Chapter 13 - THE NIGHT THE NETWORK TURNED ON ITSELF
Pike accused Rourke first.
“You let her escape.”
Rourke pointed his gun at him.
“You failed to control your facility.”
Derek moved toward Marianne while the men argued.
“We need to leave.”
“Why?”
“Because Pike will kill everyone when he realizes the ledger is gone.”
“You helped bring us here.”
“I thought I could trade the ticket for our lives.”
“Our lives?”
“Yours too.”
“You planned to put me in Rosewood.”
Derek looked away.
“That was before Vale told me what happened to Dad.”
“When did he tell you?”
“This morning.”
“You knew your father was alive at the hospital.”
“I knew there was a patient called 417. I didn’t know it was him until Naomi’s name appeared on the security alert.”
Marianne wanted to believe him.
That was the danger.
Some part of her would always search for the smallest innocent explanation.
Derek grasped her shoulders.
“Mom, listen to me. The blue folder contains a revocation clause. If I confess that the documents were signed under false pretenses, the transfers can be reversed.”
“Then confess.”
“Not here.”
“Do it now.”
Pike’s voice cut across the room.
“What are you telling her?”
Derek released Marianne.
“Nothing.”
Pike approached.
“You have become a liability.”
Rourke stepped between them.
“The boy may know where the ledger is.”
“He doesn’t.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because I searched his apartment.”
Derek stared at him.
“You broke into my home?”
Pike smiled.
“You broke into your mother’s.”
Derek struck him.
The first gunshot came from one of Pike’s men.
It hit the ceiling.
Then everyone moved.
Thomas pulled Marianne behind the desk.
Rourke fired at Pike’s guard.
Halpern dragged Derek toward the hallway.
Pike overturned a table and returned fire.
Glass shattered.
Marianne crawled toward a side door leading to the pantry.
Thomas followed.
They reached the kitchen as bullets struck the study walls.
“Where do we go?” Marianne asked.
“Boathouse.”
They crossed the rear porch.
The lake spread black beneath the moon.
Behind them, Pike’s men shouted through the house.
At the boathouse, Thomas uncovered an old motorboat.
The keys were missing.
“Derek always took them,” Marianne said.
Thomas opened the fuel compartment.
A spare key was taped beneath the cap.
“You always complained I hid things.”
“You hid an entire life.”
He looked at her.
“I know.”
No defense.
No excuse.
Only regret.
It was the first honest thing he had given her.
The motor coughed to life.
Before they could leave the dock, Halpern appeared with Derek.
“Stop.”
His gun pointed at Thomas.
Derek’s hands were free.
Marianne looked at her son.
“Are you with him?”
Derek shook his head.
“He says he can get us out.”
Halpern kept the gun steady.
“Rourke has ordered federal teams to intercept every road. The boat is your only chance.”
Thomas said, “Why help us?”
“Because Pike killed Vale.”
“You helped frame Marianne.”
“I followed orders.”
“That is not an answer.”
Halpern’s face tightened.
“Vale was my brother.”
Marianne remembered Dr. Adrian Vale’s full name.
Halpern’s first name was Martin Vale Halpern.
“You investigated Thomas’s crash,” she said.
“I covered it up.”
“Why?”
“Pike threatened Adrian. He was already involved in the trials. I thought protecting the network would protect my brother.”
“But Pike killed him anyway.”
“Yes.”
The gun lowered.
“I copied the crime-scene photographs from your house. Vale wrote a message before he died.”
“What message?”
Halpern handed Marianne his phone.
A photograph showed blood on the kitchen floor.
Vale had traced three characters with one finger.
B4C.
Thomas frowned.
“An account code.”
Derek looked at the image.
“No. It’s a safe-deposit box.”
Everyone turned toward him.
“B4C is printed on the key inside Grandma’s music box.”
Marianne remembered a tiny silver key she had never identified.
“Which bank?”
“Cole County Savings.”
Thomas said, “That bank closed six years ago.”
“The boxes were transferred to First National.”
Halpern looked toward the house.
The gunfire had stopped.
“That means Pike or Rourke won.”
A figure appeared on the rear porch.
Rourke.
He raised his weapon.
Halpern pushed Marianne into the boat as Rourke fired.
The bullet struck Halpern in the shoulder.
Derek pulled him aboard.
Thomas accelerated away from the dock.
Rourke continued firing until the boat reached darkness.
Halpern pressed one hand against his wound.
“Take the north channel. There is an access road near the old dam.”
Marianne tore fabric from her sleeve and wrapped his shoulder.
“Why should we trust you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
He looked at Derek.
“But Vale discovered that Box B4C contains more than the ledger.”
“What else?”
“Adoption records.”
Thomas stopped breathing for a moment.
Marianne saw it.
“What adoption records?”
Halpern answered.
“Claire’s.”
Thomas looked toward the dark shoreline.
Halpern continued.
“And Derek’s.”
The boat engine was the only sound.
Marianne slowly turned toward her son.
Derek stared back at her.
“You knew?” she asked.
He shook his head.
Thomas said nothing.
Marianne looked at her husband.
“Is Derek my son?”
Thomas closed his eyes.
Before he could answer, headlights appeared along the north shore.
Dozens of vehicles moved toward the dam.
Then every phone in the boat buzzed simultaneously.
A public emergency alert appeared.
MARIANNE COLE AND THOMAS COLE WANTED IN CONNECTION WITH MULTIPLE HOMICIDES.
ARMED AND DANGEROUS.
Derek read the message.
“They made us the killers.”
Halpern gave a weak laugh.
“Then Pike and Rourke are still working together.”
Marianne looked toward the approaching lights.
“No.”
May you like
She tightened the bandage around Halpern’s wound.
“They are working together until one of them finds Box B4C.”
