Chapter 9 - The Blue LedgerWe escaped through the old drainage tunnel.

By morning, we were in a safehouse owned by Marcus's former unit.

Noah was still missing.

But Marcus had found something.

A photograph.

Taken two hours before our arrival at the clinic.

Noah was sitting beside a man.

James Halbrook.

Behind them was a warehouse.

On the wall was the red V.

Marcus enlarged the image.

“There.”

A shipping container number.

I recognized the pattern.

“That's not a Vance code.”

“No.”

Marcus smiled grimly.

“It belongs to Bellmont Holdings.”

The shell company.

The one I had seen in the first file.

We traced the warehouse records.

The property was legally owned by a company registered overseas.

The company had no physical employees.

No tax history.

No public office.

A perfect shell.

We arrived that evening.

The warehouse was abandoned.

Or appeared to be.

Inside, we found a locked steel room.

Marcus opened it.

The room contained boxes of accounting records.

And in the middle was a blue ledger.

Real paper.

Handwritten entries.

Names.

Dates.

Payment amounts.

The original book of the Vance network.

I turned pages.

One entry made my stomach drop.

Carter Operation - 2009

Beside it was a number.

Then another entry.

Claire Carter - surveillance

Then:

Thomas Carter - termination postponed

I looked at Marcus.

“They tried to kill me.”

Marcus nodded.

I kept reading.

Then I found Lily's name.

Lily Carter - leverage asset.

My hands shook.

She had never been their target.

She had been a tool.

The marriage itself had been arranged around her usefulness.

I read further.

Daniel's handwriting appeared in several entries.

One sentence repeated.

Keep Thomas unaware.

Another:

Do not let him access original Blackwater files.

Marcus stared at the page.

“The Blackwater files.”

“What about them?”

“They were never destroyed.”

“Where?”

He looked at the back of the ledger.

A hidden pocket contained a small key.

Stamped with a number.

Marcus said:

“Locker seventeen.”

We drove to an old train station.

The lockers had been sealed decades ago.

Locker seventeen opened with the key.

Inside was a metal case.

The Blackwater files.

I opened the first folder.

Photographs of Victor Vance.

Evidence from seventeen years ago.

And a document showing payments to my former employer.

James Halbrook had accepted money.

He had sabotaged the investigation.

He had redirected evidence.

And then he had signed the order that marked me for termination.

My entire life had been built on a lie.

I sat on the station floor.

Marcus crouched beside me.

“I should have told you.”

“Yes.”

“I was afraid you'd go after them.”

“I would have.”

“Exactly.”

I looked at him.

“Now I will.”

Marcus nodded.

Then his phone rang.

He answered.

His face changed.

“What?”

A pause.

“No.”

Another pause.

“Send me the location.”

He hung up.

I stood.

“What happened?”

Marcus looked at me.

“Halbrook isn't holding Noah.”

“Then who is?”

“Daniel.”

He handed me the phone.

A live video was playing.

Daniel sat in a chair.

Noah stood beside him.

The boy was terrified.

Daniel smiled at the camera.

“Thomas.”

I stepped closer.

“You wanted your daughter.”

His smile widened.

“Now I want something from you.”

“What?”

“Bring me the blue ledger.”

Marcus whispered, “Don't.”

Daniel continued.

“You have one hour.”

He leaned toward Noah.

“Or the boy disappears permanently.”

The video ended.

I looked at the ledger in my hands.

Marcus shook his head.

“We're not giving him this.”

I stared into the darkness.

“No.”

May you like

My Family Inherited Millions and Left Me a Ruined House. Four Months Lat...

The lawyer’s office fell silent as my grandmother’s will was read, and I watched my family inherit millions while I received nothi...

A Desperate Mother Begged a Billionaire for a Job to Feed Her Two Childr...

I was stranded on a lonely Arizona highway with two starving children, a pair of ruined suitcases, and no way to reach our destina...

I Saved the Mafia Boss’s Baby from a Dumpster, but He Threw Me in Jail f...

The first thing I noticed when I opened the dumpster behind the Valente mansion was a tiny blue hand sticking out from beneath a f...

I closed the ledger.

“We're giving him something much worse.”