.
We reached a service door.
Behind us, Matteo screamed.
"David!"
David stopped.
I grabbed him.
"No."
Matteo's voice followed us.
"You never told her who ordered the crash!"
David's face changed.
That was enough.
I knew immediately.
There was another secret.
We escaped the warehouse and reached the vehicles.
Marco drove.
Alessandro sat beside him.
David and I were in the back.
For almost a full minute, neither of us spoke.
I stared at my husband's face.
Older.
Scarred.
Alive.
Finally I whispered, "Who ordered the crash?"
David closed his eyes.
"Catherine."
"Don't."
He looked at me.
"Do not protect me with another lie."
His jaw tightened.
Then he said, "The crash wasn't originally meant to fake my death."
My blood went cold.
"What?"
"It was meant to kill someone."
"Who?"
David's eyes filled with shame.
Then his phone vibrated.
He looked at the screen.
All color disappeared from his face.
"What is it?"
He handed me the phone.
A photograph had just arrived.
Logan sat inside the safe house.
Behind him stood Dr. Grant.
And behind Dr. Grant stood Jonathan Vale.
May you like
The message beneath it contained five words.
WE HAVE YOUR SON AGAIN.
