Chapter 4 - The PlaneNathan was scheduled to fly to Washington in thirty-six hours.
Nothing had prepared him for seeing his son tied to a chair.
Andrew had been attending the University of Virginia.
He was supposed to be driving home that afternoon.
Instead, someone had intercepted him.
The video showed blood near his eyebrow and duct tape around his wrists.
Nathan watched it twice.
Then a third time.
Special Agent Donnelly finally took the phone away.
“Watching it again won’t give us more information.”
“That’s my son.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
Nathan’s voice broke.
He turned away before anyone saw what happened to his face.
Elena stood silently behind him.
She understood something in that moment.
For all Nathan’s power, all the black SUVs, guards, offices, and television cameras, he was simply a father whose child had been taken.
Rebecca appeared at the office doorway between two agents.
“I heard something happened to Andrew.”
Nathan turned so fast Raymond stepped between them.
“You knew.”
Rebecca shook her head.
“Nathan—”
“You knew Marcus was capable of this.”
“No.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“I didn’t know he would take Andrew.”
“But you knew the rest?”
Rebecca said nothing.
Nathan moved closer.
“You planted evidence in my safe.”
“I helped.”
“You fabricated bank records.”
“Yes.”
“You planned to destroy my career.”
Rebecca’s chin lifted.
“You were never going to make room for me.”
Nathan stared at her.
“Make room for you?”
“Everything was Nathan Cole. Governor Cole. Senator Cole someday. President Cole someday. I became a smile in photographs.”
“So you decided to send me to prison?”
Rebecca’s eyes flashed.
“I decided I would stop disappearing behind you.”
Elena spoke quietly.
“And sleeping with Marcus was part of becoming visible?”
Rebecca spun toward her.
“You stay out of this.”
“No.”
Rebecca’s expression changed.
Elena stepped forward.
“My sister was attacked. My daughter was photographed. His son was kidnapped. You don’t get to tell anyone to stay out of this anymore.”
Rebecca stared at her.
Nathan almost expected another slap.
Instead Rebecca looked away.
That was when Nathan realized something.
She was afraid.
Not of him.
Of Marcus.
“What does he have on you?”
Rebecca’s eyes flicked back.
“Nothing.”
“Rebecca.”
“I told you—”
“You’re terrified.”
She looked toward the agents.
“May I speak with my husband alone?”
Donnelly refused.
Rebecca swallowed.
Then she whispered, “Marcus keeps records.”
“Of what?”
“Everything.”
Nathan waited.
Rebecca’s shoulders lowered.
“Judges he paid. Contractors he threatened. Donors he blackmailed.”
Donnelly’s expression sharpened.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect us to believe that?”
“He never trusted me with the location.”
Nathan said, “But you knew the records existed.”
Rebecca nodded.
“There’s a master ledger.”
“What’s in it?”
“Enough to destroy half the people around him.”
Donnelly leaned closer.
“Does it include the operation against your husband?”
“Yes.”
“Then we need it.”
Rebecca laughed bitterly.
“Good luck.”
Elena looked at the kidnapping video.
“There was a window behind Andrew.”
Donnelly turned.
“What?”
Elena pointed.
“Here.”
The frame was frozen.
Behind Andrew’s shoulder, a cracked industrial window revealed three lights.
Red.
White.
Red.
Elena narrowed her eyes.
“I’ve seen those.”
Nathan looked at her.
“Where?”
“When I take the bus home.”
She stepped closer.
“There are radio towers by the James River. Near the old paper mill.”
Donnelly called up satellite imagery.
The warehouse named in Marcus’s message was six miles away from those towers.
A decoy.
But several abandoned industrial properties sat directly beneath them.
Federal agents began cross-referencing ownership records.
One building stood out.
A former packaging plant purchased nine months earlier by a shell company called Hawthorne Development.
The shell company’s attorney had donated money to Marcus Hale.
Donnelly ordered surveillance.
Nathan wanted to go.
She refused.
Elena volunteered.
Everyone refused.
But Marcus expected Elena at midnight.
That gave them something.
A plan formed.
Elena would appear to arrive at the Riverside warehouse carrying the watch.
Federal teams would monitor both sites.
Meanwhile, another team would enter the suspected packaging plant if surveillance confirmed Andrew’s presence.
Nathan hated every part of it.
At 11:42 p.m., Elena climbed into an unmarked sedan wearing a concealed microphone.
Nathan stopped her before she closed the door.
“You don’t have to do this.”
“Yes, I do.”
“I can’t ask you to risk your life for my family.”
“You didn’t ask.”
“Elena.”
She looked at him.
“I spent four years being treated like I was invisible in your house.”
Nathan lowered his eyes.
“I know.”
“No. You noticed today.”
That landed harder than anger.
Elena continued.
“Mrs. Cole insulted me. Humiliated me. Changed my schedule without warning. Accused me of stealing when she misplaced jewelry. You never saw most of it.”
Nathan said nothing.
“I’m not doing this because you’re governor,” Elena said. “I’m doing it because your son is twenty years old and terrified somewhere.”
Nathan nodded slowly.
“I owe you more than I can say.”
“Then make sure my daughter grows up knowing powerful people can still be held accountable.”
Elena entered the car.
At midnight precisely, she walked into the abandoned Riverside warehouse.
Her footsteps echoed.
“Marcus?”
Nothing.
She continued.
“I brought the watch.”
A figure emerged.
Not Marcus.
Gavin Rourke.
He raised a pistol.
“Put it on the table.”
Elena obeyed.
“Where’s Andrew?”
Rourke smiled.
“You ask too many questions.”
He approached her.
Federal agents listened from two hundred yards away.
Elena forced herself not to look toward their positions.
Rourke picked up the watch.
Then he stared at its screen.
His smile vanished.
“What is this?”
Elena said nothing.
Rourke held up the watch.
It was not Elena’s.
It was an identical decoy.
He struck her across the face.
Agents moved.
Gunfire erupted.
Elena dropped behind a concrete barrier.
Rourke ran toward a back exit but federal agents tackled him outside.
At almost the exact same moment, Donnelly’s second team breached the packaging plant.
Nathan waited inside the command vehicle.
Thirty seconds.
One minute.
Two.
Then Donnelly’s radio crackled.
“Hostage located.”
Nathan covered his mouth.
“Alive?”
Another pause.
Then:
“Alive.”
Nathan closed his eyes.
Andrew was carried from the building shaking but conscious.
Father and son collided near the ambulance.
Nathan wrapped both arms around him.
Andrew sobbed into his shoulder.
“I thought they were going to kill me.”
“I’ve got you.”
“They kept asking about Mom.”
Nathan pulled back.
“What about your mother?”
Andrew looked terrified.
“They wanted to know whether she had given you the blue file.”
Nathan frowned.
“What blue file?”
“I don’t know.”
Behind them, Rebecca was being escorted from another vehicle for federal questioning.
The moment Andrew saw her, he recoiled.
“Keep her away from me.”
Rebecca stopped.
“Andrew…”
He stared at his mother.
Then said six words that changed everything.
“I heard what you told Marcus.”
Rebecca went pale.
“What did you hear?”
Andrew swallowed.
“You told him Dad wasn’t supposed to survive the scandal.”
Nathan slowly turned.
Rebecca whispered, “Andrew, you misunderstood.”
But Andrew shook his head.
“No.”
May you like
His voice trembled.
“You said the plane would make sure of it.”
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