Chapter 17 - Twenty Seconds“Marcus!”
He looked at me.
“I had no choice.”
“You always have a choice.”
“I thought Richard had Emma.”
Emma stared at him.
“You knew?”
Marcus nodded.
“I thought if I gave him the location, he'd let her go.”
“He lied,” Rebecca said.
“I know.”
“Then why did you do it?”
“Because she's my sister!”
The room fell silent.
Emma stared at him.
Marcus looked at her.
“I've known for three months.”
Emma's eyes filled with tears.
“You're my brother?”
“Yes.”
She looked away.
A loud metallic clang came from the corridor.
Richard's men had reached the inner door.
Nathan moved toward the controls.
“I can override it.”
“How?”
“Harold installed a manual system.”
“Can you open it?”
“Not from here.”
Lauren stepped forward.
“I know where.”
She ran to a wall panel.
Opened it.
Behind it were old mechanical switches.
“Harold taught me.”
I looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because he knew I might need to save your family from the man I worked for.”
She pulled one switch.
Nothing happened.
Another.
A light turned green.
The door unlocked.
“Move!”
We ran.
Gunfire erupted behind us.
Nathan returned fire.
Rebecca pulled Emma.
Marcus stayed beside me.
We reached the tunnel.
Then someone grabbed my arm.
I turned.
Richard.
He pulled me against him.
A gun pressed against my temple.
“Drop it,” Nathan said.
Richard smiled.
“Finally.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“Let her go.”
“Why?”
“Because I'm your son.”
Richard laughed.
“No.”
He leaned closer to me.
“You're nobody's son.”
Marcus flinched.
Richard continued:
“I needed you to think you were special.”
“You used me.”
“Yes.”
Lauren shouted:
“Richard!”
He looked at her.
“You disappoint me.”
“You threatened my sister.”
“I owned your sister.”
Rebecca screamed.
Richard dragged me toward the vault.
“You're coming with me.”
Marcus followed.
“No.”
Richard fired into the ceiling.
“Stay back.”
We reached the vault door.
He took the pendant from my neck.
Inserted the key.
The mechanism opened.
Inside was a single steel box.
Richard smiled.
“This is what Harold died for.”
I looked at the box.
“You never told me what was inside.”
Richard whispered:
“The truth.”
He opened it.
Inside was a document.
And a photograph.
Richard looked at the photograph.
His face changed.
“Impossible.”
I pulled it from his hand.
It showed Harold.
Arthur Kane.
And another man.
The date was forty-two years earlier.
The third man was someone I recognized instantly.
My own father.
I stared.
“My father?”
Richard went pale.
“Now you understand.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
He pointed at the document.
“The original land transfer was signed by your father.”
I looked at the signature.
It was real.
But beneath it was another signature.
Harold's.
Then another.
My name.
I felt sick.
“I never signed this.”
Richard smiled.
“That’s the problem.”
A loud voice came from behind us.
Daniel Mercer.
“Because someone forged Patricia's signature.”
May you like
He stepped into the vault.
And he was holding a gun.
