Chapter 9 - My Enemy Asked Me to Trust Him
There are moments when betrayal becomes so crowded you stop knowing where to aim your anger.
My husband had betrayed me.
His father had manipulated him.
My CFO had helped trigger an avalanche.
My attorney had helped forge control papers.
My father had hidden an entire second history of Calder.
Now Samuel Vale—the missing engineer whose daughter had spent seventeen years grieving him—appeared to be working with Richard Hale.
Rachel watched the video six times.
“He could be forced.”
“He could,” Grant said.
“He looks thin.”
“He does.”
“He’s reading something.”
“He might be following instructions.”
Every possibility felt better than the obvious one.
Then Daniel said something I hated.
“Samuel isn’t Richard’s prisoner.”
Rachel turned.
“You don’t know that.”
“I spoke with him.”
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
She crossed the room before Grant stepped between them.
“What did he say?”
Daniel hesitated.
“He said Calder should never have survived 2009.”
Rachel went still.
“He blamed Nathan for covering it up.”
I understood.
Samuel may have originally convinced Dad to delay exposing Richard.
But seventeen years of hiding could twist guilt into rage.
“What is the final phase?” I asked.
Daniel looked at the geological maps.
“Richard wants everyone evacuated so he can destroy the eastern tunnel network.”
“Why?”
“To erase the original blast chamber and reopen mineral access.”
Grant frowned.
“That would require enormous charges.”
“He has them.”
“How?”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
“My father has spent seventeen years building companies under other people’s names.”
Rachel whispered, “When?”
“Soon.”
“How soon?”
Daniel met my eyes.
“Forty-eight hours.”
I stood too quickly.
Pain shot through my leg.
Grant grabbed my arm.
“The resort is still occupied.”
“Nearly twelve hundred guests,” I said.
“And employees,” Rachel added.
Daniel nodded.
“My father expects the current avalanche damage to justify another emergency closure. Once everyone leaves, he destroys the tunnels.”
“Then why kidnap Vanessa?”
“She stole something from him.”
“What?”
“The black ledger.”
I stared.
Daniel continued.
“She took it from my safe before the board meeting.”
“Why?”
“Insurance.”
I almost laughed.
Vanessa truly had learned from Daniel.
Grant contacted federal authorities.
An evacuation plan began quietly.
We could not announce explosives without causing panic.
Instead, weather and structural concerns justified phased closures.
But Richard was monitoring us.
That night, every resort screen suddenly went black.
Then Richard appeared.
Guests in restaurants watched him.
Employees in locker rooms watched him.
So did I.
“Ava,” he said, “you have something that belongs to my family.”
I stood in the command center.
“Can he see us?”
“No,” Grant said.
Richard continued.
“Rachel Vale has something that belongs to hers.”
Rachel stiffened.
“And Vanessa Cole has something belonging to nobody.”
Vanessa appeared beside him.
Alive.
Frightened.
The black ledger lay on the table.
“I propose an exchange.”
Richard held up a document.
“The original mineral deed.”
Rachel whispered, “That’s impossible.”
Richard smiled.
“Bring Rachel to East Station tomorrow at noon.”
“No,” Grant said immediately.
Richard continued.
“In return, Vanessa leaves alive, Rachel learns the truth about her father, and Ava receives the ledger.”
I looked at Rachel.
Richard leaned toward the camera.
“If you refuse, I release evidence showing Nathan Whitmore knowingly concealed the deaths of fourteen men for financial gain.”
My jaw tightened.
Blackmail.
He wanted my father’s legacy destroyed.
Then Samuel stepped into frame.
Rachel covered her mouth.
Her father looked directly into the camera.
“Rachel.”
She began crying.
“I’m sorry.”
She moved toward the screen.
“Dad?”
Samuel continued.
“Do not come.”
Richard looked irritated.
Samuel suddenly grabbed the table.
Gunfire erupted off camera.
The feed collapsed sideways.
Vanessa screamed.
Richard shouted.
Then the screen went black.
Grant began issuing orders.
Rachel was shaking.
“He tried to warn me.”
“Yes.”
“He’s not with Richard.”
“No.”
For the first time that day, something made sense.
Samuel had survived by pretending cooperation.
Just as Charles had.
Maybe just as Daniel now claimed to.
I turned toward my husband.
“You said East Station?”
Daniel nodded.
“There’s an access shaft underneath it.”
I knew that shaft.
It connected directly to the old avalanche tunnels.
The same tunnels that saved me.
Richard intended to return to the place everything began.
Grant said, “Nobody goes there except tactical units.”
I looked at him.
“You need someone who knows the underground layout.”
“We have maps.”
“Maps from 2009.”
“So?”
“My father changed the tunnels after the avalanche.”
Grant stared.
“You know the new layout?”
“I helped design it.”
Rachel wiped her tears.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“He’s my father.”
Grant started objecting.
Then alarms sounded.
Not at East Station.
At the resort’s helicopter hangar.
A message appeared on the central screen.
FIRE SUPPRESSION OFFLINE.
Then:
AVIATION FUEL SENSOR FAILURE.
Grant swore.
“This is a diversion.”
I looked at the mountain-monitoring map.
One emergency tunnel sensor had activated.
A person was moving underground.
Heading toward us.
A minute later the service door opened.
Vanessa collapsed through it.
Bleeding from the forehead.
Holding the black ledger.
“Richard knows your evacuation plan,” she gasped.
I knelt beside her.
“How did you escape?”
“Samuel.”
Rachel stepped forward.
“My father?”
Vanessa nodded.
“He sent me here.”
Then she grabbed my wrist.
“Ava, listen to me.”
Her face was white with fear.
“Daniel didn’t start this.”
I looked toward my husband.
Vanessa shook her head.
May you like
“Your father did.”
And behind her, deep beneath Mount Calder, the first hidden explosive began counting down.
