Chapter 4 - The Bargain at Pier Nine
Daniel Mercer had the kind of face Nora would have forgotten in a grocery store.
That frightened her more than if he'd looked like a monster.
There was nothing remarkable about him.
Short gray hair.
Plain features.
No scar.
No expensive watch.
No theatrical menace.
A man like that could pass through any airport, restaurant, courthouse, or funeral without anyone remembering him.
Maybe that was the point.
Mercer motioned toward the black case.
"Slide it over."
Nora didn't move.
Grant stood slightly behind Adrian.
His right hand was near his holster.
Mercer noticed.
"Mr. Grant, I know exactly how fast you are."
Grant's hand stopped.
"Then you know you're standing too close."
Mercer smiled.
"I also know you have a wife named Allison and a seven-year-old daughter attending Saint Catherine's."
Grant's face changed.
Charles stepped forward.
"Leave his family out of this."
"Family is why we're all here."
Mercer looked toward Nora.
"Your father never understood that."
Nora's voice was steady.
"My father understood you were a coward."
Mercer's smile disappeared.
Adrian glanced at her.
Not because she had insulted Mercer.
Because she'd done it while twelve guns were pointed toward them.
Mercer studied her.
"David used to speak exactly like that."
"What did you do to him?"
Charles shut his eyes.
Mercer answered.
"I offered him money."
Nora's fingers curled.
"He refused."
"I offered enough money to retire at forty."
"He refused."
"Then I explained consequences."
"And he refused."
Mercer smiled again.
"He was an exhausting man."
Nora took one step forward.
Adrian caught her wrist.
"How did he die?"
Mercer looked at Charles.
"Your friend Charlie already knows."
Charles whispered, "I didn't see it."
"But you knew."
Charles's voice became stronger.
"I knew Victor wanted David frightened."
Mercer laughed softly.
"Still rewriting history."
Adrian looked at his father.
"What is he talking about?"
Mercer seemed delighted.
"Oh, you really never told him."
"Shut up."
Charles's tone had changed.
For the first time, there was real fear in it.
Mercer turned to Nora.
"Your father survived the explosion."
Nora stopped breathing.
Charles looked down.
Mercer continued.
"The charge was small. It disabled his engine and started a fire. David jumped overboard."
Nora stared at Charles.
"No."
"I'm sorry."
"No."
"He swam beneath Pier Nine."
Mercer said it almost casually.
"We were waiting."
Nora couldn't hear anything except her heartbeat.
"What happened?"
Charles whispered her name.
Nora screamed.
"What happened?"
Mercer answered.
"Victor wanted the files. David wouldn't tell us where they were."
Us.
One word.
Charles looked physically ill.
Nora turned toward him.
"You were there."
Charles nodded.
Tears filled his eyes.
"Yes."
Adrian stepped away from his father as though the man had become radioactive.
"What did you do?"
Charles struggled for air.
"I begged Victor to stop."
Mercer rolled his eyes.
"He did."
Charles looked at Nora.
"I told them David didn't have the files with him. I told them killing him wouldn't accomplish anything."
"You watched."
"I tried—"
"You watched!"
"I was afraid."
Nora's voice became quiet.
"So was he."
Charles had no defense.
Mercer interrupted.
"Touching. The case."
Adrian bent slightly.
His eyes met Nora's.
She understood.
Stall.
"What happens if we give it to you?" Adrian asked.
"You walk away."
Charles laughed bitterly.
"He's lying."
"Of course I am."
Mercer pointed the gun toward him.
"Charles doesn't walk away."
Adrian's jaw tightened.
"And Nora?"
Mercer studied her.
"Unfortunately, Miss Bennett has become inconvenient."
"And me?"
"You died in a plane crash seven hours ago."
Mercer smiled.
"Very tragic."
Nora looked at Adrian.
He gave the smallest nod.
Then Nora kicked the black case.
Hard.
It slid across the polished concrete.
Every gun followed it.
Adrian fired.
Grant fired.
The vault exploded into movement.
Charles pulled Nora behind a concrete column as bullets shattered locker doors.
Adrian overturned a steel cabinet.
Grant hit the lights.
Darkness.
Nora crawled.
Someone grabbed her ankle.
She kicked backward and heard a grunt.
Adrian shouted.
"Nora! Left side!"
She moved toward his voice.
Then an alarm began screaming.
Sprinklers erupted.
Emergency lights flashed red.
Grant appeared beside them.
"Maintenance tunnel!"
They ran.
Charles followed.
Behind them, Mercer shouted for his men to recover the case.
That bought them seconds.
They reached a narrow service stairwell.
Adrian slammed the door.
"Where?"
Charles pointed downward.
"Pier level."
They emerged beneath Terminal Three beside enormous concrete pilings.
Rain blew sideways.
The Mercy Anne was still tied below.
Nora jumped aboard.
Grant landed behind her.
Adrian helped Charles down.
Nora started the engine.
Gunfire erupted above.
Bullets struck the water.
She pushed the throttle.
The boat surged into the harbor.
