Chapter 7 - The Boy With the Missing KeyWe escaped through an emergency tunnel beneath the old office.
The tunnel was barely wide enough for one person.
Daniel carried Rachel.
Elena held Caleb.
I stayed behind them with my gun raised.
Adrian followed silently.
The entire time, Caleb kept looking at his wrist.
Finally he whispered.
“Is there really something inside me?”
Elena stopped.
Daniel answered.
“Yes.”
Caleb stared at his father.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I wanted you to have a normal childhood.”
“You lied.”
“I know.”
The boy looked away.
I understood something then.
Secrets were not protecting us.
They were poisoning us.
We emerged into an underground parking structure three blocks away.
A black SUV waited.
The driver's door opened.
Thomas stepped out.
I raised my weapon.
He raised his hands.
“Marcus.”
“Don't.”
“I know what you think.”
“You were in my house.”
“I was protecting you.”
“You disabled the alarms.”
“To keep them from tracking your security grid.”
“You planted the twenty thousand dollars test.”
“No.”
I stared.
Thomas took out his phone.
A file was on the screen.
Security footage from the mansion.
Timestamped fourteen days earlier.
Elena had been followed home from Caleb's school.
By three men.
One of them was Victor Kane.
Alive.
Again.
Thomas looked at me.
“Victor has been watching Caleb for months.”
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I didn't know who else was compromised.”
I frowned.
“You thought I was compromised?”
“I thought everyone was.”
Adrian stepped forward.
Thomas pointed his gun at him.
“Who's that?”
“My brother.”
Thomas stared.
“That's impossible.”
“Apparently, death has become negotiable.”
Suddenly headlights flooded the garage.
Two black vehicles turned the corner.
Thomas reacted first.
“Move!”
Gunfire erupted.
Concrete exploded around us.
Daniel dragged Caleb behind a pillar.
Elena crouched low.
I fired at the tires of the first vehicle.
It spun sideways.
Thomas shot the second driver.
Adrian moved with terrifying precision.
Within seconds, the attackers fled.
We searched the vehicles.
One bodyguard was still alive.
Thomas dragged him out.
“Who sent you?”
The man smiled.
“Victor.”
I grabbed his collar.
“Where is he?”
The man looked at Caleb.
“Not far.”
Then he bit down.
Thomas stopped him.
Too late.
Poison.
The man's body went limp.
I stared at Caleb.
“Why does Victor want him?”
Daniel answered.
“Because the implant doesn't contain money.”
“What does it contain?”
“A list.”
“Of what?”
“Everyone inside Helix.”
I looked at the dead man.
“Then why not kill Caleb?”
“Because Victor doesn't want the list destroyed.”
Daniel paused.
“He wants the list delivered.”
“To whom?”
Daniel's answer came quietly.
“To the president of Helix.”
I had never heard the phrase before.
Adrian did.
His expression changed.
“That's not possible.”
Daniel looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because the president is dead.”
Rachel slowly stood.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
She looked toward me.
“He isn't dead.”
She pulled a photograph from her coat.
It showed a private hospital.
A man lying in a bed.
Machines around him.
The face was partially visible.
I recognized him.
My father.
Alive.
I stared at the photograph.
The room became silent.
Then Caleb pointed to the back.
“That's not all.”
I turned it over.
Five words had been written in black ink.
HE KNOWS WHERE DANIEL BURIED IT.
“Buried what?”
Caleb looked at his father.
May you like
Daniel closed his eyes.
“The original ledger.”
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