Chương 9
Before Lucian ever appeared.
Garrett had found her first.
Adrian then learned she was a trauma nurse.
Eddie directed Lucian to her because the apartment was already part of a controlled environment.
She had not been collateral damage.
She had been infrastructure.
A safe house Garrett could observe without Lucian knowing.
Lucian said, “I’m going to kill Eddie.”
Elena looked at him.
“No.”
“He used you as bait.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
“If he knows where Garrett is, you do not kill him before he talks.”
Marco looked between them.
“I like her.”
Lucian ignored him.
“Where is the evidence?”
Marco’s humor vanished.
“In a deposit box.”
“What bank?”
“Not a bank.”
“Then what?”
“Private vault company.”
“Access?”
“Biometric and key.”
“You have the key?”
“No.”
Lucian’s face hardened.
Marco continued, “Adrian does.”
“You told me the evidence was safe.”
“It is. Safe from me too.”
“That is an important detail.”
“You don’t listen to important details.”
People moved around them carrying coffee, luggage, children, irritation.
Elena watched a little boy drag a dinosaur backpack past Lucian’s bloodless face.
Human life continued.
That felt obscene and comforting at once.
Marco said, “I can get us in.”
“How?”
“I copied Adrian’s access card.”
“You said biometric.”
“Palm scan.”
“And?”
Marco looked pleased.
“Elena, do you know how long a severed hand remains useful for biometrics?”
She stared at him.
“No.”
Lucian said, “We are not cutting off Adrian’s hand.”
“I wasn’t suggesting—”
“You were smiling.”
“I like engineering problems.”
Elena said, “Can we not discuss dismemberment in a train station?”
Marco shrugged.
“There’s another route. Vault manager can override with a court order or account recovery.”
“We don’t have either.”
“I have the account recovery information.”
Lucian looked at him.
“How?”
“I stole it.”
“Of course.”
Marco leaned against a column.
“But we need Adrian’s phone for the authentication token.”
Lucian said, “So we need Adrian.”
“No. We need Eddie.”
Elena understood.
“Eddie has access to Adrian’s movements.”
Marco nodded.
“And Eddie thinks I’m dead.”
Lucian looked at him.
“Why?”
“I left enough blood in my apartment to support the theory.”
“Whose?”
Marco paused.
Lucian’s face tightened.
“Elena,” Marco said, “maybe stand over there.”
“No.”
Marco sighed.
“Mine. Mostly.”
“Mostly?”
“A butcher shop was involved.”
Elena rubbed her forehead.
“I regret asking.”
Marco smiled.
The phone in Elena’s pocket buzzed.
Carlos.
A forwarded message from Garrett.
SHE TOOK THE ROVER. FOUND IT ABANDONED. CHECK UNION.
Elena showed Lucian.
Marco read over his shoulder.
“Who’s Garrett?”
“My ex-husband.”
Marco blinked.
“Your ex-husband is hunting you?”
“Yes.”
“And he works for Adrian?”
“Yes.”
“And Lucian got shot into your apartment?”
“Essentially.”
Marco looked at his brother.
“You really know how to meet women.”
Lucian said, “Shut up.”
Elena almost laughed again.
Then a man in a dark jacket stopped near the information board and looked directly at her.
Her humor vanished.
“Move.”
Lucian saw him.
Marco did too.
They split without discussion.
Marco headed toward the platforms.
Elena and Lucian moved into the commuter crowd.
The man followed Elena.
Not Lucian.
That answered one question.
Garrett’s people had found her.
Lucian touched her elbow.
“Left.”
They turned toward a café.
A second man appeared.
Elena said, “Two.”
“I see him.”
“You have a weapon?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“You prefer this?”
“I prefer fewer felonies.”
The first man reached for Elena.
She pivoted.
Years of trauma nursing had given her no combat expertise.
It had given her excellent instincts around unstable bodies.
She stepped inside his reach and shoved the paper cup from a stranger’s hand into his chest.
Hot coffee splashed.
He swore.
The stranger swore louder.
People turned.
Phones came out.
Lucian smiled.
Not at the violence.
At the audience.
The second man stopped approaching.
Elena raised her voice.
“This man is following me.”
That changed the crowd.
Not everyone cared.
Enough did.
A woman with a stroller moved between Elena and the man.
A transit employee looked over.
The man backed away.
Lucian leaned near Elena.
“Smart.”
“Public perception.”
“Useful.”
“Sometimes.”
Marco reappeared five minutes later inside a bookstore.
“You two caused a scene.”
“Elena caused a scene.”
“She weaponized commuters.”
Elena said, “You’re both enjoying this too much.”
Marco’s phone rang.
He checked the screen.
His face changed.
“Eddie.”
Lucian reached for it.
Marco pulled back.
“No.”
“Answer.”
“My phone.”
“Marco.”
Elena said, “Put it on speaker.”
Marco answered.
“Hello?”
Eddie’s voice came thin and nervous.
“Where are you?”
Marco smiled.
“Dead.”
A pause.
Then Eddie said, “Cute.”
“You sound disappointed.”
“I need to meet.”
Lucian mouthed ask why.
Marco ignored him.
“Why?”
“Adrian’s lost control.”
Lucian and Elena exchanged a look.
Eddie continued, “Dane went off-plan.”
Elena stepped closer.
“What plan?” Marco asked.
“Not on the phone.”
“When?”
“Now.”
“Where?”
“The old Belmont parking structure.”
Marco looked at Lucian.
Lucian shook his head.
Marco said, “Thirty minutes.”
He ended the call.
Elena said, “Trap.”
“Yes,” both brothers answered.
She stared at them.
Marco smiled.
“Family resemblance.”
The Belmont garage had been half-abandoned since a redevelopment project stalled.
Lucian wanted Elena left behind.
Elena refused.
Marco wanted Lucian left behind because of his wound.
Lucian refused.
For six minutes in a stolen-looking delivery van Marco claimed to have borrowed, the Moretti brothers argued in increasingly childish ways.
“You cannot climb stairs.”
“I climbed three last night.”
“You nearly died.”
“Still here.”
“You’re leaking.”
“That’s enough,” Elena said.
Both men stopped.
She looked between them.
“This is why family businesses fail.”
Marco laughed.
Lucian looked out the window.
They reached Belmont at eight nineteen.
Eddie waited on the fourth level beside a black sedan.
He was in his fifties.
Gray at the temples.
Raincoat buttoned carefully.
Nothing about him resembled the traitor Elena had imagined.
He looked like someone’s dependable uncle.
That, she supposed, was the point.
Lucian stepped from behind a concrete pillar.
Eddie closed his eyes.
“Luca.”
“You sent me to her.”
Eddie saw Elena.
Shame changed his face.
That surprised her.
May you like
Not enough.
“I didn’t know Dane would move on her,” he said.
