Chapter 5 - The Brother Who Was Secretly Working Against Her
They moved Tobin to Adrian's safehouse.
Marin hated it.
Tobin hated it more.
He spent the first night pacing.
“You're treating me like a child.”
“Because you nearly got yourself killed.”
“I was helping.”
“You followed us.”
“I found the watch.”
Marin stared at him.
“Exactly.”
Tobin lowered his voice.
“You don't understand.”
“What don't I understand?”
“I knew Dad was hiding things.”
“So did I.”
“No.”
Tobin removed his hearing aid.
He sat across from Marin.
“Two years before Dad died, he started receiving calls.”
Marin went still.
“From whom?”
“I don't know.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because Dad asked me not to.”
“You were sixteen.”
“I was sixteen and I was scared.”
He pulled a folded piece of paper from his backpack.
Marin opened it.
There was one sentence.
ASK MARIN WHY SHE STILL BLAMES HERSELF.
Marin looked at him.
“Where did you get this?”
“A man left it in my school locker three years ago.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because he said if I did, you would die.”
Marin couldn't breathe.
Adrian walked into the room.
“You should have told me.”
Tobin looked at him.
“I didn't trust you.”
“Fair.”
Adrian sat across from him.
“Who gave you the note?”
Tobin shook his head.
“I never saw his face.”
“What did he say?”
“He knew about the garage fire.”
Adrian's expression changed.
“What exactly?”
“He said the fire wasn't meant to kill Dad.”
Marin leaned forward.
“What was it meant to do?”
“Destroy something.”
The room went silent.
Tobin continued.
“Dad had a box.”
Marin felt her pulse increase.
“What box?”
“I don't know.”
Adrian stood.
“Then we find it.”
That same night, someone attempted to break into the safehouse.
They failed.
But the message they left behind was clear.
A photograph.
Tobin asleep.
Taken from outside the window.
Marin looked at it and became furious.
“Enough.”
Adrian took the photograph.
“This is intimidation.”
“They watched my brother.”
“Yes.”
“They watched him sleeping.”
“Yes.”
“Then I'm done running.”
Adrian looked at her.
“That is exactly what they want.”
“Then what do you suggest?”
“Attack their money.”
Marin frowned.
“I'm a mechanic.”
“Yes.”
“So?”
“So you understand machines better than most people understand money.”
He placed several photographs on the table.
They showed fleets of trucks.
Warehouses.
Repair lots.
Transportation yards.
“Bellwether.”
Marin recognized the logo.
“Every company connected to Howerin has a vehicle problem.”
She looked closer.
“They're replacing transmissions too often.”
Adrian nodded.
“Because someone has been using them in a way they shouldn't.”
Marin began studying the photos.
“Overloading.”
“Correct.”
“Not just ordinary cargo.”
She pointed.
“These vehicles are carrying something heavy enough to distort the suspension.”
Adrian watched her.
“Can you identify what?”
“Not from photos.”
She thought for a moment.
“But I can inspect one.”
The next morning, Bellwether's main truck arrived.
Marin opened it.
Inside were sealed shipping containers.
Nothing appeared unusual.
Then she noticed the undercarriage.
One of the vehicles had been modified.
Not professionally.
Someone had reinforced the suspension under the passenger compartment.
Marin touched the metal.
“This was added after manufacture.”
Adrian's man asked, “What does that mean?”
Marin looked at him.
“It means they're carrying something they don't want the vehicle's manufacturer to know about.”
She climbed underneath.
There were scratch marks.
Fresh ones.
“Wait.”
She tapped the floor.
Hollow.
They opened the compartment.
Inside were dozens of envelopes.
Bank slips.
Account numbers.
Photographs.
Names.
And one folder labeled:
ASHB.
Marin opened it.
Her own photograph stared back at her.
Across the top was written:
PROTECTED ASSET.
Marin looked at Adrian.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
“You've been watching me for three years?”
“Yes.”
“Without telling me?”
“Yes.”
“You had men near my house?”
“Yes.”
“You've been protecting me this whole time?”
“Yes.”
She stared at him, furious and shaken.
“Then why did you let me believe nobody cared?”
Adrian's voice softened.
“Because if you knew I was protecting you, everyone trying to find what your father hid would have known too.”
Marin looked down at the file.
There was one more photograph.
Ward Ashb.
Adrian.
Victor Calderon.
And Judge Nathaniel Hower.
All four men together.
Marin whispered, “They were connected.”
Adrian nodded.
“And one of them betrayed the others.”
“Who?”
Adrian looked at her.
“Victor.”
“Why?”
“Because Judge Hower promised him control of the entire city.”
Marin closed the folder.
“And Evan?”
“He believed he would be rewarded.”
“But he wasn't.”
“No.”
A voice came from the doorway.
“None of us were.”
Everyone turned.
Celia Mercer stood there.
May you like
She held a handgun.
And she was pointing it at Marin.
