Chapter 10 - Three Men in the Warehouse
The warehouse stood along the riverfront.
Abandoned shipping property.
No active cameras.
No nearby businesses.
Perfect for people who didn’t want witnesses.
Ava watched from a surveillance van half a mile away.
Federal tactical teams prepared around the perimeter.
Naomi checked her vest.
Marcus sat beside Rebecca Sloan, who had insisted on coming to identify her husband.
Claire remained under protection.
Ava stared at the thermal feed.
Three heat signatures in the main room.
Several others around the warehouse.
Crane had guards.
Sloan had men too.
Nobody knew which side they were on.
Patrick was somewhere inside.
Marcus said, “We wait for confirmation.”
Ava shook her head.
“They’re going to kill him.”
“We don’t know that.”
“I do.”
Naomi placed a hand on Ava’s shoulder.
“We do this properly.”
Ava looked at her.
“My father trusted proper channels.”
Naomi didn’t flinch.
“And that is exactly why we don’t repeat what happened to him.”
Ava hated that Naomi was right.
Inside the warehouse, Raymond Sloan stood facing Victor Crane.
Patrick sat tied to a chair between them.
Unknown to both men, a tiny transmitter was hidden inside Patrick’s belt buckle.
A gift from Naomi before Patrick disappeared.
He hadn’t betrayed them.
He had gone undercover.
The audio crackled through the van.
Crane spoke first.
“You told me Mercer attacked you.”
Sloan answered, “He did.”
Patrick laughed.
Sloan hit him.
“Quiet.”
Crane’s voice remained calm.
“For nineteen years, Raymond, I believed Daniel Mercer died because a frightened detective made a mistake.”
“He reached for his gun.”
Patrick spat blood.
“No, he didn’t.”
Sloan turned.
Crane said, “Patrick was there?”
Ava stiffened.
Patrick answered.
“Not close enough to stop it.”
Crane said, “But close enough to know.”
Sloan’s voice changed.
“Victor.”
Crane continued.
“Rebecca told him.”
Silence.
Sloan whispered, “You found Rebecca?”
“Not yet.”
Sloan relaxed slightly.
Crane laughed.
“Your wife spent twenty years hiding a daughter from both of us.”
Rebecca closed her eyes inside the van.
Crane continued.
“And you spent twenty years stealing from me.”
Sloan said nothing.
Crane’s voice lost its calm.
“How much?”
“Victor—”
“How much?”
Sloan answered.
“Twenty-three million.”
Crane laughed softly.
A terrifying sound.
“You killed Daniel because he discovered your theft.”
“He would have destroyed everything.”
“No.”
Crane moved closer.
“He would have destroyed you.”
Ava looked at Marcus.
“We have the confession.”
“Not enough.”
“What?”
“We need the network.”
Crane provided it.
He began naming accounts.
Officers.
Judges.
Businesses.
Sloan interrupted.
“You think they’ll remain loyal after tonight?”
“They are loyal to money.”
“They’re loyal to survival.”
Patrick spoke.
“Neither of you understands why Daniel beat you.”
Crane turned.
“What did you say?”
“He knew cowards always think other people are cowards too.”
Sloan punched Patrick again.
Ava stood.
Naomi grabbed her.
“Not yet.”
Patrick continued.
“You thought Daniel would trade evidence for his life.”
Crane said, “He tried.”
“No.”
Patrick smiled despite the blood.
“He made you think he would.”
Ava understood what Patrick was doing.
Provoking them.
Crane stepped closer.
“Where is the ledger?”
Patrick laughed.
“You still haven’t found it.”
Crane’s patience finally broke.
He drew a pistol.
In the van, Naomi said, “Teams move.”
Federal agents advanced.
Inside, Sloan shouted.
“Wait!”
Crane aimed at Patrick.
Sloan aimed at Crane.
Patrick kicked backward, tipping the chair.
Gunfire erupted.
The tactical team breached three doors simultaneously.
Ava entered with Naomi.
“FEDERAL AGENTS!”
Crane’s guards fired.
Chaos.
Ava ducked behind machinery.
