Chapter 3 - The Man Inside My Walls
Marco’s pistol pointed across the room.
Dominic did not move.
Harland smiled.
“Your loyalty problem seems to have solved itself.”
Marco fired.
The bullet struck the armed man beside Harland.
Before anyone reacted, Marco fired twice more.
Lights shattered.
Darkness consumed the room.
Julian grabbed Emma.
Dominic rushed Harland.
Gunfire exploded.
Someone screamed.
Dominic drove Harland into a wall.
Marco shouted from the darkness.
“Stairs!”
Dominic released the mayor and followed the sound.
Julian carried Emma through a rear corridor.
They reached a steel staircase.
Marco slammed the door behind them and fired through it twice.
“Move!”
They descended.
Dominic grabbed Marco’s jacket.
“You could have warned me.”
“You told me to stay home.”
“You followed me.”
“Of course.”
“You pointed a gun at me.”
“I had six men behind me.”
Julian interrupted.
“Romantic reunion later.”
Emma struggled to breathe.
Dominic took her from Julian.
They reached the basement.
A tunnel extended beneath the building.
“You know this place?” Dominic asked Julian.
“I lived here for eight months.”
They moved quickly.
Behind them, metal crashed.
Harland’s men were coming.
Julian opened a hidden door.
The tunnel emerged into an underground parking garage two blocks away.
A black SUV waited.
Marco smiled faintly.
Dominic looked at him.
“You planned this?”
“I plan everything.”
“That’s annoying.”
“It keeps you alive.”
They drove north.
Emma lay across the back seat with Dominic beside her.
Julian sat opposite.
Marco drove.
Nobody spoke for several minutes.
Finally Dominic asked, “Why did Harland want Mother’s notebook?”
Julian answered.
“Because it contains the first map of Black Harbor.”
“What is Black Harbor?”
“A network.”
“That means nothing.”
“It means judges, businessmen, police officials, unions, contractors, shipping companies. People who protect one another.”
“And Father?”
“One of the founders.”
Dominic looked out the window.
“Impossible.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because I knew him.”
Julian laughed without humor.
“So did I.”
Emma opened her eyes.
“Stop.”
Both brothers looked at her.
“You’re fighting over who understood your father better while the people he protected are still alive.”
Dominic studied her.
Even injured, she sounded annoyed.
That was the Emma he knew.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
Marco answered.
“Safe house.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“They know your safe houses.”
Marco looked into the mirror.
“How?”
Emma sat up slightly.
“Because someone has been inside the mansion security system for months.”
Marco’s expression changed.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I didn’t know who I could trust.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Including me.”
Emma held his gaze.
“Especially you.”
That hurt more than he wanted to admit.
She continued.
“I found Mrs. Vale’s notebook seven weeks ago. I planned to give it to you immediately.”
“What changed?”
“I read it.”
“And?”
“There were references to you.”
Dominic went still.
“What kind?”
“Your initials beside payments.”
“I was a teenager when my mother died.”
“These came later.”
Julian looked surprised.
“You never told me that.”
Emma shook her head.
“Because I didn’t know if Dominic was part of Black Harbor.”
Dominic leaned back.
“And now?”
“Now I don’t think you are.”
“What convinced you?”
“They nearly killed me.”
Dominic almost smiled.
“That’s reassuring.”
Emma reached toward her pocket.
She removed a memory stick.
“When I found the notebook, I copied everything.”
“You had that while they attacked you?”
“No.”
“Where?”
“The mansion.”
Marco groaned.
“Where?”
Emma looked embarrassed.
“In the kitchen.”
Dominic stared.
“The kitchen?”
“Inside the flour container.”
Julian laughed.
Marco did too.
Dominic looked between them.
“Apparently I employ children.”
For the first time since Emma entered the mansion bleeding, tension cracked.
Only slightly.
Then Marco’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed immediately.
“What?”
A pause.
“Say that again.”
Dominic watched him.
Marco ended the call.
“The mansion was breached.”
Dominic leaned forward.
“How?”
“They came through the service tunnel.”
“What service tunnel?”
