Chapter 9 - THE TRADE
At 10:52 p.m., rain fell over Philadelphia.
The old customs building had been abandoned for years, its lower vaults sealed behind rusting service corridors and concrete walls.
Julian Cross had chosen it because he believed he controlled every entrance.
He was wrong.
Anthony Romano had mapped the old tunnels in 2008.
Sarah still had the map.
Dominic stood in a utility passage beneath the street while Hannah and Sarah approached the main entrance.
Every instinct in him demanded he ignore Cross’s instructions and walk beside them.
But Caleb was inside.
One wrong move could cost his son’s life.
Leo stood beside Dominic.
“I should go.”
“No.”
“He knows me.”
“He also hates you.”
“All the more reason.”
Dominic looked at him.
“You’ve spent eighteen years trying to fix one mistake.”
Leo said nothing.
“Don’t make another by dying pointlessly.”
Leo almost smiled.
“Anthony used to say things like that.”
“Everybody needs to stop telling me I sound like Anthony.”
“You don’t.”
Leo checked his weapon.
“He sounded nicer.”
Dominic glared.
Leo smiled.
Good.
For three seconds, they were two men who had known each other forever.
Then the moment disappeared.
Inside the vault chamber, Hannah saw Caleb immediately.
He sat in a chair across the room.
Hands tied in front.
A guard beside him.
“Hannah!”
“I’m okay.”
Cross emerged from behind a steel column.
His injured shoulder had been bandaged.
“Touching reunion.”
Sarah stared at him.
“You got old.”
Cross laughed.
“So did you.”
“Difference is, I didn’t spend thirty years being afraid of the truth.”
His smile disappeared.
“The token.”
Sarah held it up.
“Caleb first.”
“No.”
“Then nothing.”
Cross looked at Hannah.
“Your mother has always been stubborn.”
“I noticed.”
Despite everything, Sarah almost smiled.
Cross sighed.
“Move the boy.”
The guard untied Caleb’s feet but kept his hands restrained.
He walked him halfway across the room.
Hannah stepped forward.
“Keep going.”
Cross lifted his weapon.
“Token.”
Sarah tossed it.
Cross caught it.
Then nodded.
Caleb ran.
Hannah dropped to her knees and grabbed him.
“You okay?”
He nodded frantically.
“I’m sorry.”
“No apologies.”
She pushed him behind her.
Cross inserted the token into a metal slot on the vault door.
Nothing happened.
He turned.
“What did you do?”
Sarah looked calm.
“Nothing.”
“It doesn’t work.”
“It needs a second authorization.”
Cross stared.
“You never mentioned that.”
“You never asked.”
Even Hannah admired that one.
Cross raised the gun.
“What authorization?”
Sarah looked at Hannah.
“Anthony’s heir.”
Cross understood.
“Hannah.”
The vault required Hannah’s fingerprint.
Cross smiled.
“That’s why Rose needed you alive.”
Hannah stood.
“You get the vault. We leave.”
“Of course.”
Nobody believed him.
Hannah walked to the scanner.
Pressed her thumb.
The vault opened.
Inside were stacks of archive boxes, hard drives and sealed document cases.
Cross looked almost emotional.
Thirty years of leverage.
Control.
Fear.
All sitting before him.
He stepped inside.
Sarah whispered, “Now.”
Hannah grabbed Caleb.
Lights went out.
Dominic’s men entered through the service tunnel.
Gunfire erupted.
Hannah covered Caleb against the floor.
Sarah crawled beside them.
Cross shouted.
“Close the vault!”
Emergency lights flashed.
Dominic appeared through the smoke.
“Caleb!”
“Dad!”
Caleb ran.
Dominic caught him.
For one second, the entire operation ceased to matter.
He checked Caleb’s face.
Arms.
Hands.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
Then Cross emerged from the vault holding Sarah at gunpoint.
“Enough.”
Everything stopped.
Hannah stared.
