Chapter 6 - ELEVEN THOUSAND WITNESSES BECAME A MILLIONDetective Pike lowered his pistol.
Slowly.
Behind him, tactical officers hesitated.
Most had no idea what kind of operation they had entered.
That was Kayla’s advantage.
Corruption worked best in darkness.
Livestreams created very inconvenient light.
Tyler held the phone with both hands.
“Keep filming,” Kayla said.
Warren groaned on the floor.
“Dad.”
“Don’t move yet.”
“He’s bleeding.”
“He’s breathing.”
Pike forced a professional tone.
“This is an active crime scene.”
Kayla looked directly at Tyler’s camera.
“So tell everyone why you entered without announcing a warrant and fired at unarmed civilians.”
Pike’s jaw tightened.
“We were fired upon.”
“By whom?”
No one answered.
Cal slowly raised both hands.
“Wasn’t me.”
Leo emerged from the smoke carrying no visible weapon.
“Wasn’t us.”
The livestream audience climbed.
Thirty thousand.
Eighty thousand.
Two hundred thousand.
People shared it because they recognized Kayla from the dog video.
ASHGROVE WOMAN LIVE IN POLICE STANDOFF.
Pike saw the viewer number.
He holstered his gun.
“Everybody is coming with us.”
“Gladly,” Kayla said.
His eyes narrowed.
That was not what he expected.
Kayla knelt beside Warren.
The bullet had entered his upper thigh.
Not fatal if treated.
She pressed a cloth against it.
Warren stared at her.
“Why are you helping me?”
“Because Tyler is watching.”
The boy’s face crumpled.
For the first time he looked fourteen instead of cruel.
Paramedics arrived.
Local news arrived before police could block the road.
The livestream passed 1.4 million viewers.
Pike could not disappear anyone now.
But Kayla knew public exposure did not make them safe.
It made the next move more dangerous.
At the hospital, Warren went into surgery.
Tyler sat alone in a waiting room.
His mother had been detained after police found evidence of animal cruelty at their home.
Kayla stood near the door.
Tyler would not look at her.
Finally he said, “Why didn’t you let him die?”
“Because he’s your father.”
“He hurt Milo.”
“Yes.”
“He was going to kill him.”
“Yes.”
“And you hate him.”
Kayla considered that.
“I don’t know him well enough to hate him.”
Tyler looked up.
“That’s stupid.”
“Hatred is expensive.”
He frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“It costs you sleep. Time. Judgment. Sometimes people you love.”
Tyler studied her.
“You killed people before.”
Kayla became still.
“Who told you?”
“My dad.”
“What did he say?”
“That you’re worse than Silver Blade.”
Kayla sat across from him.
“Sometimes I was.”
Tyler did not expect that.
“What did they do?”
“I thought they killed my husband.”
“So you killed them.”
“Some.”
“Were they bad?”
“Most.”
“Then why do you sound sorry?”
“Because being bad is not the same as giving me the right to become judge, jury, and executioner.”
Tyler looked toward the operating-room doors.
“My dad is bad.”
“Maybe.”
“Are you going to kill him?”
“No.”
“Cal?”
“No.”
“Gideon Shaw?”
Kayla paused.
“I’m going to expose him.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“No.”
Tyler nodded as if measuring whether to believe her.
Then he pulled something from his pocket.
A memory card.
“I took this from Dad’s desk last month.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t know. He freaked out when he couldn’t find it.”
Kayla accepted it.
“Why give it to me?”
Tyler looked ashamed.
“Because Dad made me cut Milo.”
Kayla’s fingers tightened.
“He made you?”
“He said if I wanted Silver Blade to respect me, I had to stop acting like a little kid.”
“Did you want to hurt Milo?”
Tyler’s eyes filled.
“No.”
That did not excuse it.
But it changed something.
Kayla said, “You’re still responsible.”
“I know.”
“You owe that dog more than an apology.”
“I know.”
She put the memory card in her pocket.
“Then start there.”
Outside the hospital, reporters packed the sidewalk.
Kayla avoided them.
Wilton met her in a parking garage.
“We copied the safe files.”
“Good.”
“And the memory card?”
She handed it over.
Within minutes, he opened the contents on a laptop.
Videos.
Invoices.
Audio recordings.
One folder labeled RV.
Kayla’s breath caught.
Inside was footage from ten years earlier.
Security camera.
A basement.
Richard sat tied to the chair.
Gideon Shaw entered.
Younger.
Healthy.
Behind him stood Detective Pike.
Kayla gripped the edge of the car.
Audio crackled.
Shaw: “Where are the original files?”
Richard: “Safe.”
Pike: “Which safe?”
Richard laughed despite blood on his mouth.
“You two really don’t trust each other, do you?”
Shaw struck him.
Pike pulled Shaw back.
“We need him conscious.”
Richard looked directly toward the hidden camera.
For one impossible second, Kayla felt as if he could see her.
Then another man entered.
Kayla whispered, “No.”
Leo leaned closer.
The third man was Kayla’s former attorney.
Martin Voss.
The man who had handled Richard’s estate.
The man who had helped Kayla purchase number 42.
The man she still trusted.
Voss said, “His wife knows nothing.”
Richard looked at him.
“My wife knows when people lie.”
Voss smiled.
“Then we make sure she never talks to anyone who tells the truth.”
The video ended.
Wilton swore.
Kayla felt physically ill.
“Martin has been inside my life for twelve years.”
Leo said, “He directed you to Ashgrove.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Kayla looked at Richard’s key.
“To bring me to whatever Shaw wants opened.”
Wilton checked the coordinates from Milo’s collar.
“Location is north of the city. Rural property.”
“Who owns it?”
He searched.
Then froze.
“Martin Voss.”
Kayla laughed softly.
Of course.
Her phone rang.
Martin.
Everyone looked at her.
She answered.
“Hello?”
“Kayla, thank God. I saw the news.”
His voice sounded concerned.
Perfectly concerned.
“I’m fine.”
“I heard police raided your home. We need to talk immediately.”
“About what?”
“Legal protection. The livestream complicates everything.”
Kayla stared at Richard’s frozen face on the laptop.
“Martin.”
“Yes?”
“Did Richard ever tell you about Milo’s tag?”
Silence.
Only half a second.
But enough.
“No. Why?”
Kayla smiled.
“He hid something in it.”
Leo looked at her.
Martin’s breathing changed.
“What?”
“A key.”
Another silence.
“To what?”
“I don’t know.”
Martin recovered.
“Kayla, don’t touch anything else. Bring it to me.”
“Why?”
“If this relates to Richard’s old cases, it could be evidence.”
“You’re right.”
Her voice became warm.
Familiar.
Trusting.
“I’ll bring it.”
“Tonight.”
“Where?”
“My country house.”
The exact location from the coordinates.
Kayla looked at Leo.
“Eight?”
“Come alone.”
Martin hung up.
Leo immediately said, “No.”
Kayla took off her wedding ring and set it on the laptop.
“No?”
“He knows you know something.”
“He suspects.”
“He said alone.”
“I’ll be alone.”
Leo stared at her.
“No backup?”
“Oh, there’ll be backup.”
She looked at Tyler’s livestream replay.
At the millions of comments.
At reporters outside.
May you like
At the world now watching.
“Just not the kind Martin expects.”
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