Chapter 4 - The Dead BrotherGideon Mercer’s younger brother had been declared dead eleven years earlier.
That was the first thing Hannah learned.
The second was that Gideon had never seen the body.
Julian Mercer had been thirty-two when his sailboat exploded twenty miles off the Georgia coast. Coast Guard crews found wreckage, burned clothing, and enough blood to establish that survival was unlikely.
No body ever surfaced.
Silas Mercer had been alive then.
He had buried an empty casket.
Gideon had stood beside it.
And apparently believed his brother was inside.
Until now.
“You’re certain?” Gideon asked Margaret.
They sat inside the security room, where monitors covered an entire wall.
Margaret’s hands still trembled.
“I changed that boy’s diapers.”
“Eleven years changes a man.”
“Not his eyes.”
Gideon stared at a frozen security image.
A man in a black uniform was captured briefly before disabling one of the cameras.
Most of his face was turned away.
But the profile was visible.
Same jawline.
Same straight nose.
Same Mercer build.
Daniel looked at Gideon.
“There’s facial recognition software—”
“It’s Julian.”
Everyone stopped.
Gideon said it without emotion.
That was more frightening than anger.
Hannah watched him.
“What happened between you?”
He did not look at her.
“My father intended to leave the company to both of us.”
“And?”
“Julian wanted the old operations.”
“Smuggling.”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t.”
“No.”
“So your father chose you.”
Gideon’s eyes remained on the screen.
“Six months later, Julian died.”
Hannah folded her arms.
“Or staged his death.”
Gideon finally looked at her.
“That appears likely.”
Daniel brought up shipping records.
“If Julian survived, he needed money.”
“Check shell companies tied to old Mercer routes.”
“I already started.”
“Especially Caribbean transfers.”
Daniel nodded.
Then Noah walked into the room.
Everyone immediately stopped talking.
He looked at the image on the screen.
“Who is that?”
Gideon switched off the monitor.
“No one you need to worry about.”
Noah frowned.
“You always say that when I should worry.”
Hannah hid a smile.
Gideon did not.
“Upstairs.”
Noah looked at Hannah.
“Are you staying?”
The question came too quickly.
Too anxiously.
Hannah crouched.
“For a little while.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know.”
His face fell.
Gideon saw it.
So did Hannah.
She touched Noah’s shoulder.
“But I’m not disappearing without saying goodbye.”
That seemed to satisfy him.
When Noah left, Gideon said, “He’s attached to you.”
“You say that like it’s a security threat.”
“It could become one.”
Hannah stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
“If Julian realizes Noah trusts you, you become leverage.”
“So send me home.”
“I considered it.”
“That sounded insulting.”
“It was not intended to.”
“And your conclusion?”
Gideon stepped closer.
“You are safer here.”
Hannah laughed incredulously.
“Your supposedly dead brother broke onto the property wearing a stolen uniform.”
“Security has been doubled.”
“Wonderful. I feel extremely relaxed.”
He almost responded when Daniel’s computer sounded.
A search result had returned.
Daniel stared at it.
“Gideon.”
“What?”
“I found a company called Crown Meridian Logistics.”
The crown symbol appeared beside the company name.
Hannah recognized it immediately.
The same divided crown stamped into the brass token.
Daniel continued.
“Registered in Panama. Established ten years ago.”
“One year after Julian disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“Owners?”
“Hidden through multiple holding companies.”
“But?”
Daniel turned the monitor.
“Crown Meridian leased Warehouse 17 three months ago.”
Gideon’s expression changed.
Hannah noticed.
“What is Warehouse 17?”
Gideon replied quietly.
“Where my father ran most of his private business.”
That evening, Gideon and Daniel planned an inspection.
Hannah overheard enough to understand they intended to go personally.
“No.”
Gideon looked up.
“I wasn’t asking permission.”
“Good, because I’m not giving it.”
“This has nothing to do with you.”
“Someone nearly killed Noah.”
“Yes.”
“And the person might be waiting inside this warehouse.”
“Yes.”
“So perhaps walking into it personally is a terrible idea.”
Gideon buttoned his coat.
“Hannah.”
“No.”
Daniel coughed to hide amusement.
Gideon gave him a look.
Daniel immediately became professional again.
“We’ll have twelve men.”
Hannah shook her head.
“Men with guns do not magically make bad decisions intelligent.”
Gideon moved past her.
She grabbed his sleeve.
He stopped.
For a moment, they were extremely close.
Hannah realized his eyes were not simply gray.
They had a ring of green near the center.
“You’re Noah’s father,” she said quietly. “He already lost one parent.”
Something moved in Gideon’s face.
That reached him.
“You expect me to do nothing?”
“No. I expect you to remember that revenge and protection are not the same thing.”
Gideon looked at her hand on his sleeve.
She released it.
“I’ll be back before midnight.”
“That sounds exactly like something people say before getting shot in chapter three of a bad thriller.”
Daniel laughed.
Actually laughed.
Gideon stared at him.
“Vehicle. Now.”
“Yes, sir.”
Before leaving, Gideon stopped beside Hannah.
“Lock your room.”
“You don’t control me.”
“Indulge me.”
Then he left.
At 10:42 p.m., Hannah sat in Noah’s room.
He had finally fallen asleep.
Rain tapped against the windows.
Hannah was reading when her phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
She nearly ignored it.
Then a message appeared.
YOU SAVED THE WRONG BOY.
Hannah’s body went cold.
A second message arrived.
ASK GIDEON WHAT HIS FATHER DID TO YOUR MOTHER.
Hannah stared at the screen.
Her mother?
She had not seen Teresa Brooks since she was twelve years old.
Hannah’s father always said Teresa had left because she wanted another life.
A third message appeared.
She hesitated before opening it.
This one contained a photograph.
Hannah almost dropped the phone.
Her mother stood beside a much younger Silas Mercer.
The photograph looked twenty years old.
On the back of the image, visible because someone had photographed both sides, were handwritten words.
TERESA BROOKS — WAREHOUSE 17 — 2007.
Hannah ran downstairs.
She called Gideon.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
Then Daniel answered his own phone.
“Hannah?”
“Where’s Gideon?”
A burst of static came through.
Then shouting.
Gunfire.
Hannah froze.
“Daniel!”
“Stay in the house!”
“What’s happening?”
The connection cracked.
Daniel shouted something to someone nearby.
Then Hannah heard him say words that stopped her heart.
May you like
“Gideon’s been hit.”
The phone went dead.
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