Chapter 11 - Dad's Insurance Policy
We prepared a rescue operation.
Not a trade.
I made that clear.
Mason made something else clear.
I wasn't going inside alone.
"You heard Voss."
"I don't care."
"If he sees a team—"
"He will see a team."
"Mason."
"No."
His voice cracked harder than I'd ever heard it.
"Your sister is already in there. I'm not handing him you too."
I stepped closer.
"You don't get to decide this because you love me."
"I decide because I'm operational commander."
"Then relieve me."
Silence.
"Do it."
His eyes locked on mine.
"Relieve me from duty, General."
It hurt both of us.
Finally he spoke.
"Lieutenant Colonel Bennett, you are temporarily removed from operational command due to personal involvement."
I swallowed.
"Understood."
"But."
He leaned closer.
"You're still the person Voss expects."
I almost smiled.
"So I'm going."
"With my conditions."
"Fine."
Mom interrupted.
"I'm going too."
"No."
Voss had demanded her, but every professional in the room agreed bringing Linda was unnecessary.
We could fake her presence.
Mom wasn't trained.
She was compromised.
Emotional.
A liability.
Then she surprised me.
"He'll know."
"How?"
"Because Richard and I have a phrase."
I stared at her.
"What phrase?"
"When we first met, he used to say, 'Money remembers who touched it.'"
"So?"
"If he asks me to answer and somebody else does, he'll know."
I hated that she was right.
One hour later, we approached the abandoned plant.
Mom wore a hidden transmitter.
I wore another.
The two hardware keys were inside a shielded case.
Real keys.
Fake access environment.
If Voss tried using them remotely, our cyber team would trace him.
That was the plan.
Plans rarely survived contact.
The factory smelled like oil and wet concrete.
Mom walked five feet behind me.
"Olivia."
"Not now."
"I'm sorry."
"Not now."
"I need you to hear it."
I stopped.
"Then say it."
Her eyes filled.
"I have spent my whole life being angry that your father trusted you more."
I said nothing.
"I told myself it was because he loved you more."
"Mom."
"But it wasn't."
She shook her head.
"It was because every time life demanded something difficult, you did it."
Her voice broke.
"And every time life demanded something difficult from me, I looked for someone else to carry it."
For the first time all night, I had no angry answer.
She wiped her face.
"I hit you because you said no."
"Yes."
"Because I knew if you didn't bend, I would have to face what I'd done."
She looked toward the dark building.
"I don't expect forgiveness."
"Good."
That hurt her.
It was supposed to.
"But I want Sienna back."
"So do I."
We entered.
Lights snapped on.
Sienna sat tied to a chair at the center of the factory floor.
"Olivia!"
I nearly ran to her.
A red laser appeared on my chest.
I stopped.
"Easy," a voice called.
Richard Voss stepped from the shadows.
He was older than the photographs.
Silver hair.
Thin face.
Dark coat.
Completely ordinary.
That made him more frightening.
"Linda."
Mom stared at him.
"Richard."
He smiled.
"Money remembers."
Mom answered through clenched teeth.
"Who touched it."
His smile widened.
"You always remembered."
"Let my daughter go."
"Both of them are your daughters."
"Let Sienna go."
Voss looked at me.
"She still chooses favorites."
Mom flinched.
I didn't.
"Keys for Sienna."
He pointed toward a table.
"Put them there."
I placed the case on the metal surface.
"Show me she's okay."
Sienna cried.
"I'm okay."
Voss nodded to a guard.
The man cut one restraint.
Then the second.
Sienna stood.
"Walk."
She stumbled toward us.
Ten feet.
Eight.
Five.
A gunshot exploded.
Sienna screamed and fell.
"NO!"
I dove toward her.
Gunfire erupted from the catwalk.
Mason's team returned fire.
Mom dropped behind machinery.
I crawled to Sienna.
Blood.
Her leg.
Not chest.
"Stay down!"
Voss disappeared into smoke.
Someone grabbed the case.
I fired.
The man fell.
But the case skidded across the floor.
Straight toward Voss.
He picked it up.
And ran.
Mason's voice thundered through my earpiece.
"Voss is moving east!"
I pressed my hand against Sienna's wound.
Then Mom grabbed my shoulder.
"Go."
I stared at her.
"What?"
"I have her."
"Mom—"
"GO!"
She tore fabric from her dress and pressed it against Sienna's thigh.
For the first time, my mother wasn't asking someone else to fix the disaster she'd helped create.
She was staying behind.
I ran.
I chased Voss through a steel door into the rain.
He was twenty yards ahead.
Then he stopped.
Turned.
And smiled.
Because he wasn't alone.
Mason stood beside him.
May you like
On his knees.
A gun pressed against the back of his head.
