Chapter 5 - Nathan drove through the city without speaking.Maggie sat beside him in the passenger seat, her injured arm wrapped in a piece of cloth.
Behind them, two black SUVs followed.
Nathan noticed them in the rearview mirror.
“They've been following us for twenty minutes.”
“I know.”
“Why didn't you say anything?”
“I wanted to know how patient they were.”
Nathan frowned.
“You say things like that as if you've done this before.”
“I have.”
“Where?”
“Everywhere.”
Nathan accelerated.
The first SUV followed.
The second disappeared at the next intersection.
Nathan thought they had lost one.
Then it appeared ahead of them.
Blocking the street.
Nathan slammed the brakes.
Maggie grabbed the dashboard.
“Don't stop.”
“There are cars everywhere.”
“Then use the sidewalk.”
Nathan stared at her.
“You're serious.”
“Yes.”
He turned the wheel.
The car jumped the curb.
Pedestrians scattered.
The SUV behind them crashed into a streetlight.
Nathan drove through a parking structure and exited onto another road.
Maggie looked at him.
“You drive like your father.”
Nathan almost laughed.
“I'll take that as a compliment.”
“It wasn't.”
He looked at her.
She almost smiled.
It was the first human expression he'd seen from her all night.
Then her face became serious again.
“Pier Nine is twenty minutes away.”
Nathan checked the clock.
“What are we looking for?”
“Locker Seventeen.”
“You said there was no locker seventeen.”
“Owen said that.”
Nathan's fingers tightened around the steering wheel.
“What is in it?”
“Proof.”
“Of what?”
“Everything.”
They arrived at the harbor just before midnight.
The old warehouse looked abandoned.
Broken windows.
Rusting doors.
No lights.
Nathan followed Maggie through a side entrance.
They moved down a corridor.
Maggie stopped beside a row of metal lockers.
She counted.
Thirteen.
Fourteen.
Fifteen.
Sixteen.
Then a blank wall.
Nathan looked confused.
Maggie touched the brass key to a small metal panel.
A hidden locker door slid open.
17
Inside was a wooden box.
Nathan pulled it out.
On the lid were two initials.
M.V.
Marcus Vale.
They opened it.
Inside were dozens of documents.
Photographs.
Bank records.
Audio tapes.
And one small envelope.
Nathan opened it.
A birth certificate fell into his hands.
He read the name.
Then he looked at Maggie.
“This isn't mine.”
“No.”
Nathan read again.
The mother listed on the document was his mother.
The father was Marcus Vale.
The child's name was different.
Nathan's stomach turned.
“Who is this?”
Maggie looked away.
“Your brother.”
Nathan stared.
“My father had another child?”
“No.”
She swallowed.
“Your mother had another child.”
Nathan didn't understand.
“That's impossible.”
“Your father knew.”
“Where is he?”
Maggie looked toward the warehouse entrance.
“Probably dead.”
A gunshot exploded through the warehouse.
Nathan dropped.
The wooden box shattered.
Bullets tore through the metal lockers.
Maggie pulled Nathan behind a concrete pillar.
“Stay down.”
“Who is shooting?”
“Arthur's men.”
“How many?”
“Enough.”
Maggie crawled toward the fallen box.
Nathan grabbed her.
“You're bleeding again.”
“Forget the blood.”
She picked up one document.
A list of names.
Nathan saw one name circled in red.
NATHAN VALE.
And beneath it:
SUCCESSOR ASSET.
Nathan stared.
“What does that mean?”
Maggie looked at him.
“It means your father wasn't protecting you from the organization.”
She paused.
“He was preparing you to inherit it.”
Another bullet struck the pillar.
Nathan's face hardened.
“My father was involved.”
“At first.”
“Then what changed?”
Maggie looked at him.
“He realized they didn't want you to become his successor.”
“Then what did they want?”
Maggie handed him the birth certificate.
“They wanted you to become their excuse.”
A loud metallic door slammed shut behind them.
The warehouse exits locked.
The shooters stopped firing.
Silence.
Then the overhead speakers crackled.
Nathan heard a voice.
Arthur Cain.
“You finally found the locker.”
Nathan stood.
“Arthur!”
The voice laughed.
“You always were impatient.”
Maggie grabbed Nathan's arm.
“Don't answer.”
Arthur continued.
“But before you ask where your father is, Nathan…”
A pause.
“He's standing ten feet behind you.”
Nathan slowly turned.
A man stood in the darkness.
Older.
Gray-haired.
Thin.
Holding a gun.
Nathan stared into his father's eyes.
May you like
Marcus Vale said,
“Hello, son.”
Related Stories
