Chapter 5 - The Man Declan Trusted Most
Samuel Reed had driven Declan Hayes for four years.
He knew which restaurants Declan disliked, which routes he preferred when traffic was heavy, which hospital Declan would choose if one of his people got hurt, and which entrance he used when he did not want to be seen.
He also knew the security layout of Hayes Logistics.
The private elevator codes.
The timing of Declan’s morning routine.
And, more importantly, exactly when Declan was alone.
Leo stared at the photograph from Nathan Burke’s hospital.
“I hired Sam.”
Declan looked at him.
“I remember.”
“I ran his background myself.”
“And?”
“Clean.”
“Apparently not.”
Lucia crossed her arms.
“Or someone built him a clean identity.”
Sadie stared at the image.
“If Samuel was watching Nathan, was he also the person in the apartment downstairs?”
“Possible,” Declan said.
“Then he may have been the one who called Greg.”
“Possible.”
“Stop saying possible.”
Declan looked at her.
“What would you prefer?”
“The truth.”
“When I have it, you’ll get it.”
Sadie’s frustration flashed.
“You keep saying that like truth is something you own.”
Declan leaned closer.
“In my world, information gets people killed.”
“My father already disappeared because of information.”
“Exactly.”
For one tense moment neither moved.
Then Leo interrupted.
“We have Samuel’s vehicle.”
“Where?”
“Garage.”
“Is he in the building?”
“No. Car’s been parked since eleven last night.”
Declan frowned.
Samuel never left the vehicle overnight unless Declan dismissed him.
“He told me he was taking it for maintenance.”
Leo checked his phone.
“No maintenance appointment.”
Sadie looked at the photograph again.
“What if he wants us to know it’s him?”
Declan turned.
“Explain.”
“The hospital picture is too clear. His face is visible. If Patrick’s organization has spent years hiding, why send us a photograph that exposes one of their people?”
Lucia nodded.
“She’s right.”
Leo frowned.
“Then Sam is expendable.”
“Or framed,” Sadie said.
Declan considered it.
Everyone was now someone else’s possible scapegoat.
“Find him,” he told Leo. “Alive.”
Leo made the call.
Sadie went to change.
Declan had arranged clothing to be delivered from a nearby store. She returned wearing black pants, flat shoes, a white blouse, and a dark coat.
Her hair was still damp.
The bandage remained visible near her sleeve.
“You look like you’re going to work,” Declan said.
“That’s how I handle crises.”
“By dressing for spreadsheets?”
“Spreadsheets have caused more corporate murders than leather jackets.”
Lucia coughed to hide a laugh.
Declan decided not to respond.
At 8:32 a.m., they left the penthouse.
Declan used a secondary vehicle and two security teams.
Sadie sat beside him in the rear seat.
Neither spoke for several minutes.
Then she asked, “If Patrick really is alive, what happens?”
Declan looked out the window.
“That depends.”
“On whether he’s guilty?”
“No.”
Sadie waited.
“On whether I can prove it.”
“That sounds surprisingly legal.”
“I own lawyers for a reason.”
“You don’t own Lucia.”
From the front passenger seat Lucia said, “Thank you.”
Declan looked at Sadie.
“You’ve become brave in the last six hours.”
“I killed a man, discovered my father might be alive, learned your dead brother is apparently running a conspiracy, and walked eighteen blocks barefoot. My scale for intimidating conversations has changed.”
Declan had no answer.
They went first to Bellevue.
Nathan Burke had been moved to a secured room.
The man outside was not Samuel.
Nathan was awake.
Sadie hurried to his bedside.
“Nathan.”
The older man opened one eye.
“You look terrible.”
Sadie laughed despite herself.
“You were hit by a car.”
“Still prettier than you.”
She hugged him carefully.
Declan stood back.
Nathan’s gaze moved to him.
“So you finally told her.”
“Told her what?”
Nathan’s expression hardened.
“You haven’t.”
Sadie turned.
“Told me what?”
Declan did not like the direction this was going.
Nathan looked at Sadie.
“Your father asked Hayes to watch you.”
Sadie froze.
“When?”
“The week before he disappeared.”
Declan felt her eyes on him.
Nathan continued.
“Michael knew somebody might use you to control him. He asked Declan to keep his distance but make sure you were protected.”
Sadie slowly turned toward Declan.
“You knew who I was when you hired me.”
Silence.
Leo closed his eyes.
Lucia looked away.
Sadie’s voice became dangerously quiet.
“You knew.”
Declan answered.
“Yes.”
Her face changed.
Every emotion from the night returned at once.
“You sat across from me in that interview and pretended not to know my name.”
“Yes.”
