Chapter 6 - The Voice Upstairs
Adrian raised his weapon toward the staircase.
The voice came again.
“Adrian.”
Julian went completely still.
Mara saw his face change.
“You know him too.”
Julian whispered one word.
“Alexander.”
Adrian stared at his brother.
Their uncle had been dead for seven years.
At least that was what both brothers had believed.
Another floorboard creaked above them.
Daniel moved toward the stairs.
Adrian caught his shoulder.
“No.”
Daniel looked back.
“He has the high ground.”
“And he wants us to come up.”
Victor positioned himself near the darkened window.
Claire pulled Mara behind the kitchen island.
Mara resisted.
“I’m not hiding while everyone else decides what happens.”
“You’re not hiding,” Claire whispered. “You’re staying out of the line of fire.”
A light appeared upstairs.
Not electricity.
A flashlight.
Its beam crossed the ceiling.
Then disappeared.
Alexander’s voice drifted down.
“I didn’t come here to kill anyone.”
Adrian answered.
“Then come downstairs.”
A soft laugh.
“You always sounded like Dominic when you were angry.”
Adrian tightened his grip on the weapon.
“Come down.”
Silence.
Then footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
A shadow appeared at the top of the staircase.
Mara watched a man descend.
He looked almost seventy.
Tall.
Silver hair.
Dark overcoat.
A cane in one hand.
No visible weapon.
Adrian recognized him immediately.
Alexander Vale.
His father’s older brother.
The man who had taught Adrian to play chess.
The man who had given Julian his first car.
The man whose closed coffin Adrian had carried through St. Patrick’s Cathedral seven years earlier.
Alexander reached the final step.
Daniel aimed at his chest.
“Hands.”
Alexander lifted both arms.
“Still loyal, Daniel. I always admired that.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
“You know me?”
“I recruited you.”
Silence.
Daniel stared.
“No.”
Alexander smiled faintly.
“Mercer may have owned your debt, but I was the person who introduced him to your sister’s situation.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“You destroyed her life.”
“I created leverage.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“Enough.”
Alexander looked at him.
For several seconds neither spoke.
Then Alexander smiled.
“You survived.”
Adrian almost laughed.
“Apparently that disappoints a lot of people.”
“Not me.”
“You poisoned me.”
Alexander’s smile disappeared.
“That’s what Dominic believed.”
“The authorization came from your account.”
“Yes.”
“So deny it.”
“I authorized the payment.”
Mara watched Adrian’s expression.
Not anger.
Something colder.
“You poisoned a baby.”
“No.”
“Then what did you pay for?”
Alexander lowered his hands slowly.
Daniel’s weapon followed.
“A doctor.”
“The doctor Mercer used to save me.”
“Yes.”
“After I was poisoned.”
“Yes.”
Adrian stared.
“Who poisoned me?”
Alexander looked toward the laptop.
“You almost recovered Dominic’s entire recording.”
Julian moved beside Adrian.
“Finish what he was going to say.”
Alexander studied him.
“You’ve become impatient.”
“I learned from being murdered.”
For the first time Alexander looked genuinely uncomfortable.
“You were never supposed to die.”
Julian laughed.
“I was shot twice and dumped into the Hudson.”
“That order did not come from me.”
“Mercer?”
“Yes.”
Victor spoke.
“Richard told me Julian was becoming uncontrollable.”
Alexander glanced at him.
“Richard says many things when he needs someone else to carry his guilt.”
Mara stepped into view.
Alexander saw her.
His face changed.
“Evelyn.”
Mara’s stomach tightened.
“No.”
Alexander stared at her.
“You look exactly like her.”
“My name is Mara.”
“I know.”
“Then use it.”
Alexander nodded.
“Mara.”
Adrian moved subtly between them.
Alexander noticed.
“You always did protect people before understanding who they were.”
Adrian’s voice hardened.
“Be careful.”
“I meant it as praise.”
“Answer the question.”
Alexander looked back at him.
“Who poisoned you?”
“Yes.”
Alexander exhaled.
“Your condition wasn’t created to kill you.”
“That doesn’t make poisoning an infant better.”
“It wasn’t supposed to happen at all.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
Alexander continued.
“Dominic had become impossible to control.”
Mara noticed his wording.
Not Mercer.
Dominic.
Alexander spoke as though the manipulation had begun before Richard Mercer held real power.
“Who wanted to control him?” she asked.
Alexander looked at her.
“Someone who had spent years building relationships with men like Dominic.”
“Name.”
Alexander hesitated.
Julian raised his weapon.
“Name.”
Alexander looked at both brothers.
“Nathaniel Cross.”
Nobody reacted except Claire.
She stepped backward.
Mara saw it.
“You know that name.”
Claire’s face had gone pale.
“Evelyn knew him.”
Victor whispered a curse.
Adrian turned toward him.
“You too?”
Victor nodded.
“Nathaniel Cross was a financier.”
Alexander almost laughed.
“That was the public version.”
“What was the private version?”
“The man who taught Richard Mercer everything.”
