Chapter 5 - Beneath the Abandoned House
The house had been empty for fourteen years.
Damian remembered visiting it once as a child.
His father told him it belonged to an old family friend.
That had been a lie.
Vincent Russo used the property for meetings he never wanted recorded at company offices.
Leo approached the front.
Damian stopped him.
“Back entrance.”
They moved through the alley.
The kitchen door was unlocked.
Too easy.
Inside, dust covered the counters.
Rain rattled against boarded windows.
No furniture.
No people.
But Damian smelled cigarette smoke.
Recent.
He followed it toward the hallway.
A basement door stood partly open.
Again.
Basements.
Whoever was doing this wanted him underground.
Leo whispered, “Could be a trap.”
“It is.”
“You still going?”
Damian looked at him.
Leo sighed.
“Stupid question.”
They descended.
At the bottom, a single bulb burned.
The room appeared empty.
Then Damian saw another door.
Behind shelving.
Steel.
Modern.
Someone had installed it recently.
Leo touched the keypad.
“Electronic.”
Damian looked around.
Four buttons were worn.
14.7.23.
Khloe’s numbers.
He entered 14723.
The lock clicked.
Leo stared.
“She knew.”
“She wanted us to know.”
They opened the door.
A narrow corridor stretched beneath the neighboring property.
At the far end, another room.
Damian heard coughing.
A woman.
He ran.
“Khloe!”
The room contained a mattress.
Chains bolted to the wall.
A bottle of water.
Blood on the floor.
But Khloe was gone.
Again.
The coughing came from a speaker.
Recorded.
Damian slammed his hand against the wall.
“Damn it!”
Leo searched quickly.
“They moved her.”
“When?”
“Maybe minutes.”
Damian stared at the blood.
More than at the apartment.
His stomach turned.
On the mattress lay Khloe’s watch.
Its crystal was cracked.
Damian picked it up.
Stopped time.
2:23.
Ten minutes ago.
“They were here.”
Leo found tire marks at an underground garage door.
“Vehicle exit.”
Damian followed.
Outside, the alley connected to two streets.
Too many directions.
No cameras.
The rain was washing the tracks away.
Damian stood in the alley with Khloe’s watch in his palm.
For the first time since her disappearance, helplessness reached him.
He hated the emotion.
Money could not solve it.
Threats could not solve it.
Reputation could not solve it.
Somewhere in the city, Khloe was suffering because of a secret his family had buried before she was old enough to understand it.
Leo approached carefully.
“Damian.”
“What?”
“Found something else.”
He handed him a folded strip of fabric.
A piece torn from Khloe’s blouse.
Inside, written in what looked like eyeliner, were four words.
BRUNO IS NOT THE TRAITOR.
Damian read them.
Then again.
Khloe had deliberately left it.
“How would she know?” Leo asked.
Damian looked toward the street.
“Because she saw the traitor.”
At that moment, an engine roared two blocks away.
Leo turned.
Black van.
Damian ran.
The van accelerated.
Their SUV was on the opposite side of the building.
No time.
Damian sprinted into the street.
The van turned left.
For half a second he saw the rear window.
A face appeared behind the glass.
Khloe.
Her eyes met his.
She hit the window once with her palm.
Damian ran harder.
“KHLOE!”
The van accelerated.
Then another face appeared beside hers.
A man.
Damian stopped.
He knew him.
Not well.
But enough.
Daniel Pierce.
The businessman Khloe had scheduled for Thursday.
Pierce grabbed Khloe and pulled her away from the window.
The van disappeared around the corner.
Leo reached Damian.
“You see him?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“Daniel Pierce.”
“The guy from the voicemail?”
“Yes.”
Leo looked confused.
“He told Khloe not to discuss the documents.”
“Which means either he was helping her…”
“Or setting her up.”
Damian’s phone rang.
This time the number was familiar.
Bruno.
Damian answered.
“Where are you?”
Bruno sounded weak.
“Hospital.”
“What?”
“Someone hit me behind the warehouse. Took my weapon. I woke up in an ambulance.”
Damian looked at Leo.
Khloe had been right.
Bruno was not the traitor.
“Who?”
“Didn’t see him.”
“Who knew we were going to Morrow?”
“Me. You. Leo.”
“And?”
Bruno paused.
“Nicolas.”
Damian’s expression darkened.
“How?”
“I texted him after we found the storage locker.”
“Why?”
“He asked whether you still suspected him. I told him we found something pointing elsewhere.”
Leo swore quietly.
Damian ended the call.
Nicolas.
But one thing still did not fit.
If Nicolas wanted Khloe dead, why was she still alive?
If he wanted information, what exactly had Khloe discovered?
A second ledger.
The caller had said she found the second ledger.
Damian looked at the watch again.
There was a tiny scratch on the back.
No.
Not a scratch.
A letter.
D.
Then another.
P.
Daniel Pierce?
Damian pressed the clasp.
The watchband opened.
Hidden beneath it was a small memory card.
Khloe had concealed it before they moved her.
Leo stared.
“She stole something.”
Damian held the card up.
“No.”
May you like
His voice changed.
“She found what everyone is killing each other to recover.”
