CHAPTER 6 — THE EVIDENCE THEY COULDN’T DESTROY

“No!”

Rachel crawled toward the grate.

Daniel held her back as another explosion shook the tunnel.

“The drive is gone,” he said. “We have to move.”

Rachel’s eyes filled with despair.

“That was the only complete copy.”

Evelyn opened her handbag.

“No, it wasn’t.”

She removed a small black device.

Claire stared at it.

“What is that?”

“A live transmitter.”

Before entering the building, Evelyn had placed a secure camera inside the clasp of her handbag.

Every conversation had been recorded.

Briggs grabbing her.

Claire identifying Rachel.

Charles confessing to the server purge.

The board fraud.

The pension theft.

Everything had been transmitted to an external legal team.

Daniel looked at his mother.

“You knew something might happen.”

“I hoped I was wrong.”

Briggs leaned against the tunnel wall.

Blood ran from a cut above his eyebrow.

“Charles will leave the country.”

“Not yet,” Rachel said weakly.

Everyone looked at her.

“He can’t leave without the physical ledger.”

Evelyn still held the paper book taken from the locker.

Rachel pointed to it.

“Those are access codes to the offshore accounts. He needs the final authentication sequence.”

Daniel understood.

“He’ll come back for it.”

“No,” Evelyn said. “He’ll send someone.”

Briggs shook his head.

“Charles trusts no one. Not anymore.”

They reached the parking garage.

Smoke poured from the ventilation system.

Employees were escaping through emergency exits now that the building lockdown had failed.

Police sirens echoed outside.

Charles Voss stood near a black sedan.

A driver held the rear door open.

Charles saw the ledger in Evelyn’s hands.

His composure disappeared.

“Give me that.”

Daniel moved in front of her.

“It’s over.”

Charles drew a small pistol.

Screams erupted as employees scattered behind parked cars.

The driver ran.

Charles aimed at Evelyn.

“You should have remained a grieving widow.”

Evelyn did not move.

“And you should have remembered who taught Arthur to build this company.”

Charles laughed bitterly.

“You think you built it?”

“I kept it alive when banks refused him. I negotiated the first contracts. I mortgaged our home. Arthur’s name was on the door because the world trusted a man more than a woman.”

Charles’s hand tightened around the gun.

“Give me the ledger.”

Briggs stepped between them.

Charles stared at him.

“Move.”

“You left me to die.”

“You were paid to follow orders.”

“I gave you fifteen years.”

“And in fifteen years, you never learned your place.”

The insult struck Briggs harder than any blow.

He looked at Evelyn.

The woman he had humiliated.

The woman he had assaulted.

The woman who had still reached back for him in the fire.

Briggs slowly removed his security badge.

Then he dropped it onto the concrete.

“No.”

Charles fired.

The shot echoed through the garage.

Briggs jerked backward and collapsed.

Daniel tackled Charles before he could fire again.

The gun skidded beneath a car.

They crashed against the concrete floor.

Charles struck Daniel across the face and reached for the weapon.

Evelyn stepped on his wrist.

Hard.

Charles cried out.

Police officers rushed into the garage with weapons raised.

“Don’t move!”

Charles looked up at Evelyn.

For the first time, she saw fear in his eyes.

Evelyn held the ledger against her chest.

“You told me this company no longer belonged to me.”

She glanced at the employees watching from the exits.

“You were right.”

Charles frowned.

Evelyn continued.

“It belongs to them.”

The officers dragged Charles to his feet and placed him in handcuffs.

But Briggs lay motionless on the ground.

Blood spread beneath his shoulder.

Evelyn knelt beside him.

His eyes opened slightly.

“Why did you save me?” he whispered.

Evelyn pressed her scarf against the wound.

“I didn’t save you, Mr. Briggs.”

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