Silence.
Adrian frowned.
“Mercer didn't create the network?”
“No.”
Alexander shook his head.
“Mercer inherited it.”
Mara thought about Room 417.
The photographs.
The blackmail files.
Decades of payments.
Some records predated Mercer’s rise.
She had noticed that but hadn't understood why.
“Cross built it.”
“Yes.”
“What happened to him?”
Claire answered.
“He died fifteen years ago.”
Alexander looked at her.
“No.”
Claire stared.
“I saw the death certificate.”
“You saw paper.”
“He had cancer.”
“He had an exit plan.”
Mara’s skin prickled.
Another dead man who wasn't dead.
“How many people in this story faked their deaths?”
Alexander looked at her.
“Enough to make death certificates unreliable.”
Adrian had lost patience.
“What does Cross have to do with me?”
“Everything.”
Alexander walked toward the table.
Daniel blocked him.
Alexander stopped.
“Twenty-two years ago, Cross wanted Dominic inside his organization. Your father refused.”
“So Cross poisoned me.”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Alexander looked toward the dark window.
“Richard.”
Victor frowned.
“That doesn’t make sense. Richard barely had power then.”
“He had ambition.”
Alexander continued.
“Richard wanted to prove himself to Cross. He arranged for a nurse to expose Adrian to a compound that would create cardiac symptoms.”
Mara felt sick.
“Then Mercer arranged the treatment.”
“Yes.”
“He created the problem and sold Dominic the solution.”
“Yes.”
Adrian looked at Alexander.
“And you helped.”
“I authorized the specialist.”
“You knew what Mercer had done?”
“Not until later.”
“When?”
“Three years afterward.”
“And you said nothing.”
Alexander’s eyes lowered.
“That was my first betrayal.”
“First?”
Adrian stepped closer.
“What was the second?”
Alexander looked toward Julian.
“Helping Richard hide the evidence.”
Julian shook his head.
“Dad trusted you.”
“I know.”
“He loved you.”
“I know.”
“And you protected Mercer.”
“I protected the family.”
Adrian struck him.
Alexander fell against the wall.
His cane hit the floor.
Nobody moved to help him.
Adrian stood over him.
“Don't ever say that again.”
Alexander wiped blood from his mouth.
“You think Dominic was innocent?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Alexander stood slowly.
“Because your father participated in things that would have put him in prison for the rest of his life.”
“Then he should have answered for them.”
Alexander stared.
That response seemed to surprise him.
Adrian continued.
“But you don't get to call covering murder protection.”
Alexander looked away.
Mara thought about Richard.
About Victor.
About Claire.
Everyone had used the word protection.
Sometimes it meant love.
Sometimes cowardice.
Sometimes control.
The word itself proved nothing.
“Why did you fake your death?” Mara asked.
Alexander looked at her.
“Because Dominic discovered I had helped Mercer.”
“So you ran.”
“I disappeared.”
“Same thing.”
A faint smile touched Alexander’s face.
“Definitely Evelyn’s daughter.”
Mara ignored it.
“Why come back tonight?”
Alexander looked at the black case.
“Because you found something Richard cannot be allowed to possess.”
“The archive?”
“No.”
Everyone became silent.
Alexander pointed toward the case.
“The archive is dangerous to Mercer.”
He looked at Adrian.
“But the final recording is dangerous to Cross.”
Claire shook her head.
“You said Cross is alive.”
“I believe he is.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
Julian laughed bitterly.
“Convenient.”
Alexander looked at him.
“You think I haven't spent seven years searching?”
“You spent seven years pretending to be dead.”
“Because Cross believes I am.”
Mara asked, “Why would he care?”
Alexander looked at her.
“Because I know where Evelyn hid the original ledger.”
Mara froze.
“What original ledger?”
“The one that existed before the digital archive.”
Claire stared.
“Evelyn told me it was destroyed.”
“She lied.”
“Where is it?”
Alexander hesitated.
Adrian picked up the brass key.
“Does this open it?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Alexander looked at Mara.
“Your mother gave the location to a child.”
Mara felt the answer before he said it.
“Me.”
“Yes.”
“I was eight.”
“That was why she chose you.”
Mara closed her eyes.
The number game.
Grand Central.
The star.
Her music box.
How many childhood memories were actually instructions?
“I don't remember another location.”
“You do.”
“No.”
“You simply don't know that you remember.”
Adrian looked at Alexander.
“Explain.”
“Evelyn knew adults could be followed. Interrogated. Bribed.”
Alexander pointed toward Mara.
“A child could carry a secret without knowing it was a secret.”
Mara remembered something.
Her mother kneeling in front of her.
A game.
Not numbers this time.
A question.
If the star disappears, where does the king sleep?
Mara had always answered the same thing.
Under the river.
Her eyes opened.
“The king.”
Alexander’s expression changed.
“What?”
“My mother used to ask me about a king.”
Julian turned.
“What kind of king?”
“I don't know.”
“Chess?”
Mara looked at him.
Maybe.
