Chapter 4 - The Leak
Within twenty minutes, the penthouse became a command center.
Lev locked down the building.
Phones appeared.
Security footage was reviewed.
Mina sat on the leather sofa while Alfred paced.
She had rarely seen him frightened.
Angry, yes.
Cold, often.
But fear looked different on Alfred.
It made him quieter.
Lev returned from the hallway.
“The clinic was accessed three days ago.”
“By who?” Alfred asked.
“Someone using credentials belonging to a nurse who quit six months ago.”
Mina's stomach tightened.
“Could they see my records?”
Lev looked at her.
“Yes.”
Alfred's face became stone.
“Find them.”
“Already working on it.”
Mina stood.
“My flight.”
Alfred turned sharply.
“You're not getting on it.”
“If somebody knows, staying here makes me easier to find.”
“And traveling under an identity they may already know makes you easier to kill.”
Mina flinched.
Alfred immediately regretted the wording.
But neither pretended the danger wasn't real.
Lev placed a photograph on the desk.
A man Mina recognized.
Daniel Price.
He worked in logistics.
Quiet. Polite. Forgettable.
Mina had eaten lunch across from him dozens of times.
“He accessed shipping records connected to both warehouses before the raids,” Lev said.
“Federal informant?” Alfred asked.
“Maybe.”
“Moretti?”
“Maybe both.”
Alfred stared at the photograph.
Mina remembered Daniel stopping beside her desk the previous week.
He had asked whether she was feeling well.
At the time, she assumed her morning sickness was showing.
Now the memory felt sinister.
“He knows,” she whispered.
Alfred looked at her.
“What?”
“Daniel asked if I was sick.”
“That proves nothing.”
“He never talks to me.”
Lev and Alfred exchanged a look.
Mina hated that look.
The look men used when danger had suddenly become real.
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone froze.
Alfred held out his hand.
Mina gave him the phone.
He answered without speaking.
A man's voice came through.
“Congratulations.”
Alfred's expression changed.
The caller laughed softly.
“Boy or girl?”
Alfred ended the call.
Mina felt the room tilt.
“Who was it?”
He didn't answer.
“Alfred.”
“The Morettis.”
Her hand moved to her stomach.
Alfred walked toward her.
“We're leaving.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere nobody knows.”
Mina almost laughed from fear.
“That was my plan.”
He stopped.
For one second, despite everything, they simply looked at each other.
Then Alfred said, “This time, we're doing it together.”
May you like
Outside, Lev shouted.
A second later, the penthouse lights went out.