“You let me spend three years investigating you.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted to know why you came.”
“You could have asked.”
“You would have lied.”
“So instead you lied.”
“Yes.”
Sadie took one step back.
“You knew I was Michael Collins’s daughter before I ever entered your office.”
“Yes.”
“And you never told me about Warehouse Twelve.”
“No.”
“Or that Dad warned you.”
“No.”
“Or that you paid him.”
“No.”
She laughed.
It broke halfway through.
“Unbelievable.”
“Sadie—”
“Don’t.”
Declan stopped.
Nathan sighed.
“Both of you inherited the same personality from different families.”
Sadie looked at him.
“Whose side are you on?”
“Mine. I’m old.”
Despite herself, her expression softened.
Nathan motioned her closer.
“Your father trusted him.”
Sadie looked at Declan.
“Dad trusted a criminal?”
Nathan shrugged.
“Your father was complicated too.”
“What else did he tell you?”
Nathan hesitated.
“Michael believed Patrick Hayes was building a second organization underneath the first.”
Declan moved closer.
“What exactly did he say?”
“That Patrick wanted Declan surrounded by people he controlled.”
Leo’s face tightened.
“Drivers?”
“Yes.”
“Accountants?”
“Yes.”
“Security?”
“Yes.”
“Me?”
Nathan studied him.
“Michael never mentioned you.”
Leo seemed almost disappointed not to be cleared more definitively.
Sadie asked, “Did Dad ever contact you after he disappeared?”
Nathan looked at her.
“No.”
She searched his face.
“You’re lying.”
Nathan’s eyes shifted.
Sadie had spent three years detecting false explanations in executives.
Nathan was not difficult.
“He contacted you.”
Nathan exhaled.
“Once.”
“When?”
“Four years after he vanished.”
Her knees nearly weakened.
Declan moved instinctively closer, but Sadie raised a hand.
“What did he say?”
“He said he was alive.”
“Where was he?”
“He wouldn’t tell me.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“He begged me not to.”
“Why?”
“Because he said if Patrick believed you knew, you’d become leverage.”
Sadie stared at him.
“You all decided for me.”
Nathan’s face filled with regret.
“Yes.”
Declan understood her anger because he deserved part of it.
Nathan reached toward the drawer beside his bed.
“There’s something else.”
Inside was an old brass key.
He handed it to Sadie.
“Your father mailed this to me after the call.”
“What does it open?”
“I don’t know.”
“Nothing else?”
“A note.”
“Where?”
“I destroyed it.”
Sadie closed her eyes in frustration.
“What did it say?”
Nathan remembered.
“‘When Sadie learns the truth, give her the key and tell her to look beneath the place where she learned not to be afraid.’”
Sadie stared at the key.
Her expression shifted.
“I know where.”
Declan watched her.
“Where?”
“My childhood home.”
Leo’s phone rang.
He stepped into the hall.
Thirty seconds later he returned.
“We found Samuel.”
“Where?”
“His apartment.”
“Alive?”
Leo hesitated.
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“He’s tied to a chair.”
Everyone stared.
Leo continued.
“He’s been there since yesterday afternoon.”
Sadie looked at Declan.
“Then the man at the hospital—”
“Was dressed to look like him,” Declan finished.
The conspiracy was manufacturing suspects.
One by one.
Making Declan distrust everyone closest to him.
And it was working.
Leo said, “Samuel claims two men grabbed him outside his apartment.”
“Can he identify them?”
“One.”
“Who?”
Leo’s expression changed.
“He says it was Greg Mercer.”
Sadie’s face went white.
Greg.
Before the archive.
Before the attack.
Greg had kidnapped Samuel, allowing someone else to impersonate the driver.
Which meant Greg had not been a small leak.
He had been active inside Patrick’s operation.
Sadie looked down at the brass key.
“My childhood home is in Queens.”
Declan nodded.
“We go now.”
Nathan caught his sleeve.
“Hayes.”
Declan looked back.
The old investigator’s voice dropped.
“Michael told me one more thing during that call.”
“What?”
“He said if Patrick ever returned, you had to ask yourself why he waited so long.”
Declan frowned.
Nathan continued.
“Men don’t spend six years hiding unless they’re waiting for something to change.”
“What changed?”
Nathan looked at Sadie.
“I think she did.”
Sadie’s eyes widened.
“Me?”
Nathan nodded.
“Michael said his daughter would eventually find what everyone else missed.”
Sadie looked at the key.
Declan understood.
Patrick had not surfaced because he was finally ready.
Patrick had surfaced because Sadie was.
May you like
And whatever waited beneath her childhood home had frightened Patrick Hayes enough to come back from the dead.
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