Chapter 4 - THE PRICE OF A CHILD
Nobody moved.
The tunnel was narrow enough that even breathing felt loud.
Lucia Delgato stood between them and the only exit.
Behind Damon were Selena, Ruby, Marcus, Gabriel, and two surviving security men.
In front of them was a woman who had spent months pretending to care for a child she now intended to use as leverage.
Damon had met monsters before.
Most announced themselves.
Lucia had tucked Ruby into bed.
That made her different.
“Put the phone down,” Damon said.
Lucia laughed softly.
“No.”
“Your brother isn't going to kill the boy.”
Gabriel looked at Damon as though he had lost his mind.
Lucia's smile disappeared.
“You think you know Mateo?”
“I know men who want something.”
Damon's voice stayed even.
“If he kills Noah, you lose leverage.”
“We already have different leverage.”
Her eyes shifted toward Ruby.
Selena pulled her daughter tighter.
Damon stepped sideways until his body blocked Lucia's view.
“You don't.”
“Really?”
Lucia tilted her head.
“You're standing between my gun and a housekeeper's daughter.”
The words were calculated.
Damon understood their purpose.
She wanted everyone in the tunnel to notice that the feared Damon Reyes had made himself a shield for someone who supposedly meant nothing.
He did not care.
Lucia saw that.
Her expression changed.
Interesting.
“You've become sentimental.”
“No.”
Damon looked at Gabriel.
“Just selective.”
Then he did something none of them expected.
He lowered his gun.
Marcus stared at him.
“Damon.”
“Stay out of it.”
Lucia watched carefully.
Damon reached toward Ruby.
“Sweetheart.”
Ruby buried her face against Selena.
“Can I see Bunny?”
She shook her head.
“He's scared.”
“So am I.”
Ruby looked up.
It was the first time Damon Reyes had admitted fear in front of anyone in years.
Maybe ever.
“I need to borrow him.”
“Will you give him back?”
“Yes.”
Ruby hesitated before handing him the rabbit.
Damon held the worn stuffed animal.
Lucia's eyes sharpened.
“Open it.”
“No.”
“I said—”
“You want the drive?”
Damon looked at her.
“Come get it.”
Marcus whispered something furious behind him.
Gabriel stepped forward.
“Don't.”
Damon ignored him.
He took two steps toward Lucia.
She raised her weapon.
“Stop.”
He stopped.
Only six feet separated them.
“You've known me a long time, Lucia.”
Her jaw tightened.
“You murdered my brother.”
“Your brother burned my sister alive.”
“You don't know what happened that night.”
“I watched the building burn.”
“Rafael wasn't supposed to—”
She stopped.
Too late.
Damon caught it.
Marcus did too.
Damon's voice changed.
“Finish that sentence.”
Lucia's face closed.
“Give me the drive.”
“What wasn't Rafael supposed to do?”
“Damon,” Gabriel said quietly.
Damon understood.
Lucia had just revealed something.
Something she had not intended.
He pressed.
“Rafael ordered the fire.”
“Yes.”
“But?”
Lucia's hand tightened.
“You want history while my brother surrounds this property?”
“I want the truth.”
She laughed.
“You don't deserve it.”
“Maybe not.”
Damon held up the rabbit.
“But you want this more than you want me ignorant.”
Silence.
Then Lucia said, “Rafael was supposed to burn the warehouse after everyone left.”
Damon felt something hollow open inside him.
“What?”
“He wanted insurance money. He wanted records destroyed. Your sister wasn't supposed to be there.”
Damon remembered Isabel's last phone call.
She had gone to the warehouse to retrieve paperwork.
He had blamed himself for not stopping her.
Lucia continued.
“Rafael learned too late.”
“And still ordered it?”
“No.”
The tunnel disappeared.
Damon heard only that word.
“No?”
“Mateo did.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
Marcus whispered, “Jesus.”
Lucia looked almost angry at herself now.
“Rafael tried to stop him.”
Damon's hand lowered.
“You're lying.”
“I hated Rafael for weakness. Mateo hated him more.”
She looked at him.
“Your revenge three years ago? Mateo wanted it. He made sure you found Rafael.”
Damon felt physically cold.
Rafael Delgato had died by Damon's order.
Damon had believed he was killing the man responsible for Isabel's death.
But Mateo had used him.
“You're saying Mateo sacrificed his own cousin.”
Lucia's lips tightened.
“My brother decided Rafael's guilt made him unreliable.”
“And now he wants revenge for the same man he betrayed?”
“He wants the drive.”
“Why?”
“Because Javier copied proof.”
Damon looked at the rabbit.
“Proof that Mateo ordered the fire.”
“Among other things.”
Gabriel whispered, “That's why they've hunted it for four years.”
Lucia lifted the gun again.
“Enough.”
Damon stared at her.
“If I give you the drive, what happens?”
“You leave.”
“No.”
She smiled.
“You don't believe me.”
“I'd have to be stupid.”
“Then perhaps I shoot someone until you become optimistic.”
Selena made a small sound.
