Chapter 5 - The Dead Man Called Back
Elena stared at the message.
No one moved.
Another knock hit the apartment door.
“Federal agents! Open the door!”
Sofia looked at Luciano.
“You need to leave.”
He shook his head.
“No.”
“If they arrest you now, Crane controls everything.”
“I run, I look guilty.”
“You are guilty of plenty.”
“Not Anthony.”
Elena held up her phone.
“My father.”
Luciano looked.
The message remained on screen.
YOUR FATHER IS ALIVE.
Then another message appeared.
IF YOU WANT TO SEE HIM, COME TO PIER 46. ALONE.
Camilla said, “It's a trap.”
Elena grabbed her coat.
Luciano stopped her.
“No.”
“If there's even a chance—”
“There isn't.”
“You don't know that.”
“I know men who send messages like this.”
Elena pulled free.
“And I know what it feels like to bury an empty coffin.”
Luciano froze.
“What?”
Elena looked at him.
“My father's body was never released.”
“Why?”
“They said it was too damaged.”
Sofia stepped closer.
“You never saw him?”
Elena shook her head.
“They identified him through dental records.”
Luciano looked at Camilla.
Camilla's face had gone pale.
“Crane handled the investigation.”
Everyone understood at once.
The federal agents knocked again.
Sofia moved toward a bookcase.
“There is another way out.”
Luciano stared.
“You have a hidden exit?”
“You're not the only paranoid Calvano.”
She pressed a switch.
A narrow service door opened.
“Where?”
“Next building.”
Luciano looked toward the front door.
“Go.”
Sofia frowned.
“You?”
“I'll stay.”
“No.”
“If all of us disappear, Crane knows we're together.”
Camilla stepped forward.
“Dad.”
Luciano looked at her.
“Take Elena to the pier.”
“You said it was a trap.”
“It is.”
“Then why?”
“Because now we know where part of the trap is.”
He gave Gabriel instructions.
Sofia protested.
Luciano cut her off.
“Someone has to get arrested.”
Elena stared at him.
“You'd do that?”
“For your father?”
He shook his head.
“For time.”
Sofia pulled Camilla toward the exit.
Elena remained.
Luciano said, “Go.”
She hesitated.
“Why are you helping me?”
Luciano looked toward Isabella's dark computer screen.
“Because your father trusted me to do one thing right.”
Elena left.
Luciano closed the hidden door.
Thirty seconds later, federal agents broke in.
He placed his gun on the floor.
Raised his hands.
And smiled when Elliot Crane himself walked through the door.
Crane wore a dark overcoat.
Perfect tie.
Perfect hair.
Perfect public servant.
“You saved us trouble,” Crane said.
Luciano looked at him.
“Did I?”
Agents handcuffed him.
Crane leaned closer.
“You should have retired.”
Luciano smiled.
“So should you.”
Crane's eyes sharpened.
He had expected fear.
Luciano gave him none.
At Pier 46, Elena stepped out of Gabriel's car.
Camilla stayed hidden in the rear seat.
Sofia monitored from another vehicle three blocks away.
Elena walked alone toward the warehouse.
The river smelled metallic.
Lights buzzed overhead.
A man waited inside.
Not Anthony.
Marco.
Elena stopped.
“You escaped.”
Marco shook his head.
“Your friends let me go.”
That was true.
Sofia had released him before the agents entered.
Luciano had ordered it.
Marco tossed Elena a phone.
A video call was active.
Anthony Russo appeared on screen.
Alive.
Older.
Thin.
A scar crossed one side of his face.
Elena stopped breathing.
“Dad?”
Anthony's eyes filled.
“Ellie.”
She nearly dropped the phone.
“No.”
“Elena—”
“You're dead.”
“I know.”
“You let me bury you.”
“I know.”
“Eight months.”
“I know.”
Her voice broke.
“You let me believe you were dead.”
Anthony closed his eyes.
“It was the only way.”
“For who?”
“For you.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“That was for you.”
Marco watched silently.
Anthony said, “Crane found out I copied the files. Marco was ordered to bring me in.”
Elena looked toward Marco.
“He didn't kill you.”
“No.”
“What happened?”
Marco answered.
“I moved him.”
“Why?”
“Because I realized Crane would kill him after getting the files.”
Elena stared.
“You saved him?”
Marco nodded.
“Then why did you kidnap me?”
“To keep Daniel from doing it first.”
Everything Elena had believed shifted.
Marco was not innocent.
But he was not what she thought.
Anthony continued.
“I've been hiding because Crane controls federal agents, police, everyone I tried.”
“Why didn't you contact me?”
“Because they watched you.”
Elena cried now.
Quietly.
Angrily.
“You should have trusted me.”
Anthony said nothing.
That silence told her he knew she was right.
“Where are you?”
“Safe for now.”
“Where?”
“Marco will take you.”
Marco looked toward the warehouse doors.
“No.”
Anthony's expression changed.
“What?”
Marco reached beneath his jacket.
“Someone followed her.”
Gunfire shattered a window.
Marco shoved Elena behind a steel column.
Camilla ran from the car outside.
Gabriel fired toward the warehouse roof.
Elena screamed, “Camilla!”
Marco returned fire.
A black SUV raced toward them.
“Move!”
They ran.
Inside federal headquarters, Luciano sat in an interrogation room.
Crane entered alone.
He placed a folder on the table.
“Twelve murders.”
Luciano looked bored.
“Nine companies involved in narcotics.”
Silence.
“Three weapons shipments.”
Luciano smiled faintly.
Crane leaned closer.
“You're finished.”
Luciano said, “Anthony Russo is alive.”
Crane froze.
Just slightly.
But Luciano saw it.
Crane recovered.
“You're bluffing.”
“You should work on your face.”
Crane sat.
“If Anthony were alive, he'd have surfaced.”
“He was afraid of you.”
Crane's jaw tightened.
Luciano continued.
“And now you're afraid of him.”
Crane stood.
“What do you want?”
There it was.
The prosecutor vanished.
The Architect appeared.
Luciano leaned back.
“I want my empire.”
Crane laughed.
“You don't have one anymore.”
“Neither do you.”
Crane stopped.
Luciano smiled.
“My wife built Ledger 17.”
Crane's face changed.
That was the first real fear Luciano saw.
“You don't know what that is.”
“I know there are seventeen pillars.”
Crane said nothing.
“You have sixteen.”
Crane's hand tightened around the chair.
“You need the foundation.”
Luciano leaned closer.
“And you'll never get it.”
Crane stared at him.
Then he smiled.
“You underestimate me.”
Luciano shook his head.
“No.”
“I learned not to do that tonight.”
Crane walked to the door.
Before leaving, he turned.
“Camilla signed the foundation transfer two hours ago.”
Luciano's face went still.
Crane smiled.
“Your daughter just gave me Pillar Seventeen.”
The door closed.
Luciano looked at the mirrored glass.
For the first time all night, he felt genuine fear.
Then an agent entered.
Not one of Crane's men.
The agent silently placed a phone on the table.
A live video showed Camilla inside the warehouse.
Blood ran down one side of her face.
She looked directly into the camera.
“Dad.”
Behind her, Anthony Russo stepped from the shadows.
May you like
Then he raised a gun.
And pointed it at Camilla.
