Chapter 6: Fire on the Water
The first explosion tore through the lower engine room.
Daniel threw himself over Hannah as steel fragments ripped through the air.
The second blast knocked Martin and Ben behind a support column.
Fire raced along the fuel lines.
“Move!” Daniel shouted.
Smoke filled the compartment.
Sebastian disappeared into the upper corridor. Claire stood on the platform staring at the flames as though she could not believe what she had done.
Daniel pulled Hannah toward the exit.
She resisted.
“Ben!”
“Martin has him.”
Through the smoke, Martin carried Ben toward the ladder.
A burning beam collapsed between them.
Daniel shoved Hannah through a side passage and fired at a locked emergency hatch until the mechanism broke.
Cold rain rushed inside.
The harbor was thirty feet below.
A security boat approached from the darkness.
Caleb stood at the bow.
“Jump!”
Martin lowered Ben first.
The boy dropped into the arms of two guards.
Hannah reached the opening.
Pain tightened across her abdomen.
She gasped.
Daniel saw the fear in her eyes.
“Not now,” she whispered.
Another contraction came.
The premature labor had returned.
The ship tilted as fire spread beneath the deck.
Daniel lifted her.
“You are going into the water.”
“It’s too far.”
“I will be with you.”
They jumped.
The harbor struck like ice.
Daniel kept one arm around Hannah and fought toward the rescue boat.
Guards pulled them aboard.
Hannah coughed violently, clutching her stomach.
“The baby’s moving.”
“That’s good,” Caleb said.
“No. Something feels wrong.”
The nurses immediately placed her on a stretcher.
Daniel looked back at the Meridian.
Claire remained aboard.
She stood at the open hatch above the flames.
For an instant, their eyes met.
Daniel saw no victory in her face.
Only terror.
Then Sebastian grabbed her from behind and dragged her away.
The ship exploded before Daniel could order anyone back.
Fire rose into the rain.
The Meridian split near the center and began sinking.
No bodies were found.
Daniel believed Sebastian had planned an escape route. Men like him did not board ships without knowing how to leave them.
The doctors stabilized Hannah again at a private medical facility outside Providence.
This time, Daniel surrounded the building with guards he had personally selected.
Ben sat beside Hannah’s bed, refusing to release her hand.
Martin suffered burns across one arm but remained nearby.
Caleb worked with Daniel to duplicate and distribute the evidence. Copies went to three federal prosecutors, two newspapers, and a retired judge who owed Martin a favor.
By morning, the conspiracy was no longer containable.
Federal agents arrested Captain Voss while he attempted to leave Rhode Island in a private aircraft.
Three city officials resigned.
Two judges disappeared.
Whitlock Shipping stock collapsed.
Sebastian’s lawyers claimed every document was fabricated by Daniel Carver to destroy a rival.
The public did not know whom to believe.
Daniel remained wanted for questioning in connection with Saint Gabriel’s shooting.
Then Vincent Russo’s body was found in a warehouse.
He had been shot twice in the chest.
Beside him was a handwritten confession stating that he had forged Daniel’s signatures and helped Sebastian launder money.
Daniel read the confession once.
“It isn’t real.”
Caleb looked up from the evidence table.
“How do you know?”
“Vincent never wrote by hand. He injured three fingers years ago.”
Martin examined the paper.
“Someone needs him to appear responsible.”
Daniel stared at the photograph of Vincent’s body.
The ring found on the Meridian had been placed there to convince Daniel he was dead.
But the official identification depended on dental records supplied by Captain Voss.
“Run independent DNA.”
Daniel’s men obtained a sample before the body entered state custody.
It was not Vincent.
The dead man was a missing dock supervisor with similar height and build.
Vincent was alive.
Hannah woke that afternoon.
Daniel sat beside her.
“The labor stopped again.”
“For how long?”
“The doctors cannot promise.”
She looked toward the window.
“Ben?”
“With Martin.”
“Claire?”
“Missing.”
“Sebastian?”
“Missing.”
“And Vincent?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Also missing.”
Hannah understood.
“Do you believe he betrayed you?”
“I believe he helped Claire take Ben.”
“Maybe he was forced.”
“Vincent does not allow himself to be forced.”
Hannah watched Daniel.
“You cared about him.”
“He was my brother in every way except blood.”
She reached for his hand.
Daniel allowed her fingers to close around his.
Neither mentioned what the gesture meant.
The doctor entered carrying an envelope.
“The paternity test is complete.”
Hannah’s hand tightened.
Daniel had provided a sample the previous night. An amniotic test was considered too dangerous, but the hospital used a noninvasive prenatal test based on fetal DNA in Hannah’s blood.
The doctor placed the envelope on the table.
“I can give you privacy.”
Daniel stared at it.
Hannah whispered, “Open it.”
He tore the seal.
For several seconds, he did not speak.
Hannah watched his eyes.
“Daniel?”
He handed her the report.
The probability of paternity exceeded 99.9 percent.
The child was his.
Hannah began crying silently.
Daniel stood near the bed as though the floor had shifted beneath him.
He had spent his life believing that love created vulnerabilities other men could exploit.
Now a daughter he had never met had already been poisoned, hunted, and nearly burned alive because she carried his blood.
“I’m sorry,” Hannah said.
“For what?”
“For not telling you sooner.”
Daniel lowered himself beside the bed.
“No one touches her again.”
“You cannot promise that.”
“Yes.”
“No, Daniel. That is what men like you always promise before another war begins.”
His expression darkened.
“Sebastian started this war.”
“And you will finish it with bodies.”
“I will finish it any way necessary.”
Hannah withdrew her hand.
“That is what frightens me.”
Before Daniel could respond, Martin entered holding a tablet.
A live news broadcast showed police surrounding the Carver mansion.
At the front gate stood Claire Whitlock.
Her face was bruised.
Her clothing was torn.
She told reporters Daniel had kidnapped her, held her aboard the Meridian, and ordered the explosion when she tried to escape.
Then she looked directly into the camera.
May you like
“Hannah Brooks helped him.”
Police issued a warrant for Hannah’s arrest before the broadcast ended.
