Chapter 13 - The Secret Daniel Carter Left Behind
Elena arrived at the warehouse at 11:46 p.m.
Fourteen minutes before midnight.
A man opened the sedan door.
She stepped onto cracked pavement.
The industrial building looked almost abandoned from outside.
Inside was another matter.
Lights.
Vehicles.
Men.
Victor Sanz had prepared carefully.
Elena touched her necklace.
The actual chip was no longer inside it.
That part had been Mateo’s condition.
A cloned shell sat beneath the pendant plate instead.
Whether Victor would recognize the substitution remained uncertain.
Elena walked through the entrance.
Victor waited near a metal table.
He was older than the photograph.
Elegant.
Calm.
Gray beginning at his temples.
Marco Romano stood several feet away.
Adrienne sat between them.
She was not tied.
That was somehow more disturbing.
Adrienne looked at Elena.
“Why did you come?”
“Because apparently everyone in your family has terrible decision-making skills.”
Adrienne laughed despite herself.
Victor smiled.
“You make jokes when frightened.”
“I make jokes constantly.”
“Mateo enjoys that.”
Elena’s gaze stayed on Adrienne.
“Let her go.”
Victor gestured toward the necklace.
“First.”
“No.”
Marco spoke.
“You are not in a position to negotiate.”
Elena looked at him.
“You betrayed your nephew and kidnapped your daughter.”
Adrienne flinched.
“You’re not in a position to lecture anybody about good judgment.”
Marco’s face darkened.
Victor raised a hand.
“Enough.”
He stepped closer.
“Do you know what your father stole?”
“Something you’re still whining about eight years later.”
Victor studied her.
“Daniel was like you.”
“That must have been inconvenient.”
“Very.”
His smile disappeared.
“He believed intelligence made him untouchable.”
“No. Dad never believed that.”
Elena’s voice cooled.
“He checked the locks three times every night.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
A useful reaction.
“You knew him well?”
“Better than you.”
“I knew the part he hid from you.”
“That’s what Mateo said too.”
“Mateo hides more.”
Elena resisted the trap.
“Maybe.”
Victor expected anger.
She gave him indifference.
“Tell me about the key.”
“Release Adrienne.”
“She leaves when I have access.”
“How do I know you won’t kill us both afterward?”
“You don’t.”
At least he was honest.
Elena tilted her head.
“Then your negotiation skills are terrible.”
Marco stepped forward.
Victor stopped him.
Interesting.
Marco obeyed Victor.
Not equals.
Elena filed that away.
“What happens at midnight?” she asked.
Victor smiled.
“Nothing magical.”
“Then why the deadline?”
“Because at midnight several secure archives automatically rotate encryption.”
There.
New information.
The transmitter carried every word back to Mateo.
Elena hoped he understood.
Victor needed access before midnight because the current key would expire.
That meant the physical chip alone was not enough.
There was a second factor.
“What else do you need?”
Victor’s smile faded slightly.
“You.”
“Why?”
“Daniel built the key using a personal authentication sequence.”
“My birthday?”
“No.”
“My Social Security number?”
“No.”
“His favorite baseball team?”
“Elena.”
Victor leaned closer.
“Your father was sentimental.”
That sounded wrong.
Daniel had been loving.
But when protecting information, he had been methodical.
Elena suddenly remembered childhood puzzles.
Every birthday, her father created scavenger hunts.
He never used obvious answers.
He used questions only she could solve.
Not data.
Memories.
Victor needed her because the archive asked questions about their shared past.
“What happens if I answer wrong?”
“The archive destroys itself.”
“Then threatening me seems risky.”
Victor’s eyes hardened.
“Which is why I brought Adrienne.”
Elena looked at her friend.
Adrienne whispered, “Don’t do it.”
Marco snapped, “Be quiet.”
Adrienne turned toward her father.
“No.”
The word carried years of hurt.
“You don’t get to tell me what to do anymore.”
Marco looked shaken.
Victor glanced at the clock.
11:51.
“Nine minutes.”
Elena removed the necklace.
Victor held out his hand.
She did not give it to him.
“Laptop.”
A technician brought one forward.
Elena sat.
Victor inserted the false chip.
Nothing happened.
His expression changed.
Elena’s heart stopped.
The technician tried again.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“It isn’t reading.”
Victor slowly turned toward Elena.
“What did you do?”
She forced herself not to look afraid.
“Maybe your computer is as old as your strategy.”
Victor grabbed her wrist.
Not hard enough to injure.
Hard enough to reveal anger.
“Where is the real key?”
Elena looked directly at him.
“Somewhere you can’t reach it.”
Victor’s composure vanished.
Marco cursed.
Adrienne stood.
Everything happened quickly.
Victor ordered the doors locked.
Men moved.
Then the lights went out.
Complete darkness.
Mateo.
Elena dropped immediately, exactly as instructed.
A crash sounded near the side entrance.
Emergency lights flashed red.
Adrienne screamed her name.
“Elena!”
“I’m here!”
Victor shouted commands.
Marco moved toward the exit.
Then a voice came through the darkness.
Mateo’s.
Calm.
Close.
“Marco.”
Every person in the warehouse froze.
Mateo stepped into the red emergency light.
His eyes were on his uncle.
May you like
“You should have stayed loyal.”
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