Chapter 13 - The Password
The day our family started.
Not my parents’ wedding anniversary.
Not my birthday.
Not Valerie’s.
Dad had always said our family became complete the day Mom adopted Valerie.
She was sixteen months old.
That truth had never mattered to us.
Valerie was my sister.
Period.
But Dad used the adoption date for important passwords because almost nobody outside the family knew it.
I entered the date into the encrypted file on Dad’s flash drive.
Unlocked.
Inside were complete transaction records.
Thirty-two million dollars.
Names.
Payments.
Video clips.
Emails.
Everything.
Ortiz looked at me.
“That’s enough.”
“For what?”
“Warrants. Freezes. Arrests.”
Above us Gavin shouted, “Thirty seconds!”
Ortiz typed a message on her phone and held it near the vent.
One bar appeared.
The message sent.
Backup was coming.
But we needed time.
I crawled toward the panel.
“Nora,” Ortiz whispered.
“Trust me.”
I opened it.
Gavin stood ten feet away with a gun pressed against Valerie’s neck.
Cole was near the door.
Valerie’s face was bloody.
But alive.
Gavin smiled.
“There she is.”
“I have the files.”
“Give them to me.”
“Let Valerie go.”
“Not how this works.”
“You need the password.”
His expression changed.
Good.
I held up the flash drive.
“Dad encrypted everything.”
Cole stepped forward.
“Give it to us.”
“No.”
Gavin pressed the gun harder against Valerie.
She winced.
“Your sister killed your father,” he said. “Why are you protecting her?”
I looked at Valerie.
Tears ran down her face.
“I’m not protecting what she did.”
Her eyes dropped.
“I’m protecting what’s left.”
Gavin laughed.
“So sentimental.”
“No. Practical.”
I held the drive over the open floor vent.
“One move and it disappears into the foundation.”
Cole said, “There are copies.”
“Not of the password.”
Gavin stared.
“What do you want?”
“Mom safe.”
“She is.”
“Valerie alive.”
He laughed.
“You really haven’t learned.”
Sirens sounded faintly outside.
Cole turned toward the window.
Gavin’s face twisted.
“You called police.”
“I didn’t.”
That was technically true.
Ortiz did.
Gavin grabbed Valerie and backed toward the kitchen.
Cole ran for the rear door.
Police shouted outside.
“DROP THE WEAPON!”
Everything happened at once.
Cole slammed the door shut.
Gavin fired toward a window.
Glass exploded.
Valerie drove her heel down onto Gavin’s foot.
He cursed.
She twisted away.
I lunged forward and pulled her behind the kitchen island.
Another shot hit the cabinet.
Ortiz emerged from the crawlspace.
“GAVIN! GUN DOWN!”
Cole bolted through the laundry room.
An officer tackled him outside.
Gavin looked around.
No exit.
No allies.
No plan.
For the first time since I had met him, he looked afraid.
Then he aimed the gun at me.
Valerie saw it first.
She shoved me sideways.
The gun fired.
Valerie collapsed.
“NO!”
Police fired.
Gavin hit the floor.
I crawled to my sister.
Blood spread across her shirt.
Her eyes found mine.
“Nora…”
I pressed both hands to the wound.
“Stay with me.”
She gasped.
“I’m sorry.”
“Save it. You can tell me later.”
“I’m sorry about Dad.”
“I know.”
“I’m sorry about Mom.”
“I know.”
“I hated you.”
“I know.”
She laughed weakly.
“You always know everything.”
“No. I don’t.”
Her eyes started closing.
“Valerie!”
Paramedics rushed through the door.
They pulled me back.
I screamed her name.
As they lifted her onto the stretcher, one paramedic looked at the other.
“Pressure’s dropping.”
The doors closed behind them.
May you like
And I had no idea whether my sister would live long enough to face what she had done.
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