Chapter 14 - THE MARINA
The Coast Guard found Nathan’s yacht twenty-two miles offshore.
Empty.
Again.
He stayed one step ahead.
But this time, he left blood.
Not much.
Enough to suggest someone had been injured.
DNA later identified Victor Sloane.
The private investigator.
Alive, investigators hoped.
Nathan’s yacht contained a satellite phone.
The call history included only three numbers.
One belonged to Wexler.
One to Dr. Pierce.
The final number belonged to Martin Shaw.
My clerk.
Martin had already confessed.
But he had omitted something.
A meeting scheduled for that night.
Mercer confronted him.
Martin broke immediately.
Nathan had ordered him to retrieve one last item from my courthouse chambers.
“What item?” I asked.
Martin stared at the floor.
“A sealed envelope.”
“Where?”
“Behind the portrait in your office.”
I knew nothing about it.
Agents found it.
Inside were copies of twenty-seven federal warrants.
Some active.
Some sealed.
Someone had been leaking law-enforcement operations to Nathan.
Wexler did not have access to all of them.
Neither did Martin.
The leak came from the Justice Department.
The conspiracy grew again.
Mercer looked exhausted.
“Every time we remove one layer, there is another.”
“Then stop treating Nathan like the center.”
He looked at me.
“He's a broker.”
“Yes.”
“Between corrupt systems.”
“Yes.”
“Then someone higher benefits.”
I thought of the ledger.
Money moving through adoption organizations.
Judges protecting cases.
Hospital administrators creating records.
Government contractors producing documents.
Nathan connected them.
But someone financed them.
The answer came from Vivian.
She requested another interview.
This time, she asked for me.
Prosecutors refused.
I insisted.
We sat across a table separated by restraints and years of hatred.
Vivian looked at me.
“You ruined my family.”
I almost smiled.
“No.”
Her jaw tightened.
“You did that long before I arrived.”
She looked away.
“Why did you ask for me?”
She swallowed.
“Because Nathan has Ryan.”
My blood froze.
“He was with federal agents.”
“Not anymore.”
I stood.
A Marshal checked.
Ryan had left the secured residence twenty minutes earlier.
He told an officer he needed air.
He never returned.
His phone was found near a service road.
My entire body went cold.
Vivian continued.
“Nathan called my attorney.”
“When?”
“An hour ago.”
“What does he want?”
“The ledger.”
“He thinks I have it?”
“Yes.”
“What else?”
“You.”
I laughed without humor.
“Of course.”
Vivian leaned forward.
“Claire.”
Her voice changed.
For the first time, she wasn't speaking as my enemy.
She was speaking as Ryan’s mother.
“Please.”
I looked at her.
“Save my son.”
I thought of Liam screaming in her arms.
My split lip.
The papers.
The lie.
Then I remembered Ryan holding Lily.
Crying into Liam’s hair.
Handing investigators everything.
Accepting consequences.
I stood.
“I will.”
Vivian began crying.
I paused at the door.
“But not for you.”
That evening, a video arrived.
Ryan sat tied to a chair.
Bruised.
Conscious.
Nathan appeared behind him.
“Judge Bennett.”
He smiled.
“Bring me the original ledger.”
Mercer watched beside me.
Nathan continued.
“No agents.”
“No tracking devices.”
“No clever judicial tricks.”
Then he placed a hand on Ryan’s shoulder.
“Come alone.”
Ryan looked directly into the camera.
“Claire, don't.”
Nathan struck him.
The screen shook.
I did not react.
Nathan smiled.
“You have six hours.”
The video ended.
Mercer looked at me.
“You are not going alone.”
“I know.”
“You cannot participate in a rogue exchange.”
“I know.”
“What are you thinking?”
I looked at the frozen image of Nathan.
“He spent four years studying me.”
“Yes.”
“He knows exactly how I respond to threats.”
“Yes.”
I stood.
“So we're going to give him exactly the Claire Bennett he expects.”
Mercer frowned.
“And what does she do?”
I looked at him.
“She walks into the trap.”
May you like
Then I picked up the counterfeit ledger.
“And lets him believe he won.”
