Chapter 8 - The Ledger Under the Floor
For ten seconds, nobody moved.
Then the alarm screamed.
Luis drew his weapon.
“Get Chloe.”
“She’s upstairs,” I said.
“No.”
We both turned.
The front door was still locked.
Back windows intact.
No footsteps.
Then the power came back.
Chloe was standing at the top of the stairs.
“Dad?”
My heart nearly stopped.
“Go back to your room.”
She looked frightened.
“Who turned off the lights?”
“I don't know.”
Luis checked the house.
Nothing.
But someone had entered.
We found the evidence in my office.
A photograph on my desk.
It hadn't been there before.
It showed my father standing beside a wooden crate.
On the back:
LOOK WHERE HE STARTED.
I knew the location.
Warehouse 4.
The oldest building in my company.
The one that had belonged to my father.
We drove there after midnight.
Teresa stayed with Chloe under guard.
Evelyn insisted on coming.
I didn't trust her.
But I trusted her more than I trusted almost anyone else.
Warehouse 4 had been closed for years.
Dust covered everything.
We moved through old shelving until I found a rusted office door.
Behind it was my father's desk.
The same desk he'd used when I was a kid.
I opened every drawer.
Nothing.
Evelyn looked at the floor.
“Here.”
A square section of wood near the desk was newer than the rest.
We pried it up.
Underneath was a steel box.
Locked.
I tried the brass key.
Click.
Inside was a leather ledger.
My father's handwriting covered every page.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Containers.
And a series of initials.
DB.
I turned pages faster.
Near the back was a handwritten note.
Daniel didn't work alone.
I stopped.
Below it was another line.
The Broker is not Daniel.
I stared.
Evelyn took the ledger.
“What?”
She read it.
Then she whispered,
“Oh God.”
“What?”
“Daniel was a decoy.”
A noise came from outside.
Footsteps.
Three men.
Then four.
Luis killed the lights.
We crouched behind the desk.
The warehouse doors opened.
Men entered with flashlights.
One voice said,
“He found it.”
Another answered,
“Then kill him.”
Luis raised his gun.
Evelyn grabbed my arm.
“Wait.”
A man walked into the office.
He wasn't wearing a mask.
I knew him.
Every employee in my company knew him.
My chief financial officer.
Martin Hale.
The man who had worked beside me for thirteen years.
He looked at the ledger in my hand.
Then smiled.
“Mr. Bennett.”
I stepped from the shadows.
“You're The Broker.”
Martin laughed softly.
“No.”
He looked at Evelyn.
Then at Luis.
Then finally at me.
“The Broker isn't one person.”
He pointed at the ledger.
“It's a group.”
“How many?”
“Enough.”
“Who?”
Martin took one step closer.
“People you voted into office.”
My stomach tightened.
“Judges?”
“Yes.”
“Cops?”
“Yes.”
“Business leaders?”
“Yes.”
“Daniel?”
Martin smiled.
“Daniel thinks he built this.”
He paused.
“He didn't.”
Then he pulled out his phone.
A live video appeared.
Chloe was on screen.
And she wasn't at home.
My blood froze.
Martin whispered,
“That's why your wife was throwing away your clothes.”
The screen moved.
May you like
I saw Chloe sitting in a dark room.
And beside her stood Daniel.
