Chapter 8 - Someone Inside the House
By midnight, Nora had learned three things.
First, fear could make you faster.
Second, exhaustion could make everyone else slower.
Third, Adrian Vale had entirely too many people willing to walk into danger if he asked.
More than eighty men had gathered in a secured Vale facility after word of his disappearance spread.
Nora stood in front of them and realized force was exactly what Vincent expected.
“No one moves yet,” she said.
Several faces turned toward Lucas.
Not Nora.
Lucas crossed his arms.
“You heard her.”
That helped.
One man near the back frowned.
“Ms. Hayes, Carrow has Mr. Vale.”
“I’m aware.”
“We should hit Calder.”
“Then he moves Adrian.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Vincent isn’t stupid.”
The room went quiet.
Nora displayed warehouse schematics.
“Calder Industrial has four exits, river access, and an underground vehicle bay.”
Several men looked surprised.
One asked, “Where’d you get this?”
“Property insurance filings.”
Blank looks.
Nora sighed.
“Boring things.”
Lucas almost smiled.
Nora continued.
“We have one advantage.”
“What?”
“Vincent thinks Adrian’s organization responds with strength.”
A voice from the doorway interrupted.
“He’s right.”
Everyone turned.
Thomas Marlowe entered.
For older members of the Vale organization, the effect was immediate.
Several recognized him.
Whispers spread.
Thomas ignored them.
He walked to Nora.
“You’re thinking like an accountant.”
“That’s because I am one.”
“No. You’re thinking like your father.”
Nora raised an eyebrow.
“That sounds dangerous.”
“It was meant as a compliment.”
“Work harder.”
Owen entered behind him carrying a folder.
“I found something.”
He opened Calder Industrial’s employee records.
One name stood out.
Rebecca Carrow.
Nora stared.
“She worked there?”
“Two months last year.”
“As what?”
“Compliance consultant.”
Thomas looked concerned.
“That means she knows the building.”
Nora picked up her phone.
Rebecca answered from the hospital.
Weak but alert.
When Nora explained, Rebecca became silent.
“You want inside?”
“Yes.”
“There’s an old rail tunnel beneath the eastern loading bay.”
Lucas leaned closer.
“Where does it exit?”
“Two blocks south.”
“Guarded?”
“Vincent thinks it was sealed.”
“But?”
“I used it.”
Nora frowned.
“For what?”
Rebecca sighed.
“To smoke where my uncle couldn’t lecture me.”
Even Thomas laughed at that.
Rebecca gave them directions.
Lucas assembled a small team.
Nora put on a coat.
“No,” Thomas said immediately.
She looked at him.
“You lost voting privileges three years ago.”
“Elena—”
“Nora.”
He stopped.
She continued.
“I’m going.”
Lucas began to object.
Nora raised a hand.
“Adrian was taken because of me.”
Thomas shook his head.
“He was taken because Vincent needed leverage.”
“Exactly.”
“And walking into Calder makes you leverage.”
“Unless I’m the person Vincent least expects to understand what he’s doing.”
Owen said, “I’m going with her.”
Nora looked at him.
“No.”
His face tightened.
“You still don’t trust me.”
“I don’t know what to do with you.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“No. It isn’t.”
Owen nodded.
“I’ll take it.”
Thomas wanted to accompany them.
Nora refused.
“If something happens, someone needs to preserve the evidence.”
His expression changed.
He understood.
Three years ago, Thomas had made the same calculation.
Someone had to survive.
At 1:28 a.m., Nora entered the rail tunnel with Lucas and six security specialists.
The air smelled of rust and damp concrete.
They moved without flashlights until the tunnel curved beneath Calder.
Rebecca’s directions were perfect.
A steel maintenance door opened into a storage room.
Voices echoed beyond.
Nora recognized Vincent.
“…transfer was tagged.”
Another man answered.
Evan Blake.
“We can clean it.”
“No, you can’t.”
“You hired me because I could.”
“I hired you because Michael trusted you.”
Nora froze.
Lucas whispered, “Evan.”
They listened.
Vincent continued.
“Michael was always sentimental.”
Evan said, “Michael suspected me before he died.”
“And yet he still walked onto that boat.”
Nora looked at Lucas.
There it was.
Not proof yet.
But close.
Evan asked, “What about Adrian?”
“He remains useful until Elena arrives.”
Nora’s pulse accelerated.
Vincent expected her.
Good.
She had expected that.
What she had not expected came next.
Evan said, “And Thomas?”
Vincent laughed.
“Thomas thinks his daughter found him by accident.”
Nora’s blood went cold.
