Chapter 5 - The Man Beside Alexander
Daniel raised both hands.
“It's not me.”
Alexander stared at him.
The gun clicked again.
Behind them.
Sofia turned first.
A man stood in the study doorway.
Russo security uniform.
Forties.
Scar near his chin.
Alexander knew him.
Peter Caine.
Seven years working estate security.
Sofia recognized him too.
Not from Chicago.
From Vienna.
“Peter.”
He smiled.
“Hello, Seraphina.”
Daniel swore.
Peter held the gun steadily.
“Everyone stays where they are.”
Alexander looked at him.
“You have Isabella.”
“I helped take her.”
“Then you have one opportunity to keep breathing.”
Peter laughed.
“There he is.”
Sofia shifted slightly.
Peter aimed at her.
“Don't.”
She stopped.
“I remember you.”
“You should.”
“You were medical security.”
“Yes.”
“The night I was shot.”
“Yes.”
“You helped Gabriel implant it.”
Peter smiled.
“You always were quick.”
Alexander's voice became quiet.
“Where is my sister?”
“Pier Seventeen.”
“Alive?”
“For now.”
Daniel asked, “Why did the message mention me?”
Peter looked at him.
“Because you're carrying something we need.”
Daniel frowned.
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
Peter nodded toward his jacket.
“Inside pocket.”
Daniel slowly reached in.
Alexander watched carefully.
Daniel pulled out the photograph of Sofia and Lorenzo.
Peter said, “Tear the backing.”
Daniel did.
Inside was a thin transparent strip covered in microscopic markings.
Sofia understood.
“Encryption key.”
Peter nodded.
“Half of one.”
“And the other half?”
Peter looked at Sofia's shoulder.
Everyone understood.
Alexander moved before Peter expected him to.
He grabbed the heavy recorder from the desk and threw it.
Peter flinched.
Sofia lunged sideways.
Daniel slammed into Peter.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Elena kicked his wrist.
The weapon dropped.
Alexander caught Peter by the collar and drove him against the wall.
“Where is Isabella?”
Peter laughed through blood on his lip.
“Already told you.”
“Who has her?”
Peter smiled.
“You really haven't figured it out?”
Alexander punched him once.
Sofia caught Alexander's arm before the second strike.
“Don't.”
“He took my sister.”
“He's useful alive.”
Alexander stared at Peter.
Then released him.
Daniel restrained him with a belt.
Elena searched his pockets.
Phone.
Keys.
Two magazines.
A small black card.
Sofia looked at the card.
“Access credential.”
“To where?”
“Pier Seventeen.”
Alexander took Peter's phone.
Locked.
Sofia held it in front of Peter's face.
Face recognition opened.
Peter smiled.
“Should've closed my eyes.”
“You should've chosen a different career.”
She searched messages.
Most deleted.
One remained.
G.V.:
BRING THEM ALL.
Alexander read it.
“Gabriel.”
Sofia shook her head.
“Too obvious.”
“His initials.”
“Exactly.”
Daniel leaned over.
“Could be fake.”
Elena said, “Gabriel took me in after Vienna.”
Sofia looked at her.
“Took you in?”
“He found me injured.”
“He told me you were dead.”
“He told me you abandoned me.”
Sofia closed her eyes.
Years of separation.
Manufactured.
Alexander understood Gabriel's method.
Not brute force.
Isolation.
Turn people into pieces.
Then arrange them.
“Pier Seventeen,” Alexander said.
Daniel shook his head.
“It will be a trap.”
“Yes.”
“We need men.”
“No.”
“Alexander.”
“They have Isabella and Nico.”
“And if you walk in—”
“I didn't say I was walking in unprepared.”
He looked at Sofia.
For the first time since the rooftop, he asked her instead of deciding.
“What do you need?”
Something changed in her face.
Trust.
Not complete.
But returning.
“Thirty minutes.”
“You have twenty.”
“Deal.”
They moved.
Peter was left secured in the study with two loyal guards who arrived after Daniel restored communications.
