Chapter 3 - THE MAN WHO HELPED KILL MEI had spent eight years believing fear had limits.
I was wrong.
Fear could evolve.
At twenty-four, fear had been flames crawling up the walls of my childhood home.
At twenty-five, it had been waking every two hours because I thought footsteps were outside my apartment.
At thirty, fear had become quieter.
A strange car.
A face seen twice.
A phone call with nobody on the other end.
But seeing Detective Warren Hale standing inside my hospital room made every old nightmare feel new.
He had been there the night my father supposedly died.
Not at the fire.
Afterward.
He had found me two counties away, barefoot and covered in soot.
He had been a young federal task-force officer then.
He had promised to protect me.
Instead, he delivered me to the men hunting my father.
I escaped only because the vehicle transporting me was struck at an intersection.
For years, I had assumed Hale thought I died afterward.
Apparently not.
Dominic stood between us.
“Explain.”
Hale gave him an amused look.
“This doesn’t concern you.”
“She took three bullets protecting my son.”
“That was unfortunate.”
Dominic moved so quickly Hale barely had time to react.
One moment Hale was standing.
The next, Dominic had him against the wall.
“Choose your next sentence carefully.”
Hale didn’t look frightened.
That frightened me.
Men who weren’t afraid of Dominic Mercer usually believed someone more powerful stood behind them.
“Dominic.”
He looked at me.
“Let him go.”
His jaw tightened.
“Elena—”
“Don’t call me that.”
Dominic released Hale.
The detective adjusted his collar.
“You always were smart.”
“You tried to hand me to killers.”
“I was following orders.”
“Whose?”
Hale smiled.
“That is why you’re still alive.”
Dominic turned.
“What does that mean?”
Hale ignored him.
“Elena, your father needs you.”
“My father is dead.”
“No.”
“I watched the house collapse.”
“You watched a house collapse.”
My fingers went numb.
Hale took out his phone.
Dominic’s security man immediately entered.
“No weapons,” Vincent warned.
Hale chuckled.
“I’m showing her a video.”
He placed the phone on my blanket.
The footage lasted nine seconds.
An older man sat at a metal table.
Gray hair.
Thin face.
A scar across his left temple.
But I knew those eyes.
My father looked into the camera.
“Elena.”
I stopped breathing.
“If you are seeing this, they found you.”
My eyes burned.
He continued.
“Do not give them the archive.”
The recording ended.
I stared at the black screen.
Hale reached for the phone.
Dominic caught his wrist.
“When was this recorded?”
“Three days ago.”
“Where?”
Hale smiled.
“That information costs something.”
“You came into my hospital asking for a ledger.”
“Archive.”
“Whatever you call it.”
Dominic leaned closer.
“You’re going to tell us where Elias Voss is.”
Hale glanced at Vincent.
Then at the hallway.
“You think your people control this building?”
“They do.”
“For the last hour, perhaps.”
Dominic’s eyes changed.
Hale smiled.
“You should ask who was here before them.”
Vincent’s phone rang.
He stepped away.
Seconds later, all color left his face.
“Boss.”
Dominic turned.
“What?”
“Caleb’s gone.”
The world stopped.
Dominic didn’t move.
Vincent continued quickly.
“Your sister was with him in the family lounge. Fire alarm went off. Security cameras looped for ninety seconds.”
Dominic turned toward Hale.
The detective was already smiling.
“Now,” Hale said, “we can negotiate.”
I tried to stand.
Pain ripped through my side.
Dominic caught me.
“Stay down.”
“They took him because of me.”
“They took him because they made a mistake.”
I had never heard a voice become that cold.
Hale’s confidence flickered.
Only slightly.
Dominic looked at Vincent.
“Close every exit.”
“Already done.”
“Parking garage.”
“Being searched.”
“Roof?”
“Two men heading there.”
Hale laughed.
“You’re too late.”
Dominic looked at him.
“No.”
Then he took Hale’s phone and threw it against the wall.
“You are.”
Hale lunged.
Vincent pinned him.
Dominic pulled out his own phone.
“Find my son.”
I grabbed his sleeve.
“The archive.”
“What?”
“They won’t hurt Caleb until they have it.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know these people.”
Dominic stared at me.
“Then tell me where it is.”
I closed my eyes.
Eight years.
Eight years protecting the one thing my father had told me never to surrender.
Now a six-year-old child was paying the price.
“There’s a train station in Connecticut,” I whispered. “Old Mill Junction.”
Hale stopped struggling.
I saw it.
Recognition.
Dominic saw it too.
“Keep talking.”
“Locker room was removed years ago, but one of the old station walls is original. Behind the third brass timetable plate, there’s a cavity.”
“What’s inside?”
“A key.”
“To what?”
“A safe-deposit box.”
“Where?”
“Manhattan.”
Hale started laughing.
“That bank closed six years ago.”
I looked at him.
“I know.”
His laughter stopped.
Dominic understood.
“You moved it.”
“Twice.”
Hale’s face hardened.
Good.
For the first time, he didn’t know more than I did.
Dominic bent toward me.
“Where is it now?”
“I’ll tell you after Caleb is safe.”
“Someone kidnapped my child.”
“And if they get what they want, they’ll kill everyone who knows it exists.”
“We don’t have time for games.”
“This isn’t a game.”
Our eyes locked.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
Dominic answered.
A distorted voice said, “Mr. Mercer.”
Dominic’s hand tightened.
“Put my son on.”
“You’ll hear him after Ms. Voss follows instructions.”
“Touch him and—”
“You cannot threaten a man you cannot find.”
A sound came over the line.
Caleb crying.
“Daddy?”
Dominic closed his eyes.
“I’m here.”
“I want to go home.”
“You are going home.”
The distorted voice returned.
“Midnight tomorrow. Pier Seventeen.”
“For what?”
“Elena brings the archive.”
“And my son?”
“Comes home.”
“No.”
Every person in the room looked at me.
I forced myself upright.
“No exchange.”
The voice went silent.
I continued.
“You prove Caleb is alive every two hours.”
“Ms. Voss—”
“And I speak with my father.”
Silence.
“If Elias is alive, put him on the phone.”
The voice laughed.
“You are in no position to negotiate.”
“I’m the only person alive who knows where the archive is.”
Hale stared at me.
I smiled through the pain.
“And if I die, it dies with me.”
That was a lie.
My father had taught me something Hale never learned.
Information was useless if it had only one guardian.
The voice changed.
“One hour.”
The call ended.
Dominic stared at me.
“You’re coming with me.”
“I can barely walk.”
“I didn’t ask you to walk.”
Vincent stepped forward.
“Boss, hospital security—”
“Get a doctor.”
“Dominic.”
He looked at me.
“You saved my son once.”
His voice cracked for the first time.
“I won’t let you have to do it twice.”
I should have told him the truth then.
Instead, I looked toward the shattered phone.
Because something was bothering me.
Hale had known Caleb would be taken.
He had entered my room minutes before the kidnapping.
Which meant he had expected the fire alarm.
Expected the cameras to fail.
Expected Dominic’s security to be distracted.
But Hale wasn’t looking toward the door anymore.
He was looking at Vincent.
And Vincent was looking back.
For less than one second.
That was all.
But I saw it.
My blood turned cold.
May you like
The traitor wasn’t outside Dominic’s organization.
He was standing three feet away from him.
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