Chapter 6 - THE HARBOR IS OPEN
The old railway bridge had been abandoned for nearly a decade. Rusted beams crossed the river like the bones of something too large to bury. Lucas arrived in a black sedan with Marco at the wheel and three trusted men following at a distance.
He carried a leather case.
Inside it was not the ledger. It held blank paper and a tracking device.
“Once we see Lily, we move,” Marco said.
Lucas looked at the dark bridge. “No shooting unless they give us no choice.”
“You’re asking a lot from men who kidnapped a child.”
“I’m asking them to bring her home alive.”
A figure emerged from the shadows. Victor stood beside a concrete pillar, his hands in his pockets. Lily sat on a wooden crate behind him. Her cheeks were wet, but she was sitting upright.
“Lily!” Lucas called.
She twisted around. “Mister Lucas!”
Victor raised one hand. “Easy. She’s fine. For now.”
Lucas set the case on the ground. “Let her go.”
“Where is the ledger?”
“Where is the music box?”
Victor smiled. “You always were good at avoiding a question.”
Lily looked at Lucas and then at the small gap beneath the crate. She had slipped the music box out of her pocket and pushed it under the boards when Victor wasn’t watching.
Lucas caught the movement. He gave the smallest nod.
Victor opened the case and found blank pages. His expression changed.
“You think this is a game?”
“No,” Lucas said. “I think you’re running out of time.”
Victor drew a pistol. Marco’s men stepped from the darkness, weapons raised. For a few seconds, the bridge held its breath.
Then a truck engine roared beneath the far end.
Its headlights flooded the structure. The driver leaned on the horn. Victor glanced toward the noise, and Lucas moved.
He crossed the distance in three strides, knocking Victor’s gun aside. The shot went into the river. Marco reached Lily and lifted her from the crate. She clung to his neck.
Victor struck Lucas across the face and ran toward the bridge exit. Lucas followed, but a second car blocked the road. A man stepped out, wearing a dark coat and holding a long-barreled weapon.
“Lucas!” Marco shouted.
The man fired. Lucas dropped behind a concrete barrier. The attacker turned toward the truck, giving Victor enough time to escape into the night.
Marco returned fire only after Lily was safely behind the sedan. The gunman fled. By the time the police sirens began to rise in the distance, Victor was gone.
Lucas checked Lily’s arms and face. “Are you hurt?”
She shook her head. “I hid the box.”
“Where?”
“Under the wood. I thought he wanted it.”
Marco retrieved it. Beneath its base, the tiny brass key was still in place.
Back at the mansion, Elena wrapped Lily in a blanket. Isabella held her for a long time, whispering thanks. Lucas stood nearby, unable to look away from the child who had saved him twice.
The music box opened with the brass key. Inside was a memory card wrapped in wax paper. It contained scanned pages from the Bellweather Foundation ledger, along with photographs, payment records, and a list of names.
One name made Marco swear.
“Judge Arthur Kessler,” he said. “He’s been handling the investigations into the warehouse fire.”
Lucas read the list. A police captain. Two hospital administrators. A city councilman. The doctor who had signed Isabella’s false death certificate.
Victor had not built a private conspiracy. He had built a network.
A call came through on the secure phone. The voice on the other end was old, calm, and unmistakable.
“Lucas Moretti,” it said. “I heard you found Thomas’s evidence.”
“Who is this?”
“Someone who promised Isabella I would keep the boy safe.”
Lucas gripped the phone. “Where is Daniel?”
“Alive. And asking why his father took so long.”
May you like
Lucas shut his eyes.
The caller gave him an address in the Hudson Valley and one warning: “Come without your men. If Victor learns the boy’s location, he’ll burn the last bridge between you.”
