CHAP 15 — THE LOWEST FLOOR
The transfer convoy never reached the court facility.
A vehicle blocked the road.
Another struck the rear escort car.
Smoke filled the intersection.
Federal marshals reacted immediately.
The attack lasted less than ninety seconds.
When it ended, Hannah was injured but conscious.
Two officers were hurt.
And Oliver was gone.
Conrad received the call during a board deposition.
He did not remember leaving the room.
He remembered Evelyn grabbing his arm.
He remembered smashing his phone against an elevator wall.
He remembered the unbearable familiarity of one sentence:
“We’re looking for him.”
Again.
His son had disappeared again.
This time Conrad knew exactly what not to do.
He did not collapse.
He did not hand control to somebody else.
He did not allow grief to turn him passive.
He called Ortiz.
“What do you need?”
“Every property Sterling or Barrett entities have ever controlled.”
“You’ll have them.”
“Aircraft.”
“Grounded.”
“Private security.”
“Full records.”
“Financial access.”
“I’ll waive whatever you need.”
Then Hannah called from the hospital.
“Conrad.”
“You should be resting.”
“I saw him.”
“Who?”
“Marcus.”
The attack had not been Graham.
Graham remained in federal custody.
Vivian was under surveillance.
Marcus had taken Oliver.
“Did he say anything?”
“He said, ‘Tell Conrad to finish what his father started.’”
That phrase mattered.
Charles Sterling had started something involving Arthur Barrett.
Poison.
Ownership.
The blue room.
Conrad returned to Eleanor’s recording.
Finish what his father started.
Not where.
What.
Charles had tried to erase the Barrett ownership permanently.
Marcus wanted Conrad to complete the transfer of disputed shares.
Why?
Because Marcus had purchased interests in several Barrett shell companies.
If Conrad formally recognized them before the companies were frozen, Marcus would become extraordinarily wealthy.
Oliver was leverage.
A ransom measured in corporate ownership.
Conrad publicly agreed.
He announced a transfer.
The market exploded.
Commentators called him desperate.
They were right.
But the transaction contained a trap.
Evelyn structured it so every beneficiary entity had to disclose its ultimate controlling person.
Marcus either claimed the assets or lost them.
He claimed them.
Through a shell corporation registered in Liechtenstein.
Federal agents traced the authentication request.
Upstate New York.
A former Sterling retreat beside Lake Aster.
The same lake property Vivian had mentioned on Oliver’s recorder.
Conrad insisted on going.
This time Ortiz did not waste time arguing.
Lake Aster Lodge was surrounded before dawn.
Marcus had anticipated police.
The lodge was empty.
But Oliver had been there.
His stuffed bear sat on a table.
Conrad picked it up.
A note was tucked beneath it.
Not Marcus’s handwriting.
Oliver’s.
Dad,
I remembered Mom’s game.
Three bells means listen.
Blue bird means look up.
North star means the way out.
Conrad looked toward the ceiling.
A blue emergency light blinked near an air vent.
He climbed onto a chair.
Inside the vent was another note.
I went north.
Conrad stared.
His son had escaped Marcus.
Again.
He had used his mother’s memory to leave clues.
Ortiz shouted orders.
Search teams moved north through the woods.
May you like
Then a gunshot echoed in the distance.
Conrad ran.
