Chapter 11 - The Price on Mina Strand
The darkness lasted four seconds.
Emergency lights activated.
Gabriel pushed Mina behind a concrete pillar.
“Stay down.”
Octavio tried standing.
Mina pulled him back.
“If you fall now, I swear I'll leave you here.”
“You won't.”
“Don't test me.”
Outside, tires squealed.
Then silence.
Gabriel listened through his earpiece.
The follow vehicle reported movement near the eastern exit.
Nobody entered the storage unit.
That worried him more.
“They weren't trying to attack,” Mina whispered.
Octavio understood.
“They wanted confirmation.”
“That we found something.”
Gabriel nodded.
“They followed us here to learn whether the key existed.”
Octavio looked toward the tackle box.
“They know now.”
Mina slid the key into her pocket.
“No.”
Octavio looked at her.
“They know we came here. They don't know what we found.”
Gabriel smiled faintly.
“She thinks like you.”
Octavio replied,
“No. Better.”
They left through a service entrance and abandoned the primary vehicle.
The brass key went into a medical specimen container.
Then Gabriel handed it to a federal agent Octavio had reluctantly agreed to trust.
Agent Rebecca Sloan.
Forty-six.
Former organized-crime prosecutor.
No patience for theatrics.
She examined the key.
“Any idea what it opens?”
Octavio answered,
“Private vault.”
“Where?”
“Still remembering.”
Sloan looked unimpressed.
“Convenient.”
Mina stepped forward.
“He has documented neurological trauma.”
“I know.”
“Then don't speak to him as if memory is a moral decision.”
Sloan raised an eyebrow.
Octavio looked amused.
“You always defend him?”
“No.”
“Could've fooled me.”
Sloan placed the key in an evidence bag.
“We'll identify the manufacturer.”
Within twelve hours they had an answer.
The key belonged to an old private security-box company that had operated in Chicago for seventy years.
Only three branches remained.
One downtown.
One Oak Park.
One in Lake Forest.
Octavio saw the addresses.
His face changed.
“Lake Forest.”
“How do you know?”
“My mother.”
“What about her?”
“She had a box there.”
The bank opened at nine.
Federal agents accompanied them.
Inside box 417 they found no cash.
No jewels.
No weapons.
Only documents.
And a black encrypted drive.
Daniel Kessler’s ledger.
The documents contained years of financial transactions linking Victor Rane to shell companies, illegal security contractors, bribed officials and diverted Rain Consolidated funds.
But the drive required a password.
Octavio didn't know it.
Then Mina noticed an inscription on the inside of the box lid.
C47.
She stared.
“Coltrane.”
Octavio looked at her.
“What?”
“John Coltrane.”
“The music you played.”
“Album?”
He thought.
“Blue Train.”
Mina smiled.
“Released 1957.”
Agent Sloan entered combinations.
C47 didn't work.
BlueTrain.
Didn't work.
1957.
Didn't work.
Then Octavio whispered,
“Naima.”
Mina turned.
“What?”
“Song.”
One of Coltrane’s most famous compositions.
Password accepted.
The drive opened.
Thousands of files appeared.
Victor’s hidden network.
Payments.
Messages.
Photographs.
Security plans.
And one folder labeled LSR.
Lake Shore Rain.
Inside was a planning document created two weeks before Octavio's crash.
Vehicle route.
Security schedule.
Driver name.
Images of the intersection.
A payment of four million dollars.
Recipient: SDANNER CONSULTING.
Seth Danner.
The fake doctor.
Agent Sloan stared.
“This is enough for conspiracy charges.”
Octavio said,
“Not enough.”
“You want more?”
“I want Sofia.”
They searched the drive.
Her name appeared thirty-seven times.
Victor believed Sofia possessed the key.
Messages showed surveillance.
Followed flights.
Tracked credit cards.
Bribed private investigators.
Then one entry changed everything.
SOFIA RAIN — ASSET TRANSFERRED TO HARBOR 6.
Mina looked at Octavio.
“Black Harbor?”
Gabriel nodded.
A property list showed Harbor 6 was an abandoned shipping terminal south of the city.
Agent Sloan immediately organized a federal operation.
Octavio tried to join.
Everyone said no.
For once, even Gabriel.
Mina remained at the safe estate with him.
He paced using his cane.
Three months earlier he could not move a finger.
Now anger carried him across the room.
“She’s there.”
“Maybe.”
“She was there.”
“That's what the records show.”
“I should go.”
“You'll compromise the operation.”
He looked at her.
“I hate when you're right.”
“You must be miserable around me.”
Hours passed.
Then Sloan called.
Harbor 6 was empty.
But they found evidence Sofia had been held there.
Food containers.
Bedding.
A woman’s jacket.
And a message written beneath a table.
TAV — TRUST THE WOMAN WHO STAYED.
Octavio stared at the photograph.
Mina stood beside him.
“Who is she talking about?”
His eyes moved to Mina.
“No.”
“You?”
“No.”
“You stayed.”
“So did Gabriel.”
“So did Ward.”
“So did half the ICU.”
Octavio continued staring at her.
Mina became uncomfortable.
“Stop.”
“Maybe she knew about you.”
“She disappeared before I became your regular nurse.”
“Maybe my mother told Sofia.”
“Your mother?”
Octavio’s expression changed.
Another memory.
“My mother knew Evelyn.”
Mina froze.
“What?”
“Years ago.”
“How?”
“My mother volunteered at Cook County.”
Mina slowly sat down.
Their lives had crossed before either realized it.
Then Gabriel entered carrying a package.
Delivered anonymously.
Inside was Mina’s missing notebook.
The one stolen from her locker.
Every page intact.
Except the final page.
Someone had written a message across it.
BRING OCTAVIO TO UNION STATION AT MIDNIGHT.
COME WITH MINA STRAND.
NO POLICE.
IF YOU WANT SOFIA ALIVE.
Mina stared.
Octavio read it twice.
Then reached for his coat.
“No.”
Mina said.
“Yes.”
“It’s a trap.”
“I know.”
“They specifically asked for me.”
“I know.”
“That means I’m leverage.”
Octavio turned toward her.
“No.”
“What do you mean no?”
“You're not going.”
Mina stood.
“Sofia is alive because I apparently became part of this seven months ago without knowing it.”
“I said no.”
“You don't command me.”
His eyes hardened.
“Mina.”
She stepped closer.
“You told your men to protect me because you thought I was helpless.”
“No.”
“Then why?”
Octavio looked at her.
His voice softened.
“Because you're the reason I woke up alive.”
The anger left her.
He continued.
“And I have buried enough people who stood near me.”
Mina understood.
This wasn't possessiveness.
It was fear.
Octavio Rain was terrified of losing one more person.
She touched his hand.
“Then don't go alone.”
At midnight, Union Station waited.
May you like
And somewhere beneath its enormous ceiling, Victor Rane was preparing to meet the man he had failed to kill.
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