A black king.
A wooden board.
Something hidden.
Then Adrian remembered.
“Julian.”
His brother looked at him.
“You had a black chess piece when we were kids.”
Julian frowned.
“I had an entire set.”
“No. One piece. You carried it around after Mom died.”
Julian stared.
“The black king.”
Mara felt her pulse accelerate.
“Where is it?”
Julian thought.
“I haven't seen it in years.”
Alexander moved closer.
“Where did the set come from?”
Julian looked at Mara.
“Evelyn.”
Silence.
“She gave it to me.”
“When?”
“A few weeks before she died.”
Mara whispered:
“She gave you the king.”
Julian understood.
“The ledger.”
Adrian looked at him.
“Where is the chess set?”
Julian shook his head.
“Dad put my childhood things into storage.”
“Which storage?”
“Brooklyn.”
Daniel immediately grabbed his phone.
“No signal.”
The power was still dead.
Victor checked the security panel.
“Backup system should have activated by now.”
Adrian looked at him.
“But it hasn't.”
“No.”
Alexander’s expression changed.
“Then the outage wasn't mine.”
Everyone turned toward him.
“You didn't cut the electricity?” Daniel asked.
“No.”
A sound came from outside.
Vehicle doors.
Several.
Adrian moved to the window.
Headlights swept across the driveway.
Black SUVs.
One.
Two.
Three.
Then a fourth.
Men emerged.
Armed.
Victor looked through another window.
“We have maybe thirty seconds.”
Adrian turned toward Alexander.
“You led them here.”
“No.”
“How did you find us?”
Alexander said nothing.
That was enough.
Adrian grabbed him.
“How?”
“A tracker.”
Julian swore.
“On you?”
“No.”
Alexander looked toward the black case.
“The archive.”
Daniel opened the case and tore at the lining.
A tiny transmitter appeared beneath the handle.
Mara stared.
“Mercer?”
Alexander shook his head.
“Cross.”
Gunfire shattered the front window.
Everyone dropped.
Adrian pulled Mara behind the kitchen wall.
Daniel returned fire.
Victor moved toward the rear exit.
“Move!”
Claire grabbed the case.
Julian helped Alexander.
Adrian stayed beside Mara.
They reached the garage.
A second group appeared outside.
“Blocked,” Daniel said.
Alexander pointed toward a utility door.
“Storm tunnel.”
Adrian looked at him.
“How do you know this house?”
Alexander didn't answer.
Another bullet struck the wall.
“No time,” Julian shouted.
They entered the tunnel.
Cold water covered the floor.
The passage led beneath the property and emerged almost two hundred yards away.
They ran through darkness.
Behind them, men entered the tunnel.
Daniel fired twice.
“Keep moving!”
They reached a maintenance road.
Victor found an abandoned utility truck.
He broke the window and opened the door.
Mara stared at him.
“You know how to steal trucks?”
Victor started the engine.
“I've disappointed you in several ways tonight.”
Despite everything, she almost laughed.
They escaped.
Twenty minutes later, Adrian called a trusted driver from a secure phone at a gas station.
The group transferred vehicles.
Their destination was Brooklyn.
Julian remembered the storage company.
The unit still existed under a Vale trust.
They reached it after sunrise.
Rows of metal doors.
Unit 312.
Adrian unlocked it.
Boxes filled the space.
Childhood photographs.
Old furniture.
Sports equipment.
Julian searched.
Mara found a wooden case beneath a blanket.
“Is this it?”
Julian stared.
“My chess set.”
They placed it on a table.
Opened it.
Thirty-one pieces.
One missing.
The black king.
Adrian looked at Julian.
“Where is it?”
“I don't know.”
Mara searched the case.
There was a compartment underneath.
Empty.
Then she noticed handwriting.
Small.
Faded.
Inside the compartment.
Evelyn’s handwriting.
WHEN THE KING IS MISSING, FOLLOW THE SECOND WATCH.
Everyone looked at Julian.
His hand moved slowly toward his wrist.
He wasn't wearing either watch.
Adrian whispered:
“Where are they?”
Julian’s face changed.
“My apartment.”
“You have an apartment?”
“Under another name.”
“Where?”
“Brooklyn Heights.”
They drove there.
Julian led them into an old brownstone.
Third floor.
The apartment looked untouched.
He entered the bedroom.
Opened a drawer.
Stopped.
The watches were gone.
In their place lay a white envelope.
Julian picked it up.
His name was written across the front.
Fresh ink.
Mara looked toward the apartment door.
It slowly swung shut behind them.
The lock clicked.
Then a telephone began ringing inside the bedroom closet.
Julian opened the closet.
There was no phone.
Only a laptop.
Its screen suddenly turned on.
A live video appeared.
A man sat behind a desk.
Adrian recognized the room.
His father's old study.
The man leaned toward the camera.
Alexander whispered his name.
“Nathaniel Cross.”
Cross smiled.
May you like
Then he held up Julian’s second watch.
And beside him, someone tied to a chair slowly lifted their head.
