Chapter 4 - Ninety-One Days of Running
Only Chalice’s mother had called her Callie-Bird.
Gabriel reached for his weapon.
Chalice reached for the door.
He caught her wrist.
“No.”
“She knew the name.”
“That proves nothing.”
“It proves something.”
Gabriel opened the door himself.
No one was there.
A package sat on the floor.
Inside was a cassette recorder.
Chalice pressed play.
Her mother’s voice filled the room.
“If you’re hearing this, Isabella found you.”
Chalice sat down.
Her mother explained that years earlier she had worked as a forensic nurse.
She treated Gabriel and Antonio’s father after the shooting that supposedly killed him.
He survived for six hours.
Long enough to reveal that someone inside his organization had ordered his death.
Victor.
But there had been no proof.
Chalice’s mother, Isabella, Antonio, and Dr. Shaw had formed a secret agreement.
They would gather evidence.
Quietly.
Years passed.
Then Antonio discovered financial records connecting Victor to a network of corrupt officials.
He planned to expose him.
Victor struck first.
The Hanover Street shooting.
But something did not fit.
Why had Evelyn Shaw signed Douglas dead?
The recording answered.
“To keep him alive.”
Chalice stared at Gabriel.
Shaw had falsified the death certificate to protect Douglas.
She had not been an enemy.
She had been part of the plan.
The man with the syringe had forced her hand.
Chalice had accidentally completed what Shaw began by taking Douglas away.
Gabriel leaned against the desk.
“We’ve been hunting the wrong woman.”
Then Mercer entered.
“Dr. Shaw disappeared this morning.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“Find her.”
Mercer hesitated.
“She left something first.”
An envelope.
Addressed to Chalice.
Inside was a map and one sentence.
YOU HAVE NINETY-ONE DAYS BECAUSE THAT IS HOW LONG I COULD KEEP THEM FROM FINDING YOU.
Today was day ninety-one.
Chalice looked at Douglas.
“Why ninety-one?”
Gabriel studied the map.
“Because something happens tonight.”
The destination was an abandoned Holmes warehouse at the harbor.
They arrived after midnight.
Inside they found no Shaw.
Only a chair.
A projector.
And Antonio’s voice.
“If Gabriel is watching this, I’m dead.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
Antonio explained everything.
Victor had spent years stealing from the family and laundering money through legitimate companies.
Antonio discovered it.
But the money was not the true secret.
Victor had been selling information.
Names.
Locations.
Police witnesses.
Even family.
Antonio had created a ledger.
“If anything happens to me, Douglas becomes the legal beneficiary of everything I own.”
Gabriel frowned.
Antonio owned controlling shares in companies Victor needed.
Douglas was not targeted simply because he was Antonio’s son.
He was targeted because as long as he lived, Victor could never control Antonio’s estate.
The projector flickered.
Antonio continued.
“The ledger is hidden somewhere Victor can never reach.”
The recording stopped.
Lights came on behind them.
Victor Holmes stood on the warehouse balcony.
He applauded slowly.
“Your brother always did enjoy drama.”
Gabriel stepped in front of Chalice.
Victor smiled.
“Give me the child.”
Gabriel’s voice was ice.
“Come take him.”
Victor’s smile disappeared.
May you like
Then dozens of red laser sights appeared across Gabriel’s chest.
And Chalice realized the warehouse doors had locked behind them.