For thirty seconds, Nora believed they'd escaped.
Then Grant checked inside his coat.
"The case."
Adrian looked at him.
Grant held up the black case.
"You thought I was leaving that?"
Nora almost laughed.
Then the boat engine coughed.
Once.
Twice.
Died.
Nora stared at the gauges.
"No."
Adrian looked back.
Three fast boats were leaving Terminal Three.
Mercer's men.
Nora tore open the engine hatch.
"Fuel line."
"Can you fix it?"
"I can fix anything if people stop shooting at me for two minutes."
Adrian drew his weapon.
"I'll see what I can do."
Nora dropped into the engine compartment.
Her fingers found the problem quickly.
A cracked feed connection.
Old rubber.
Twelve years of sitting.
She cursed herself for not replacing it.
Above, shots rang out.
Grant returned fire.
Charles crouched near the cabin.
Then a bullet tore through the windshield.
Nora worked faster.
"Come on."
She wrapped the line.
Clamped it.
Primed the engine.
"Try it!"
Adrian hit ignition.
Nothing.
Again.
The engine caught.
Nora climbed out.
"Move!"
Adrian throttled forward.
The Mercy Anne surged away seconds before the first pursuing boat reached them.
Nora took the wheel.
She knew every shallow channel in Grayhaven.
Mercer's men did not.
She turned between two sandbars.
The first pursuing boat followed.
Its hull slammed bottom.
It spun violently.
The second backed off.
Nora drove toward the old industrial shoreline.
"Where are we going?" Adrian asked.
"Somewhere your family doesn't own."
Charles said quietly, "That's getting harder to find."
Nora ignored him.
Her phone suddenly rang.
Everyone looked at it.
Unknown number.
Nora answered on speaker.
Mercer's voice.
"You have something that belongs to me."
Nora stared ahead.
"You killed my father."
"I participated in an unfortunate negotiation."
"I hope you enjoy prison."
Mercer laughed.
"You think those files put me in prison?"
"They'll help."
"They put half the state in prison, Nora. Judges. Customs supervisors. Police chiefs. Legislators. Corporate boards."
Charles closed his eyes.
Mercer continued.
"Which is why you won't reach federal authorities."
Adrian leaned close.
"Then why call?"
"Because we have someone you care about."
Nora's hands tightened on the wheel.
A second voice came through the phone.
"Nora?"
She nearly dropped it.
"Mack?"
Mack Turner had been her father's best friend.
After David died, Mack had kept Bennett Marine alive until Nora was old enough to run it herself.
He was seventy now.
Stubborn.
Loud.
Family in every way except blood.
His breathing sounded rough.
"Nora, don't give them—"
A strike.
Mack grunted.
Nora went cold.
Mercer returned.
"Pier Nine. Midnight. Bring the case."
Adrian shook his head.
"No."
Mercer heard him.
"Adrian. Wonderful. Still alive."
"If you hurt him—"
"Then what? You'll report me to the board?"
Mercer laughed.
"Midnight. Pier Nine."
The line went dead.
Nora checked the clock.
11:21 p.m.
Thirty-nine minutes.
Charles looked toward her.
"It's a trap."
"I know."
"Mercer will kill Mack whether you bring the case or not."
"I know."
Adrian stepped beside her.
"Nora."
She looked at him.
There was no hesitation in her expression.
"He was there when I buried my father."
Adrian nodded slowly.
"Then we're going."
Charles stared at his son.
"You can't."
Adrian looked at him.
"You had twelve years to do the right thing."
He took the black case from Grant.
"We have thirty-nine minutes."
Pier Nine was abandoned now.
But twelve years earlier, it was where David Bennett had spent his final minutes alive.
At 11:58, Nora approached through heavy fog.
The pier appeared ahead.
One light.
One figure tied to a chair.
Mack.
Nora stepped onto the dock carrying the black case.
Adrian moved hidden beneath the pier.
Grant circled from the east.
Charles had one job.
Stay on the boat.
Nora walked toward Mack.
"Mack."
He raised his head.
Blood covered his temple.
"Nora, get out."
Mercer stepped from the fog.
"Put the case down."
Nora obeyed.
"Let him go."
Mercer smiled.
"First, I want to show you something."
Another man stepped forward carrying a tablet.
The screen displayed live security footage from the Mercy Anne.
Nora frowned.
The cabin was empty.
Charles was gone.
Mercer smiled.
"I told you family was why we're here."
Then headlights switched on behind Nora.
She turned.
Charles Cole stood at the far end of the pier.
Beside him were six armed men.
For one terrible moment, Nora believed he had betrayed them.
Then Charles lifted his pistol.
And pointed it directly at Daniel Mercer.
"I should have done this twelve years ago."
Mercer smiled.
"No, Charlie."
His own gun moved toward Mack's head.
"You should have done it thirty seconds sooner."
A red laser appeared on Nora's chest.
Then another.
Then another.
Snipers.
Every surrounding rooftop lit up.
May you like
And somewhere beneath the pier, Adrian whispered into Nora's earpiece:
"Don't move."
