Chapter 6 - Midnight at Pier Seventeen
At eleven forty-three, rain began falling over the East River.
Pier Seventeen had mostly emptied.
Restaurants were closing. Tourists had gone. Reflections from the Brooklyn Bridge trembled across black water.
Elena walked alone toward the end of the pier.
At least she appeared alone.
The Saint Michael pendant rested against her chest.
The flash drive sat inside her coat pocket.
Both were decoys.
The real drive remained encrypted at Vancel Tower.
Dante had copied enough convincing data onto the substitute to delay anyone examining it.
The pendant was more difficult.
Elena refused to surrender the original.
Dante had one replicated.
"Luciano held Gabriel's original records for years," he explained. "He has probably never seen the pendant."
"Probably?"
Dante had looked at her.
"I don't lie when I don't know."
That had been progress.
Now Elena walked through the rain with a wire beneath her blouse and fear pushing against every breath.
Dante and Rourke were positioned somewhere beyond sight.
Elena had argued until her throat hurt.
In the end, they compromised.
She would approach first.
Dante would not move unless Toby was visible.
At eleven fifty-eight, a black van arrived.
The side door opened.
Adrian Mercer stepped out.
Elena stopped.
She had expected Luciano.
Mercer carried an umbrella.
"Elena."
"Where is Toby?"
"Safe."
"Show me."
Mercer smiled.
"You have Gabriel's stubbornness."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"You shouldn't."
Elena's hand tightened inside her pocket.
"Show me my brother."
Mercer nodded toward the van.
A man opened the rear door.
Toby sat inside.
His wrists were zip-tied.
Tape covered his mouth.
Elena nearly ran forward.
Mercer raised one hand.
"Stay."
Her entire body shook.
"Toby!"
His eyes filled when he saw her.
Mercer watched Elena carefully.
"The pendant."
"Release him."
"The pendant."
"Let him walk toward me first."
"No."
"Then no deal."
Mercer sighed.
"You are negotiating from a weak position."
"No."
Elena looked directly at him.
"You are."
His smile faded.
"You need what I have. If you didn't, Toby wouldn't be here."
For a brief second, Mercer appeared impressed.
Then he laughed.
"Gabriel definitely raised you."
"Did he?"
The words escaped more bitterly than Elena intended.
Mercer's gaze sharpened.
"He didn't tell you."
"Tell me what?"
"Nothing."
"Where is my father?"
Mercer remained silent.
Elena's heartbeat accelerated.
"You know."
"Pendant."
"Father."
Rain ran down Mercer's face.
Finally he said, "Alive the last time I saw him."
Elena's breath caught.
"When?"
"Three weeks ago."
"Where?"
"Give me the pendant."
Elena removed the replica.
Mercer's attention locked onto it.
She held it up.
"Release Toby."
Mercer signaled.
The man in the van cut Toby's wrist restraints.
Elena's heart raced.
"Let him come."
Toby climbed down.
Then a second man grabbed his shoulder.
Elena's hands curled.
"Not yet," Mercer said.
"You said—"
"I said release him. His hands are free."
Elena wanted to scream.
Instead, she pulled the fake drive from her pocket.
"Both."
Mercer stepped closer.
"Put them on the ground."
"You first."
He smiled.
"No."
A voice came from the darkness behind him.
"I believe she said you first."
Dante.
Mercer spun.
Dante emerged from behind a steel support column.
No umbrella.
Black coat soaked by rain.
Mercer's face changed.
"You were told not to come."
Dante looked at Toby.
"I've never been good with instructions."
Gunmen appeared from behind the van.
Dante's security team moved from surrounding positions.
For several seconds, guns pointed in every direction.
Elena's heart hammered.
Toby stood frozen.
"Dante," she whispered.
He looked toward her.
Then at Toby.
"On my signal."
Mercer laughed nervously.
"You think this is a Western?"
"No."
Dante's expression was calm.
"I think you've mistaken patience for weakness."
A voice spoke from inside the van.
"Enough."
Everyone froze.
An older man stepped down.
Luciano Vancel.
Elena had seen photographs.
He was sixty-eight, silver-haired, elegant, and carried himself with the casual authority of someone accustomed to others becoming frightened before he raised his voice.
He looked remarkably like Dante around the eyes.
"Hello, nephew."
Dante's face revealed nothing.
"Luciano."
"You've caused me considerable inconvenience."
"I've been trying."
Luciano's gaze moved to Elena.
"Gabriel's daughter."
Elena hated the familiarity in his voice.
"Where is my father?"
Luciano smiled.
"Still asking the wrong question."
"What question should I ask?"
"Why he abandoned you."
Elena's stomach tightened.
Dante said, "Don't listen."
Luciano laughed.
"Of course he would say that."
He approached Elena.
Dante's security shifted.
Luciano stopped.
"Your father could have returned at any time."
"He was hiding from you."
"At first."
Elena stared.
Luciano continued.
"Later, he was hiding from the truth."
"What truth?"
"That he helped create the Vancel empire Dante now pretends to reform."
Dante's jaw tightened.
"Gabriel was an accountant."
"He was a strategist."
Luciano's smile widened.
"He built offshore systems. Laundered money. Hid payments."
Elena shook her head.
"No."
"Your father was not some saint."
"Neither are you."
Luciano laughed softly.
"No. But I never claimed to be."
Elena looked toward Dante.
His expression told her there was at least some truth in Luciano's words.
