Chapter 7 - TWO JULIANSThe man beside Dominic in the speeding SUV looked exactly like Julian Vale.
By five years old, she had begun to suspect this was not entirely true.
Adults forgot things.
They lied about vegetables tasting good.
They said “five minutes” when they meant thirty.
And sometimes they smiled while doing something bad.
Dr. Evelyn Shaw was doing that now.
The car moved through Manhattan.
Sophie hugged Captain Bunny.
“Where are we going?”
“To your mother.”
“You said that already.”
“Yes.”
“But where?”
Evelyn looked at her.
“You ask a lot of questions.”
“Mom says questions keep you smart.”
“Your mother says many things.”
Sophie noticed the irritation.
She looked down.
The red button inside the rabbit was active.
A tiny vibration every thirty seconds told her the signal was transmitting.
She didn't know who would receive it.
She only knew Mom said it would reach someone safe.
She hoped that person was Dominic.
Dad.
The word felt strange.
She hadn't called him that yet.
But she wanted to.
Maybe.
She was still deciding.
Behind them, several blocks away, Dominic's convoy followed the signal.
Not too close.
Not too far.
Gabriel, still pale from the sedative, insisted on coming.
“You should be in a hospital,” Dominic said.
“I'll go after we get her.”
“You can barely stand.”
“I can shoot sitting down.”
Julian drove.
Gabriel sat passenger.
Dominic monitored Sophie's signal.
They were heading south.
Toward the river.
“Not Sloane's listed sites,” Julian said.
“No.”
“Could be a transfer point.”
Gabriel looked at the map.
“Old ferry terminal.”
Dominic nodded.
“Three blocks.”
They stopped.
Dominic didn't rush.
Every instinct screamed to.
But rushing got hostages killed.
He watched the car carrying Sophie stop beside a warehouse.
Evelyn stepped out.
Then Sophie.
Two armed men approached.
Dominic's jaw tightened.
Gabriel raised binoculars.
“They're moving her inside.”
“Where's Sloane?”
“No visual.”
Julian studied the warehouse.
“Rear loading dock.”
Dominic checked the tablet.
Signal still active.
Sophie hadn't lost Captain Bunny.
Good girl.
He touched the screen.
“Gabriel, take the west entrance. Julian, roof access.”
“And you?”
“Front.”
Both men stared.
“What?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“You're becoming predictable.”
“I'm becoming impatient.”
Dominic opened the door.
Inside the warehouse, Sophie sat on a folding chair.
Evelyn paced.
The two guards stood by the entrance.
Sophie watched everything.
Mom had another rule.
When you're scared, look for exits.
Front door.
Garage door.
Small window too high.
A hallway behind Evelyn.
Sophie pointed.
“Bathroom?”
Evelyn sighed.
“Can you wait?”
“No.”
One guard laughed.
Evelyn rolled her eyes.
“Fine.”
She took Sophie's hand.
They walked down the corridor.
Sophie went inside the bathroom.
Evelyn stayed outside.
“Door open.”
Sophie frowned.
“I can't pee with you watching.”
“I'm a doctor.”
“You're not my doctor right now.”
Evelyn's jaw tightened.
“Two minutes.”
She closed the door.
Sophie immediately climbed onto the toilet.
Then the sink.
She reached the small window.
Locked.
She pulled.
Nothing.
She looked around.
The ventilation grate.
Too small.
She climbed down.
Then she noticed a janitor closet door inside the bathroom.
Unlocked.
She opened it.
Mops.
Buckets.
Another door behind them.
Sophie squeezed through.
A narrow maintenance corridor.
Dark.
She hugged Captain Bunny.
“Okay,” she whispered.
“Be brave.”
She walked.
Back in the warehouse, Evelyn checked the time.
Three minutes.
“Sophie?”
No answer.
She opened the bathroom.
Empty.
“Damn it.”
The guards rushed forward.
“Find her!”
Sophie heard shouting.
She ran.
The corridor ended at a stairwell.
She climbed.
Heavy footsteps approached behind her.
“Sophie!”
She went faster.
Second floor.
Locked door.
Third floor.
Another hallway.
She opened the first room.
Empty office.
She crawled beneath a desk.
Footsteps entered.
A man breathed heavily.
“Sophie?”
She covered her mouth.
The man walked closer.
Her eyes filled with tears.
Then gunfire erupted downstairs.
The man turned.
“What the hell?”
More shots.
Sophie recognized one voice.
“Where is she?”
Dominic.
Her face lit up.
“Dad!”
The guard heard her.
He bent toward the desk.
Sophie kicked him in the shin.
Hard.
He cursed.
She crawled out the other side.
The guard grabbed her dress.
Fabric ripped.
Then a shot cracked.
The guard fell.
Dominic stood in the doorway.
Sophie ran toward him.
“Dad!”
The word hit him harder than anything ever had.
He dropped his weapon and caught her.
She wrapped her arms around his neck.
“You found me!”
“Always.”
He held her tightly.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Did anyone touch you?”
“Dr. Evelyn lied.”
“I know.”
Sophie pulled back.
“She's bad.”
Dominic's eyes became cold.
“Yes.”
Gabriel's voice came through the radio.
“Evelyn's in custody.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Dominic picked Sophie up.
“Good.”
They moved downstairs.
Evelyn sat against a pillar with her wrists bound.
Gabriel stood beside her.
Julian checked the two wounded guards.
Dominic handed Sophie to Julian.
“Take her outside.”
Sophie grabbed Dominic's sleeve.
“Don't be mean.”
He looked at her.
“To Dr. Evelyn?”
