Chapter 8 - The Church BoxSt. Matthew’s Church had been closed for eleven years.
At 11:58 p.m., Lena stood behind a concrete pillar wearing a bulletproof vest under her coat.
Agent Ross had argued against letting her come.
Adrien had argued harder.
Lena had ended the discussion.
“My aunt is there because of me.”
Ross corrected her.
“She’s there because criminals kidnapped her.”
“Either way, I’m coming.”
Daniel had watched Lena with amusement.
“You’re stubborn.”
She stared at him.
“So was my brother.”
Daniel stopped smiling.
Now he stood twenty yards away with his hands visible.
Adrien remained beside him.
Federal tactical teams were hidden around the terminal.
No one knew how many of those agents Crowe might own.
That was the terrifying part.
Not knowing which uniform represented safety.
At midnight exactly, headlights appeared.
A black sedan rolled inside.
Then another.
Then another.
Teresa stepped from the second vehicle.
Lena nearly ran toward her.
Ross grabbed her shoulder.
“Wait.”
A man emerged behind Teresa.
Sebastian Crowe looked ordinary.
That was the first thing Lena noticed.
He was perhaps sixty.
Gray suit.
No body armor.
No theatrical scar.
No visible weapon.
He could have been someone’s accountant.
Maybe that was why he had survived.
“Daniel,” Crowe called.
Daniel stepped forward.
“Sebastian.”
Crowe smiled.
“You look remarkably healthy for a dead man.”
“You look disappointingly alive.”
“Still dramatic.”
“Still parasitic.”
Adrien glanced at Lena.
“Family friends.”
She whispered, “Your holidays must have been exhausting.”
Crowe’s gaze shifted.
“Adrien.”
Adrien said nothing.
“I watched you build quite an empire.”
“Did you?”
“Much cleaner than your father’s.”
Daniel bristled.
Crowe smiled.
“And Lena Carter.”
Lena stepped into view.
Teresa shook her head.
“No, baby!”
Crowe placed one hand on Teresa’s shoulder.
Lena stopped.
“Let her go.”
“When I have what I want.”
“You wanted Daniel.”
“I wanted everyone important in one place.”
Ross whispered into her radio.
No response.
Her face changed.
“Comms are dead.”
Adrien noticed.
Crowe did too.
“I’m afraid federal technology is unreliable near the water.”
Daniel looked around.
“You own agents here.”
Crowe shrugged.
“I own people everywhere.”
“You always wanted too much.”
“And you always settled for too little.”
Crowe reached inside his jacket.
Several agents shifted.
He removed a tablet.
On the screen was a banking interface.
“Meridian’s reserve,” Crowe said. “Nine hundred and eighty-seven million dollars.”
Daniel stared.
“You never found the final key.”
“No.”
Crowe turned toward Lena.
“But Michael did.”
“I don’t have it.”
“No.”
Crowe smiled.
“Your aunt does.”
Teresa looked confused.
“I don’t know what he means.”
Crowe reached into Teresa’s coat pocket and removed a small brass locket.
Lena recognized it.
Her mother’s.
“A family keepsake,” Crowe said.
Teresa gasped.
“You searched my house for that?”
“Your sister was clever.”
He opened the locket.
Inside was a tiny engraved sequence.
Daniel’s face changed.
Crowe smiled.
“The access key.”
Lena stared at her aunt.
Teresa whispered, “Your mother gave me that before she died.”
Crowe entered the sequence.
The tablet requested a second authorization.
His smile disappeared.
“What?”
Daniel laughed.
“You thought Michael trusted one person?”
Crowe looked at him sharply.
Daniel’s eyes moved toward Adrien.
Crowe understood.
“The second key.”
Adrien frowned.
“I don’t have it.”
Daniel smiled.
“Yes, you do.”
Adrien stared at his father.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Julian gave it to you.”
“When?”
“The night before he died.”
Adrien shook his head.
“No.”
“He gave you his watch.”
Adrien’s face changed.
Lena remembered seeing it.
A vintage silver watch Adrien wore constantly.
He slowly looked down.
Crowe smiled.
“Give it to me.”
Adrien removed the watch.
Daniel said quietly, “Don’t.”
Crowe pressed a gun against Teresa.
Lena’s heart stopped.
“Give it to me.”
Adrien tossed the watch.
