Chapter 12 - THE MAN BESIDE VINCENT
Vincent did not want to believe it.
That made the pattern worse.
Daniel had warned that someone close to him was compromised.
Someone inside his house.
Someone who could monitor security.
Someone who knew movements before they happened.
Marcus had been beside Vincent for six years.
Every trip.
Every family event.
Every private meeting.
He had been inside Bellgrave.
He had controlled the lockdown.
He had handled Daniel’s memory card.
He had followed Vincent to Hale Ridge.
Now he had followed him to the lake house.
And disappeared exactly when the archive disappeared.
Gabriel helped Peter into the house.
Sophie remained beside her grandfather.
Vincent called state police.
Then Hale Meridian’s independent security division.
Not Marcus’s team.
Within twenty minutes, the property was surrounded.
Marcus was nowhere.
Peter’s injury was stabilized.
An ambulance took him under guard.
Sophie went with him.
Vincent promised to follow.
She looked at him before climbing inside.
“Do you think Marcus is bad?”
Vincent hated the question.
“I think I don’t know enough yet.”
She nodded.
“That’s what Dad used to say when he didn’t want to lie.”
Vincent watched the ambulance leave.
Gabriel stood behind him.
“Smart kid.”
“She shouldn’t have to be.”
“No.”
Vincent turned.
“Did you know Marcus?”
“Not before tonight.”
“Peter did?”
“Apparently.”
Vincent’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Marcus.
“Before you decide I betrayed you, listen.”
Vincent’s voice turned cold.
“Where are you?”
“Moving.”
“With the archive?”
“Yes.”
Gabriel stepped closer.
Vincent put the call on speaker.
“Peter says Daniel gave you the ring.”
“He did.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel recruited me.”
Vincent froze.
“Recruited you for what?”
“To watch you.”
Gabriel gave a humorless laugh.
Vincent’s jaw tightened.
“Explain.”
“Daniel contacted me ten months ago.”
“He suspected Victor had penetrated your personal security.”
“He was right.”
“Two of your men were reporting to Victor.”
“I removed them quietly.”
Vincent remembered two security employees dismissed for financial irregularities.
Marcus had handled both.
“You never told me.”
“Daniel said we couldn’t.”
“Why?”
“Because we didn’t know whether you would confront Victor.”
“And if you did, Gabriel would disappear forever.”
Vincent stared at the lake.
“Where is the archive?”
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“Not telling you over a compromised phone.”
Gabriel said, “Convenient.”
Marcus heard him.
“Gabriel, you don’t get to talk about trust.”
Gabriel’s expression hardened.
“You abandoned Daniel.”
“And you sold Victor routes to move Gabriel across three states.”
Silence.
Vincent looked at his brother.
Gabriel stared back.
Marcus continued.
“Ask him about October 12.”
Vincent said, “Gabriel?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“Marcus is buying time.”
Marcus’s voice became sharper.
“October 12, Vermont.”
“Ask him where he was.”
Gabriel said nothing.
Vincent felt dread.
“Where were you?”
Gabriel finally answered.
“With Victor.”
Vincent stepped back.
“What?”
“I was trying to negotiate.”
“For what?”
“My freedom.”
“At Daniel’s expense?”
“No.”
Marcus said, “He gave Victor the Carter safe-house location.”
Gabriel shouted.
“Because Victor told me Daniel had already moved!”
Marcus answered.
“He lied.”
Vincent closed his eyes.
Every person had made one compromise.
Then another.
Then another.
Until nobody knew which betrayal had caused the deaths.
Marcus said, “I have the original archive because Peter was about to make the same mistake Daniel nearly made.”
“He planned to release it tonight.”
Peter had wanted exposure.
Revenge.
Maybe justice.
Marcus continued.
“If it goes public unfiltered, hundreds of innocent people are exposed.”
“Children.”
“Witnesses.”
“Victims.”
“Some of those files are twenty years old.”
Vincent looked at Gabriel.
“That matches what you said.”
Gabriel nodded.
Marcus said, “There is one person who can separate the criminal evidence from the protected identities.”
“Who?”
“Hannah Carter.”
Vincent froze.
“Daniel trained her.”
Gabriel looked stunned.
Marcus continued.
“Hannah wasn’t just Daniel’s wife.”
“She was his backup.”
Vincent thought about Hannah refusing his money.
Keeping distance.
Never contacting him directly.
She had known far more than she admitted.
“Where are you going?”
“To the hospital.”
Vincent looked toward the road.
“Peter and Sophie are there.”
“So is Hannah.”
“You stay away from Sophie.”
Marcus went quiet.
Then he said, “Vincent.”
“What?”
“Victor is alive.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Marcus’s tone changed.
“He is not running.”
“He is coming for the archive.”
“And he knows exactly where Sophie is.”
The line died.
Vincent immediately called the hospital.
No answer from Hannah.
He called police protection.
No answer.
He called again.
Nothing.
Gabriel whispered, “Go.”
They drove faster than Vincent had driven in years.
Police arrived with them.
The hospital wing was dark.
Emergency power only.
One officer lay unconscious beside the elevator.
Another had been locked inside a supply room.
Vincent ran toward Peter’s room.
Empty.
Blood on the sheets.
Sophie gone.
Hannah gone.
Peter gone.
A nurse stumbled from the corridor.
“They took them.”
“Who?”
“Two men in police jackets.”
“Where?”
“Parking level.”
Vincent ran.
In the garage, a black SUV tore through the exit gate.
Vincent reached it seconds too late.
On the concrete where the SUV had been parked lay Sophie’s silver star pendant.
Vincent picked it up.
A folded strip of paper had been pushed inside.
Not there before.
He opened it.
Sophie had written five words.
MOM SAYS GO TO THE TOWER.
Gabriel saw the message.
His face changed.
“What tower?”
Vincent already knew.
Hale Meridian headquarters.
The old north tower.
The forty-ninth floor had been sealed since Charles Hale died.
It contained his father’s private office.
A room Vincent had never entered.
Gabriel whispered.
“That’s where Dad kept the master system.”
Vincent looked at him.
“What system?”
May you like
Gabriel’s eyes turned toward the skyline.
“The system that can erase every Bellgrave file in the world.”
