Chapter 6 - The School Pickup
Maya attended a small private elementary school twenty minutes from the safe house.
Declan had transferred her there after his wife's death because it was close to his old apartment.
We arrived to find the school surrounded by police.
I couldn't breathe.
Declan ran inside.
“Maya!”
A teacher stopped him.
“Mr. Whitford, she's safe.”
He froze.
“What?”
“She left with her aunt.”
“She doesn't have an aunt.”
The teacher's face changed.
“I know.”
Declan looked at me.
We had been tricked.
The message had been designed to make him panic.
The real threat wasn't Maya.
It was the notebook.
We rushed back.
The safe house had been searched.
Nothing was damaged.
Except the drawer where I had left the notebook.
Empty.
I felt sick.
“We were watched.”
Declan nodded.
“There was a camera inside.”
“Where?”
He pointed to the smoke detector.
I removed it.
A tiny device fell into my hand.
My heart pounded.
“Who installed the security system?”
“The company.”
I called the security provider.
Their records showed an emergency update three weeks earlier.
Requested by my executive office.
Signed by Vaughn.
I stared at the paperwork.
“Could he have installed this?”
“Yes.”
Declan took the device.
“Then they heard everything.”
Including our theories.
Including Maya's dream.
Including the notebook.
Declan looked at me.
“We need another strategy.”
That night we created a false trail.
We leaked a story that we'd found the notebook and intended to deliver it to federal investigators.
Then we waited.
The response came within hours.
A warehouse address.
South harbor.
Midnight.
Come alone.
Declan read the message.
“You're not going.”
“I am.”
“No.”
“They want me.”
“They want the notebook.”
“Then we give them a copy.”
Declan stared.
“You have a copy?”
I smiled.
“My father taught me to scan important documents.”
He laughed.
“Finally, something useful.”
We created a counterfeit notebook filled with believable information.
Then we went to the warehouse.
Only Declan entered.
I stayed in the car with Natalie and police nearby.
Ten minutes passed.
Then twenty.
No signal.
I called him.
Nothing.
I called again.
Still nothing.
I was about to send officers inside when Declan stumbled out.
His face was bleeding.
I ran toward him.
“Declan!”
He collapsed against the hood.
“Drive.”
“Where?”
“Anywhere.”
“What happened?”
“They have Vaughn.”
I stared.
“What?”
“He wasn't the leader.”
Declan wiped blood from his mouth.
“He was a pawn.”
“Who was there?”
Declan looked at me.
“Martin.”
“The board member?”
He nodded.
“And someone else.”
“Who?”
“The man who drove the black SUV six years ago.”
My skin went cold.
“Did you see his face?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Declan hesitated.
Then he said:
“Your father’s younger brother.”
I stared.
“My uncle Gabriel?”
“He's alive.”
I could barely breathe.
Gabriel Lynwood had supposedly died overseas when I was twenty.
My father had mourned him.
There had been a funeral.
A grave.
A death certificate.
Declan shook his head.
“It's fake.”
Everything became a blur.
My uncle had disappeared because he wanted the company.
He had worked with Pritchard.
He had engineered the accident.
He had spent years manipulating my father.
And now he was coming for the company.
More importantly, he had the notebook.
I looked at Declan.
“What do we do?”
He took my hand.
“Find him first.”
It was the first time he had touched me without necessity.
His fingers were warm.
Steady.
Mine trembled.
“I don't know how.”
He gave me a tired smile.
“You own the company.”
“And?”
“You have access to everything.”
He was right.
Corporate records.
Shipping data.
Private investigators.
Banking histories.
We began searching.
And after twelve hours, we found something.
Gabriel had been living under an alias.
He had purchased land in Virginia.
A private estate.
The same estate where one of Lynwood's missing executives had disappeared two years earlier.
The police prepared a warrant.
But before we could move, Gabriel called.
His voice was calm.
“Harper.”
I hadn't heard it in twenty years.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“You tried to kill my sister.”
“No.”
“You lied to Dad.”
“Yes.”
“You sabotaged his company.”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
“Why?”
“Because he chose you.”
My heart broke.
“What?”
“Your father always believed you were stronger.”
“I was a child.”
“You were his favorite.”
“You destroyed our family because of jealousy?”
“No.”
His voice became cold.
“I destroyed it because he was hiding something from me.”
“What?”
“The cargo.”
He whispered:
“He found something inside one of the containers.”
“What?”
“A list.”
“Of what?”
“Names.”
He paused.
“Judges. Politicians. Executives. People who control everything.”
I stared at Declan.
“What are you saying?”
“Your father found evidence of the largest smuggling network on the East Coast.”
“And you joined it?”
“No.”
His voice cracked for the first time.
“I tried to expose it.”
“Then why did you hurt us?”
“Because once they knew I had the list, they forced me to choose.”
“Choose what?”
“Your family…”
His breath shook.
“…or the truth.”
The line went dead.
I looked at Declan.
He was already reaching for his coat.
“Where are you going?”
“To find Gabriel.”
May you like
“Why?”
“Because he sounded like a man who knows he's running out of time.”
