Chapter 10 - THE WITNESS ACROSS THE STREET
Detective Bell drove.
Kais sat beside him.
Two unmarked vehicles followed.
The road north of Seattle blurred beneath a low gray sky.
“What happens when the countdown reaches zero?” Kais asked.
Bell kept his eyes forward.
“The financial team thinks the access package on the silver drive can do two things. Transfer remaining liquid assets through multiple accounts and destroy authentication records.”
“How much?”
“Possibly another hundred and twelve million.”
Kais barely reacted.
Bell glanced at him.
“That number usually gets more attention.”
“My daughter was begging for a cookie yesterday.”
Bell nodded.
“Fair enough.”
“What about company control?”
“If Julian moves enough capital and wipes enough records, the board may not know what is legitimate for weeks.”
Kais looked out the window.
A year earlier, the idea would have terrified him.
Hart Global had been his identity.
His father’s legacy.
His proof that every sacrifice had meant something.
Now he imagined Isa’s dusty knees.
The empty plastic container.
The question she had asked.
Are you staying this time?
“If the company disappears tomorrow,” Kais said, “Isa still eats breakfast.”
Bell looked at him.
“You mean that.”
“Yes.”
They reached the airstrip twenty-three minutes later.
Police units had approached without sirens.
The old Hart hangar sat behind chain-link fencing and a row of cedar trees.
One private jet waited on the tarmac.
Engines off.
Pilot nowhere visible.
Bell checked his phone.
“Julian is inside.”
“How do you know?”
“Thermal.”
Kais opened the door.
Bell stopped him.
“You are not going in.”
“He asked for me.”
“He is wanted in connection with kidnapping, fraud, conspiracy, and possibly homicide.”
“He also has something you need.”
“That does not make you law enforcement.”
Kais stared at the hangar.
“No.”
Then he looked at Bell.
“It makes me his brother.”
Bell hated it.
Kais could see that.
But there was one advantage.
Julian believed every confrontation belonged to him.
He wanted an audience.
Bell eventually agreed to let Kais approach the hangar doors wearing a wire while tactical officers covered the building.
Kais entered alone.
The smell of aviation fuel and cold metal filled the space.
Julian stood beside a workbench.
A laptop was open.
The silver drive glowed beside it.
Countdown:
00:12:44.
Julian smiled.
“You came.”
“You kidnapped my daughter.”
“You keep repeating that.”
“Because you keep avoiding it.”
Julian poured himself a drink.
“You always loved moral clarity.”
Kais glanced at the laptop.
“You lost.”
“Did I?”
“You lost the board.”
“Temporary problem.”
“Marla confessed.”
A flicker.
“Marla is weak.”
“Cole is talking.”
A second flicker.
“Cole is stupid.”
“Maddox is talking.”
That did it.
Julian went completely still.
Kais saw fear.
Not anger.
Fear.
“You found Maddox.”
“Yes.”
Julian looked toward the hangar doors.
“You brought police.”
“Of course.”
Julian laughed softly.
“Then why aren’t they inside?”
“Because I asked for five minutes.”
“Why?”
Kais looked at the silver drive.
“I wanted to hear you explain Father.”
Julian’s face hardened.
“There is nothing to explain.”
“You paid Maddox.”
“To loosen a component.”
“On Father’s boat.”
“I didn’t know he would take it out.”
“You knew it was his boat.”
“He told me Meridian was scheduled for diagnostics.”
“You’re lying.”
Julian slammed the glass down.
“You don’t know what happened!”
“Then tell me.”
For several seconds, Julian said nothing.
The countdown reached nine minutes.
Then the older brother began speaking.
“Father summoned me to the dock.”
“When?”
“The night before.”
“He confronted you about the shell vendors.”
“Yes.”
“How much had you stolen?”
“Borrowed.”
Kais almost laughed.
Julian’s eyes flashed.
“I was building investments.”
“With company money.”
“I intended to replace it.”
“You always intended to replace everything after you got what you wanted.”
Julian ignored him.
“Father told me I was finished. He said he would announce it at the board meeting. He called me a thief.”
“You were.”
“He said you would take full executive control.”
“So you sabotaged his boat.”
“I wanted time.”
Kais stared at him.
“You risked his life for time.”
“I paid Maddox to create a problem. Meridian was supposed to fail near the marina.”
“But it didn’t.”
“No.”
