Chapter 11 - The Night Chicago Went Dark
Victor didn't hesitate.
“You can have it.”
Harper turned toward him.
“Victor.”
Vane smiled.
“I haven't told you the terms.”
“I don't care.”
“Victor,” Harper repeated.
He didn't look at her.
Vane slowly lowered the weapon.
“All controlling shares of Gallow Holdings.”
“Yes.”
“Private freight contracts.”
“Yes.”
“Warehouses.”
“Yes.”
“Route authority.”
“Yes.”
“Every offshore account your father created.”
“Yes.”
Vane's smile widened.
“And the ledger.”
Victor paused.
“I don't have it.”
“You're going to find it.”
Victor stared at him.
Vane gestured toward Harper.
“Because now you have motivation.”
Harper stepped forward.
“No.”
Victor turned.
She looked furious.
“You don't get to trade your entire life for me.”
“I do.”
“That's ridiculous.”
“Harper.”
“No.”
Vane watched them with visible amusement.
Harper pointed at him.
“And stop smiling.”
Vane actually blinked.
“You kidnapped me to manipulate him. Fine. Congratulations. Very dramatic. But you're not getting forty years of his company because you discovered Victor has feelings.”
Victor stared at her.
Arthur nearly smiled despite the rifles.
Vane's expression cooled.
“You misunderstand your position.”
Harper looked at the weapon.
“No. I understand it perfectly.”
Victor moved closer.
“Harper, stop.”
She looked at him.
“Trust me.”
The phrase hit him.
Harper continued.
“You said the ledger is somewhere we've looked at every day.”
Victor frowned.
“So?”
“Your father recorded the message before Gallow Tower was built, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then he couldn't mean the office.”
Victor's eyes changed.
Vane noticed.
Harper understood she had said too much.
Vane stepped toward her.
“What do you know?”
“Nothing.”
He grabbed her wrist.
Victor moved instantly.
The rifles shifted.
“Touch her again,” Victor said, “and whatever you want disappears.”
Vane released her.
“What did she mean?”
Victor looked at Harper.
Then suddenly understood.
Every day.
Something his father and Victor both looked at every day.
Not Gallow Tower.
The company logo.
Gallow Holdings' original emblem had come from Elias Gallow's first freight company.
A stylized compass.
Displayed on every contract.
Every truck.
Every warehouse.
Victor turned toward the old Northline wall.
A faded Gallow compass symbol remained painted there.
Its center pointed northeast.
Toward downtown.
But the lower arrow pointed toward something else.
A maintenance building inside the yard.
Victor looked at Arthur.
Arthur understood.
Vane followed their gaze.
“Open it.”
Inside the maintenance building they found an old freight scale.
Victor remembered standing on one like it as a child while his father worked.
Every day Elias checked weights.
Every day Victor followed him.
Victor knelt.
Removed the metal plate beneath the scale.
Inside sat a sealed black case.
Vane's eyes gleamed.
Victor lifted it.
“Harper goes first.”
Vane shook his head.
“After I verify.”
Victor opened the case.
Inside was the red ledger.
Real.
Names.
Dates.
Transactions.
Evidence capable of destroying careers across Chicago.
Vane reached.
Victor closed it.
“Harper.”
Vane stared at him.
Then nodded toward Hale.
Hale unlocked Harper's restraints.
She walked toward Victor.
When she reached him, Victor handed the case to Vane.
Harper whispered, “What are you doing?”
“Getting you out.”
“You think he's letting us walk away?”
Victor already knew the answer.
Vane opened the ledger.
Smiled.
Then looked toward Hale.
“Kill them.”
Arthur moved first.
Samuel Beckett moved second.
He slammed into Hale.
Arthur fired toward the overhead lights.
Darkness exploded across the yard.
Victor grabbed Harper.
Samuel shouted, “Tunnel!”
They ran.
Behind them gunfire echoed.
A transformer exploded.
Then another.
Across the South Yard, decades-old Route Seventeen power lines overloaded.
The surge traveled north.
Several blocks of industrial Chicago went dark.
Victor and Harper entered an underground freight tunnel.
Arthur followed.
Samuel came last.
A bullet struck the wall beside them.
They ran deeper.
Harper stumbled.
Victor caught her.
“Keep moving.”
“Where?”
Samuel shouted from behind.
“River exit.”
Arthur looked at his father.
“You knew about this.”
“I built it.”
“Seventeen years ago?”
“Yes.”
“You could've come back.”
Samuel didn't answer.
Arthur's face hardened.
Harper understood that conversation would come later.
If they survived.
Behind them, Vane's men entered the tunnel.
Victor stopped.
“Go.”
Harper grabbed him.
“No.”
“I'll slow them down.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Harper.”
“You're not sacrificing yourself every five minutes.”
Arthur yelled, “Both of you move!”
They reached a steel junction.
Samuel pulled a lever.
A gate dropped behind them.
Vane's men slammed against it.
Temporary.
But enough.
They emerged near the river twenty minutes later.
Police lights filled the distance.
Arthur's backup team arrived.
Harper breathed for the first time.
Victor held her.
Then Arthur looked around.
“My father?”
They turned.
Samuel Beckett was gone.
Again.
Arthur stared at the dark tunnel entrance.
Harper touched his arm.
Victor looked toward the skyline.
Large sections of the South Side remained dark.
Malcolm Vane had the ledger.
But Victor still had Harper.
For one moment, that felt like victory.
Then his phone regained signal.
Hundreds of notifications arrived.
News alerts.
Financial alerts.
Corporate alerts.
Gallow Holdings shares were collapsing.
Someone had leaked documents claiming Victor's company operated an illegal freight network.
Federal agencies were requesting records.
Banks had frozen corporate accounts.
The board called an emergency meeting.
Arthur stared.
“Vane planned this.”
Victor read the final message.
You gave me the ledger. Now I'll take the empire anyway.
Harper looked up.
Victor's entire world was beginning to collapse.
May you like
And this time, Malcolm Vane didn't need a gun.
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