Chapter 9 - THE MAN WHO SENT THE ORDERMarco's weapon trembled.
Chloe couldn't believe it.
“You work for Costello?”
Marco laughed bitterly.
“I've worked for them for eleven years.”
Gabriel aimed at him.
“Who gave you the order?”
Marco looked at Beatrice.
Then at Gabriel.
“Your father.”
“He's dead.”
Marco's expression changed.
“No.”
Silence.
Gabriel lowered his gun slightly.
“What did you say?”
“Your father isn't dead.”
Chloe's stomach dropped.
“But I saw his funeral,” Gabriel said.
“Everybody did.”
Marco's voice became quieter.
“It was staged.”
Beatrice suddenly covered her mouth.
Her hands shook.
Gabriel looked at her.
“You knew.”
She nodded.
“You knew he was alive.”
Beatrice signed:
I knew he was searching.
Gabriel stepped backward.
“Searching for what?”
Marco answered.
“For Chloe.”
Chloe stared.
“Why me?”
Marco shook his head.
“I never understood that part.”
Gabriel moved toward him.
“Where is Luca?”
Marco hesitated.
“Too late.”
“What does that mean?”
Marco looked toward the clock.
11:47.
Again.
Chloe's breathing stopped.
Marco said:
“The entire plan happens at midnight.”
“What plan?”
Marco looked at Chloe.
“The person your brother was protecting is not dead.”
Chloe whispered:
“Who?”
Marco opened his mouth.
A silenced bullet entered his chest.
He collapsed.
Gabriel fired toward the window.
Nothing.
Chloe fell beside Marco.
Blood spread across his shirt.
He grabbed her wrist.
“One thing…”
She leaned closer.
“Your brother…”
His voice weakened.
“He didn't die because he knew too much.”
Chloe held her breath.
“He died because…”
Marco coughed.
“…he had proof.”
“What proof?”
Marco forced out the final words.
“A recording.”
Then he died.
Gabriel looked at Chloe.
“What recording?”
Chloe reached into her pocket.
Her fingers touched something Leo had left years ago.
A keychain.
She had never opened it.
Not once.
Now she pulled at the metal casing.
A tiny memory card fell into her palm.
On its surface was a handwritten number.
11:47.
Gabriel whispered:
“That isn't a recording.”
Chloe looked at him.
“Then what is it?”
May you like
He stared at the card.
“A location.”
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