Chapter 19 - The Price of BetrayalVictor Hale had vanished.
His apartment was empty.
His bank accounts were frozen.
His private car had been abandoned near the harbor.
Every trail ended within thirty minutes of the explosion.
Marin stood inside his apartment, examining the walls.
“This isn't a disappearance.”
Elias looked at her.
“What is it?”
“A transition.”
“What does that mean?”
“He had somewhere to go before tonight.”
She opened a hidden compartment beneath the kitchen counter.
Inside was a passport.
Not Victor's.
Another man's.
The photograph showed Lucian Vale.
Elias stared at it.
“So Victor was working for him.”
“For years, apparently.”
Marin found a second item.
A list.
Names.
Addresses.
Financial accounts.
At the bottom was a single line.
FERRANTE SUCCESSION PROTOCOL.
Elias went completely still.
“What is that?”
Marin read the document.
“It looks like a plan to dismantle your organization.”
“Who takes over?”
She pointed to the final name.
Victor.
Elias laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“He thought he could replace me.”
“No.”
Marin folded the paper.
“He thought someone else would replace you.”
A phone began ringing from inside the apartment.
Both turned.
The sound came from behind the bedroom wall.
Elias kicked the panel open.
A disposable phone sat inside.
Marin answered.
A distorted voice spoke.
“Congratulations.”
“Lucian.”
“You finally found the beginning.”
“What do you want?”
“You.”
Marin's eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“Because you are the only loose end left from a program that was designed to create obedient weapons.”
“I was never obedient.”
“That was your greatest failure.”
Elias grabbed the phone.
“You threaten my wife again, and I'll—”
The voice interrupted.
“You misunderstand, Elias.”
A pause.
“I don't want Marin dead.”
Marin's expression changed.
“I want her free.”
The call ended.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Elias said quietly:
“That's not the voice of a man planning to kill you.”
“No.”
Marin looked toward the window.
“It's the voice of a man who thinks he owns me.”
Elias reached for her hand.
“No one owns you.”
She looked at him.
“I know.”
A tear unexpectedly appeared in her eye.
Elias wiped it away.
Then Marin noticed something outside.
A black sedan.
Parked across the street.
Its headlights were off.
She immediately moved toward the window.
The sedan accelerated away.
“Follow it,” she ordered.
Elias's guards raced downstairs.
Marin stopped him.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“This is exactly what he wants.”
“What do you suggest?”
Marin stared at the empty street.
“We stop chasing him.”
Elias frowned.
“Then what?”
“We make him come to us.”
She turned toward the stolen documents.
“He wants me.”
May you like
She smiled faintly.
“So let's give him what he wants.”
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