Julian’s voice became quieter.
“The linkage held longer than expected.”
Kais swallowed.
“You knew after he left.”
“I realized.”
“And you didn’t warn him.”
Julian looked away.
There.
The truth.
Kais felt his father’s death enter the room.
Not as an old tragedy.
As a decision.
“You could have called the Coast Guard.”
Julian said nothing.
“You could have called him.”
Silence.
“You wanted to see what happened.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I was scared.”
“So you let him sail into open water.”
Julian’s eyes filled with fury.
“Stop making yourself better than me.”
“I’m not.”
Kais stepped closer.
“I left my family for three months because I believed being a provider excused being absent. My daughter almost stopped believing I loved her.”
Julian stared.
“The difference is, I’m not asking anyone to call that someone else’s fault.”
The countdown reached six minutes.
Julian looked at the laptop.
“You think confession fixes you?”
“No.”
“Then why are you here?”
“To end this.”
Julian smiled.
“It already ends.”
He pointed to the screen.
“When that reaches zero, Hart Global becomes a financial crime scene so complicated it will take governments years to untangle.”
“I don’t care.”
Julian’s smile disappeared.
Kais repeated it.
“I don’t care.”
“You built that company.”
“I can build another.”
“Father built it.”
“He also wrote me a letter.”
Julian froze.
Kais continued.
“He told me to protect the company less fiercely than my family.”
Julian’s face changed.
“You found the vault.”
“Yes.”
“What else was in it?”
“Enough.”
Julian lunged toward the laptop.
Kais moved.
They collided with the workbench.
The laptop hit the floor.
Julian shoved Kais back.
Kais did not swing at him.
He only grabbed his wrist.
“Stop.”
Julian struck him across the jaw.
Kais stumbled.
Tactical officers moved outside.
Bell’s voice came through Kais’s earpiece.
“We’re coming.”
Julian heard the faint sound.
He grabbed the silver drive and ran toward the jet.
Kais chased him.
The hangar doors opened.
Police shouted.
“JULIAN HART! STOP!”
Julian reached the plane stairs.
Then froze.
Three officers emerged from the opposite side.
No route.
No escape.
He looked back at Kais.
The silver drive in his hand.
Countdown visible on the laptop behind them.
Two minutes.
Julian smiled strangely.
“You’ll never decrypt it without me.”
Kais wiped blood from his mouth.
“You’re right.”
Julian laughed.
Then Kais added, “Marla gave us the password.”
Julian’s face collapsed.
Police moved.
He stepped backward.
“Stay away.”
Bell approached slowly.
“It’s over.”
Julian looked at Kais.
“You think Isa will remember any of this?”
Kais stared at him.
“I hope not.”
“You think she’ll forgive you for leaving?”
The question landed.
Julian smiled.
There was his final weapon.
Not money.
Shame.
Kais answered quietly.
“She doesn’t have to forgive me on my schedule.”
Julian’s expression changed.
Kais continued.
“I’m going to show up long enough that one day she won’t have to wonder.”
Bell reached him.
Julian did not resist when the handcuffs closed.
For the first time in Kais’s memory, his brother had nothing left to control.
The countdown reached thirty seconds.
A cybercrime technician ran to the laptop.
“Password?”
Kais gave it.
The technician typed.
Ten seconds.
Nine.
Eight.
The screen flashed.
SYSTEM COMMAND CANCELED.
Bell exhaled.
“We got it.”
Julian closed his eyes.
Kais looked at him.
Then his phone rang.
Rian.
He answered.
“We have him.”
She began crying.
Relief.
Not grief.
“Come home.”
“I am.”
But before Kais could leave, Bell approached holding the silver drive.
“There’s a folder here you should see.”
Kais frowned.
“What?”
“It’s labeled ISA.”
His blood went cold.
Bell opened the directory.
Inside were documents Julian had prepared months earlier.
Custody papers.
Trust transfers.
Passport applications.
A school registration.
In another country.
Kais stared.
Julian had not only planned to take control of Isa’s shares.
He had planned to move her permanently.
Then Bell opened the final document.
It was an unsigned adoption petition.
Proposed guardian:
Evelyn Hart.
Kais stared at his mother’s name.
“Did she know?”
Bell looked grim.
May you like
“We’re going to have to ask her.”
And suddenly Kais understood that catching Julian might not be the final betrayal after all.
