Chapter fourteen

MICHAEL’S POV

The handle turned. I drew back, drew my gun, and held it steady on the door-frame. The steel swung inwards. Don Alex came in first. Two sentinels were on his side. No armor. No drawn weapons. Cold eyes and just dark suits.

He didn’t rush. He only glanced at the racks of servers, then at Anna, then at the ledger in her hands.

Lay it aside, he said. Voice flat. “Before you get us all killed.”

I didn’t lower the gun. “You locked the door.”

I purchased us three minutes. He went in and bade his men to hold the door. The crew of the east gate is already violating. You do not walk out of the basement when they strike.

Anna moved forward, holding the folder close to her. “Where’s my mother?”

Don Alex clenched his jaw. He didn’t answer right away. He took out a burner phone and tapped the screen. A live feed loaded. The supply room. June was sitting at the desk. She was older, thinner, but her stance was firm. She was writing. Not hiding. Working.

She is alive, said Don Alex. And she has been giving Elena bogus routing codes five years.

I digested it quickly. It was not the master file that Anna held in her hands. It was the decoy. Elena knew. That’s why she sent men to kick the door. It was her reason to have us in the room.

You made her believe she had the original, I said.

I allowed her to run after a ghost, Don Alex answered. Until this evening. Elena discovered that June had been operating two books. She dispatched cleanup. I intercepted the order. That is why you are still alive.

Anna had a trembling hand. She didn’t drop the folder. “Why keep her down here?”

Because upstairs is a target. Because Elena owns the board, the accounts, half the men in this city. Don Alex gazed at me. You believe you were playing a long game. You were a diversion. You were the blind spot. Elena wanted you occupied with chasing ghosts as she shifted the capital to the shells of Angelo, a mile offshore.

I maintained my goal, though my hold changed. The works were in a row. The car accident arrangement. The dead zone. The passage concerning the cameras in the basement. Elena wasn’t just covering up the past. The next step was being financed by her. Adrian. Suzanne. The bids. All passed through her.

We are not waiting till her cleaning crew is finished, I said.

“You’re not. You’re moving.” Don Alex threw a black keycard on the metal table. It stopped close by Elbow of Anna. Service tunnel. Below the old wine cellar. It leads to the marina. Matt has a boat waiting. He is looking forward to seeing you.

Anna picked up the card. She didn’t hesitate. She only stared at me.

I sheathed my gun, caught her by the wrist, and dragged her to the door. Don Alex’s guards stepped aside. We hit the hallway. Under our feet concrete. Cold air from the ventilation shafts. I didn’t look back.

We moved fast. I counted the turns. Left at the crossroad. At the rusted pipe itself. The tunnel door was located on a pallet of used server racks. I swiped the card, kicked it away. Green light. Heavy lock disengaged. I pushed it open. Darkness beyond. Reeked of damp concrete and diesel. Anna stepped in first. I obeyed, and closed the door behind us. We plunged into a small passage. Emergency lights flickered over. I checked my phone. No signal.

Anna kept pace. Her breath was regular. She didn’t ask questions. She just moved.

My phone was buzzing my thigh. Not a call. A push notification. Internal security app of the estate. I hadn’t logged in. Somebody made a ping. I pulled it out. Screen cracked. But readable. A live feed loaded. Basement camera. Angle four.

Elena was in the supply room. She wasn’t looking at June. She was staring into the lens. She carried a small pistol. She didn’t raise it. She just tapped a folder on the desk. The real ledger. Then she spoke. The voice was on the phone speaker, clear and quiet.

You ran with the wrong book, Michael. Now see what happens to the truth.

She raised the gun. Aimed it at the camera. The feed cut to black.

I stopped. Anna grabbed my arm. “What?”

I didn’t answer. I simply stared at the black screen. My heart did not beat faster, and my head changed gears. We had the decoy. She had the master. And she gave us just a demonstration of what she intended to do with it.

We heard footsteps reverberating down the tunnel. Heavy. Rhythmic. Not security. Tactical spacing. I turned. The beam of a flashlight penetrated the darkness. Then another. Three men. Black gear. Suppressed rifles. They moved fast. They weren’t here to talk.

I pulled Anna back. “Run.”

We struck the concrete. Boots were banging on the wet floor. The tunnel narrowed. Emergency lights buzzed over. I didn’t look back. I continued running, charting the turns, measuring the distance to the marina. But as the footsteps narrowed, one thing was fixed.

Elena didn’t just want the ledger.

She had a mind to have us out of the way before she drew the trigger on the city.

And we have right into her trap.