Marco looked at him.
“Exactly.”
Julian’s expression hardened.
“Father had tunnels under three properties.”
“You knew?”
“I knew about Mercer.”
Marco continued.
“They took two guards alive. Everyone else evacuated.”
“The flash drive?”
“No idea.”
Dominic looked at Emma.
“You said flour.”
“Yes.”
“Which container?”
“The large ceramic one beside the pantry.”
Marco turned the vehicle.
Dominic grabbed the seat.
“What are you doing?”
“Going back.”
“No.”
Marco looked into the mirror.
“You want that evidence.”
“I want my people alive.”
“And whoever breached your house may still be there.”
“Exactly.”
Julian shook his head.
“That’s a trap.”
Dominic looked at him.
“Fourteen years dead and you’ve become cautious.”
“I became alive because I was cautious.”
Emma spoke.
“I’m going too.”
Three men answered at once.
“No.”
She frowned.
Dominic pointed.
“You can barely sit upright.”
“I know where the drive is.”
“You can tell us.”
“It’s hidden behind a false base.”
Dominic stared.
“You modified my flour container?”
“I had limited options.”
Despite himself, Dominic laughed once.
Then he became serious.
“You stay in the car.”
Emma didn’t agree.
Twenty minutes later they entered the mansion through an underground wine-cellar access point Julian remembered from childhood.
Marco looked furious.
“You knew about this tunnel?”
Dominic whispered.
“No.”
“That makes two.”
Julian led them upstairs.
The mansion looked untouched.
Too untouched.
Dominic found the two captured guards in the library.
Alive.
Bound.
Gagged.
He freed them.
“How many?”
One guard shook his head.
“Eight. Maybe ten.”
“Where?”
“Kitchen.”
Dominic looked at Marco.
Marco signaled.
They approached from opposite corridors.
Julian covered the rear.
Dominic entered first.
Empty.
Cabinets had been opened.
Food dumped across counters.
The ceramic flour container lay shattered.
Emma entered behind them.
Dominic spun.
“I told you to stay outside.”
“I don’t listen well when people order me around.”
“Apparently.”
She knelt beside the broken container.
“Gone.”
Dominic studied the floor.
“No.”
Emma looked up.
“What?”
“If they found it, why search everything else?”
She followed his gaze.
Cupboards open.
Drawers emptied.
“They didn’t find it.”
Emma searched the fragments.
Then she froze.
“The base.”
“What?”
“The false base is missing.”
Someone had removed only that piece.
Marco swore.
“They knew exactly where it was.”
Dominic looked around.
“Who knew?”
Emma’s face tightened.
“No one.”
“Think.”
“No one.”
Julian stepped closer.
“You told somebody.”
Emma shook her head.
Then stopped.
Dominic saw it.
“Who?”
Emma went pale.
“One person.”
“Name.”
“My younger brother.”
Dominic frowned.
“You have a brother?”
“Ethan.”
“Where is he?”
“Brooklyn.”
“When did you tell him?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“What exactly?”
“That I found something dangerous at work. I told him where I would hide a copy in case something happened to me.”
Marco looked toward Dominic.
“We find Ethan.”
Emma was already dialing.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Third time.
The call connected.
Emma spoke quickly.
“Ethan?”
Silence.
A man breathed on the other end.
Not Ethan.
Emma’s face changed.
“Who is this?”
The voice spoke quietly.
“Your brother made a mistake.”
Dominic took the phone.
“If Ethan Carter is hurt—”
The man laughed.
“You still think this is about the Carters?”
Dominic’s eyes hardened.
“Who are you?”
“You already met me.”
The call ended.
Immediately, a message arrived.
A photograph.
Emma gasped.
Ethan sat tied to a chair.
Behind him stood Mayor Harland.
And beside Harland stood somebody else.
A woman.
Dominic stared.
His fingers tightened around the phone.
The woman was older than he remembered.
But he knew her face.
He had looked at her photograph every year on the anniversary of her death.
His mother.
Alive.
May you like
Under the photograph were six words.
SHE STARTED BLACK HARBOR. ASK HER WHY.
