Chapter 18 - THE AUDIT
Elias contacted me twelve hours later.
No dramatic distortion.
His real voice.
“Mrs. Cross.”
“Mara.”
“Of course.”
“Where do you want me?”
Adrian hated every second.
Good.
Fear meant he understood the stakes.
The meeting was at a closed children's museum outside the city.
Symbolic.
Elias liked symbolism.
People who think they're geniuses usually do.
I entered alone.
Technically.
Federal teams surrounded the property.
Vanessa monitored communications.
Dad had prepared a false verification sequence.
Owen remained with Mom.
Adrian—
Adrian sat in a surveillance van and did the hardest thing he'd ever learned.
Wait.
Elias stood beneath a suspended model airplane.
“Hello, Mara.”
“You're disappointing.”
He smiled.
“How?”
“I expected taller.”
He laughed.
“I understand Adrian's attraction.”
“Don't.”
His smile faded slightly.
Good.
I held up the drive.
“My father's sequence.”
“And in return?”
“My name cleared. Rachel safe. Every fabricated identity.”
“Ambitious.”
“I'm expensive.”
He approached.
“You were expensive as a waitress too.”
There it was.
“You took the photograph.”
“Yes.”
“You were at Blackthorn.”
“I was everywhere.”
“Why didn't you help Pierce?”
“Because Pierce was clumsy.”
“You let him fall.”
“I let obsolete people remove themselves.”
I wanted to hit him.
Instead I asked:
“Why me?”
“Because your father couldn't stop talking about you.”
That hurt unexpectedly.
“He said you noticed everything.”
“So you tested me?”
“For years.”
My blood chilled.
“The grants for Owen.”
“Not mine.”
“The photograph.”
“Mine.”
“Northbridge?”
“Mine.”
“Rachel?”
“Necessary.”
“Children's identities?”
“A market.”
He said it like groceries.
“You're disgusting.”
“No.”
Elias smiled.
“I'm practical.”
I handed him the drive.
He plugged it into a laptop.
Progress bar.
He didn't know the drive wasn't giving him Dad's sequence.
It was reading his system.
Mapping connections.
Vanessa whispered through the tiny receiver hidden beneath my hair.
Thirty seconds.
Elias watched me.
“Your husband is nearby.”
I didn't react.
“He always is.”
Twenty seconds.
“You know what I admire about Adrian?”
“His humility?”
Elias laughed.
“He became better after losing power.”
Ten.
“Most men don't.”
Five.
Elias's screen changed.
He frowned.
“What did you do?”
I smiled.
“I'm auditing you.”
He reached for me.
The lights went out.
Not our plan.
Gunfire sounded outside.
Elias dropped.
I hit the floor.
Vanessa screamed through my receiver:
“Mara, MOVE!”
Someone else had entered the operation.
Someone we hadn't accounted for.
Elias crawled toward the exit.
A shot struck the floor beside him.
I saw the shooter.
Female.
Dark tactical clothing.
Face uncovered.
She looked directly at Elias.
Then at me.
“Get down!”
She fired again.
Elias vanished behind an exhibit.
Adrian appeared from the side corridor.
Of course he did.
“You were supposed to stay in the van!”
“You were supposed to avoid gunfire!”
“Not now!”
We ran.
Federal agents entered from two sides.
The shooter disappeared.
Elias was arrested near the loading dock.
Alive.
Furious.
But the unknown woman escaped.
And before she did, she left something in the museum lobby.
A photograph.
Vanessa.
Adrian.
Me.
Dad.
Owen.
Rachel.
All circled.
Except one.
One face had been crossed out.
Elias Vale.
This wasn't his network anymore.
May you like
Someone else had been waiting for us to remove him.
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