Chapter 11 - The Deal Was A Trap
The photograph showed Sofia outside St. Agnes Church in Brooklyn at 8:17 that morning.
She wore a black coat and dark glasses. Her hair was short. She looked thinner, but Elena would have recognized the tilt of her head anywhere.
Alexander enlarged the image.
“There’s someone behind her.”
A man stood near a delivery van.
Only part of his face was visible.
Elena knew him from the boardroom.
Not a board member.
Security.
One of the guards who had supposedly been protecting Daniel.
“Marcus Hale,” Alexander said.
“Your security officer?”
“Deputy director.”
Elena looked at the missing internal logs.
“He could erase building access.”
“Yes.”
“And isolate your floor during the blackout.”
“Yes.”
Alexander called the head of security.
Marcus Hale had not reported for duty that morning.
His company phone was off.
His home was empty.
Elena felt the pieces tightening around Sofia.
“We need to go to Brooklyn.”
Alexander grabbed his coat.
“No.”
She stared at him.
“Excuse me?”
“We call police and give them the church.”
“Sofia called me because she didn’t trust the system.”
“That doesn’t mean we run into an ambush.”
“She said she wasn’t safe.”
“And you think getting yourself killed helps her?”
Elena’s anger flared.
“You don’t get to tell me how to find my sister.”
Alexander stepped closer.
“And you don’t get to pretend grief makes you bulletproof.”
For a moment, neither moved.
Then Elena looked away.
He was right.
She hated him for being right.
They contacted the detective supervising Robert’s arrest and provided the photographs, bank footage, and Marcus Hale’s identity.
The detective dispatched units to the church.
Ten minutes later, they received an update.
The church was empty.
A maintenance worker remembered a woman matching Sofia’s description.
She had met someone in the side courtyard and left in a gray sedan.
The license plate belonged to a vehicle registered to Charles Mercer.
Alexander’s phone rang.
Charles.
Alexander answered on speaker.
“Where is she?”
Charles gave a tired laugh.
“You’re finally asking the useful question.”
Elena stepped closer.
“Charles, this is Elena.”
“I know.”
“Where is my sister?”
“Alive.”
“For how long?”
Silence.
Elena’s blood went cold.
Charles continued.
“I’m not the enemy you think I am.”
“You erased her records.”
“To keep Robert from finding her.”
“You erased my name from the bank.”
“To keep Marcus from finding the box.”
“You own the agency that hired me.”
“I financed it.”
Elena stared at Alexander.
Charles said, “Sofia asked me to get you inside the building.”
That fit Sofia’s letter.
But it did not explain the photographs.
“Why were you following her?” Elena asked.
“Because she stopped trusting me.”
“Should she have?”
Another pause.
“No.”
That answer surprised both of them.
Charles sounded older suddenly.
“I made a deal with Robert four months ago.”
Alexander’s face hardened.
“What deal?”
“I gave him controlled access to harmless sections of the archive.”
“You betrayed us.”
“I bought time.”
“For who?”
“For Sofia.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Again.
Everyone claimed to be protecting Sofia.
Everyone had lied to do it.
“What did Robert give you?” Elena asked.
“Names.”
“What names?”
“People inside Sterling still loyal to his network. Marcus was one. Two people in finance. A bank contact. A shipping supervisor in Newark.”
Alexander said, “And you didn’t tell me?”
“I didn’t know whether you were compromised.”
Alexander almost shouted.
“I own the company.”
“That was exactly the problem.”
Charles continued before Alexander could answer.
“Jonathan taught me one thing. Ownership and control are not the same.”
Elena forced the conversation back.
“Where is Sofia?”
“Safe for the moment.”
“Charles.”
“I need the archive drive.”
“No.”
“Then Marcus gets her before police do.”
Elena’s chest tightened.
“You said you were protecting her.”
“I was. Until this morning.”
“What changed?”
“Robert’s arrest activated a contingency plan.”
Alexander frowned.
“What contingency?”
“The archive goes public automatically unless someone enters a cancellation code by midnight.”
Elena stared at Sofia’s drive.
“Who built that?”
“Jonathan.”
“And you want to stop it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the archive contains names of innocent people, protected witnesses, covert informants, and employees whose only crime was being near the wrong executive at the wrong time. Dumping everything would destroy people who had nothing to do with Robert.”
That sounded plausible.
Too plausible.
Alexander asked, “What do you want?”
“Bring the drive to Pier 46 on the Hudson at nine tonight.”
Elena shook her head.
Charles continued.
“Come with Elena. No police.”
“Why would we do that?”
“Because Sofia will be there.”
The line ended.
Alexander looked at Elena.
“It’s a trap.”
“Yes.”
“You’re still going.”
“Yes.”
He sighed.
“Of course you are.”
They spent the next three hours doing exactly what Charles had told them not to do.
They contacted police.
But instead of sending obvious units, detectives arranged plainclothes surveillance around the pier.
Elena copied Sofia’s drive onto an encrypted decoy.
Alexander placed the original in a bank-grade evidence pouch with police.
At 8:53 p.m., they arrived at Pier 46.
The Hudson was black beneath the wind.
Manhattan lights shimmered across the water.
Charles stood alone near the railing.
No Sofia.
Elena stopped ten feet away.
“Where is she?”
Charles looked exhausted.
“She was supposed to be here.”
Alexander held up the decoy drive.
“You get this after we see Sofia.”
Charles stared past them.
His face suddenly changed.
“Get down.”
A shot cracked across the pier.
The metal railing sparked beside Alexander.
Police moved from cover.
People shouted.
Elena dropped behind a concrete barrier.
Charles ran toward them instead of away.
Another shot hit him in the shoulder.
He collapsed beside Elena.
She pressed both hands against the wound.
“Who’s shooting?”
Charles gasped.
“Marcus.”
“Where’s Sofia?”
Charles gripped her wrist.
“He took her.”
Elena went cold.
“Where?”
Charles struggled to breathe.
“Newark terminal seven.”
Alexander crouched beside them.
Charles looked at him.
“Your father built a second archive.”
Alexander stared.
“What?”
“The one on Sofia’s drive is evidence.”
Charles coughed.
“The second one is leverage.”
“Leverage against who?” Elena asked.
Charles looked toward the river.
“Governments. Companies. People with enough power to kill for it.”
May you like
Then he looked at Elena.
“And Marcus isn’t working for Robert anymore.”
