Chapter 10 - The Safe Under the FloorAt 1:54 a.m., we found the building.
A vacant apartment complex near the waterfront.
Elias's men surrounded it.
We entered through the basement.
The smell of gas was immediate.
“Bomb,” Elias said.
“How much time?”
“Not enough.”
We split up.
I searched the lower rooms.
Elias searched the upper floors.
Then I heard Evan scream.
I ran toward the sound.
A locked metal door.
I slammed into it.
“Evan!”
“Adeline!”
I kicked again.
The lock broke.
My brother was tied to a chair.
I cut the rope.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
Then the lights turned red.
A digital timer appeared on the wall.
00:09:42.
Elias entered.
“Move!”
We ran.
The building shook.
We made it into the street.
Three seconds later, the explosion hit.
Fire erupted through the windows.
I fell.
Elias shielded Evan with his body.
When I looked up, the entire building was burning.
Evan coughed.
“There was a room downstairs.”
“What room?”
“I saw Daniel there.”
My heart pounded.
“When?”
“Before the explosion.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Evan closed his eyes.
“He said you would know where to look.”
“Where?”
He frowned.
“He said... under the floor.”
Elias looked at me.
Our old apartment.
We returned before dawn.
The building had been damaged by the gunfire.
The floorboards creaked under our feet.
Evan pointed toward the kitchen.
“Here.”
I knelt.
The plank was loose.
Elias pried it up.
Underneath was a steel box.
Inside:
A ledger.
A flash drive.
Three photographs.
And a note.
I opened the note.
Adeline,
If you've reached this, Daniel trusted you more than he trusted me.
I stopped.
Elias watched my face.
I kept reading.
The ledger is not a list of names.
It is a list of payments.
Every person who received money from Black Harbor is listed.
But the final page is the only part that matters.
My hands trembled.
I turned the page.
The last entry contained a single name.
Elias Baron.
Under it:
Payment received: $25,000,000.
I looked up.
Elias was staring at the page.
“You said you never worked for them.”
“I didn't.”
“It says you did.”
“I know what it says.”
Evan moved closer.
“Maybe Daniel wrote it.”
Elias shook his head.
“This ledger was created electronically.”
He plugged in the flash drive.
Thousands of files opened.
Then one video.
Daniel.
Alive.
He looked directly into the camera.
“If you're seeing this, Black Harbor has found the apartment.”
My heart raced.
Daniel continued.
“I need you to understand something. Elias Baron is innocent.”
Elias closed his eyes.
Daniel's voice continued.
“The payment under Elias's name was fabricated.”
“By whom?” I whispered.
Daniel said it.
“By the person who owns the original ledger.”
The video showed another photograph.
A close-up of a ring.
Black stone.
Silver serpent.
I knew it.
I'd seen it at the mansion.
On the hand of someone I had served coffee to dozens of times.
Elias's uncle.
Arthur Baron.
Daniel continued:
“Arthur Baron built the modern Black Harbor network.”
Elias stared at the screen.
Then the lights in the apartment went out.
A man's voice came from the hallway.
“You always were your brother's weakness, Adeline.”
We turned.
May you like
Arthur Baron stood in the doorway.
Holding Evan at gunpoint.
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