Chapter 10 - The Midnight Demand
Vanessa collapsed against the SUV.
“My sister has nothing to do with this.”
Martin Vale’s recorded message continued.
“You stole from me, Preston.”
Preston shouted at the phone.
“I didn’t steal anything!”
The video did not stop.
“You failed to deliver what I purchased.”
Vale leaned closer.
“Control.”
Emily felt sick.
This had never been about money.
The Northstar contract.
The hospital assets.
The forged proxies.
Everything led to voting control.
Vale wanted Saint Claire.
The video ended with an address.
An abandoned surgical center twelve miles outside the city.
Samantha immediately called police.
Raymond stopped her.
“Vale expects that.”
“So?”
“He’ll have surveillance.”
Emily looked at Vanessa.
“What’s your sister’s name?”
“Rachel.”
“How old?”
“Twenty-six.”
“Why would Vale take her?”
Vanessa wiped her face.
“She handles my bookkeeping.”
Samantha looked up sharply.
“For Cross Strategic?”
Vanessa nodded.
“She thought it was my company.”
Emily understood.
“Rachel has the records.”
Vanessa whispered, “Yes.”
Preston turned away.
Emily saw guilt in his face.
“What else?”
He didn’t answer.
“Preston.”
He looked at her.
“I told Rachel to copy financial records.”
“Why?”
“In case Vale came after me.”
Emily stared at him.
“So you used Vanessa’s sister as insurance.”
“I paid her.”
Vanessa slapped him.
The crack echoed through the garage.
Security stepped forward.
Vanessa pointed at him.
“You put my sister in danger.”
Preston held his cheek.
“I was trying to protect everyone.”
Emily laughed bitterly.
“Stop saying that.”
He looked at her.
“You protect nobody.”
Police and federal agents arrived within the hour.
The operation was moved to a secure conference room.
Emily refused to leave.
Dr. Bennett insisted on monitoring her every thirty minutes.
At 11:12 p.m., the lead federal agent laid out the plan.
“We don’t send Emily.”
Vale called at 11:13.
He had expected that.
“If Emily Saint Claire is not physically carrying the authorization device when she enters, Rachel dies.”
Emily frowned.
“What authorization device?”
Raymond looked at her.
“Your mother’s trustee key.”
Emily stared.
“I don’t have one.”
Raymond reached into his jacket.
He pulled out a small silver token.
“You do now.”
Emily’s eyes narrowed.
“You’ve had it this whole time?”
“Yes.”
“What does it do?”
“It can approve major trust transactions.”
Preston went white.
“The master key.”
Raymond nodded.
Vale had spent years trying to obtain control.
Now he wanted the one device capable of authorizing it.
The agent said, “We give him a replica.”
Samantha shook her head.
“He’ll test it.”
Emily looked at the token.
“Then give him the real one.”
Everyone objected at once.
“No.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Emily—”
She raised her voice.
“He has Rachel.”
Silence.
She looked at Vanessa.
Vanessa’s eyes filled.
“You’d do that?”
“Not for you.”
Emily touched her stomach.
“For her.”
At 11:46 p.m., Emily arrived outside the abandoned surgical center wearing a wire beneath her coat.
Federal agents surrounded the area.
Raymond was furious.
Preston was under guard.
Vanessa stayed beside the command vehicle.
Emily entered through a dark side door.
The old surgical center smelled of mildew and dust.
A single light burned at the far end of the corridor.
“Emily.”
Vale’s voice came through a speaker.
“Walk forward.”
She did.
“Show me the key.”
She held up the silver token.
A door opened.
Rachel sat tied to a chair.
A man stood behind her.
Martin Vale.
He was older now.
Gray hair.
Sharp eyes.
Calm smile.
“Your mother had more courage than your uncle.”
Emily stared at him.
“My father.”
Vale smiled.
“So he finally admitted it.”
Emily’s pulse hammered.
“Release Rachel.”
“After the transfer.”
He placed a tablet on a steel tray.
On the screen was a transaction.
TRANSFER OF VOTING CONTROL.
Emily read the recipient.
VALE MEDICAL HOLDINGS.
She looked up.
“You want my mother’s hospital.”
Vale smiled.
“I paid for it years ago.”
“No.”
“You think Charles built the Whitmore empire?”
He laughed.
“I did.”
Emily stepped closer.
“And you killed my mother to protect it.”
Vale’s smile disappeared.
For the first time, she had hit something real.
“Careful.”
“You did.”
“I wasn’t driving the car.”
Emily stopped.
“What?”
Vale leaned toward her.
“No.”
His voice softened.
“I wasn’t the man who ran your mother off the road.”
Emily’s mouth went dry.
“Who was?”
Vale looked directly at the tiny hidden microphone beneath her collar.
He knew.
He had known all along.
Then he smiled.
“You’re wearing a wire.”
The man behind Rachel raised a gun.
May you like
Vale grabbed Emily’s wrist.
And every light in the building went out.
