Chapter 10 - The Last Leverage)
Malik Thompson had been loading boxes into his car when a black SUV pulled beside him.
Security footage showed two men stepping out.
One displayed what appeared to be a police badge.
Malik spoke to them for less than thirty seconds.
Then he entered the SUV voluntarily.
The vehicle drove away.
The license plate belonged to Judge Avery.
Garrett had taken Malik.
Shawn's guilt hit instantly.
Malik had helped locate the flash drive.
Garrett knew.
Brooks stopped Shawn from leaving.
"You are not going after him."
"He took my friend because of me."
"Then don't give him another hostage."
Garrett called twenty minutes later.
This time there was no recording.
"Shawn."
"Let Malik go."
"He's comfortable."
"I'll give you whatever you want."
"That's the first intelligent thing you've said."
"What?"
"The original partnership schedule."
Shawn looked at Brooks.
She shook her head.
"Why?"
Garrett laughed.
"Because paper still matters."
"You already have a copy."
"I need the original."
"No."
A sound came through the phone.
Malik's voice.
"Shawn, don't."
Then a blow.
Malik groaned.
Shawn closed his eyes.
Garrett said, "Midnight. Old Easton site. Alone."
The call ended.
Brooks said, "Absolutely not."
Shawn looked at her.
"What would you do?"
"My job."
"Your job doesn't involve deciding whether Malik gets hurt."
"It involves preventing you from becoming the next victim."
Don entered slowly.
"Give him the paper."
Everyone turned.
Shawn shook his head.
"Dad."
"Give it to him."
"That document protects everything."
Don smiled.
"Everything is not a piece of land."
"It isn't just Easton."
"I know."
"The partnership."
"I know."
"Thirty million dollars."
Don looked at his son.
"Malik is a man with a wife and daughter."
That ended the argument.
But Maria had another idea.
They made a perfect copy of the original.
The actual document remained secured with federal investigators.
Shawn would carry the copy.
Police would monitor the meeting from a distance.
At eleven forty, Shawn arrived at Easton.
The property looked different from childhood.
Warehouses rose beyond the old tree line.
Snow covered the vacant land.
A ruined construction office remained near the entrance.
Shawn walked inside alone.
Malik sat in a chair.
His hands were tied.
Garrett stood behind him holding a pistol.
Shawn stopped.
Garrett smiled.
"You actually came."
"Let him go."
"The document."
Shawn held up the envelope.
Garrett motioned.
"Floor."
Shawn placed it down.
Garrett ordered Malik to stand.
Malik struggled.
Garrett pushed him forward.
"Walk."
Malik moved toward Shawn.
Halfway across the room, Garrett picked up the envelope.
He opened it.
Read the first page.
Smiled.
Then stopped.
His smile vanished.
"This isn't original."
Shawn said, "It is."
Garrett looked at the signature.
"No."
"How would you know?"
"Because Don signed originals in blue."
Shawn's heart sank.
Garrett was right.
Don had signed the copy in black.
A tiny detail.
Garrett raised the pistol.
Police outside prepared to move.
Shawn stepped in front of Malik.
"You shoot anyone and this ends here."
Garrett laughed.
"It already ended."
"No. You think this is about documents."
"It is always about documents."
"No."
Shawn took one step.
"It's about control."
Garrett's eyes narrowed.
"You took people who trusted you and made them afraid. You convinced Brenda she had nowhere to go. You convinced my parents nobody would believe them. You convinced me I failed so completely that I would do anything to fix it."
Shawn took another step.
"But there's one thing you never understood."
"What?"
"Once people stop being afraid of you, you have nothing."
Garrett's pistol moved slightly.
Then a voice came from behind him.
"He's right."
Brenda stepped from the darkness.
Shawn's heart stopped.
She was not supposed to be there.
Garrett turned.
"Brenda."
She stood near the rear entrance.
No coat.
Snow melted in her hair.
Garrett stared as if seeing a ghost.
"You always needed someone to blame," she said. "Mom. Dad. Shawn. Me. Daniel."
Garrett aimed the weapon toward her.
Shawn moved.
Police rushed in.
Everything happened at once.
Malik dropped.
Shawn tackled him behind a concrete barrier.
Garrett ran through the rear door.
Officers followed.
A gunshot cracked outside.
Then silence.
Shawn held his breath.
Brooks's voice shouted.
"Suspect running east!"
Another officer called for units near the access road.
Garrett had escaped again.
But he left the pistol behind.
More importantly, Malik was alive.
Shawn turned toward Brenda.
"What are you doing here?"
She shook.
"Finishing it."
"No. You're trying to get yourself killed."
"I knew he'd focus on me."
"That's not courage."
She stared at him.
"What is it?"
"Punishment."
She went silent.
"You think if you suffer enough, it balances what happened to Mom and Dad."
Tears ran down her face.
"It doesn't."
"Then what does?"
"Nothing."
That answer broke something inside her.
Shawn continued.
"You testify. You tell the truth. You accept whatever happens. Then you spend the rest of your life becoming someone who would never do this again."
Brenda looked at him for a long time.
Then nodded.
At twelve thirty, police found Judge Avery's SUV abandoned two miles away.
Garrett had transferred to another vehicle.
By dawn, the Easton option agreement was frozen.
At eight forty seven Monday morning, a federal judge suspended the guardianship order.
At eight fifty four, North Ridge Development's accounts were frozen.
At nine, the closing failed.
Garrett lost Easton.
May you like
Yet he still had one final place to go.
And Don knew exactly where it was.
