Chapter 5: The Price of a Child
Claire had not been detained at the mansion.
Someone had released her.
The security footage showed a guard opening the service gate while Claire held Ben’s hand.
The guard’s face was obscured by a cap, but Daniel recognized the man’s build.
Vincent Russo.
Hannah stared at the screen.
“Ben trusted her?”
“No,” Martin said. “He trusted Vincent.”
The footage showed Vincent kneeling beside the boy before Claire approached. Whatever he said convinced Ben to enter the vehicle.
Daniel called every port, airport, train station, and private road his organization controlled.
Within twenty minutes, Claire contacted them.
A video appeared on Hannah’s phone.
Ben sat in a dark room with tape around his wrists. His face was frightened but uninjured.
Claire stood behind him wearing a black coat over her ivory gown.
Her hair was no longer perfectly arranged.
“Hello, Hannah.”
Hannah gripped the phone.
Claire smiled.
“I imagine everyone is very concerned.”
Daniel took the device.
“If you hurt him—”
“This conversation is not with you.”
“It is now.”
Claire’s eyes narrowed.
“I want the evidence Caleb collected.”
“You will receive nothing.”
“Then Ben disappears the way Caleb did.”
Martin moved toward the phone.
“Claire, the boy has nothing to do with this.”
“He has everything to do with it. Hannah loves him.”
Claire leaned toward the camera.
“And Hannah took something I loved.”
Hannah spoke.
“I never wanted Daniel.”
The statement struck Daniel, but he remained silent.
Claire laughed.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I came to the estate for my brother.”
“You entered my home carrying Daniel’s child.”
“It was not your home.”
Claire’s expression twisted.
“It would have been.”
Daniel watched her carefully.
“Where is Vincent?”
“He finally chose the winning side.”
“Let me speak to him.”
“No.”
“Because he is not there?”
A pause.
Daniel saw it.
Claire was lying.
Vincent had helped her escape, but he might not be working willingly.
Claire recovered.
“You have two hours. Bring the original ledger to Pier Nineteen.”
“And after that?”
“Ben goes home.”
“Who will guarantee it?”
“My father.”
Daniel almost smiled.
“Your father would sell your body for another shipping contract.”
Claire’s face hardened.
“Two hours.”
The video ended.
Caleb examined the wall behind Ben.
Rusty green metal.
A ventilation pipe.
A faded safety sign.
“That is not Pier Nineteen.”
Daniel agreed.
“It’s a ship interior.”
Martin studied the image.
“The Whitlocks own three decommissioned freighters.”
“One is docked at Pier Nineteen,” Caleb said. “The Meridian.”
Daniel divided his men into two groups.
One would deliver a false ledger to the pier.
The other would board the freighter from the harbor.
Hannah insisted on joining the rescue.
Daniel refused.
“Claire wants me.”
“She wants the ledger.”
“She wants to watch me suffer.”
“You are not entering a hostage situation.”
“He will panic without someone he trusts.”
“Martin will be there.”
“Ben called me his family.”
Daniel looked at her stomach.
“You could go into labor.”
“And if Ben dies because I stayed behind?”
Neither of them moved.
Finally, Daniel handed her a bullet-resistant vest.
“You remain behind me.”
“I am not one of your soldiers.”
“Tonight you are.”
Before leaving, Hannah returned to Aaron’s letter.
The first page described his fear.
The second contained details of the conspiracy.
The third explained that the evidence hidden inside the nursery was not merely financial.
Aaron had recorded Sebastian ordering his death.
The fourth page was for Hannah and the child.
She folded it carefully and placed it inside her coat.
The team approached Pier Nineteen beneath heavy rain.
The Meridian rose above the water like a rusted skeleton.
Daniel, Hannah, Martin, and six guards boarded from the harbor side using a maintenance ladder.
Caleb remained in a command vehicle with the nurses.
Inside the ship, emergency lights cast the corridors in red.
Ben’s voice echoed from somewhere below.
“Hannah!”
She moved before Daniel could stop her.
A gunshot struck the wall beside her.
Daniel pulled her behind a bulkhead and fired toward the upper walkway.
A man fell.
More gunfire erupted.
Daniel’s team advanced through the engine room.
They found Ben locked inside a storage compartment.
Martin broke the chain.
The boy threw himself into Hannah’s arms.
“I knew you’d come.”
She held him tightly.
“Are you hurt?”
He shook his head.
“Claire kept asking where Caleb was. I didn’t tell her.”
Daniel crouched.
“Where is she?”
Ben pointed upward.
“With the police captain.”
Captain Voss stepped onto the steel walkway above them.
He held a pistol in one hand and Vincent’s silver ring in the other.
“Looking for your lieutenant?”
Daniel aimed at him.
“Where is Vincent?”
Voss threw the ring.
It struck the floor near Daniel’s feet.
“Dead.”
Hannah felt Daniel become completely still.
Voss smiled.
“He outlived his usefulness.”
The lights went out.
Gunfire tore through the darkness.
Martin covered Ben.
Daniel pushed Hannah behind an engine block.
When the emergency lights returned, Captain Voss had vanished.
A speaker crackled overhead.
Claire’s voice filled the ship.
“You chose the boy.”
Hannah looked upward.
Claire stood on the highest platform holding a remote detonator.
Daniel saw the explosive charges attached to the fuel lines.
“Claire,” he said. “Do not press that button.”
Tears streaked her face, but her smile remained.
“You chose everyone except me.”
Her thumb moved.
Daniel raised his weapon.
Hannah stepped into the open.
“The baby is a girl.”
Claire froze.
Hannah did not know why she said it.
Perhaps she wanted Claire to see the life she intended to destroy.
“You wanted a family with Daniel,” Hannah continued. “But this will not give you one.”
Claire’s hand trembled.
From behind her, Sebastian Whitlock appeared.
He struck his daughter across the face and ripped the detonator from her hand.
“You sentimental fool.”
Claire stared at him.
“You said Daniel would surrender.”
“You were supposed to bring me the ledger.”
Sebastian aimed a gun at Hannah.
Daniel fired first.
The bullet struck Sebastian’s shoulder.
The detonator fell.
Claire caught it.
For one breath, everyone waited.
May you like
Then she looked at her father.
And pressed the button.
