Chapter 2 - ROOM 317
Mara ordered the driver to turn toward the river.
“Lose the SUV.”
“Already trying.”
His name was Theo Mercer.
Former military intelligence.
Almost sixty.
Unimpressed by almost everything.
If Theo sounded concerned, Mara listened.
Tonight, he sounded concerned.
“They know the car.”
“That was expected.”
“No. This isn't Julian's regular security team.”
Mara turned toward him.
“How can you tell?”
“Julian hires men who want to look intimidating.”
Theo glanced into the mirror.
“Those men are trying not to be noticed.”
Mara looked back.
The SUV remained exactly three cars behind them.
Never closer.
Never farther.
Professional surveillance.
That meant there was another player.
Someone outside Julian and Beatrice.
Someone who knew enough about phase two to recognize Mara's extraction car.
The phone rang again.
Elias.
She answered.
“Sable?”
“Breathing.”
“Conscious?”
“Not anymore.”
“And Room 317?”
“Still knocking.”
Mara's voice hardened.
“You left.”
“I moved twelve feet down the corridor.”
“Elias.”
“Technically, that's leaving.”
“This isn't funny.”
“No.”
For once he agreed immediately.
Mara heard metal scraping on his end.
“What are you doing?”
“Opening the door.”
“Damn it.”
“I found blood underneath it.”
Mara stopped arguing.
“Camera on.”
Her phone switched to live video.
The image shook as Elias positioned the device against his jacket.
She saw a dim concrete corridor.
Industrial lighting.
Pipes running overhead.
The steel door marked 317.
Elias inserted the brass emergency key he'd taken from the maintenance station.
Nothing happened.
“Electronic lock,” he muttered.
Mara stared at the brass disk she had stolen from Julian.
“Wait.”
She held it toward the camera.
“Do you see this?”
Elias froze.
“Where did you get that?”
“Julian.”
“That's not a key.”
“What is it?”
“A mechanical authenticator.”
“To what?”
“I was hoping you knew.”
Mara examined the disk.
There were tiny grooves along its edge.
Elias moved his camera closer to the lock.
Circular recess.
Exactly the same diameter.
Mara whispered, “It's for 317.”
“I'll find another way.”
“Don't.”
“You're twenty minutes away.”
“Elias.”
Another knock came from behind the door.
Three times.
Pause.
Two times.
Pause.
Three times.
Mara stopped breathing.
Three-two-three.
Daniel's signal.
When they were children, Mara and her older brother had used it whenever one of them needed help without alerting their father.
Three.
Two.
Three.
She hadn't heard it in twenty-two years.
“Open it.”
Elias didn't question her.
He disappeared from camera view.
Metal struck metal.
Once.
Again.
The frame bent.
A third impact broke the emergency hinge.
Elias pulled.
The door opened six inches.
Darkness.
Then a woman's voice.
“Mara?”
Mara's hand flew to her mouth.
The voice wasn't Daniel's.
Of course it wasn't.
Daniel had died eleven years ago.
She had identified his body.
She had stood beside his coffin.
But she knew this voice too.
“Turn the camera.”
Elias moved.
A woman sat on the floor.
Mid-fifties.
Gray threaded through dark hair.
Wrists bound.
Bruising along one cheek.
Mara stared in disbelief.
“Dr. Vale?”
The woman looked directly toward the camera.
“Hello, Mara.”
Dr. Celia Vale.
Julian's aunt.
A forensic psychiatrist.
Former trustee of the Vale Foundation.
And according to Beatrice, dead for six years.
Julian had told Mara Celia suffered a stroke while living in Switzerland.
There had been a memorial.
No body.
No funeral.
Only a tasteful announcement and a donation in Celia's name.
Mara whispered, “What are you doing there?”
Celia gave a weak laugh.
“Surviving your mother-in-law.”
Then her expression changed.
“Listen to me.”
“What?”
“They know about phase two.”
Mara felt cold.
“Who knows?”
“Not Julian.”
“Beatrice?”
“No.”
Celia moved closer to Elias's phone.
“The people Julian thinks he works for.”
Mara's mind raced.
Julian worked for himself.
At least that was what they had always believed.
The network of shell companies.
The political donations.
The manipulated acquisitions.
The foundation accounts.
Everything pointed back to Julian and Beatrice.
Celia shook her head.
“You're looking at the wrong level.”
“Celia, who?”
A sound exploded through the corridor.
Gunfire.
Elias dropped the phone.
The video spun.
Concrete floor.
A shout.
Mara gripped the seat.
“Elias!”
Nothing.
“ELIAS!”
Theo looked back.
“What happened?”
Mara barely heard him.
More noise.
Footsteps.
The phone camera showed only the floor.
Then Elias's hand appeared.
He grabbed it.
“I'm here.”
“Get out!”
“Working on it.”
Another crack.
Celia screamed.
The feed went dark.
Call disconnected.
Mara stared at the blank screen.
Theo took a hard left.
The pursuing SUV overshot the intersection.
For three seconds, they were free.
“Where?”
Theo demanded.
Mara didn't hesitate.
“Back to the Halston.”
“That is exactly where they expect you to go.”
“They have Elias.”
“They might have twenty armed men.”
“They have Celia Vale.”
Theo's face changed.
He knew the name.
Everyone involved in the investigation knew it.
Celia had been one of the original signatures on the Vale Family Charter.
If she was alive, Julian's control over the company might not be legal.
More importantly, she might know what Daniel had discovered before he died.
Theo cursed quietly.
“Seat belt.”
The sedan accelerated.
Mara looked down at Julian's brass authenticator.
She finally understood why he had been carrying it.
Julian had never known Celia was behind Door 317.
If he had, he wouldn't carry the only key casually at a gala.
Which meant someone had given it to him for another reason.
And someone expected him to use it tonight.
Her phone vibrated.
Unknown sender.
A photograph appeared.
Elias.
On his knees.
Hands behind his head.
Celia beside him.
A masked man stood behind them.
Beneath the picture was a message.
BRING THE DISK.
ALONE.
OR THEY BOTH DIE.
Mara stared at it.
Then another line appeared.
AND MARA?
She waited.
May you like
A final sentence.
YOUR BROTHER MADE THE SAME MISTAKE.
