Chapter 12 - Damian’s Most Dangerous Choice
Richard's escape had required help.
Someone inside federal custody had opened the door.
Someone powerful.
The same person who had originally ordered Vittorio's death.
Damian finally understood.
Richard had never been the top of the conspiracy.
He had been its weapon.
Leo's kidnapping came with no ransom demand.
Instead, Richard sent an address.
An abandoned church.
Damian arrived with Bea and Clara.
A video waited on the altar.
Richard appeared.
“Damian, you keep trying to save everyone.”
He smiled.
“Let's see what happens when you have to choose.”
Two live feeds appeared.
Leo in one room.
Eleanor Pendleton in another.
Richard had kidnapped both.
“Two families,” he said. “One choice.”
Clara sobbed.
Damian watched carefully.
Beatrice noticed something.
The shadows.
Leo's feed showed sunlight from the left.
Eleanor's from the right.
But the clock behind both showed the same time.
“Damian.”
He looked at her.
“They're in the same building.”
Richard expected him to choose.
Instead they would save both.
The background sounds provided another clue.
Trains.
Industrial machinery.
Eleanor recognized the location when Damian sent her family the audio.
An abandoned factory near the old rail yards.
Costello and Pendleton teams moved together.
No war.
No rivalry.
One rescue.
Damian entered from the north.
Clara from the east.
Beatrice remained with the command team.
At least she was supposed to.
Then she saw Richard leaving through a side camera.
“He's escaping.”
She ran.
Richard reached a vehicle.
Bea stepped in front of it.
He stared through the windshield.
“You again.”
He climbed out.
“Move.”
“No.”
“You think Damian made you powerful?”
“No.”
She held up her phone.
“You made me powerful when you murdered my mother and assumed I'd be too frightened to fight back.”
Sirens approached.
Richard looked around.
Trapped.
He raised his gun.
Damian appeared behind him.
“Don't.”
Richard turned.
For several seconds the two men faced each other.
Then Richard lowered the weapon.
Leo was rescued.
Eleanor was rescued.
Richard was arrested again.
This time, Damian personally watched the federal convoy leave.
Clara held her son.
Eleanor stood beside her surviving family.
Beatrice approached Damian.
“Is it over?”
He looked toward the departing vehicles.
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Richard wanted me to kill him.”
Bea frowned.
“Why?”
“Because dead men don't testify.”
Somewhere above Richard was another person.
May you like
A person who feared what he might reveal.
And Damian intended to find them before they silenced him forever.
