Chapter 13 - The Door Beneath the Docks
“Move.”
Victor did not waste time.
Daniel examined the explosives.
Leo searched the walls.
Thomas helped Sarah carry Gavin.
Lana looked at the three-key mechanism.
“Ingrid designed this chamber.”
Evelyn nodded.
“She would have built another exit.”
Lana remembered the bedtime rhyme.
Seven ships sleep where black tides turn.
Three keys wake what fire cannot burn.
She whispered the next line.
“When water rises, follow the bell.”
Victor heard her.
“What?”
“The rhyme.”
Lana searched the wall.
A small brass bell was engraved near the floor.
She pressed it.
Nothing.
She twisted it.
A panel opened.
Behind it was a tunnel.
“Found it.”
They escaped with ninety seconds remaining.
The explosion shook the pier.
Flames burst through the warehouse roof.
But the original archive had already been copied.
Marcus had destroyed nothing that mattered.
Gavin survived the gunshot.
The bullet missed his heart.
Sarah rode with him to the hospital.
Before the ambulance left, Gavin caught Victor’s hand.
“Marcus has one more place.”
“Where?”
“Your father's grave.”
Victor frowned.
“Why?”
“Anthony buried something with him.”
At the cemetery, they found the grave disturbed.
The coffin had been opened.
Inside was no body.
Only another recording.
Victor pressed play.
Anthony’s voice.
“If Edward’s sons ever hear this, know that neither of you owes your father loyalty to his sins.”
Victor looked at Gavin’s empty place beside them.
The recording continued.
“Marcus, if you are listening, I tried to save you too.”
Marcus stood behind them.
Gun raised.
“I didn't need saving.”
Victor slowly turned.
“Yes, you did.”
Marcus’s eyes were red.
“You got everything.”
“No.”
“My father loved power. Anthony loved you. Ingrid protected Lana. Evelyn protected you. Everybody protected somebody.”
His gun shook.
“Nobody protected me.”
Victor did not deny it.
“Then let it stop with us.”
Marcus laughed.
“You think mercy fixes childhood?”
“No.”
Victor stepped closer.
“But murder won't.”
Marcus aimed at him.
Lana stood frozen.
Leo had a shot but could not take it without risking Victor.
Victor continued.
“Your brother is alive.”
Marcus hesitated.
“Gavin?”
“Alive.”
Something moved behind Marcus’s eyes.
Victor saw it.
“So this is your choice.”
Marcus’s finger tightened.
“Don't talk to me about choices.”
“Why not? You gave Gavin one. Betray me or lose Sarah.”
Victor took another step.
“You gave Klaus one. Kill or be killed.”
Another.
“You built your entire life forcing other people into corners.”
Marcus’s breathing became ragged.
“Now nobody is forcing you.”
For one second, Lana thought he might surrender.
Then headlights appeared.
A black SUV entered the cemetery.
Marcus smiled.
“You're wrong.”
The passenger door opened.
Captain Pierce stepped out.
Impossible.
Leo had watched police take him away.
Victor stared.
Pierce smiled.
“The man arrested at Hawthorne wasn't me.”
A double.
Another deception.
Pierce raised his weapon.
Marcus looked suddenly uncertain.
Pierce aimed not at Victor.
At Marcus.
“You've become inconvenient.”
Marcus understood too late.
The alliance had never belonged to him either.
He was another disposable piece.
Pierce fired.
Victor shoved Marcus aside.
The bullet struck stone.
Leo returned fire.
Pierce fled into the mausoleum.
Victor looked down at Marcus.
“You saved me?”
“No.”
“I just ruined his shot.”
“Of course.”
Marcus almost laughed.
Then his face changed.
He looked toward the mausoleum.
“Pierce has the master list.”
“What master list?”
“The names of everyone still operating.”
Victor grabbed him.
“Where?”
Marcus pointed toward the mausoleum.
Inside, a hidden staircase descended.
Lana followed.
At the bottom stood an iron door.
Pierce’s voice came from beyond it.
Then another voice answered him.
A woman.
Evelyn stopped cold.
“I know that voice.”
Victor looked at her.
“Who is it?”
Evelyn stared at the opening door.
May you like
“My sister.”
And the woman everyone believed had died twenty-two years earlier stepped into the light...
