Chapter 9 - Renley’s Empty Seat
Roman found Renley's backpack beneath an overpass.
One strap was torn.
Elena made a sound Roman would never forget.
“No.”
Roman picked it up.
No blood.
That mattered.
“She could be alive.”
“She is alive,” Elena said.
Roman nodded.
“She is.”
Victor called ten minutes later.
“I warned you.”
Roman's voice became ice.
“If you hurt her—”
Victor laughed.
“There he is.”
“Who?”
“The Roman Vale everybody fears.”
Victor sounded delighted.
“I was getting worried that little girl had turned you soft.”
Roman looked at Renley's backpack.
“No.”
“What?”
“She made me dangerous in a different way.”
Victor stopped laughing.
Roman continued.
“I used to care whether I survived.”
Silence.
“Now I care whether she does.”
Victor gave instructions.
Bring the drive.
Bring every copy.
Come to the old Vale docks.
No police.
Roman told Judge Sloan anyway.
Not because he trusted the system completely.
Because Walter's final lesson demanded it.
Stop solving everything alone.
Roman arrived at the docks near dusk.
Victor stood inside a warehouse.
Renley sat on a chair.
Untied.
Unhurt.
Angry.
The moment she saw Roman she shouted, “Don't give him anything!”
Roman almost laughed with relief.
Victor sighed.
“She has been doing that for two hours.”
“Sounds right.”
“I offered her food.”
Renley glared.
“He had terrible sandwiches.”
Roman looked at Victor.
“Unforgivable.”
For one absurd second, tension broke.
Then Victor raised a gun.
“Drive.”
Roman held it up.
“Renley first.”
Victor shook his head.
“You're negotiating?”
“Yes.”
“You forget who I am.”
“No.”
Roman's expression changed.
“I finally remember who I am.”
Victor frowned.
Roman continued.
“I'm Walter Vale's son.”
“And Walter died hiding in poverty.”
“No.”
Roman looked at Renley.
“He died with somebody knocking on his door every Thursday.”
Renley's eyes filled.
“That's richer than either of us ever learned to be.”
Victor's jaw tightened.
“Drive!”
Roman tossed it.
Victor caught it.
Renley stood.
Victor pointed toward Roman.
“Go.”
She ran.
Roman pulled her behind him.
Victor inserted the drive into a laptop.
Files appeared.
Accounts.
Names.
Payments.
Everything.
Victor smiled.
Then he noticed the timestamp.
UPLOAD COMPLETE.
His smile vanished.
Roman said, “You really think I brought the only copy?”
Victor fired.
Roman shoved Renley down.
The bullet struck Roman's side.
Renley screamed.
Federal agents entered from every direction.
Victor ran.
Gunfire echoed.
Roman stayed on the floor shielding Renley.
She pressed her hands against his wound.
“You're bleeding.”
“I noticed.”
“You can't die.”
“Wasn't planning to.”
“You promise?”
Roman looked at her.
Walter's warning came back.
Promises made by frightened men.
He answered differently.
“I promise I'll fight.”
Victor reached the river exit.
Samuel tackled him before he reached the boat.
Agents surrounded them.
Andrew Mercer was arrested fifteen minutes later.
Judge Sloan's task force had moved simultaneously across the city.
Officers.
Accountants.
Officials.
Victor's network began collapsing before midnight.
Roman was taken to surgery.
Renley waited with Elena.
For six hours.
At 4:11 a.m., the surgeon emerged.
Roman would live.
Renley cried into her mother's arms.
Three days later, she visited him.
Roman looked pale and irritated.
“You look terrible,” she said.
“Thank you.”
“You got shot.”
“I remember.”
“Because of me.”
Roman's expression changed.
“No.”
“But—”
“Don't do that.”
“What?”
“Make the same mistake I did.”
Renley sat.
“Which one?”
“Turning other people's choices into your guilt.”
She understood.
Victor had chosen violence.
Roman had chosen to protect her.
Neither choice belonged to Renley.
She pulled something from her pocket.
Walter's final cassette.
“We haven't listened to this.”
Roman stared.
The label read:
FOR MY SON — LAST
They played it.
Walter's voice filled the hospital room.
“If you're hearing this, Roman, then you found the truth.”
Roman closed his eyes.
“But finding truth isn't the same as changing.”
Walter paused.
“The harder thing comes next.”
Roman already knew.
Accountability.
Walter continued.
“You will want to believe bringing down worse men makes you a good man.”
“It doesn't.”
Renley glanced at Roman.
His eyes filled.
“You have your own debts to pay.”
“Pay them.”
“Not with money.”
“With truth.”
Roman stopped the tape.
Outside his hospital door waited two federal agents.
They weren't there to protect him.
They were there because once Roman recovered, he would have to answer for his own crimes.
Renley whispered, “Are you scared?”
Roman looked at the agents.
“Yes.”
“What are you going to do?”
Roman restarted the tape.
Walter's final words played.
“Come home, son.”
Roman breathed slowly.
Then answered Renley.
“For the first time in my life?”
He looked toward the door.
May you like
“I'm going to stop running.”
---
