Chapter 11 - MIDNIGHT AT THE DOCKS
Harper wanted to tear Boston apart with her bare hands.
Gabriel had never seen fear turn into anger so quickly.
“I’m going.”
“No.”
She rounded on him.
“Do not start.”
“They want the ledger.”
“They want me too.”
“They’re not getting you.”
“My brother is eight years old!”
Her voice cracked through the room.
“He is sitting somewhere terrified because of something my father hid.”
Gabriel stepped closer.
“I will get him back.”
“You cannot promise that.”
“No.”
“Then stop promising impossible things.”
Gabriel stared at her.
Harper grabbed the flash drive.
“I’m going.”
He caught her wrist gently.
She looked down.
He released it immediately.
“I’m sorry.”
The gesture mattered more than an apology.
Gabriel said, “Then we go together.”
Midnight.
Seaport docks.
Cold rain fell over stacked shipping containers.
Harper walked across the concrete holding the flash drive.
Gabriel stayed twenty yards behind.
Marcus and his men were hidden farther out.
Vincent Russo emerged between containers.
Beside him stood Salvatore gunmen.
And Derek Lawson.
Harper stopped.
Derek smiled.
“What? Miss me?”
“How are you out?”
Vincent laughed.
“Friends in powerful places.”
Derek’s arrest had lasted less than twelve hours.
The ledger suddenly made perfect sense.
Judges.
Cops.
Prosecutors.
A network designed to protect men like him.
“Where’s Noah?”
Derek pointed.
A van door opened.
Noah sat inside with tape over his mouth.
Harper moved.
A gunman raised his weapon.
“Stop.”
She froze.
Noah’s eyes filled with tears.
Harper forced herself to smile.
“It’s okay, buddy.”
Vincent held out his hand.
“Drive.”
“Noah first.”
Derek laughed.
“You don’t negotiate.”
Harper looked at him.
“I survived three years with you.”
Her voice was steady.
“I can handle five more minutes.”
Derek’s smile disappeared.
Gabriel almost smiled behind her.
Vincent stepped closer.
“Give me the drive.”
Harper lifted it.
“You know what my father did?”
Vincent frowned.
“He made copies.”
That got a reaction.
She continued.
“This isn’t the only one.”
Vincent looked at Derek.
Derek shouted, “She’s lying.”
Harper shrugged.
“Maybe.”
She slowly opened her hand.
The flash drive lay on her palm.
“Shoot me and you’ll never know.”
Vincent hesitated.
Exactly what she wanted.
Gabriel moved.
A suppressed shot cracked.
The gunman beside Noah dropped his weapon.
Marcus’s men appeared between containers.
Chaos erupted.
Harper ran toward the van.
Derek grabbed her.
He pulled her backward.
“You stupid bitch!”
Harper slammed her heel onto his foot.
He swore.
She twisted free.
Noah kicked open the van door.
“Harper!”
She grabbed him.
Then Derek raised his gun.
Gabriel saw it.
“DOWN!”
Harper threw herself over Noah.
The gun fired.
Gabriel jerked backward.
Harper screamed.
“GABRIEL!”
He fell.
Derek stared at the smoking gun.
For one second, triumph crossed his face.
Then Gabriel looked down.
The bullet had struck his shoulder.
He raised his own weapon.
Derek froze.
Gabriel could have fired.
Instead, Harper stood.
“No.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Alive.”
Derek laughed.
“You think prison holds men like me?”
Harper stared at him.
“No.”
Sirens began screaming in the distance.
Derek’s face changed.
Harper held up a second device.
A live transmitter.
“Federal agents do.”
The warehouses flooded with lights.
Derek turned pale.
Harper stepped toward him.
“You spent years telling me nobody would believe me.”
Black vehicles poured through the dock gates.
May you like
She smiled through tears.
“Tonight, everybody heard you.”