Cross dragged Sarah backward.
“Put the guns down.”
Dominic didn’t move.
Cross pressed the weapon against Sarah’s temple.
“Do you think I’m bluffing?”
“No.”
“Then lower it.”
Dominic slowly set his gun on the floor.
Leo did the same.
Cross looked at Hannah.
“Come here.”
Sarah shouted, “No!”
Cross struck her.
Hannah moved immediately.
“I’m coming.”
Dominic’s eyes found hers.
Don’t.
She ignored him.
Like Anthony.
Maybe Leo had been right.
Cross grabbed Hannah’s arm.
“Open the second compartment.”
“What?”
“Your father built layers.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“You do.”
Cross dragged her deeper into the vault.
Boxes lined the walls.
At the rear stood another steel panel.
Fingerprint scanner.
Hannah pressed her hand against it.
Nothing.
Cross’s breathing changed.
“Again.”
Nothing.
Then Hannah noticed words carved beside the scanner.
NOT BLOOD.
CHOICE.
She frowned.
Anthony had written it.
Cross stared.
“What does that mean?”
Hannah suddenly understood.
“Dominic.”
Cross turned.
“What?”
“The authorization isn’t mine.”
Dominic stood outside the vault.
Anthony had written FOR DOMINIC.
He had trusted his brother.
Not just his daughter.
Cross laughed.
“How sentimental.”
He pointed the gun at Dominic.
“Come here.”
Dominic entered.
Pressed his thumb.
The second compartment opened.
One hard drive.
Cross reached for it.
Dominic said, “You lose either way.”
“Do I?”
“That drive exposes everyone.”
“I control everyone.”
“Not anymore.”
Cross frowned.
Dominic looked toward the ceiling.
A red light blinked.
Camera.
Cross’s face changed.
Leo smiled from the doorway.
“Federal feed.”
Cross went pale.
Sarah had contacted the FBI before leaving Maine.
Everything happening inside the vault had been transmitted live to a federal task force assembled using Rose’s evidence.
Cross lifted his gun.
“You think that saves you?”
“No,” Dominic said.
“It saves the evidence.”
Cross fired.
Dominic moved.
The bullet struck the steel wall.
Leo tackled Cross.
The weapon slid across the floor.
Hannah kicked it away.
Cross hit Leo and reached for another gun hidden at his ankle.
Sarah shouted.
Dominic reached him first.
He pinned Cross against the vault wall.
For one terrifying second, Hannah thought Dominic would kill him.
Cross smiled.
“Do it.”
Dominic’s fist tightened.
“Give Anthony the revenge he deserves.”
Dominic stared at him.
Then released him.
“No.”
Cross looked confused.
Dominic stepped back.
“You don’t get to turn another Romano into a murderer.”
Federal agents flooded the room.
Cross was handcuffed.
As they led him away, he looked toward Hannah.
“Your father died because he thought truth mattered.”
Hannah met his eyes.
“No.”
She held Anthony’s bracelet around her wrist.
“He died because men like you thought truth belonged to whoever could bury it.”
Cross said nothing.
Then he was gone.
Caleb ran to Hannah.
She hugged him.
Dominic stood beside Sarah.
The vault door remained open.
Thirty years of secrets were finally exposed.
It should have felt finished.
It didn’t.
Leo picked up the master hard drive.
“There’s something else.”
Dominic looked at him.
“What?”
“One file was already open.”
On a nearby monitor appeared a ledger entry dated three days earlier.
Cross had made one final transfer.
Twenty million dollars.
Recipient:
L. VALE.
Everyone stared.
Lauren.
Hannah whispered, “No.”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“Where is she?”
Leo checked his phone.
Then looked up.
“She left the mansion forty minutes ago.”
Sarah whispered, “Why would Cross send Lauren twenty million dollars?”
Dominic looked toward the vault entrance.
May you like
He knew only one thing.
Because Lauren’s story was not finished.
