Chapter 7 - The Dead Man’s RecordingBy sunrise, Gabriel Vale was the most wanted billionaire in America.
Everybody else said no.
Gabriel was the loudest.
“You are not walking into Charles’s trap.”
“That’s my grandma!”
“Which is exactly why you won’t be thinking clearly.”
Aurelio slammed his fist against the conference table.
“She spent twelve years protecting me!”
“And you think she did that so you could die at twelve?”
The room went silent.
Gabriel crouched until they were eye level.
“If Charles kills you, everything Rosa sacrificed becomes meaningless.”
Aurelio’s eyes burned.
“So we just leave her?”
“No.”
Gabriel took the drive.
“We make him believe he won.”
The plan came together quickly.
State investigators would create a duplicate drive.
The real evidence would be uploaded simultaneously to encrypted servers controlled by Simon’s former newspaper and two federal prosecutors Captain Ruiz trusted.
If Charles tried to destroy the only copy, he would fail.
But there was a problem.
Charles knew Gabriel.
He knew Marcus.
He knew Captain Ruiz.
Aurelio was the only person he had specifically ordered to bring the drive.
“He’ll know if I’m not there,” Aurelio said.
Gabriel cursed softly.
Captain Ruiz agreed.
“He’s right.”
“No.”
“Gabriel.”
“No.”
Aurelio crossed his arms.
“You can’t stop me.”
Gabriel almost smiled despite himself.
“I have forty security officers.”
“I lived on the street for three months. People with houses are terrible at keeping track of kids.”
Marcus laughed before realizing Gabriel wasn’t amused.
Eventually they compromised.
Aurelio would appear.
But he would wear a tracker and remain behind Gabriel at all times.
Pier Seventeen sat in an industrial section of Port Haven.
At midnight, fog covered the harbor.
Cargo cranes towered above shipping containers like giant skeletons.
Gabriel and Aurelio walked onto the pier.
Gabriel carried the duplicate drive.
Aurelio’s heartbeat felt loud enough to expose them.
Charles waited beneath a warehouse light.
Rosa sat beside him.
When Aurelio saw her in person, every plan disappeared.
“GRANDMA!”
Rosa lifted her head.
Her face collapsed.
“Aurelio?”
He ran.
Gabriel grabbed him.
Charles’s men raised weapons.
“Easy,” Charles said.
Aurelio fought Gabriel’s grip.
“Let me go!”
Rosa began crying.
“My baby…”
For three months, Aurelio had imagined her beneath the ground.
Now she was ten yards away.
Alive.
Older than he remembered.
Bruised.
But alive.
Charles extended his hand.
“Drive first.”
Gabriel held it up.
“Rosa first.”
Charles smiled.
“We both know negotiations don’t work that way.”
“You killed my brother.”
“And you still came.”
“Because unlike you, I don’t sacrifice family for business.”
Something flashed in Charles’s eyes.
“Daniel sacrificed all of us.”
“No. Daniel refused to become you.”
Charles raised a finger.
One of his men pressed a gun against Rosa’s head.
Aurelio screamed.
“STOP!”
Charles looked at him.
“The drive, Aurelio.”
Gabriel whispered, “Don’t.”
Aurelio reached into Gabriel’s coat.
He took the drive.
Then walked forward.
“Aurelio.”
He kept going.
Charles smiled.
“Smart boy.”
Aurelio stopped halfway.
“My grandma comes to me.”
Charles nodded.
Rosa was untied.
She stumbled forward.
Aurelio walked toward her.
For one perfect second, grandmother and grandson were moving toward each other.
Then Charles said, “Now.”
A gunman grabbed Rosa again.
Another seized Aurelio.
The trap closed.
Gabriel drew his weapon.
Too late.
Charles laughed.
“You truly are Daniel’s son. Brave and foolish.”
Aurelio kicked the man holding him.
The grip tightened.
Charles took the drive.
“Thank you.”
Gabriel’s face remained strangely calm.
Charles noticed.
“What?”
“You really think I brought you the only copy?”
Charles stared.
Gabriel smiled.
“For somebody who calls himself a criminal mastermind, Uncle, you never understood computers.”
Charles’s face changed.
He threw the drive onto the concrete.
“You uploaded it.”
“Every file.”
Charles struck Gabriel across the face.
Aurelio shouted.
Then sirens sounded.
Charles smiled again.
“You think those are yours?”
Captain Ruiz’s voice screamed through Gabriel’s hidden earpiece.
“GET OUT! LOCAL POLICE ARE COMPROMISED!”
Patrol vehicles flooded the pier.
But instead of arresting Charles’s men, officers surrounded Gabriel.
The police captain leading them stepped out.
Aurelio recognized him from television.
Deputy Chief Randall Pierce.
Pierce pointed toward Gabriel.
“Gabriel Vale, drop your weapon!”
Charles walked casually away.
Gabriel stared in disbelief.
“You’re letting him leave?”
Pierce shouted again.
“DROP IT!”
Gabriel lowered his gun.
Charles leaned close.
“This is why Daniel lost.”
Then Rosa did something nobody expected.
She slammed her elbow into her captor’s throat.
He stumbled.
Rosa grabbed Aurelio.
“RUN!”
They sprinted between containers.
Gunfire exploded behind them.
Gabriel tackled one officer and escaped into the maze.
Rosa pulled Aurelio through narrow passages.
“How do you know where you’re going?”
“I worked these docks before you were born!”
She led him into an old maintenance tunnel.
They crawled beneath a fence.
On the other side, Simon waited in a van.
Rosa froze.
“You?”
Simon grinned.
“Nice to see you too.”
They piled inside.
Gabriel appeared seconds later.
Marcus drove.
The van disappeared into the fog.
Aurelio finally turned toward Rosa.
Neither spoke.
Then he threw himself into her arms.
Rosa sobbed.
Aurelio sobbed harder.
“You left me.”
“I know.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“I know.”
“I slept outside.”
Rosa pulled back.
Horror filled her face.
“What?”
“The foster family never came.”
Rosa looked at Gabriel.
“I arranged everything.”
“Someone intercepted it.”
Rosa covered her mouth.
“Oh, Aurelio…”
He wanted to stay angry.
Instead he hugged her again.
For the first time in three months, Aurelio felt like a child instead of someone responsible for surviving another night.
Then Simon’s phone buzzed.
He looked at the screen.
His smile vanished.
“What?”
Simon turned the phone around.
A breaking-news alert appeared.
BILLIONAIRE GABRIEL VALE WANTED IN CONNECTION WITH DOMESTIC TERRORISM INVESTIGATION
Below it was Gabriel’s photograph.
Another alert followed.
TWELVE-YEAR-OLD AURELIO VEGA REPORTED ABDUCTED BY VALE.
Aurelio stared.
Rosa whispered, “Meridian controls the story.”
May you like
Gabriel looked toward the dark highway.
“Then we stop hiding.”
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