Chapter 10 - The Truth Marcus Could Not Escape
Marcus woke in the passenger seat of a moving van.
His hands were free.
His surgical wound burned beneath fresh bandages. The last thing he remembered was the transport vehicle overturning after an explosion.
Elias Brooks drove beside him.
Marcus recognized him from Amelia’s family photographs.
“You’re her father.”
Elias kept his eyes on the road.
“And you are the man who nearly destroyed her.”
“Where are you taking me?”
“To correct a mistake.”
“Whose mistake?”
“Mine.”
Marcus reached for the door handle.
It was locked.
“You attacked a federal convoy.”
“No. Voss attacked it. I removed you before his men arrived.”
“Who is Voss?”
“The reason Olivia entered your life.”
Marcus leaned back.
“You know where she is?”
“No.”
“Is she alive?”
“Most likely.”
Marcus hated the relief he felt.
Elias noticed.
“You still care for her.”
“She used me.”
“That does not answer the question.”
“I don’t know what I feel.”
“You feel humiliated. Men like you often mistake humiliation for heartbreak.”
Marcus turned toward him.
“You don’t know me.”
“I know you accepted devotion from my daughter and rewarded it with contempt.”
“You abandoned her.”
Elias’s hands tightened on the wheel.
“Yes.”
“At least I stayed.”
“You stayed close enough to injure her every day.”
Marcus looked out the window.
Industrial buildings passed beneath a gray sky.
“Why rescue me?”
“Because you memorized the Orion date.”
“I already told Amelia.”
“The date is only the first layer.”
“What is the second?”
“Your blood.”
Marcus laughed.
“I’m not related to you.”
“No. But you are related to Robert Vale.”
Marcus’s smile disappeared.
“What does my father have to do with Orion?”
“Robert’s father helped finance its earliest infrastructure.”
“My grandfather was a banker.”
“Your grandfather was a Blackridge founder.”
Marcus felt the van grow colder.
“My parents said the company began before they met.”
“They lied.”
“What does my blood unlock?”
“A financial archive.”
“The money behind Orion?”
“And the list of every person who purchased protection from Voss.”
Marcus thought of politicians, military officers, executives, and foreign clients.
“How much is it worth?”
Elias looked at him with disgust.
“That is your first question?”
“I need to know why people are trying to kill me.”
“Because the archive contains enough evidence to destroy governments.”
The van turned into an underground parking structure.
Elias stopped beside an elevator.
“Get out.”
Marcus remained seated.
“What happens after I help you?”
“You return to federal custody.”
“So I go to prison.”
“You committed crimes.”
“I was manipulated.”
“You were greedy.”
Marcus opened the door.
Elias led him into the elevator.
They descended below the parking structure into a bunker lined with old communications equipment.
A circular steel door stood at the far end.
The silver wolf insignia was carved into its center.
Marcus approached a scanner.
“What do I do?”
“Place your hand there.”
Marcus obeyed.
A needle punctured his finger.
The machine processed his blood.
A light changed from red to amber.
PARTIAL LINEAGE CONFIRMED.
SECOND AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.
“Amelia,” Marcus said.
“No.”
“Then who?”
“Robert.”
Marcus looked at Elias.
“You need my father.”
“I needed to confirm whether the Vale bloodline still carried authorization.”
“And now?”
“Now Voss knows it does.”
A sound came from the ceiling.
Elias looked up.
Small red lights activated along the walls.
Marcus stepped backward.
“What is that?”
“A remote breach.”
The circular door began unlocking by itself.
Elias drew a pistol.
“You led them here.”
“I didn’t know where we were going.”
“There may be a tracker inside your wound.”
Marcus touched the bandage.
A speaker above the door crackled.
Olivia’s voice filled the bunker.
“Thank you, Marcus.”
His heart stopped.
“Olivia?”
“You always did your best work when someone else gave you directions.”
The steel door opened.
Behind it was not an archive.
It was an empty chamber containing a single glass case.
Inside the case lay Amelia’s original wedding ring.
Marcus stared.
He had not seen it since the night he ordered her from their bedroom.
A note rested beneath it.
Elias broke the glass and removed the paper.
His face changed as he read.
“What does it say?” Marcus asked.
Elias handed it to him.
The note contained one sentence.
BRING THE COLONEL, THE VALE PATRIARCH, AND BOTH CHILDREN TO THE HOUSE THEY BELIEVE THEY OWN.
Marcus read it again.
“The mansion.”
Elias nodded.
“But Amelia owns it now.”
“That is not the house Voss means.”
“Then what house?”
Elias looked toward the dark passage behind the vault.
“The original Blackridge estate.”
An explosion shook the bunker.
Elias pushed Marcus behind the steel door as gunfire erupted from the elevator corridor.
They fled through the passage.
Behind them, Olivia’s voice continued through the speaker.
“You have forty-eight hours, Marcus.”
He stopped.
Elias pulled him forward.
May you like
Olivia’s final words followed them into the darkness.
“After that, Amelia learns which one of her babies was marked before birth.”
