Chapter 13 - Frank Russo’s Invitation
Emergency lights activated three seconds later.
Three seconds was enough.
When the red lamps came on, Frank had disappeared from the corridor.
So had Dean.
Nobody had fired a shot.
Nobody was injured.
But one of Hart’s agents discovered something worse.
The exterior security doors had locked automatically.
Harbor 6 was sealed.
“Remote control?” Chloe asked.
Hart examined the panel.
“Looks like it.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“Frank doesn’t understand this system.”
“Somebody does,” Roman said.
Hart contacted his team outside.
No response.
Signal jammer.
Miriam held up her phone.
“Nothing.”
Chloe looked around the archive.
“Can he access the vault?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“Not without keys and biometrics.”
“So why trap us?”
Roman understood.
“Time.”
Frank no longer needed Northstar immediately.
If he could keep Roman, Gabriel, Chloe, and federal agents trapped long enough, Alan Pike or another accomplice could file the fraudulent transfer elsewhere.
Chloe checked her watch.
5:41 a.m.
Nineteen minutes.
“What happens at six if we’re already inside the archive?”
Gabriel answered.
“The system sends confirmation to Vale Holdings and Marsten.”
“Can Frank intercept it?”
“Yes.”
“Can we send it somewhere else?”
Gabriel looked at Roman.
“Michael built an emergency route.”
Roman remembered the phrase.
Find the route.
They searched.
Old terminals lined one wall.
Most were dead.
One activated when Roman inserted the brass key into a side panel.
A text screen appeared.
NORTHSTAR ROUTING.
PRIMARY: VALE HOLDINGS.
SECONDARY: MARSTEN PROPERTY SERVICES.
EMERGENCY DESTINATION: NONE.
Chloe stared.
“Can we add one?”
Gabriel began typing.
“Maybe.”
“Send it to Hart’s office.”
Hart shook his head.
“If my operation is compromised, that may not help.”
Miriam said, “Send it everywhere.”
Roman looked at her.
“What?”
“Media. Regulators. Banks. Your board. Marsten’s board.”
Hart immediately objected.
“We cannot distribute evidence publicly without review.”
“Not evidence,” Chloe said.
Everyone looked at her.
“Send notice that the original records have been recovered and are under federal control.”
Hart considered.
“That could work.”
“If the banks know the transfers are disputed, they freeze them.”
Miriam nodded.
“And title companies won’t process ownership changes.”
Roman looked at Chloe.
“You stop the conspiracy by making it impossible to hide.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel worked.
The system required addresses entered manually.
They added federal prosecutors.
Major lenders.
Corporate counsel.
Insurance carriers.
Board members.
At 5:53, the emergency route was ready.
One problem remained.
FINAL AUTHOR.
The cursor waited.
Roman assumed it required him.
It rejected.
Gabriel tried.
Rejected.
Chloe tried.
Rejected.
“What does it want?” Hart asked.
Roman remembered Michael.
A star doesn’t tell you where home is.
He opened the wooden box again.
Beneath the recorder was another sheet.
One handwritten instruction:
THE PERSON WITH THE LEAST POWER MAKES THE FINAL CHOICE.
Everyone stared.
Tommy laughed softly.
“That sounds like Michael.”
Gabriel looked around.
“The least power.”
Roman looked at Chloe.
She shook her head.
“I have compliance authority.”
Hart had federal authority.
Miriam had legal authority.
Roman and Gabriel controlled the vault.
That left—
Tommy.
He stared.
“No.”
Chloe looked at him.
“You.”
“I’m not touching anything.”
“Tommy.”
“I’ll mess it up.”
“Probably.”
He looked wounded.
She smiled faintly.
“But maybe not.”
Tommy approached the keyboard.
The system requested an identification number.
“I don’t have one.”
Chloe remembered the invoices.
“Try your Gallagher vendor number.”
Tommy entered it.
Accepted.
Everyone stared.
Michael had designed Northstar so that the last authorization could come from an outside vendor.
