Chapter 10 - The Last Betrayal
Salvatore’s prison convoy was attacked on a bridge north of the city.
Two armored vehicles blocked the road. Men wearing federal tactical uniforms used forged authorization codes to separate his transport from its escort.
No guards were killed.
That told me the operation had inside support.
Salvatore escaped less than twenty-four hours before he was scheduled to testify before a grand jury.
My surrender was delayed because prosecutors wanted my help identifying where he might go.
“He has no money,” Reed said. “Accounts frozen. Allies arrested.”
“He has emergency reserves.”
“Where?”
“If I knew, they would not be emergency reserves.”
Hayes placed photographs across the table.
One showed a farmhouse in Pennsylvania owned through a shell company. Another showed a marina in Connecticut. A third showed the ruins of our family’s old estate outside Albany.
“He gave Elena’s formula from a server at the estate,” she said.
“He will assume we search it first.”
“Which means?”
“He might go there because he expects us to assume he would not.”
Reed frowned. “That logic can continue forever.”
“Welcome to my family.”
We traveled north with a small team.
The estate had burned partially twenty years earlier. My father stopped using it after my mother died.
Snow covered the grounds.
Bruno tracked Salvatore’s scent from an abandoned vehicle found three miles away.
Elena insisted Bruno should not go.
“He is still hurt,” she told me over a video call.
“He will remain outside unless needed.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
The house appeared empty.
Inside, dust covered the furniture except for a path leading to my father’s study.
A fire burned in the fireplace.
Salvatore sat behind the desk.
No guards.
No weapon visible.
“You found me,” he said.
“Did you arrange the convoy attack?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
“Someone who did not want me to testify.”
“Vale is in custody. Grayson too.”
“The council had reserves.”
“Names.”
He laughed.
“You still believe names matter. Remove one judge, another accepts the money. Arrest one officer, another takes the promotion.”
“Then why escape?”
“To survive.”
“You could have survived in custody.”
“They would have killed me before trial.”
He slid a folder across the desk.
Inside were photographs of Agent Reed meeting privately with Judge Vale six years earlier.
Reed stared at them.
“This was an undercover contact.”
Salvatore shook his head.
“You were not assigned to Vale until three years later.”
Hayes looked at Reed.
“Is that true?”
Reed’s face revealed nothing.
“The photograph is authentic,” he said.
My hand moved toward my coat.
Federal agents outside answered to Reed.
If he was compromised, we were trapped.
“Explain,” Hayes demanded.
Reed slowly removed his weapon and placed it on the floor.
“My wife was a patient at Harbor Light.”
No one spoke.
“She had terminal cancer. Vale offered experimental treatment. I did not know what the clinic really was.”
“Did the treatment work?” I asked.
“For six months. Then she died.”
“And Vale owned you.”
“She threatened to claim I had approved illegal human trials. I began feeding her harmless information.”
“Harmless to whom?”
Reed looked at me.
“One tip exposed Carlo’s route.”
The room changed.
My brother had died because of Salvatore’s betrayal.
But Reed had passed the information that made the ambush possible.
“I did not know they would kill him,” Reed said.
“You never told us.”
“I spent years trying to dismantle the council.”
“That does not bring him back.”
“No.”
Hayes appeared devastated.
“You used me.”
“I trusted you to investigate what I could not.”
Salvatore smiled.
“He is no better than us.”
Reed looked at me.
“I will surrender.”
Before anyone moved, a red dot appeared on Salvatore’s chest.
Sniper.
I threw the desk over.
The window shattered.
A bullet struck the wall.
Agents outside shouted.
More shots came from the tree line.
This was why Salvatore had been released.
His rescuers had followed him to eliminate everyone involved in the case.
We moved into the corridor.
Reed picked up his weapon.
Hayes aimed at him.
“You said you would surrender.”
“After we survive.”
The attackers entered through the rear doors.
Bruno barked outside.
I had promised Elena he would stay away.
But he heard gunfire.
He broke through a side window and tackled an attacker raising a rifle toward Hayes.
The fight spread through the house.
Anthony and Marco, both permitted to assist as cooperating witnesses, covered the staircase.
Salvatore disappeared.
I followed him into the basement.
A hidden passage led toward an old family crypt.
He stopped beside my father’s tomb.
“I did not know Reed gave the route,” he said.
“You still ordered the ambush.”
“I thought they would frighten Carlo.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
Footsteps approached behind us.
Reed entered.
His weapon pointed at Salvatore.
“This ends here.”
Salvatore looked at me.
“He will kill us both and claim self-defense.”
Reed’s hand trembled.
“Carlo’s death destroyed my life too.”
“You lived,” I said.
“My wife was dying. I was afraid.”
“Fear explains betrayal. It does not excuse it.”
He lowered the gun slightly.
Then Salvatore reached behind the tomb and pulled out a revolver.
Bruno charged into the crypt.
Three shots echoed.
Salvatore fell.
Reed fell.
Bruno remained standing between them.
I rushed forward.
Reed had been hit in the side.
Salvatore’s bullet.
Salvatore had been struck in the chest.
Reed’s bullet.
My uncle looked up at me.
“This family,” he whispered, “was cursed before we were born.”
“No. We kept choosing the curse.”
He tried to speak again, but his eyes closed.
Salvatore Moretti died beside his brother’s grave.
Reed survived.
The attack team was captured. They were private contractors hired by one remaining Lantern Council member whose identity Salvatore had hidden in the folder.
The name was redacted.
But beneath the black ink, I saw the imprint of a seal.
The office of the mayor of New York.
May you like
The conspiracy’s final leader was not hiding underground.
He was standing before cameras every day.
