Chapter 9 - Sloan looked at Victor.“No.”
Mara smiled.
“You've grown.”
“My mother is dead.”
“That is what your father wanted you to believe.”
Victor raised his weapon.
Mara didn't even glance at him.
“You still carry that scar.”
Victor's jaw tightened.
“You shouldn't be here.”
“Neither should you.”
She looked toward Sloan.
“Come with me.”
Sloan shook her head.
“You're lying.”
Mara's expression softened.
“I understand.”
“You abandoned me.”
“No.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“I let your father protect you.”
“From what?”
Mara looked at Victor.
“From us.”
Sloan's eyes shifted between them.
“What does that mean?”
Mara lowered her gun.
“It means your parents were never victims.”
A gunshot exploded.
Mara spun.
The bullet hit the wall.
More gunmen stormed the chamber.
Victor grabbed Sloan.
“Move!”
They ran through the rear passage.
Behind them, Mara shouted.
“Sloan!”
Sloan almost turned.
Victor pulled her harder.
“Don't.”
“That's my mother!”
“That's exactly why you shouldn't.”
They escaped through an underground tunnel.
Twenty minutes later they emerged in an abandoned parking structure.
Sloan shoved Victor away.
“Enough!”
He stopped.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“You knew she was alive.”
“I knew someone matching her description was alive.”
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the people chasing you are using your mother to reach your father.”
Sloan stared at him.
“My father and mother are both alive.”
“Yes.”
“And they were working together.”
Victor didn't answer.
“That means all of this was planned.”
“Not all of it.”
“Which part wasn't?”
Victor's face hardened.
“Your father's disappearance.”
“What happened?”
“He betrayed the wrong person.”
“Who?”
“Mara.”
Sloan stared.
Victor continued.
“Your father discovered Mara wasn't just working for the organization.”
“What organization?”
Victor looked around.
“The Black Raven.”
Sloan remembered the ring.
“The symbol.”
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
“Not a gang.”
“Then what?”
Victor took a cigarette from his pocket but didn't light it.
“It's a network.”
“How powerful?”
“Powerful enough to make people disappear without leaving paperwork.”
Sloan felt sick.
“And my parents?”
“Your father wanted out.”
“My mother didn't.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Mara believed the Black Raven needed to control the city to prevent something worse.”
Sloan laughed bitterly.
“So she's a terrorist?”
“No.”
“What, then?”
Victor looked at her.
“She thinks she's saving Portland.”
Sloan's phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
“Sloan.”
Daniel's voice.
She stopped breathing.
“Dad?”
Victor's face changed.
Daniel spoke quickly.
“Don't trust Victor.”
Sloan closed her eyes.
“You said that in the video.”
“Because he has something.”
“What?”
“A reason to keep you alive.”
She looked at Victor.
“What reason?”
Daniel hesitated.
Then he said:
“You carry the key.”
Sloan looked at the brass key.
“What does it unlock?”
“A door.”
“Where?”
“Inside Aurelio's.”
Sloan's heart stopped.
“The restaurant?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Daniel's breathing became ragged.
“Because that restaurant was never a restaurant.”
The call cut.
Sloan stared at the phone.
Victor swore.
Then every light in the parking structure switched on.
A dozen armed men appeared on the surrounding levels.
A voice echoed from above.
“You finally found it.”
Mara stepped into view.
She wasn't pointing her gun at Victor.
She was pointing it at Sloan.
“Give me the key.”
Victor moved in front of Sloan.
Mara smiled.
“Victor.”
She raised the gun.
“You've been protecting the wrong Mercer.”
Sloan touched the key.
Then she realized something.
It was warm.
Warm enough to have been held recently.
She looked at Victor.
“Someone used this tonight.”
Victor's eyes widened.
Before he could answer, the key vibrated in her hand.
May you like
A tiny light appeared on its surface.
And somewhere beneath Aurelio's restaurant, a door began to unlock.
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