Someone without family ownership.
Someone who could not personally profit.
Tommy’s hand shook above the key.
Roman said, “Do it.”
Tommy looked at Chloe.
Years of pain existed between them.
Years she could not forgive because forgiveness was not something another person could demand.
But this moment was not about them.
Chloe nodded.
Tommy pressed ENTER.
At 5:57 a.m., Northstar transmitted.
Across New York, compliance departments received the alert.
Banks froze pending asset transfers.
Title companies placed holds.
Vale Holdings’ board received copies.
Marsten directors received copies.
Federal prosecutors received copies.
Frank Russo’s takeover died three minutes before it was supposed to become real.
At 6:02, the signal jammer stopped.
Hart’s radio exploded with voices.
The exterior team had been diverted by a false hazardous-material warning.
Police were approaching.
Frank was gone.
But not for long.
Hart received a call.
He listened.
Then looked at Roman.
“Russo wants to surrender.”
Nobody believed him.
“Where?” Chloe asked.
Hart’s expression tightened.
“Black Harbor.”
Roman almost laughed.
“Of course.”
Frank had chosen Roman’s own nightclub.
His father’s old meeting place.
The symbolic center of the empire Michael wanted dismantled.
“He says he’ll surrender only if Roman comes personally,” Hart said.
“No,” Chloe replied immediately.
Roman looked at her.
She continued.
“That is exactly what he wants.”
Hart agreed.
“We handle it.”
Roman remained silent.
Gabriel knew him too well.
“He’s going.”
“Roman,” Chloe said.
Frank’s message arrived directly on Roman’s phone.
COME HOME.
Roman stared at the words.
Chloe saw what Frank was doing.
He was no longer trying to win financially.
He was trying to make Roman choose the old rules.
Revenge.
Pride.
Personal confrontation.
The world Roman’s father created.
Chloe took the phone from his hand.
“No.”
Roman looked at her.
“Give it back.”
“No.”
“Chloe.”
“You heard Michael.”
“This isn’t about Michael.”
“It is completely about Michael.”
Roman stepped closer.
“Frank killed my brother.”
“Maybe.”
“Gabriel saw him there.”
Gabriel spoke quietly.
“I saw Frank’s men. I never saw Frank.”
Roman turned.
“What?”
“I told you the fire was Frank’s responsibility.”
“That is not what I asked.”
“No.”
Gabriel looked ashamed.
“I never saw Frank start it.”
Roman stared.
Hart interrupted.
“We investigate. That is what evidence is for.”
Roman laughed bitterly.
“Twelve years.”
Chloe handed him the phone.
He looked surprised.
“You’re giving it back?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s your choice.”
Roman stared at the message.
COME HOME.
Then he deleted it.
“Black Harbor isn’t home.”
Chloe’s expression softened.
Roman turned to Hart.
“Arrest him.”
Hart smiled faintly.
“That was the plan.”
They emerged from Harbor 6 into dawn.
For the first time in three days, Chloe saw the sky without rain.
Then Tommy stopped beside her.
“Chlo.”
She turned.
He held out his hands.
Federal agents were preparing to question him formally.
“I’m going to tell them everything.”
“You should.”
“I’ll probably go to prison.”
“Maybe.”
“You don’t have to visit.”
“I know.”
He nodded.
She started away.
“Chloe.”
She looked back.
Tommy’s eyes were wet.
“I really am sorry.”
She studied him for a long moment.
“I believe you.”
Hope appeared on his face.
Then Chloe finished.
“That doesn’t mean we go back.”
The hope changed.
But this time Tommy accepted the truth.
“I know.”
Chloe walked toward Roman.
Not because she belonged to him.
Because she had chosen the direction.
Behind them, Northstar’s vault remained open.
And across the city, Frank Russo discovered that he had lost the empire he spent twelve years stealing.
What none of them yet knew was that Frank had never intended to surrender at Black Harbor.
The invitation had been meant for someone else.
May you like
And by 6:30 a.m., Gabriel Kane was missing.
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