Chương 10
“We all go.”
Daniel looked disgusted. “That was not the correct conclusion.”
“It is the only one she’ll accept.”
“You don’t know me,” Melissa said.
Adrian met her eyes. “I know that much.”
They left the union hall at three ten in Daniel’s van.
The rain had weakened to a steady fall. Floodwater covered parts of the industrial roads. Twice they changed routes because police vehicles blocked underpasses.
The storage facility stood beside a self-service car wash and was accessible through a keypad gate. Daniel entered a code. The screen flashed red.
He tried again.
“Changed,” he said.
A black sedan appeared at the far end of the access road.
Adrian saw it in the mirror.
“Drive.”
The sedan accelerated.
Daniel pushed the van through the exit lane before the gate fully opened. Metal scraped along the roof. The sedan followed, its headlights filling the rear windows.
Adrian lowered himself from his wheelchair onto the floor between the rear doors. Melissa strapped Leo’s car seat more tightly and lay across it, shielding him.
“You cannot shoot through the doors,” Daniel said.
“I know.”
“That sounded like you were planning to.”
“I’m considering alternatives.”
The sedan struck the rear bumper.
Leo screamed.
Melissa pressed both hands over the sides of the car seat, leaving space around his face.
Daniel turned sharply into the car wash. The van clipped a plastic bollard and entered the automatic bay against the direction arrows. Brushes hung motionless on either side.
The sedan followed.
Adrian pulled the emergency latch. One rear door opened six inches before the sedan struck again. The impact threw him sideways.
Melissa grabbed the back of his shirt.
“Close it!”
“I need to see.”
“You need to stay inside.”
A gun barrel appeared through the gap.
Adrian slammed the door against it. A shot exploded outside, punching through the metal near his shoulder.
He fired through the hole.
The sedan swerved into the car wash rail. Its front wheel climbed the track and jammed.
Daniel accelerated out the other side.
For three blocks, no one spoke.
Adrian remained on the floor. Blood darkened the sleeve of his black shirt.
Melissa’s stomach turned. “You’re hit.”
“Glass.”
She pulled the fabric aside. A piece of metal had cut the top of his shoulder, but there was no bullet wound.
Daniel drove into a grocery store loading area and parked between two tractor-trailers.
Melissa checked Leo first. The baby was crying but uninjured. She lifted him, supported his neck against her palm, and held him close until his cries broke into small, exhausted gasps.
Adrian watched from the floor.
“Let me see him.”
She hesitated.
It lasted less than a second, but Adrian felt it. His face changed.
Melissa hated herself for that.
She lowered Leo carefully into Adrian’s arms.
Adrian had learned how to hold him in the hospital, though his first attempts had been stiff and frightened. Now he tucked the baby’s head against his elbow and placed one broad hand across the blanket.
Leo quieted.
“Traitor,” Melissa whispered.
Adrian looked at the baby. “He has good instincts.”
Daniel examined the bullet hole in the van. “They found us too fast.”
“The storage code was changed,” Melissa said. “Someone knew we would go there.”
“Or the facility flagged Daniel’s access card,” Adrian replied.
Daniel removed his wallet, found a thin electronic tag behind one credit card, and cursed.
Adrian held out his hand.
The tag was a commercial Bluetooth tracker no larger than a coin.
“It wasn’t there yesterday,” Daniel said.
“Who handled your wallet?” Melissa asked.
“No one.”
“Teresa?” Adrian said.
Daniel’s face hardened. “No.”
“The bakery staff?”
“My nephew used my card to buy supplies.”
“Your nephew,” Adrian said.
Daniel looked as though he wanted to strike him.
Then his expression collapsed inward.
“My nephew started working security for Salvatore’s shipping company last month.”
He threw the tracker beneath the trailer and crushed it with his heel.
Adrian did not say I told you so. That restraint made Daniel angrier.
“We need another way into the storage facility,” Melissa said.
Daniel stared at the loading dock.
“My sister keeps a spare key to my apartment. My apartment has the unit documents.”
“Your sister’s home is compromised now,” Adrian said.
“Yes.”
“Call her.”
Daniel borrowed a disposable phone from a truck driver smoking near the loading bay. Teresa answered on the second attempt. She had already left the apartment above the bakery after noticing a car circling the block. She and Daniel’s nephew, Luis, were driving toward a police station.
Daniel closed his eyes. “He’s with you?”
“He came to warn me,” Teresa said through the speaker.
Adrian leaned closer. “Ask him who placed the tracker.”
Daniel glared at him but repeated the question.
Luis answered in the background. His voice shook. “They made me. They said they knew where Aunt Teresa lived.”
“Who?” Daniel asked.
“Mr. Bellini.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
Dario.
Luis continued. “He said he only needed to know if Uncle Daniel moved tonight. He said no one would get hurt.”
Daniel laughed once, bitterly. “Everyone says that before someone gets hurt.”
“Where is Dario now?” Adrian asked.
“At the old terminal by the river. He told me if anything went wrong, I should bring Aunt Teresa there.”
Pier Four.
Melissa looked at Adrian.
“Do not go to the police station,” he told Teresa. “Drive somewhere public and crowded. A hotel lobby. Keep moving until Maya Chen contacts you.”
Daniel ended the call and struck the van’s metal wall with his palm.
“Dario sold us.”
Adrian stared at the baby in his arms.
“No,” he said. “Dario is directing everyone to Pier Four.”
“For Salvatore.”
“Maybe.”
May you like
Melissa had learned to recognize the moment Adrian began assembling a pattern. His eyes slowed. His breathing became quieter.
“Why track Daniel instead of the van?” he asked. “Why send Luis to the terminal? Why leave Evan at the greenhouse with the escape keys? Why disable the off-site camera backup three days before an attack?”