Damon's face hardened.
Lucia saw it and smiled.
“That one bothers you.”
Damon moved without warning.
He threw the stuffed rabbit toward the ground between them.
Lucia's eyes followed it.
That was all Marcus needed.
He lunged.
The tunnel exploded into motion.
Lucia fired.
The shot struck stone.
Damon hit her wrist.
The gun fell.
Gabriel rushed forward.
Lucia slammed her elbow into his throat.
Marcus pinned her against the wall.
One security man kicked the weapon away.
The phone skidded across the floor.
Gabriel grabbed it.
“Noah?”
The screen remained live.
The teenager was still visible.
Alive.
But a masked man entered the frame.
Gabriel's face collapsed.
“No!”
The masked figure looked toward the camera.
“Lucia?”
No answer.
Gabriel snatched the phone.
“Don't touch him!”
The man paused.
“Who is this?”
“Gabriel.”
A laugh.
“Then you understand what happens now.”
The video went black.
Gabriel stared at the dead screen.
“Noah.”
Damon looked at Lucia.
Her expression had changed.
For the first time, she looked afraid.
“You just killed him,” she whispered.
Gabriel turned.
Damon expected him to attack her.
Instead Gabriel leaned against the wall, breathing as though his lungs had forgotten how to work.
“I did this.”
Damon watched him.
“I gave them your gates. Your cameras. Your men.”
His eyes filled.
“And now they have my son anyway.”
Damon picked up the rabbit.
The seam along its back had been cut recently.
He tore it open.
Inside the stuffing was a tiny black flash drive wrapped in plastic.
Selena stared.
“Javier.”
Damon held years of blood, betrayal, and proof between two fingers.
Lucia began laughing.
“You think that saves you?”
Damon looked at her.
“It saves nothing.”
“You can't use it. Half the names on there belong to people more powerful than you.”
“We'll see.”
She shook her head.
“My brother has judges. Police. Federal agents.”
“So did Rafael.”
“And he's dead.”
Damon's gaze sharpened.
“Apparently because your brother wanted him to be.”
Lucia went silent.
Marcus secured her wrists.
Damon looked at Gabriel.
“Where would they keep Noah?”
“I don't know.”
“Think.”
Gabriel wiped both hands over his face.
“They sent the videos from different rooms.”
“Details.”
“Concrete walls. Industrial lighting. Once I heard planes.”
Marcus frowned.
“Sky Harbor?”
“Too loud there.”
Damon thought.
Small airfield.
Private hangars.
There were several.
Gabriel suddenly looked up.
“In the last video there was writing on the wall behind him.”
“What writing?”
“Number eighteen.”
Damon turned to Marcus.
“Delgato properties near airfields with hangars.”
Marcus was already searching records through an encrypted system.
Lucia smiled.
“You won't find it.”
Damon crouched in front of her.
“Maybe.”
Then he looked toward Gabriel.
“But he will.”
Lucia's smile faded.
Gabriel understood.
He had handled logistics for Damon for nine years.
Routes.
Companies.
Properties.
Warehouses.
And for six weeks, Delgato movements.
His face changed.
“Falcon Field.”
Marcus looked up.
“What?”
“Aviation storage yard south of Falcon Field. Mateo used a shell company to lease units there last month.”
“Hangar number?”
Gabriel swallowed.
“Eighteen.”
Damon stood.
Lucia swore.
That was confirmation enough.
Marcus pulled Damon aside.
“We need police.”
“No.”
“Damon.”
“There are names on that drive we haven't seen. If Delgato owns anyone local, we warn Mateo before we arrive.”
“So what? We go ourselves?”
Damon looked at Gabriel.
Gabriel stared back.
The law of their world was clear.
Gabriel had betrayed Damon.
A death sentence.
But Gabriel also knew the facility.
And somewhere in Hangar 18, a seventeen-year-old boy could be waiting for his father.
Damon made his decision.
“Gabriel comes.”
Marcus frowned.
“You trust him?”
“No.”
Damon handed Gabriel a gun.
“But I trust what he's afraid of losing.”
Gabriel took it slowly.
Damon leaned close.
“You get one chance.”
“I understand.”
“If you betray us again—”
“You won't need to kill me.”
Gabriel looked toward the dead phone.
“I'll already have nothing left.”
They reached the pump house.
Damon pushed open the door.
A black SUV waited outside.
One of Marcus's trusted drivers stood beside it.
For the first time all night, escape appeared possible.
Then the driver collapsed.
A dark stain spread across his shirt.
Selena screamed.
Damon pulled Ruby down behind the stone wall.
A red laser point appeared across Gabriel's chest.
Another moved over Marcus.
A third settled directly between Damon's eyes.
Lucia smiled behind them.
“Told you.”
A voice boomed from speakers hidden somewhere outside.
“Damon Reyes.”
Mateo Delgato.
“Put down the drive.”
Damon stared through the doorway.
Dozens of yards away, vehicles were moving across the desert.
Closing in.
May you like
Mateo's voice came again.
“Or the next person who dies will be three years old.”