Sofia changed clothes.
Not into tactical gear.
That surprised Alexander.
She returned wearing the same champagne dress, though she replaced the damaged heels with flat black shoes.
“You're going like that?”
“They expect the hostage from the rooftop.”
“You aren't a hostage anymore.”
“I never was.”
Alexander looked at her.
“That's becoming increasingly obvious.”
She stepped closer.
“I lied to you.”
“Yes.”
“I approached you because of your father.”
“Yes.”
“But I stayed because of you.”
He said nothing.
“I know tonight isn't the time.”
“No.”
“But if we don't survive, there may not be another.”
Alexander's jaw tightened.
“We're surviving.”
Sofia nodded.
“Then I'll tell you again afterward.”
Daniel interrupted from the doorway.
“Romantic. Can we rescue the child now?”
Pier Seventeen belonged to Russo Logistics.
Long warehouse.
Container yard.
Private docking lane.
At 2:41 a.m., Alexander's SUV stopped three blocks away.
They approached on foot.
Sofia mapped the entry.
Daniel disabled two cameras using Peter's credentials.
Elena positioned herself near the west loading bay.
Alexander entered through the main door.
Alone.
Or apparently alone.
Gabriel stood in the center of the warehouse.
Isabella sat twenty feet behind him.
Nico beside her.
Both restrained.
Alive.
Alexander exhaled.
Gabriel smiled.
“Good.”
“Release them.”
“You know better.”
“Then stop wasting time.”
Gabriel looked impressed.
“You really are Lorenzo's son.”
Alexander looked behind him.
Four armed men.
Two overhead.
One beside Isabella.
Sofia had counted correctly.
Seven.
Gabriel said, “Where is she?”
Alexander shrugged.
“Escaped.”
Gabriel's expression changed.
“Don't.”
“You kidnapped the wrong woman.”
“I know exactly who I kidnapped.”
“Then you should have known she'd escape.”
Gabriel smiled slowly.
“You love her.”
Alexander said nothing.
“That is the unexpected variable.”
“You brought me here to discuss my marriage?”
“No.”
Gabriel lifted a portable scanner.
“I need what's inside her.”
Alexander's eyes hardened.
“You cut her open and you die.”
Gabriel smiled.
“You said that like the second part changes the first.”
Alexander stepped forward.
A gun pressed against Isabella's temple.
He stopped.
Gabriel said, “Call Sofia.”
Alexander removed his phone.
He called.
Sofia answered.
“Put her on speaker.”
He did.
Gabriel spoke.
“Seraphina.”
Sofia's voice came calmly.
“Yes?”
“You can hear Isabella crying?”
Isabella wasn't.
That almost made Alexander smile.
Gabriel continued.
“Come inside.”
Sofia said, “No.”
Gabriel frowned.
“If you don't, they die.”
“No, they don't.”
Alexander looked toward the rafters.
Gabriel followed his gaze too late.
The lights vanished.
One shot.
Not toward a person.
Toward the overhead chain supporting a cargo net.
The net dropped.
Two gunmen fell beneath it.
Elena entered from the west.
Daniel cut Isabella's restraints.
Alexander rushed Gabriel.
Chaos erupted.
But Sofia didn't enter.
Gabriel noticed.
Even while Alexander drove him against a crate, Gabriel smiled.
“You still don't understand.”
Alexander punched him.
“Understand what?”
Gabriel laughed.
“Why do you think we wanted Daniel here?”
Alexander looked toward Daniel.
Daniel had freed Isabella.
Nico was running toward Elena.
Then Daniel froze.
A red laser dot appeared on his chest.
Sofia shouted through Alexander's phone:
“Daniel, DON'T MOVE!”
Everyone stopped.
A voice came from the upper catwalk.
Female.
Calm.
Familiar to Sofia.
“I've waited five years for this.”
Sofia appeared at the warehouse entrance.
Her face went white.
She looked upward.
A woman stepped from the shadows.
Alexander had never seen her.
May you like
But Sofia whispered one word.
“Mother?”