"You knew."
Dante answered immediately.
"Gabriel helped my father hide money before he turned against the organization."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"This wasn't the moment."
"Apparently there's never a moment."
Luciano watched them with satisfaction.
"See? Dante gives truth in installments."
Dante ignored him.
"Toby."
Luciano looked at the boy.
"Ah yes."
He nodded.
One gunman pushed Toby forward.
Elena started toward him.
The gunman raised his weapon.
She stopped.
Luciano held out one hand.
"The pendant."
Elena dropped the fake onto the wet pavement.
"The drive."
She placed it beside the pendant.
Luciano gestured.
Mercer retrieved both.
He examined the pendant.
Then the drive.
Luciano smiled.
"Release the boy."
Elena's breath stopped.
The gunman let go.
Toby ran.
Elena ran toward him.
They collided halfway.
She dropped to her knees and wrapped both arms around him.
"I'm sorry."
Toby was crying.
"I knew you'd come."
"Always."
A gunshot exploded.
Elena covered Toby with her body.
Chaos erupted.
Dante's men moved.
Mercer shouted.
Someone had fired from a rooftop.
Not either side.
Dante tackled Elena and Toby behind a concrete barrier.
"Stay down."
More shots.
Luciano shouted at his men.
"Find the shooter!"
Elena looked at Dante.
"This isn't yours?"
"No."
"Luciano's?"
"No."
Dante looked genuinely confused.
A bullet struck the van.
Rourke shouted through the radio.
"Third party, east roof!"
Luciano's men returned fire.
For one bizarre moment, both criminal factions were defending the same position.
Then a voice boomed through loudspeakers.
"FEDERAL AGENTS! DROP YOUR WEAPONS!"
Dante went still.
Luciano's face changed.
Vehicles surged onto the pier.
FBI.
Elena stared.
"What the hell?"
Mercer dropped the drive.
Luciano grabbed him.
"You idiot."
"I didn't—"
Agents surrounded the area.
Dante looked at Elena.
"Did you call them?"
"No."
Luciano looked toward one of the approaching agents.
Then his expression became shock.
A thin older man walked behind the tactical team.
Gray hair.
Scar across one cheek.
Elena stopped breathing.
The entire pier seemed to disappear.
"Dad?"
Gabriel Vance looked at his daughter.
For sixteen years Elena had imagined his face.
Sometimes clearly.
Sometimes not.
The man before her was older.
Thinner.
But his eyes were the same.
"Ellie."
Her childhood nickname.
Only he had called her that first.
Elena stood slowly.
Toby looked between them.
Gabriel's face crumpled.
"God."
Elena couldn't move.
"You were alive."
"I—"
"You were alive."
Gabriel stepped closer.
An agent stopped him until the scene was secured.
Luciano shouted.
"Traitor!"
Gabriel looked toward him.
"Finally."
Dante stared at Gabriel.
Something complicated moved across his face.
Rage.
Relief.
Grief.
Gabriel looked at him.
"Dante."
"Gabriel."
Sixteen years of history sat inside the two names.
Federal agents handcuffed Mercer.
Luciano's men surrendered.
Luciano himself did not.
He simply stood in the rain.
"You think this ends because you brought federal badges?"
Gabriel looked at him.
"No."
He glanced at Elena.
"This ends because my daughter opened the vault."
Elena's heart pounded.
"What are you talking about?"
Gabriel's eyes dropped toward her neck.
The real pendant remained hidden beneath her blouse.
"You still have it."
Elena instinctively covered it.
"The one you gave me."
"Yes."
"Why didn't you come back?"
Gabriel's face changed.
"I can't explain here."
"You had sixteen years."
"I know."
"You watched Mom's funeral."
Gabriel went pale.
"You saw the photograph."
"I saw you standing twenty feet away while I buried her."
His eyes filled.
"I wanted to come to you."
"But you didn't."
"No."
"Why?"
Gabriel looked at Dante.
Then back at Elena.
"Because your mother made me promise."
Elena stared.
"My mother knew you were alive."
"Yes."
The word broke something inside her.
Toby reached for Elena's hand.
She held him.
"Why?"
Gabriel swallowed.
"Because Luciano wasn't the only man hunting me."
His gaze moved toward the federal agents.
"People inside the government were involved."
Dante's expression changed.
"Who?"
Gabriel looked at him.
"Your father's closest friend."
Dante went still.
"Who?"
Gabriel answered.
"Senator Charles Wexler."
Dante's face drained of color.
Elena recognized the name.
Everyone did.
Wexler was a four-term United States senator.
A presidential contender.
A man whose foundation had donated millions to hospitals, schools, and veterans.
Gabriel continued.
"Luciano stole money."
He looked at Mercer.
"Mercer moved it."
Then at Dante.
"But Wexler protected all of them."
Luciano laughed.
"Careful, Gabriel."
Gabriel's eyes hardened.
"No more careful."
He turned to Elena.
"The pendant doesn't open a bank account."
"What does it open?"
"The only copy of a recording powerful enough to bring Wexler down."
Elena could barely process the words.
Dante said, "Where is it?"
Gabriel looked toward him.
"In a place your father built."
Luciano suddenly smiled.
Then Elena understood why.
A federal agent standing near Gabriel raised his weapon.
Not toward Luciano.
Toward Gabriel.
Dante shouted.
"DOWN!"
The shot fired.
May you like
Gabriel collapsed.
Elena screamed.
