Chapter 9 - The Siege at Carter House
Daniel hit the floor.
Glass rained across the library.
Eleanor screamed.
Gunfire tore through the room.
Daniel crawled behind the heavy oak desk.
“Stay down!”
Eleanor did not need the instruction.
Outside, men shouted.
The state investigators returned fire.
Daniel’s transmitter crackled.
“Daniel, stay inside!”
He grabbed Eleanor’s arm and pulled her behind the desk.
She stared at him.
“You still protected me.”
“Don’t make me regret it.”
Another burst of gunfire shattered a lamp.
Eleanor pointed toward the bookshelves.
“Behind the third case.”
“What?”
“Safe room.”
Daniel stared.
“Of course you have a safe room.”
“Move.”
She pressed a hidden switch.
A bookshelf released.
They slipped through.
The reinforced door sealed behind them.
Inside were monitors showing the estate grounds.
At least three armed men moved among the hedges.
Daniel watched police vehicles arrive from the road.
“This is Vale?”
“Yes.”
“You’re sure?”
“I know his people.”
“Then you’ve met them.”
“For years.”
Daniel turned.
“How many crimes did you help them commit?”
Eleanor looked at the screens.
“Enough.”
“Did you kill Dad?”
Her face tightened.
“No.”
“Did you know he was going to die?”
Silence.
Daniel stepped closer.
“Mom.”
“I knew Vale was angry.”
“That is not what I asked.”
“I knew Samuel planned to expose them.”
“Did you warn Vale?”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
Daniel felt something inside him collapse.
“You did.”
“I thought he would scare him.”
“You told Vale.”
“I thought he would threaten him.”
“And Dad died.”
“Yes.”
Eleanor’s voice broke.
For the first time in Daniel’s life, he saw his mother cry without using tears as a weapon.
“I have lived with that every day.”
Daniel wanted to feel sympathy.
Instead he thought of Rachel.
Emily.
His cut brake line.
“You didn’t stop afterward.”
“No.”
“You kept working with them.”
“I had two children.”
“You controlled two children.”
“I kept you alive.”
“You don’t know the difference.”
Eleanor flinched.
Outside, gunfire slowed.
One attacker fell near the fountain.
Another surrendered.
A third disappeared behind the guesthouse.
Daniel’s phone buzzed.
Ben.
He answered.
“Emily?”
“Safe.”
Daniel exhaled.
Ben continued.
“We copied everything from your wire. Did Eleanor say Voss?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Federal people are moving now.”
“Federal?”
“I called friends.”
Eleanor laughed bitterly.
“Your friend has ambition.”
Daniel ignored her.
Ben said, “There’s something else. Sophia found an entry in the server.”
“What?”
“0714 isn’t an account.”
Daniel glanced at Eleanor.
“What is it?”
“A date.”
“July fourteenth?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Ben paused.
“Samuel Carter signed a storage lease on July 14, 2013.”
Daniel frowned.
“He died in August.”
“Exactly.”
“Where?”
“A private records facility in Stamford.”
Eleanor stood abruptly.
“No.”
Daniel turned.
“You know it.”
“That facility is gone.”
“Why?”
“It burned.”
“When?”
“2014.”
Daniel looked at Ben.
“Can you verify?”
“Already did.”
“Cause?”
“Electrical.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“No. Vale burned it.”
Daniel stared.
“Then why did Dad give me a key?”
Eleanor looked at the brass key in his hand.
Her expression changed.
“That isn’t a storage key.”
“What is it?”
She came closer.
“Let me see.”
Daniel did not move.
“Tell me first.”
Eleanor stared at its shape.
“It’s a bank archive key.”
“Which bank?”
“Carter Federal.”
Daniel frowned.
The bank had merged years ago.
Eleanor whispered, “Your grandfather owned shares.”
“So?”
“They had a private archive beneath the original downtown branch.”
Ben heard through the phone.
“Daniel, Carter Federal’s old branch is now the Metropolitan Arts Foundation.”
Eleanor nodded slowly.
“The vault is probably still there.”
Daniel looked at the key.
“What did Dad put in it?”
Eleanor’s face went pale.
“The ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“The one Vale has been looking for since your father died.”
Before Daniel could ask more, the safe room monitor flickered.
A figure appeared inside the mansion.
Not police.
Not one of the attackers outside.
A man in a charcoal suit walked calmly down the hallway.
Eleanor stopped breathing.
Daniel looked at her.
“Who is that?”
May you like
She whispered:
“Adrian Voss.”