Naomi covered her.
Sloan ran toward a side exit.
Rebecca saw him on the surveillance screen.
“He’s leaving!”
Ava pursued.
She found Sloan near the loading dock.
He turned and fired.
The bullet struck a steel beam beside her.
Ava returned fire.
Sloan dropped behind a forklift.
“Your father screamed your name!” he shouted.
Ava froze.
He laughed.
“You want to know his last words?”
Ava’s hands tightened around her weapon.
Sloan continued.
“He begged.”
Ava remembered Daniel’s recording.
His calm voice.
His courage.
She knew what Sloan was doing.
“You’re lying.”
Sloan stepped partly into view.
“You were eight years old.”
“And you’re still scared of him.”
Sloan’s smile vanished.
Ava continued.
“Nineteen years later, you are still trying to destroy Daniel Mercer.”
Sloan fired again.
Ava ducked.
“So who won?”
Sloan screamed and charged.
Ava fired once.
The bullet struck his leg.
He collapsed.
Ava approached carefully.
Sloan reached for his weapon.
She kicked it away.
“You should kill me.”
Ava handcuffed him.
“No.”
He laughed painfully.
“Why?”
“Because my father believed in evidence.”
She pulled him upright.
“And you’re going to spend the rest of your life becoming it.”
Back inside, Crane had escaped through the river tunnel.
Again.
Patrick survived with a broken rib and concussion.
Fourteen members of Crane’s network were arrested.
Raymond Sloan’s confession had been recorded.
By sunrise, news organizations across the country were reporting the biggest police corruption scandal in Northbridge history.
But Victor Crane remained free.
Chief Malcolm Vale remained missing.
And then Ava received a package.
No return address.
Inside was Daniel Mercer’s Medal of Valor.
The medal that was supposed to be locked inside City Hall.
Crane had taken it first.
The microfilm compartment was empty.
A handwritten note lay underneath.
THANK YOU FOR FINDING THE OTHER HALF.
Ava stared.
Crane had manipulated them.
He had allowed them to discover the ledger so he could learn where the missing evidence was located.
Marcus said, “What other half?”
Ava understood.
“The death certificate.”
Crane had the medal.
Now he needed the authorization codes hidden inside his original death record.
If he recovered both, he could access the hidden fortune.
And disappear forever.
Naomi grabbed her coat.
“State archives.”
Marcus shook his head.
“Closed overnight.”
Ava was already calling.
Nobody answered.
Then the fire department scanner came alive.
Structure fire.
State Historical Records Building.
Ava stared toward Naomi.
Victor Crane hated fire.
Which meant he would never enter a burning building himself.
He had sent someone else.
Ava ran.
Inside the records building, flames were already consuming the second floor.
Firefighters shouted at them to stay back.
Ava showed credentials.
“Criminal evidence is inside.”
“You’re not going in.”
Then a firefighter emerged carrying an unconscious man.
Ava recognized him.
Chief Malcolm Vale.
Alive.
Barely.
He opened his eyes.
“Ava.”
She knelt.
“Who brought you here?”
“Crane.”
“Why?”
“He needed me to open the archive.”
“Did he get the death certificate?”
Malcolm coughed.
“No.”
Relief.
Then he grabbed her sleeve.
“But somebody else did.”
“Who?”
Malcolm looked toward the burning building.
A woman stepped from the smoke carrying a sealed archive folder.
Rebecca Sloan.
Ava stared.
Rebecca walked toward them.
Then stopped.
She held up the folder.
Victor Crane’s original death certificate.
Rebecca whispered:
“He wants his daughter.”
Ava’s blood went cold.
“Claire?”
Rebecca nodded.
“He called me.”
“What did he say?”
Rebecca began crying.
“He said I have until midnight.”
Ava looked at the archive folder.
“Give him the codes, and he takes Claire anyway.”
“I know.”
“Then what are you planning?”
Rebecca looked toward the river.
“For twenty-eight years I have been afraid of Victor Crane.”
May you like
Her hands stopped shaking.
“Tonight he gets to be afraid of me.”
