Chapter 5 - THE LOCKED ROOM ON THE SIXTY-FOURTH FLOOR
At 2:10 a.m., Gideon returned to Shore Enterprises.
Tessa came with him voluntarily.
Frank stayed downstairs coordinating with law enforcement.
Gideon led her to a private records room.
Inside were servers, locked cabinets, and archived contracts.
Tessa stared.
“You're giving me access?”
Gideon nodded.
“You said you need proof.”
She swallowed.
“Why trust me?”
He looked at her.
“I don't know if I do.”
Tessa flinched.
Gideon continued.
“But I know Mercer has been using my company for something I didn't authorize.”
He opened a cabinet.
“And I intend to find out what.”
Together, they reviewed records.
Payments.
Shell companies.
Unusual transfers.
False invoices.
Then Tessa found something.
A list of names.
Dates.
Locations.
She stared.
Her hands began shaking.
Gideon noticed.
“What?”
She pointed.
“Those are the missing people.”
Gideon looked down.
The names matched several unsolved disappearance cases he'd heard about.
His expression hardened.
At the bottom of the page was a company name.
MERCER HUMANITARIAN LOGISTICS.
Gideon stared.
A charity.
Registered.
Licensed.
Publicly praised.
And apparently being used as a front for something monstrous.
He looked at Tessa.
“How many?”
She swallowed.
“More than forty.”
May you like
Gideon closed his eyes.
Then whispered, “Jesus Christ.”
