Chapter 8 - The Sister in the Safe HouseCamille stopped answering her phone at 12:18 a.m.
Evelyn refused.
Marco supported Dominic.
Camille supported Evelyn.
For twenty minutes, four adults argued in a secure conference room while Isabella remained hostage somewhere in New York.
Finally Evelyn slammed her palm against the table.
“Stop treating me like luggage.”
Dominic’s eyes flashed.
“You are not walking onto that pier.”
“I didn’t say I was.”
“Then what are you saying?”
“I’m saying whoever planned this expects you to behave emotionally.”
“My mother is tied to a chair.”
“Exactly.”
Dominic became silent.
Evelyn pointed toward the map.
“They know you’ll rush in because you’ll feel guilty.”
“Guilty?”
“Because she gave Adrian the security code.”
Marco leaned forward.
“She’s right.”
Dominic looked irritated that Marco agreed.
Evelyn continued.
“They’re using your family relationships against you. Camille. Your mother. Me. The baby.”
“What do you suggest?”
“Stop reacting the way they expect.”
The plan formed quickly.
Dominic would arrive at Pier 19 carrying a case supposedly containing the archive.
Marco’s teams would establish surveillance without approaching close enough to be detected.
Camille would remain at the safe house.
Evelyn would remain in a command vehicle three blocks away.
Dominic hated that part.
But accepted it.
At 11:47 p.m., rain began falling.
Pier 19 was an abandoned industrial property along the Hudson.
Dominic walked alone through the gate carrying a black waterproof case.
Evelyn watched through cameras from the van.
“Movement north side,” Marco said.
Two men appeared.
Then four more.
Vincent Moretti stepped from a warehouse.
Evelyn recognized him immediately.
Gray hair.
Expensive overcoat.
The same man who had smiled at her over champagne during Christmas.
Tonight, he carried a pistol.
Dominic stopped twenty feet away.
“Where’s my mother?”
Vincent smiled.
“Still impatient.”
“Show me.”
Vincent nodded.
A van door opened.
Isabella was inside.
Alive.
Dominic’s shoulders relaxed almost imperceptibly.
Vincent noticed.
“Family makes men weak.”
“Then why did you kill your daughter?”
Evelyn watched Vincent’s expression.
Shock.
Genuine shock.
“What?”
Dominic noticed too.
“Natalie.”
Vincent’s face changed.
“My daughter is in Switzerland.”
“No.”
Dominic sent a photograph to Vincent’s phone.
Vincent looked.
His knees nearly buckled.
“No.”
His voice broke.
“No.”
Evelyn stared at Marco.
“He didn’t know.”
Marco nodded.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
Vincent looked at Dominic.
“You did this.”
“If I had killed your daughter, I wouldn’t have brought you proof.”
Vincent raised the gun.
“Liar!”
A gunshot cracked.
But it didn’t come from Vincent.
One of Vincent’s men collapsed.
Chaos erupted.
Evelyn grabbed the monitor.
“Where did that come from?”
Marco shouted into the radio.
“Sniper! East rooftop!”
Another shot.
Vincent’s second man fell.
Dominic dove behind a concrete barrier.
Vincent’s remaining men fired toward the roof.
Someone had set both sides up.
Then Isabella’s van started moving.
“Mom!” Dominic shouted.
The van tore toward the gate.
Evelyn saw the driver.
Her heart stopped.
“Marco.”
“What?”
“Zoom camera four.”
He did.
Adrian Vale was behind the wheel.
Dominic saw it too.
“Adrian!”
The van accelerated.
Marco’s team moved to intercept.
Then Isabella somehow kicked the driver’s seat.
The van swerved.
Hit a stack of pallets.
Stopped.
Dominic ran.
Adrian stumbled from the driver’s side with blood running down his forehead.
Dominic tackled him.
They crashed onto wet pavement.
Evelyn watched in horror.
Adrian was sixty-three but strong.
Dominic struck him once.
Adrian laughed.
“Still your father’s son.”
Dominic froze.
That moment was enough.
Adrian pulled a knife.
Marco shouted through the radio.
“Dominic!”
Vincent fired.
The bullet hit Adrian’s shoulder.
Adrian collapsed.
Dominic kicked the knife away.
Marco’s men surrounded them.
Evelyn exhaled for the first time in what felt like minutes.
Then the screen went black.
“What happened?”
“Power interference.”
Marco grabbed his radio.
“Team One?”
Static.
“Dominic?”
Nothing.
Evelyn’s pulse raced.
Then her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
A woman whispered.
“Mrs. Vale?”
“Yes.”
“This is Isabella.”
Evelyn looked at Marco.
“Where are you?”
“I’m safe.”
“Dominic?”
“He’s alive.”
Relief flooded Evelyn.
Then Isabella said something strange.
“Do not let them arrest Adrian.”
“What?”
“Listen carefully. Adrian did not organize this.”
Evelyn looked toward the dark monitor.
“Then who did?”
Isabella began crying.
“Someone your husband trusts.”
The line went dead.
Power returned.
Dominic stood beside the van.
Adrian was on his knees.
Vincent was surrounded.
Everyone appeared accounted for.
Then Evelyn noticed Marco’s face.
He was staring at another screen.
“What?”
He enlarged footage from the east rooftop.
The sniper had disappeared.
But the camera had captured one frame before he left.
A man in black clothing.
Part of his face visible.
Evelyn recognized him.
She looked at Marco.
Marco looked at her.
Neither spoke.
The sniper was Daniel Crowe.
The frightened attorney who claimed Vincent had threatened his children.
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The man Dominic had released six hours earlier.
And according to the GPS tracker now moving rapidly toward Manhattan, Daniel was heading directly toward the safe house where Camille was waiting.
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