Chapter 12 - The Trap at Pier Seventeen
Silas did not go to Sakonnet Point.
He wanted Damen to.
That became clear when Jacoby found the explosive tracking device attached beneath their lead vehicle.
Not a bomb.
A beacon.
“He wants to know where we deploy,” Jacoby said.
Damen stared.
“Then give him what he wants.”
They sent an empty convoy toward Sakonnet.
Meanwhile, Damen took a fishing vessel from a neighboring marina with Yolanda, Jacoby, and federal agents.
Talia remained with Evelyn.
This time, reluctantly, she agreed.
“You come back,” she told Damen.
“I will.”
“Promise?”
Damen smiled.
“I promise.”
The Mercy Bell appeared near midnight.
Large.
Dark.
Running without normal deck illumination.
Agents moved.
The ship surrendered faster than expected.
Too fast.
Damen boarded.
Empty.
No Silas.
No archive.
Only one room containing a table.
Thirteen chairs.
The same arrangement as the estate meeting.
On the table sat a recording device.
Damen pressed play.
Silas’s voice.
“You keep chasing where I was.”
Damen closed his eyes.
“Think about where I began.”
The recording ended.
Yolanda whispered, “Pier Seventeen.”
Damen looked at her.
Mateo.
Northstar.
The original container.
Everything returned there.
They raced back.
Pier Seventeen was abandoned when they arrived.
One warehouse light burned.
Inside stood Silas Pharaoh.
Eighty-four.
Silver-haired.
Straight-backed.
A cane in one hand.
Red-striped lighthouse carved into its handle.
Damen stopped.
For a moment, he was fourteen again.
Silas smiled.
“You grew into him.”
“No.”
“More than you know.”
Yolanda entered behind Damen.
Silas looked at her.
“Mrs. Reyes.”
Her expression hardened.
“You killed my husband.”
“No.”
“You ordered it.”
“I allowed it.”
Damen’s fists tightened.
Silas noticed.
“There. Augustus.”
“I’m nothing like him.”
“Every son says that.”
Silas walked toward the old loading bay.
“Your father believed love justified cowardice.”
Damen answered, “He stayed in Northstar to protect me.”
“Yes.”
“He should have exposed you.”
“And risked you?”
“Yes.”
Silas looked genuinely curious.
“Interesting.”
Damen continued.
“Because protecting someone by helping evil survive isn’t protection.”
Yolanda looked at him.
Silas smiled faintly.
“Talia taught you that?”
“She reminded me.”
Silas tapped his cane.
“You think this ends with my arrest?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Silas seemed pleased.
“Because Northstar is not a person.”
“I know.”
“It is an agreement among people who prefer stability to morality.”
“And agreements can end.”
“Not this one.”
Damen held up his phone.
“Already happening.”
Across multiple ports, authorities were executing warrants.
The ledger copies had been verified.
Caleb had testified.
Victor had begun cooperating.
Navigator Mutual records were seized.
Silas listened.
His smile slowly disappeared.
“You gave them your father.”
“Yes.”
“Your family name.”
“Yes.”
“Your company.”
“If necessary.”
Silas stared.
“You would burn everything Augustus built?”
Damen looked toward Yolanda.
“No.”
“Then what?”
“I’d keep what was honest.”
“And the rest?”
“Let it sink.”
For the first time, Silas looked old.
Agents entered.
Silas did not resist.
As he passed Damen, he whispered:
“You think the girl saved her mother.”
Damen looked at him.
Silas smiled.
“She saved you.”
Then he walked into federal custody.
Damen stood quietly.
Yolanda approached.
“He’s right.”
Damen looked at her.
“Don’t encourage him.”
She laughed.
It was the first genuine laugh Damen had heard from her since the nightmare began.
And although Northstar was not yet fully dismantled, something fundamental had changed.
May you like
For the first time in three generations, a Pharaoh had chosen people over power.
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