Chapter 7 - Red HollowThe place where the Hale family began
We reached Red Hollow at 11:17 p.m.
Rain covered the abandoned industrial district.
The warehouse stood exactly where it had in Dad's photographs.
Rusting walls.
Broken windows.
A single security light.
We watched from across the road.
At 11:29, a black SUV arrived.
Robert stepped out.
Then Gabriel Voss.
Then Diane.
My heart pounded.
Diane looked different.
Not frightened.
Determined.
She entered the warehouse.
Robert followed.
Voss stayed outside.
Dad looked at me.
“You stay here.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
“I spent three years being trapped while men made decisions about my life.”
He stared at me.
“I am done staying outside doors.”
Dad nodded reluctantly.
We moved.
Inside, the warehouse smelled of oil and rain.
We found voices deeper in the building.
Robert was arguing.
“You said she wouldn't find out.”
Diane replied.
“She wasn't supposed to.”
Robert sounded furious.
“You've ruined everything.”
Voss spoke calmly.
“She was never the important one.”
I froze.
Who?
Then Voss said:
“Frank.”
Dad's jaw tightened.
They weren't planning around me.
They were planning around my father.
Diane spoke again.
“Frank will come.”
Voss laughed.
“He always does.”
Dad whispered, “Stay behind me.”
We moved closer.
Then a light flickered on.
Dozens of crates filled the warehouse.
Phones.
Documents.
Cash.
And photographs.
Hundreds.
All surveillance images.
People.
Politicians.
Police officers.
Business owners.
Judges.
Voss had files on everyone.
Dad stepped forward.
“Gabriel.”
Voss smiled.
“Frank Sullivan.”
Robert looked terrified.
Diane looked relieved.
“You came.”
Dad ignored him.
“You've been running this entire operation.”
Voss's smile widened.
“Not anymore.”
He pointed toward a chair.
Someone was tied to it.
A man.
Older.
Bleeding.
Dad froze.
It was one of his former federal colleagues.
A retired investigator named Thomas Reed.
Voss leaned closer.
“Thirty years ago, you came after us.”
He smiled.
“Tonight, we finish that story.”
Robert suddenly looked at Voss.
“You never said he would be here.”
Voss turned.
“You weren't supposed to know.”
Robert stepped backward.
“What does that mean?”
“It means your role is over.”
Robert's face changed.
“Dad?”
Voss looked amused.
“You still call me that?”
Robert stared at him.
“You are my father.”
Voss's smile disappeared.
“No.”
Silence.
“You were useful.”
Robert looked shattered.
Diane closed her eyes.
Then Voss pointed toward me.
“And she was useful too.”
My father's voice became ice.
“Don't touch my daughter.”
Voss smiled.
“I don't need to.”
He pressed a remote.
The warehouse doors slammed shut.
A red light appeared overhead.
“Because she already brought you here.”
I heard a click behind me.
A gun being chambered.
Someone whispered from the darkness:
“Drop your weapon, Frank.”
May you like
My father slowly raised his hands.
And I realized we had walked into the trap exactly as Voss intended.
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