Lucas stared at her.
Vincent continued.
“Three years hiding and he still doesn’t understand he has been exactly where I wanted him.”
Nora’s mind raced.
Her father had been watched.
Maybe manipulated.
Every clue might have been allowed.
The key.
The photograph.
Rebecca.
Even the manifests.
Why?
Evan answered the question.
“The account needs all three authorizations.”
Vincent said, “Thomas, Elena, and Adrian.”
Nora’s breath stopped.
Three authorizations.
For what account?
Lucas leaned toward her.
“We need Adrian.”
They moved.
Two guards were quietly subdued.
Then another.
Nora remained behind Lucas until they reached the office corridor.
A door opened.
Adrian stood inside, hands no longer bound.
One of Vincent’s men lay unconscious behind him.
He raised an eyebrow.
“Took you long enough.”
Nora’s knees nearly weakened.
Instead she said, “You look terrible.”
“So do you.”
Lucas cut his restraints.
Adrian looked at Nora.
For one suspended second, nobody else existed.
“You came.”
“You’re surprised?”
“Yes.”
“Rude.”
His hand lifted as if he might touch her face.
Then footsteps sounded.
The moment vanished.
Vincent had discovered the escape.
They moved through the tunnel.
No gunfight.
No dramatic confrontation.
Nora considered that a success.
Halfway out, Adrian stopped.
“What?”
Nora looked back.
“The account.”
“What account?”
She explained what she had overheard.
Thomas.
Elena.
Adrian.
Three authorizations.
Adrian’s expression darkened.
“I don’t know any shared account.”
Lucas did.
His face changed.
“Michael’s contingency trust.”
Adrian turned.
“What?”
Lucas swallowed.
“After Michael died, control passed to you.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where?”
“Zurich.”
Nora stared.
Vincent had not spent three years trying to recover one hundred million dollars.
He was after something bigger.
Back at Vale Tower, Lucas accessed Michael’s estate files.
The trust existed.
Three-party release authorization.
Vale heir.
Marlowe custodian.
Independent forensic trustee.
Adrian.
Thomas.
Elena.
Nora looked at the account value.
Then looked again.
$612,480,000.
Six hundred twelve million dollars.
Adrian stared.
“Where did Michael get six hundred million?”
Thomas answered from the doorway.
“He didn’t.”
Everyone turned.
Thomas stepped inside.
“That money belongs to Vincent.”
Nora’s stomach dropped.
Thomas continued.
“Not personally.”
“Then whose?” Adrian asked.
“Politicians. Contractors. union officials. private investors. people who trusted Vincent to hide money.”
Nora understood.
Michael and Thomas had not merely stolen back pension funds.
They had captured Vincent’s entire hidden reserve.
Thomas said, “We planned to turn it over with the ledger.”
“Why didn’t you?” Nora demanded.
“Because Michael died.”
“And you ran.”
“To keep the third authorization away from Vincent.”
Nora’s face hardened.
“You mean me.”
“Yes.”
Adrian looked at Thomas.
“You let your daughter believe you were dead because her identity controlled six hundred million dollars?”
Thomas’s expression filled with shame.
“I thought it was the only way to keep her alive.”
Nora walked away.
No one stopped her.
Adrian found her alone on the roof twenty minutes later.
Chicago stretched around them.
He stood beside her.
“Are you going to tell me I should forgive him?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“I’m considering throwing him off the building.”
Nora looked at him.
“You’d ruin your suit.”
“It’s insured.”
She laughed despite herself.
Then the laughter turned into tears.
She hated that too.
Adrian did not touch her immediately.
He waited.
When she finally leaned toward him, he put one arm around her.
Nothing more.
Nora rested her forehead against his chest.
“I don’t know who I am anymore.”
Adrian looked down at her.
“Yes, you do.”
“No.”
“You’re the woman who found four million dollars everyone else missed.”
She gave a broken laugh.
“You’re bad at comfort.”
“I’m inexperienced.”
“You’re the woman who came after me when you were terrified.”
Nora grew still.
“You’re the woman Vincent Carrow has spent three years trying to outthink.”
Adrian’s voice softened.
“And he’s failing.”
Nora looked up.
For one dangerous second, his face was very close.
Neither moved.
Then Adrian’s phone rang.
Lucas.
Adrian answered.
The news erased everything else.
The Zurich trust had just received a release request.
All three authorization keys had been submitted.
Adrian’s.
Thomas’s.
And Nora’s.
Someone had stolen their identities.
May you like
And in less than twelve hours, six hundred twelve million dollars would disappear.
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