Chapter 9 - My Best Friend’s BetrayalTwelve years of friendship can make you stupid.
Pier 19 sat beneath rusted cranes on the Brooklyn waterfront.
The FBI wanted a tactical team surrounding the area.
I agreed.
Richard expected me to disobey him.
So we let him believe I had.
A transmitter was sewn into my coat.
A tracker sat beneath the sole of my shoe.
The recovery phrase in my pocket was fake.
Calvin was supposed to remain behind.
Naturally, he didn’t.
I saw him watching from a warehouse window fifty yards away.
His shoulder was still bandaged.
He looked furious.
I almost smiled.
Then headlights appeared.
A black sedan stopped.
Richard stepped out.
Evelyn followed.
My mother sat in the back seat.
Alive.
“Mom!”
Her mouth was taped.
Richard smiled.
“Such devotion.”
“Let her go.”
“The phrase.”
“First my mother.”
Evelyn laughed.
“You really inherited Thomas’s stubbornness.”
I looked at her.
“And you inherited Richard’s talent for pretending murder is business.”
Her eyes narrowed.
Richard held up his phone.
On screen was an account interface.
Halcyon Reserve.
“Enter the phrase.”
“I need biometric authentication too.”
“I’m aware.”
I moved closer.
Twenty feet.
Fifteen.
Ten.
I could see Mom shaking.
“Let her out.”
Richard opened the rear door.
Mom stumbled onto the pavement.
Evelyn grabbed her.
A gun pressed against her side.
“Phrase,” Evelyn said.
I recited the fake sequence.
Richard entered it.
Rejected.
His face changed.
“Again.”
I repeated it.
Rejected.
Evelyn pressed the gun harder.
“Stop playing games.”
“I’m not.”
Richard looked at me.
“You’re lying.”
He lifted his gun.
That was when Calvin stepped from the shadows.
“Dad.”
Richard turned.
“You never could follow instructions.”
Calvin walked slowly toward us.
“What are you doing?” I shouted.
“Fixing my family.”
He looked at Evelyn.
“You know he’s going to kill you too.”
She laughed.
“No.”
“He killed my father,” I said. “He let you fake your death. He’s used everyone.”
Evelyn remained still.
Calvin continued.
“Ask him what happens after he gets the reserve.”
Richard’s jaw tightened.
“Enough.”
“Ask him, Evelyn.”
Her gun shifted slightly.
Richard noticed.
“Don’t listen to him.”
Calvin laughed.
“That’s the problem with people like Dad. Loyalty only exists while you’re useful.”
Richard aimed at Calvin.
I screamed.
A red laser appeared on Richard’s chest.
FBI.
“Drop the weapon!”
Agents emerged from every direction.
Richard grabbed my mother.
Evelyn spun.
Calvin moved.
Gunfire exploded.
I hit the pavement.
When I looked up, Mom was crawling toward me.
Richard had been shot in the leg.
Agents surrounded him.
Calvin stood nearby.
Alive.
Then I saw Evelyn.
She was gone.
Again.
Richard screamed as agents cuffed him.
“You fools! You don’t know what you’ve done!”
I crawled toward Mom.
She wrapped her arms around me.
We cried together on wet concrete while rain washed dirt from our clothes.
Richard Lawson was finally arrested.
But the nightmare wasn’t over.
Because during his interrogation, Richard offered prosecutors a deal.
He would expose the entire Halcyon network.
In exchange, he wanted immunity for Evelyn.
The government refused.
Richard smiled.
Then he gave them one warning.
“You have seventy-two hours before Evelyn burns everything.”
“What does that mean?” I asked the lead agent.
He slid a document toward me.
A list of fourteen companies.
Banks.
Law firms.
Investment houses.
One name stopped me.
HALE FINANCIAL COMPLIANCE GROUP.
Stephanie’s employer.
Then another document.
Payments.
Stephanie’s name appeared beside three transfers totaling $1.2 million.
My stomach sank.
“No.”
Agent Mercer looked at me.
“We believe Stephanie Hale has been working with Evelyn.”
“That’s impossible.”
“We traced the funds.”
“She told me Calvin threatened her.”
“We think that story was fabricated.”
I remembered Stephanie hiding beneath my blanket.
Stephanie stealing the locker key.
Stephanie conveniently knowing where to look.
Stephanie saving us repeatedly.
Or directing us.
I called her.
No answer.
Anna called from the safe house minutes later.
Her voice was shaking.
“Brooke.”
“What?”
“Stephanie disappeared.”
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
My heart stopped.
May you like
Then Anna said:
“She took Dad’s journals with her.”
