Chapter 12 - The Man Who Refused to DieGideon Vale had faked his death
The warehouse erupted.
Gunfire from every direction.
People screamed.
Bodies fell.
Maxwell grabbed me.
“Stay with me.”
We moved behind crates.
“Gideon is alive?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I don't know.”
A man emerged through the darkness.
Gideon.
Blood covered his shirt.
But he was standing.
He fired twice toward Richard's men.
Then he reached us.
“Boss.”
Maxwell stared.
“I watched you die.”
“You watched me pretend.”
Gideon looked at me.
“Sorry.”
I couldn't speak.
He handed Maxwell a small drive.
“Everything is on there.”
“What?”
“Bank accounts. Names. Shipments. Judges.”
Maxwell took it.
“Where is Richard?”
Gideon pointed.
“Gone.”
My mother appeared beside us.
“That's impossible.”
“He left through the north tunnel.”
Richard's men were retreating.
Maxwell looked at Gideon.
“Whose side are you on?”
Gideon smiled.
“Yours.”
“You said Elena betrayed me.”
“She did.”
“Why?”
“Because she had to.”
Elena appeared behind him.
She lowered her weapon.
“I gave Victor the information.”
Maxwell glared.
“I know.”
“You don't know why.”
She looked at me.
“Because Richard had Martha's blood samples.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
“He was trying to create a genetic key.”
“For the vault.”
“Yes.”
Gideon nodded.
“Richard's empire isn't just money.”
“What is it?”
“Information.”
He opened the drive.
Thousands of files appeared.
Government contracts.
Shipping routes.
Blackmail records.
Names.
A map.
One location blinked.
The Rourke terminal.
Maxwell looked at me.
“The vault.”
“We have the key.”
Gideon shook his head.
“No.”
“What?”
“The key isn't enough.”
He pointed to the screen.
“There are three locks.”
“Who has the others?”
“Victor has one.”
“Richard has another.”
“And the third?”
Gideon looked at me.
“You do.”
I froze.
“But I don't have anything.”
He pointed to my necklace.
The microchip.
“You were carrying it your entire life.”
My mother whispered:
“Your father put it there.”
“Which father?”
She hesitated.
“Thomas.”
The man who had tried to shoot me.
“You said he was working for Richard.”
“He was.”
“Then why did he hide the key in my necklace?”
“Because he knew Richard would never suspect his own daughter.”
Maxwell stared at the map.
“We go to the terminal.”
Gideon nodded.
“No.”
Everyone looked at him.
“We wait.”
“Why?”
“Because Richard expects you to come.”
Maxwell gave him a cold look.
“Then we make him think we won't.”
Gideon handed him another phone.
“There's a second message.”
Maxwell opened it.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He showed me the screen.
A photograph.
My apartment.
Someone was standing outside.
A man wearing a gray coat.
Richard.
Under the photo was a message.
YOUR MOTHER IS NOT YOUR MOTHER.
I stared.
“What?”
My mother stepped backward.
“No.”
Maxwell looked at her.
“Martha's mother died fourteen years ago.”
“I am her mother.”
“Then prove it.”
My mother looked at him.
Silence.
Gideon slowly reached for his gun.
“Boss.”
Maxwell didn't move.
“What?”
“There’s another problem.”
“What?”
Gideon looked at the photograph.
“The woman we rescued isn't Klara.”
My heart stopped.
The woman beside me began crying.
Then she reached into her coat.
May you like
She pulled out a syringe.
And drove it toward my neck.
