Chương 11
“He said Domenic ordered it.”
“He said what Domenic wants now. He did not clearly say Domenic ordered Jamie’s death.”
Mave stared at the dark phone.
Rafe stood. “I can get Carlo.”
Ortiz blocked his path. “How?”
“He’ll go somewhere he thinks is safe.”
“Where?”
Rafe looked at Pike. “Domenic owns a maintenance company with access to abandoned harbor properties.”
Pike’s expression changed slightly.
Rafe noticed. “You know which one.”
“We have an investigation.”
“Then your investigation has watched while a man attacked a restaurant, wired an apartment, and tried to abduct a child.”
Pike turned his wedding ring. “We’ve been building a conspiracy case for fourteen months.”
“Build faster.”
“If we move on insufficient evidence, Domenic walks.”
“My sister was nearly murdered.”
“And if we had arrested him last month on a weak charge, he would be outside tonight.”
Rafe took one step toward him. “Do not ask me to appreciate your patience.”
Pike did not retreat. “Do not ask me to mistake your anger for a legal strategy.”
Mave stood between them before either man decided to prove something.
Her shoulder protested. She kept her voice quiet. “Domenic wants the ledger.”
Ortiz looked at her. “We won’t give it to him.”
“He doesn’t know whether I kept part of it.”
“You didn’t.”
“He doesn’t know that.”
Rafe understood first. “No.”
Mave turned. “You don’t decide.”
“He tried to take Finn.”
“And he’ll try again if we wait.”
Ortiz shook her head. “We do not send civilians into controlled exchanges.”
“You send informants.”
“Trained and prepared informants.”
“Jamie tried to become one. Nobody protected him.”
Pike’s face tightened. “We don’t know which agent he contacted.”
“Then your records are worse than Rafe’s security.”
Rafe almost smiled. It disappeared quickly.
Mave put both hands on the table, then removed the right one when pain flashed beneath the sling. “Domenic needs to believe Rafe chose the family. He wants him to bring the evidence, not me.”
“He told you to come alone,” Ortiz said.
“Because he knows Rafe won’t let me.”
Rafe said, “Correct.”
“That’s the point.”
The plan that emerged satisfied nobody.
Federal agents would create a replica ledger containing selected original pages already documented and admissible through copies. Mave would carry it to Pier Nineteen. Rafe would not accompany her, but Domenic would be allowed to see him follow against instructions. The conflict between them would appear real because much of it was.
Tracking devices would be placed in the ledger’s spine, Mave’s coat, and the vehicle. Tactical teams would remain outside the immediate exchange area to avoid frightening Domenic away. Ortiz insisted Mave wear body armor. The vest pressed against her bruised ribs until she could barely breathe.
“This will alter how you move,” Ortiz warned.
“I already move like furniture.”
“That is not reassuring.”
Finn was not told the full plan. He knew Mave had to help police catch Carlo and Domenic. He hated it.
“You said adults shouldn’t pretend places are safe,” Mave told him. “So I won’t pretend this is.”
“Then don’t go.”
“If I stay, they keep choosing when to come for us.”
“The police can go.”
“They need someone Domenic believes.”
Finn looked at Rafe, who stood near the hotel window.
“He believes him.”
“Yes.”
“Then send him.”
Rafe’s gaze remained on the street below.
Mave sat beside Finn. “Domenic wants Rafe to make a choice. I need to be there to make sure he chooses the right thing.”
“What if he doesn’t?”
Rafe answered without turning. “Then your mother leaves with the police, and I do not.”
Finn considered that.
“Does that mean you die?”
“It means I accept the consequence.”
“That sounds like adult lying.”
Rafe looked back. “It might be.”
Finn took Bear from the bed and handed him to Mave. The ear had been repaired with black thread by a hotel seamstress.
“For luck?” she asked.
“No. He has the key hole.”
Mave held the worn toy against her good side.
Finn’s face remained angry. “Bring him back.”
“I will.”
“You promised that before.”
Mave swallowed.
“I’ll do everything I can.”
He nodded once. It was the answer he had been demanding from adults all week.
Pier Nineteen had been closed to commercial traffic for years. Rusted fencing separated it from a road lined with warehouses and expensive new condominiums. The city had left old warning signs in place even where developers had cut openings through the fence.
Mave arrived at 5:58 in a gray sedan supplied by the federal team.
Rain had begun, light enough to darken the pavement without washing anything clean.
The body armor made each breath shallow. Bear sat on the passenger seat. The replica ledger rested inside a waterproof bag beneath him.
A single work light burned near the end of the pier.
Carlo stepped from behind a stack of shipping pallets.
He wore jeans, a dark coat, and the same careful expression he had used while checking restaurant locks. A pistol hung low in his right hand.
“You came,” he said.
“You threatened my son.”
“I’ve threatened people who didn’t.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel selected?”
He glanced toward the road. “Where’s Rafe?”
“Not here.”
“You’re a bad liar.”
“I’ve had an exhausting week.”
A black SUV appeared beyond the fence.
Rafe drove through the open gate and stopped thirty yards away.
Carlo closed his eyes briefly. “Of course.”
Rafe stepped out alone.
He wore a black suit without a tie. Rain gathered in his hair and along the shoulders of his jacket.
“Mave,” he said, “walk back to your car.”
Carlo lifted the pistol. “Don’t.”
Rafe stopped.
“You were told to stay out of this,” Carlo said.
“I stopped taking your instructions when you sent a man with a baton into my restaurant.”
“I sent him into Domenic’s plan.”
“You opened the door.”
Carlo’s jaw moved. “You think doors stay closed because you deserve it?”
May you like
“No. They stay closed because someone is paid to guard them.”
“You sound like your father.”