Sophie nodded.
“She did bad, but Mommy says people don't become good because you become badder.”
Every adult in the room stared.
Dominic looked at Evelyn.
Then back at his daughter.
“Your mother has made my job extremely difficult.”
Sophie smiled.
Julian carried her outside.
Dominic walked toward Evelyn.
“Why?”
Evelyn laughed bitterly.
“You know why.”
“No.”
“Your father.”
Dominic froze.
Everyone seemed connected to his father.
Evelyn looked at him.
“My husband worked for him.”
“I remember.”
“He died in prison.”
“He stole from us.”
“He stole because your father cut his pension.”
Dominic frowned.
“That isn't what happened.”
“That's what Michael told me.”
Dominic understood.
Michael.
Manipulating everyone.
Evelyn continued.
“Sloane promised protection. Money. Revenge.”
“So you helped kidnap Anna?”
Her expression changed.
“I didn't know they would hurt her.”
“That's your defense?”
“No.”
“Why Sophie?”
“I was supposed to take her somewhere safe.”
“Sloane's men were waiting.”
“I know.”
“You knew.”
She looked away.
Dominic crouched.
“Where is Anna?”
“I don't know.”
“Wrong answer.”
“I swear.”
Gabriel stepped forward.
Evelyn looked terrified.
Then she blurted:
“Red Hook!”
Dominic stopped.
“What?”
“There was a medical bag.”
“What medical bag?”
“Sloane asked me to prepare sedatives, antibiotics, and blood-clotting medication.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“For where?”
“I delivered it to a storage facility in Red Hook.”
Dominic looked at Gabriel.
Michael's list included an industrial site near Red Hook.
“Address.”
Evelyn gave it.
Dominic stood.
“Call police.”
Gabriel looked surprised.
“For her?”
“Yes.”
“What charge?”
Dominic looked at Evelyn.
“Kidnapping should get their attention.”
Evelyn stared.
“You're turning me over to police?”
“My daughter requested I not become badder.”
Gabriel almost smiled.
Dominic walked outside.
Sophie sat in the SUV with Julian.
She looked at him.
“Did you hurt her?”
“No.”
“You promise?”
“Yes.”
She considered.
“Okay.”
Dominic climbed in.
“Now we find your mom.”
Red Hook was twenty minutes away.
They arrived in twelve.
The industrial storage site looked abandoned.
Dominic's men cleared the first floor.
Empty.
Second.
Empty.
Third.
Blood.
Dominic followed the trail.
A chair.
Rope.
Anna's coat.
His heart stopped.
“Sophie stays outside.”
“She'll argue.”
“Let her.”
Julian remained with her.
Dominic entered the next room.
A video screen flickered on automatically.
Victor Sloane appeared.
“Hello, Dominic.”
Dominic stared.
“You're late.”
“Where is she?”
“Moved.”
Dominic's hand clenched.
Sloane smiled.
“But I left you a gift.”
The screen changed.
Live video.
Anna.
Alive.
Bound inside what looked like a shipping container.
A digital timer beside her read:
00:39:18.
Thirty-nine minutes.
Dominic's stomach dropped.
Sloane's voice continued.
“You have the ledger.”
“Yes.”
“Bring it to Pier Seventeen.”
“We agreed midnight.”
“I changed my mind.”
Dominic stared at the timer.
“What happens at zero?”
Sloane smiled.
“The container goes into the river.”
The screen went black.
Gabriel swore.
Dominic checked the live signal.
No location metadata.
Julian entered.
“I heard.”
Dominic turned.
“How many shipping yards within thirty-nine minutes?”
“Hundreds.”
Gabriel studied the video freeze-frame.
“Wait.”
He enlarged the image.
Behind Anna, barely visible through a ventilation slot, was a bridge light.
Julian stared.
“Can you identify it?”
Dominic looked closer.
Three red lights.
Steel pattern.
He knew it.
“Brooklyn Army Terminal.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“Could be.”
“It is.”
“How do you know?”
Dominic grabbed his coat.
“Because my father used Warehouse Four there.”
They ran.
Thirty-two minutes.
Across the city, Anna stared at the timer.
She had seen Sloane's men lock the container.
She knew water would be pumped in remotely.
She tested the ropes.
Too tight.
Then she heard something.
Scratching.
Small.
Behind her chair.
A rat?
No.
Metal scraping.
Anna twisted.
A panel opened near the floor.
A familiar face appeared.
Michael Rourke.
Anna stared.
“You.”
Michael put a finger to his lips.
“I'm getting you out.”
“You expect me to trust you?”
“No.”
He cut the rope around her wrists.
“Trust Dominic.”
Anna rubbed her hands.
“Where is Sophie?”
“With him.”
Relief nearly dropped her to the floor.
Michael opened the container door.
“Move.”
They stepped outside.
Then lights exploded around them.
Victor Sloane stood twenty feet away.
Applauding slowly.
“Beautiful.”
Michael froze.
Sloane smiled.
“I wondered how long your conscience would last.”
Gunmen surrounded them.
Anna looked at Michael.
“You led him here.”
“No.”
Sloane laughed.
“He didn't.”
Michael's face tightened.
“Then how—”
Sloane turned toward Anna.
“Because your second traitor isn't Evelyn.”
Anna's blood went cold.
Sloane smiled.
“She was merely useful.”
A figure stepped from behind the gunmen.
Anna stared.
“No.”
The man smiled.
And thirty minutes away, Dominic Vale raced toward the terminal completely unaware that the person waiting beside Anna was the last person he would ever expect.
May you like
His supposedly dead brother.
Julian.
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