Chapter 4 - MASON'S SECRETMason stepped into the room holding a flashlight.
Delaney kept her hand near her weapon.
“You followed me.”
“No.”
“Then how did you get here?”
“I've been here for three hours.”
Delaney's eyes moved across the room.
“You built this?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
Mason didn't answer.
He looked at Ronan's photograph.
Then at Delaney.
“You need to leave.”
“Not until you talk.”
“You think I'm part of Quill's operation.”
“Aren't you?”
Mason sighed.
“I used to be.”
That answer hit harder than a denial.
Mason walked toward the wall.
“Eight years ago, Quill recruited me.”
“For what?”
“Civil forfeiture.”
Delaney frowned.
“Illegal seizure operations.”
Mason nodded.
“We'd stop cars. Find cash. Manufacture probable cause. Take the money.”
“And the department approved it?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Mason looked at the photographs.
“People higher up.”
“Who?”
He didn't answer.
Delaney stepped closer.
“You knew Ronan was being targeted.”
“I didn't know who he was.”
“But you knew Quill was coming after him.”
“I tried to warn him.”
“You didn't.”
Mason's jaw tightened.
“I did.”
“When?”
“Before the stop.”
Delaney stared.
“What?”
“I called the gas station.”
“You had no reason to know he was there.”
Mason looked at her.
“I had every reason.”
He pulled out his phone.
Opened a message.
Showed her.
TARGET CONFIRMED. RONAN VOSS.
Sent three days earlier.
Delaney felt sick.
“Who sent that?”
Mason shook his head.
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to believe you?”
“No.”
He turned toward her.
“That is why you're in danger.”
Delaney noticed something on the table.
A stack of bank statements.
Hundreds of them.
Shell companies.
Cash transfers.
Political donations.
Law firms.
Security contractors.
Then one name appeared repeatedly.
RAVEN HOLDINGS.
Delaney recognized it.
Raven Holdings had won six county contracts in two years.
Road construction.
Surveillance systems.
Vehicle impound services.
Private security.
All connected to local government.
Mason pointed toward the statements.
“That's where the money went.”
“How much?”
“Enough to buy judges.”
Delaney stared at him.
“And Quill?”
“A collector.”
“For Raven?”
“No.”
Mason's voice dropped.
“For someone who owns Raven.”
The room went silent.
Delaney heard a noise outside.
A car door.
Mason immediately killed the flashlight.
“Someone's here.”
They moved toward the rear wall.
Footsteps approached.
Slow.
Heavy.
Then the door opened.
Quill stepped inside.
He was alone.
Mason whispered:
“Don't move.”
Quill stood in the center of the room.
He looked at the wall.
Then smiled.
“Still collecting secrets, Mason?”
Mason stepped forward.
“What do you want?”
Quill glanced at Delaney.
“You.”
Delaney raised her weapon.
Quill laughed.
“You won't shoot me.”
“Try me.”
Quill reached into his pocket.
He pulled out a photograph.
Ronan again.
But this one was different.
Ronan was sitting in a chair.
Hands tied.
Face bruised.
Delaney's heart stopped.
“Where is my brother?”
Quill's expression remained calm.
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“You have something I want.”
“The list?”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“The account.”
Delaney didn't understand.
“What account?”
Quill smiled.
“Your brother inherited it.”
Mason's face changed.
“That's impossible.”
Quill looked at him.
“You never figured it out.”
“Figured what out?”
Quill turned back to Delaney.
“Your brother didn't just have tuition money.”
“He had access to twenty-six million dollars.”
Delaney froze.
Ronan worked warehouse shifts.
He lived in a rented apartment.
He had never had more than a few thousand dollars.
Quill smiled.
“Ask your brother what his father left behind.”
Delaney's breathing stopped.
Her father had died twelve years ago.
Officially, he had died with nothing.
No assets.
No hidden accounts.
Nothing.
Quill stepped toward the door.
“One more thing.”
He looked at Mason.
“Your wife knows.”
Mason went pale.
Quill left.
The door shut.
Delaney turned to Mason.
“What does my father have to do with this?”
Mason didn't answer.
“Who was my father?”
Still nothing.
Then Mason whispered:
“Your father didn't die broke.”
May you like
He looked terrified.
“He died trying to expose them.”
