Chapter 14 - Harper Refuses to Be a Bargaining Chip
Harper insisted on going.
Victor refused.
The argument lasted fourteen minutes.
Arthur stopped attempting mediation after three.
“My mother is there.”
“And that's why you're staying.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It makes perfect sense.”
“To you.”
“Yes.”
“Which is generally the problem.”
Victor stared at her.
Harper stepped closer.
“You're not doing this alone.”
“I have thirty security officers.”
“You know what I mean.”
He did.
He hated it.
Harper lowered her voice.
“If this started because Vane realized you cared about me, then stop acting like caring means locking me behind a wall.”
“It means keeping you alive.”
“It means trusting me enough to stand beside you.”
Victor looked away.
That was harder.
Harper touched his face.
“You told me I don't get to decide my value to you.”
“Yes.”
“Then you don't get to decide my courage for me.”
Arthur muttered, “That's annoyingly good.”
Victor looked at him.
Arthur immediately examined his weapon.
One hour later, they drove toward the final freight yard.
Not as Vane expected.
Victor's security team approached from the west.
Federal agents loyal to the new investigation approached from the north.
Arthur coordinated both.
Harper and Victor entered through the old tunnel system.
At the center warehouse, they found Harper's mother tied to a chair.
Mercer stood nearby.
Vane was absent.
Harper whispered, “Mom.”
Her mother looked up.
Mercer smiled.
“Come inside.”
Victor studied the rafters.
No visible shooters.
That meant nothing.
“Where's Vane?”
Mercer shrugged.
“Leaving.”
Victor understood.
“This is a distraction.”
Mercer's smile widened.
Harper's mother shouted, “Run!”
The warehouse doors slammed shut.
A countdown appeared on an industrial screen.
Five minutes.
Arthur's voice crackled through Victor's earpiece.
“Victor, Vane is moving toward downtown.”
“Where?”
“Gallow Tower.”
Victor looked at Harper.
The archive.
They'd copied it.
But the physical originals remained in a secure evidence room temporarily housed in the tower.
Vane planned to destroy them.
Mercer laughed.
“You can save the mother or save the evidence.”
Victor looked at Harper.
Harper looked at her mother.
Then at Mercer.
“No.”
Mercer frowned.
“What?”
Harper stepped forward.
“You people keep creating choices and assuming everyone has to accept them.”
Victor almost smiled.
Harper continued.
“My mother or evidence. Me or his company. His father or his empire.”
She shook her head.
“I'm tired of your choices.”
Mercer's face hardened.
Victor quietly reached toward the emergency control panel.
Harper kept Mercer talking.
“You spent years pretending to be dead.”
“So?”
“And this is what you did with the extra time?”
Mercer glared.
Harper shrugged.
“Honestly disappointing.”
Mercer raised his weapon.
Victor hit the emergency release.
The warehouse doors opened.
Arthur's team stormed inside.
Mercer fired once.
Victor pushed Harper down.
Arthur fired back.
Mercer dropped his weapon.
Federal agents restrained him.
Harper ran to her mother.
Victor looked at the countdown.
Thirty seconds.
“Out!”
They evacuated moments before controlled charges destroyed the rear archive storage rooms.
Harper hugged her mother outside.
Victor watched.
Arthur approached.
“Vane's inside Gallow Tower.”
Victor looked north.
“Then we go home.”
Harper heard him.
“No.”
Victor turned.
She walked toward him.
“We go home.”
May you like
This time, he didn't argue.
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