Crowe caught it.
Inside the casing was another engraved sequence.
He entered it.
The tablet unlocked.
Nine hundred eighty-seven million dollars.
Crowe almost looked emotional.
“Thirty years.”
Daniel watched him.
“You destroyed families for money.”
“No.”
Crowe’s eyes brightened.
“For independence.”
He began transferring the funds.
Agent Ross whispered, “We need a shot.”
“No,” Lena said.
“Why?”
“Because he’ll kill my aunt.”
Crowe entered an offshore account.
Transfer initiated.
Twenty percent.
Thirty.
Daniel suddenly shouted, “Sebastian!”
Crowe looked up.
Daniel pulled a pistol from an ankle holster.
Gunfire erupted.
Lena screamed.
Adrien knocked Daniel sideways.
Crowe’s guards fired.
Federal agents returned fire.
Teresa dropped.
Lena ran.
“Lena!” Adrien shouted.
She ignored him.
Bullets struck concrete behind her.
She reached Teresa and dragged her behind a support column.
“Aunt Tess!”
“I’m okay!”
Crowe’s tablet lay several feet away.
Transfer at sixty-eight percent.
Lena saw it.
Crowe saw her see it.
He ran toward the device.
Lena moved first.
She grabbed it.
Crowe seized her arm.
“You have no idea what you’re holding.”
Lena slammed the tablet against the concrete.
The screen shattered.
Crowe stared.
“No!”
She hit it again.
Sparks flew.
Transfer failed.
Crowe grabbed Lena by the throat.
“You stupid—”
Adrien hit him from the side.
Both men crashed to the ground.
Crowe pulled a knife.
Adrien caught his wrist.
They struggled.
Daniel approached with his gun raised.
For one terrifying second, Lena could not tell whom he intended to shoot.
Then Daniel aimed at Crowe.
A gunshot cracked.
Daniel jerked backward.
Blood spread across his shoulder.
One of Crowe’s men had fired.
Adrien disarmed Crowe.
Agent Ross tackled the gunman.
Federal teams flooded the terminal.
Within seconds, Crowe was surrounded.
He laughed.
Actually laughed.
“You think this ends with me?”
Ross handcuffed him.
“No.”
She pulled him upright.
“It starts.”
Lena hugged Teresa so tightly neither could breathe properly.
“You came for me,” Teresa cried.
“Always.”
Across the terminal, Adrien knelt beside Daniel.
The wound looked serious but not fatal.
Daniel’s face had turned pale.
“You ruined my suit,” he muttered.
Adrien stared at him.
“You faked your death for twelve years and that’s what you say?”
Daniel smiled faintly.
“I assumed you’d have more questions.”
“I do.”
“Ask quickly.”
“Why did Julian give me the key?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Because he trusted you.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Daniel looked at his surviving son.
For once, no clever answer came.
“Because I was afraid.”
Adrien’s expression changed.
Lena watched from across the terminal.
Daniel continued.
“I thought if I controlled everything, I could protect you.”
“You lost Julian.”
“Yes.”
“You lost me too.”
Daniel looked away.
“I know.”
Paramedics arrived.
As they lifted Daniel onto a stretcher, he reached for Adrien’s hand.
Adrien hesitated.
Then took it.
Not forgiveness.
Not yet.
But not abandonment either.
Crowe was placed in an armored vehicle.
Before entering, he looked at Lena.
“Michael would be disappointed.”
Lena approached.
Adrien moved beside her.
Crowe smiled.
“He wanted the truth exposed.”
“It will be.”
“Not without the complete archive.”
“We have it.”
“No.”
His smile widened.
“You have what Michael wanted you to find.”
Lena froze.
Crowe leaned closer.
“But not what he hid from everyone.”
“What?”
“The names of the people who ordered the murders.”
“You’re one.”
“Yes.”
He smiled.
“But not the only one.”
Ross shoved him toward the vehicle.
Crowe called back.
“Ask your aunt about the church!”
Teresa went pale.
Lena turned.
“Aunt Tess?”
Teresa stared at the ground.
“What church?”
Teresa closed her eyes.
“Your mother made me promise.”
“Promise what?”
“That I would never tell you unless everything else failed.”
Lena’s stomach tightened.
May you like
Teresa looked toward her.
“There’s another box.”
Related Stories
