Chapter 14 - Christmas Morning BloodThe Woman Behind The Trigger"Lena."
Luca's voice broke.
His daughter stood in the doorway.
Twenty-four.
Pale.
Exhausted.
A pistol shaking in her hand.
Clara looked at her.
"You don't have to do this."
Lena's eyes filled with tears.
"He has my mother."
"Who?"
"Gabriel."
Everyone froze.
Clara frowned.
"Gabriel took your mother?"
Lena nodded.
"Matteo lied to me."
Her gun lowered slightly.
"I thought he had her."
Adrien, still bleeding, looked at Luca.
"Where is your wife?"
Luca shook his head.
"I don't know."
Lena looked toward Clara.
"Matteo said the only person he needed alive was you."
"Why?"
"Because the final key isn't the brass one."
Clara's stomach dropped.
"What is it?"
Lena pointed toward the Christmas tree.
"The silver angel."
Adrien looked at Marco.
Marco ran.
Minutes later, the broken angel was placed on the ballroom table.
Clara examined its hollow body.
Nothing.
Then she remembered something.
The inscription.
My mother used to say Christmas decorations should make people forget what the world looks like.
She turned the angel over.
There was a tiny seam beneath one wing.
Clara pressed it.
A compartment opened.
Inside was a microfilm strip.
Adrien stared.
"The ledger's real key."
Marco looked at it.
"Where's the reader?"
"Bell Tower," Lena said.
Everyone turned.
"I saw Matteo take one there."
Adrien struggled to stand.
Clara caught him.
"You are not going."
"I have to."
"You've lost blood."
"I've survived worse."
She looked him directly in the eyes.
"No."
He frowned.
She surprised everyone by stepping in front of him.
"I'm going."
Adrien stared at her.
"Absolutely not."
"This entire thing started because people thought I was powerless."
She held up the microfilm.
"They were wrong."
For several seconds, Adrien said nothing.
Then he nodded.
"Fine."
Marco looked stunned.
Adrien pointed at him.
"You go with her."
Clara frowned.
"What about you?"
Adrien gave her a cold smile.
"I'm going to finish the part of this story where people keep trying to kill me."
Before dawn, Clara, Marco, Luca, and Lena entered the Bell Tower.
The club was empty.
The microfilm reader was hidden behind the bar.
They loaded it.
A series of names appeared.
Transfers.
Payments.
Bribes.
Then one final entry.
DECEMBER 25.
TARGET: ADRIEN VALENTE.
LOCATION: VALENTE ESTATE.
AUTHORIZED BY: MATTEO RINALDI.
Below it was another name.
Unknown.
Clara leaned closer.
The code began unfolding.
She recognized the final identifier.
Her own initials.
C.W.
Marco's face went pale.
"This isn't possible."
Clara looked at him.
"What?"
"Matteo wasn't working alone."
"Who?"
Marco pointed at the screen.
"Someone inside Adrien's inner circle."
Luca stared.
"No."
The screen revealed the name.
CLARA WHITMORE.
Marco reached for his weapon.
Clara stepped back.
"I didn't do this."
"I know."
"Then why is my name there?"
Marco's expression changed.
Because beneath her name was another line.
SOURCE OF AUTHORIZATION:
THOMAS WHITMORE.
Her dead father.
Clara felt the ground disappear beneath her.
Thomas Whitmore had authorized an operation twenty years after his death.
Marco whispered,
"Your father isn't dead."
Silence.
Then a phone rang.
Clara answered.
A man's voice came through.
Her father's voice.
"Clara."
May you like
She stopped breathing.
"Happy Christmas."
