Chapter 8 - THE MAN ROMAN TRUSTED WITH A BADGE
Roman had known Daniel Price for twelve years.
Price had arrested DeLuca soldiers.
Questioned Roman himself.
Refused bribes.
Returned favors.
Once, after a rival organization threatened Roman’s mother’s grave, Price quietly increased cemetery patrols without telling anyone.
Roman had respected him.
Which made betrayal inconvenient.
Rachel studied the photograph.
“Walter doesn’t look like a hostage.”
“No.”
“You think they’re working together?”
“I think photographs lie.”
Rachel looked at Roman.
He had learned that lesson well.
Cassandra and Vincent were arrested at the airport on financial charges pending further investigation.
Elaine was safe.
The forged kidnapping case against Roman collapsed.
For the first time in two days, everything should have felt better.
Instead, Antonio’s missing ledger had reappeared in Walter’s hands.
And Price was beside him.
They drove straight to DeLuca Foundation headquarters.
Roman entered with Rachel, Gabriel, and Marco.
No visible weapons.
Walter stood in the conference room.
Price beside him.
The ledger sat between them.
Roman closed the door.
“Explain.”
Price crossed his arms.
“That greeting gets old.”
“Betrayal gets old.”
“I didn’t betray you.”
“You delivered false evidence used to arrest me.”
“I delivered evidence I was ordered to act on.”
“By whom?”
Price looked at Walter.
Walter nodded.
Price answered:
“Deputy Commissioner Harold Vance.”
Roman recognized the name.
Vance had spent thirty years publicly promising to destroy organized crime.
He was also preparing to run for mayor.
Gabriel muttered, “Law enforcement partner.”
Price nodded.
“Vincent has owned him for twenty-two years.”
Rachel looked at Walter.
“And you?”
“I brought Daniel the ledger.”
“Why not Roman?”
Walter sighed.
“Because Roman cannot prosecute a deputy commissioner.”
Roman said, “I can ruin one.”
“That is exactly why I didn’t tell you.”
Roman looked offended.
Walter continued.
“We need convictions, not corpses.”
“I wasn’t going to kill him.”
Everyone looked at Roman.
Roman frowned.
“Immediately.”
Rachel covered a smile.
Price opened Antonio’s ledger.
Payments connected Vincent to Vance.
To Crane.
To three judges.
To two Foundation executives.
And to Cassandra’s father.
The conspiracy was larger than anyone expected.
“But there’s a problem,” Price said.
“Vance knows the ledger exists.”
Walter nodded.
“He’ll move tonight.”
Rachel asked, “Move where?”
“The Foundation gala archive.”
Roman frowned.
The Foundation maintained decades of paper records in a secure underground storage facility.
Gabriel understood first.
“He wants the original donor files.”
Price nodded.
“The ledger shows payments. The archive proves where the money came from.”
Without the archives, defense attorneys could claim Antonio’s ledger was fabricated.
Vance needed everything destroyed.
Roman looked at Rachel.
“He’ll burn it.”
That evening, they set a trap.
Rachel hated traps.
Every trap in her new life seemed to involve someone pointing a gun.
But this one depended on Vance believing the archive remained unprotected.
At 11:43 p.m., cameras captured three men entering through a side door.
Vance came last.
Roman watched from a monitoring van.
Price sat beside him.
Rachel was supposed to remain there.
She lasted seven minutes.
Then one camera went black.
Then another.
Roman’s expression changed.
“They know.”
An alarm sounded inside the archive.
Not fire.
Carbon monoxide.
Someone had altered the ventilation.
Price reached for the radio.
No signal.
“They jammed us.”
Roman opened the van.
Rachel grabbed his sleeve.
“You can’t go in.”
“I own the building.”
“That doesn’t make you immune to carbon monoxide.”
Roman looked at her.
“Stay here.”
She gave him a flat stare.
“You know that stopped working yesterday.”
“Rachel.”
“Roman.”
Marco tossed her a respirator.
Roman glared at him.
Marco shrugged.
“I choose my battles.”
Inside, visibility was poor.
Emergency lights flashed.
They found Price’s two officers unconscious but alive.
Then a gunshot echoed.
Roman pulled Rachel behind a concrete pillar.
“Still think this was a good field trip?”
“No.”
“Excellent.”
They moved deeper.
At the archive vault, Vance stood over Walter.
A gun pressed against the old man’s chest.
Rachel’s heart dropped.
Walter had come through another entrance.
Vance looked toward Roman.
“There he is.”
Roman raised his gun.
“Let him go.”
Vance laughed.
“You really think this is about Vincent?”
“No.”
That surprised him.
Roman continued.
“Vincent steals money because he likes money. You stayed involved for twenty-two years because you like power.”
Vance’s eyes narrowed.
Roman had guessed correctly.
Vance intended to destroy Vincent too.
Cassandra.
Crane.
Everyone.
Then emerge as the heroic officer who dismantled the DeLuca conspiracy.
He would become mayor.
Possibly governor.
Rachel quietly moved toward another aisle.
Vance noticed.
“Stop.”
She froze.
He turned the gun slightly.
That was his mistake.
Walter slammed his cane into Vance’s knee.
Roman moved.
A gunshot exploded.
Rachel screamed.
Vance fell.
Walter fell too.
Roman reached him first.
Blood spread across Walter’s shirt.
“No.”
Walter’s face had gone pale.
Roman pressed both hands against the wound.
“Stay awake.”
Walter smiled weakly.
“You always were terrible at asking politely.”
“Walter.”
“Roman.”
“Don’t.”
The older man coughed.
Rachel knelt beside him.
Walter found her hand.
“Your father?”
“He’s here.”
“Good.”
“Don’t talk.”
“Everyone tells old men not to talk when finally we have something useful to say.”
Roman’s voice broke slightly.
“Walter.”
Walter looked at him.
“I promised Antonio I would keep you alive.”
“You did.”
“No.”
Walter smiled.
“You did.”
Sirens grew louder.
Price rushed in.
Vance was arrested.
Paramedics carried Walter out.
He survived surgery.
Barely.
At 4:20 a.m., Roman and Rachel sat outside the hospital.
Neither had slept.
Rachel leaned against the wall.
Roman stood at the window.
“He’ll live,” she said.
“I heard the doctor.”
“You look like you didn’t.”
Roman turned.
Rachel understood then.
Walter was more than an employee.
More than a manager.
He was the last person who remembered Roman as a boy.
She walked over.
Roman looked at her.
Rachel hugged him.
She expected hesitation.
Instead, Roman’s arms closed around her.
Carefully.
As if he were still afraid strength could become harm.
They stayed that way longer than either intended.
When Rachel stepped back, Roman’s hand remained at her waist.
Their eyes met.
Something changed.
He leaned closer.
Then his phone rang.
They both almost laughed.
Roman answered.
Marco’s voice came through.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“Cassandra posted bail.”
Roman’s face hardened.
“How?”
“Federal hold wasn’t processed.”
“Where is she?”
“We don’t know.”
Rachel’s phone buzzed.
One message.
She opened it.
A photograph filled the screen.
Tyler leaving his restaurant.
Taken minutes earlier.
Below it:
Your family keeps surviving, Rachel. Let’s see how long that lasts.
Rachel looked at Roman.
Cassandra had lost Vincent.
Lost the money.
Lost the plan.
May you like
Now she had nothing left to protect.
Which made her more dangerous than ever.
