Chapter 7 - The Man Who Had Borrowed a Dead Name)
Marcus reached for his phone flashlight.
Daniel moved toward the front door.
The man calling himself Thomas Mercer remained seated.
"Don't go outside."
Daniel stopped.
"Why?"
"Because they are waiting."
A car engine started somewhere beyond the house.
Daniel moved toward the window.
The older man grabbed his sleeve.
"Stay away from the glass."
Marcus whispered, "Who are you?"
The man looked toward the dark hallway.
"Someone who made the mistake of helping your father."
Daniel's phone remained connected to Eleanor.
"Mom, stay with security. Lock everything."
"Daniel."
"I'll call you back."
He ended the call.
Then turned.
"Name."
The man sighed.
"Gabriel Cole."
Marcus searched his phone.
"No results."
"You won't find useful ones."
Daniel asked, "Were you with my father?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"The last seventy two hours before he disappeared."
Daniel stared.
"Why lie?"
"Because men who tell the truth about Thomas Whitmore have short lives."
"Samuel Mercer?"
"Dead."
"Did you know him?"
"Yes."
"Did he protect my family?"
"Yes."
"Did Charles kill him?"
Gabriel paused.
"I believe so."
Daniel stepped closer.
"Is my father alive?"
Before Gabriel could answer, headlights swept across the curtains.
A vehicle stopped outside.
Gabriel moved quickly.
"Basement."
Marcus looked at Daniel.
Daniel hesitated.
A hard knock struck the front door.
Then another.
A voice called, "Mr. Mercer?"
Gabriel whispered, "They are not police."
Daniel followed him.
They entered the basement.
Gabriel opened a concealed panel behind a shelving unit.
A narrow tunnel descended.
Marcus stared.
"You built this?"
"No. Thomas did."
"Thomas Whitmore?"
Gabriel nodded.
The three men entered.
Behind them, wood shattered upstairs.
Someone had forced the front door.
They moved through darkness.
Daniel could hear footsteps above.
Gabriel led them through a passage that exited near a wooded drainage area behind the house.
A car waited under trees.
They entered.
Gabriel drove.
For ten minutes no one spoke.
Then Daniel said, "You knew we were coming."
"No."
"You had an escape tunnel prepared."
"I've had it prepared for seventeen years."
Marcus looked behind them.
No headlights followed.
"Who came to the house?"
Gabriel answered, "Blackwell doesn't send employees for this kind of work."
"Then who?"
"People who owe him."
Daniel stared at the road.
"Tell me what happened twenty years ago."
Gabriel's hands tightened on the wheel.
"Your father discovered the financial network. He wanted to expose Charles."
"Why didn't he go to the government?"
"He did."
Daniel turned.
"What happened?"
"The official he contacted warned Blackwell."
Marcus swore.
"So Thomas went underground."
"For seventy two hours. That was the plan."
"And then?"
"He separated the evidence."
"Where?"
"I knew only two locations."
"Ashcroft."
"Yes."
"And?"
Gabriel looked toward Daniel.
"Your mother's apartment."
Daniel felt a chill.
"She never mentioned that."
"She didn't know."
"What did he hide there?"
"A key."
"To what?"
"I don't know."
Daniel remembered Richard's brass key.
"Was it brass?"
Gabriel looked sharply at him.
"You have it?"
"Maybe."
Gabriel suddenly turned off the main road.
Marcus asked, "Where are we going?"
"Somewhere cameras won't see us."
They stopped beneath an abandoned rail bridge.
Gabriel turned off the engine.
Daniel's patience broke.
"My father."
Gabriel looked at him.
"The last time I saw Thomas Whitmore, he was alive."
"When?"
"Six hours after his car went into the river."
Daniel stopped breathing.
Marcus leaned forward.
"Where?"
"An old freight warehouse."
"What condition was he in?"
"Terrified."
"Of Charles?"
"Not only Charles."
Daniel whispered, "Who else?"
Gabriel looked away.
"Your grandfather."
Daniel remembered the note.
Do not trust the man who tells Daniel I am dead.
"What did Grandfather do?"
"He helped build the network Charles later controlled."
Daniel could barely process it.
"My grandfather and Charles were partners?"
"In certain things."
"What things?"
"Money. Influence. Favors."
Daniel felt sick.
Thomas had not simply discovered corruption by his friend.
He had discovered his own father was part of it.
"What happened at the warehouse?"
Gabriel continued.
"Thomas had a plan to leave the country. He gave me documents. Told me where to deliver them if he did not return."
"Did he return?"
"No."
"Where did he go?"
"To meet Eleanor."
Daniel's head snapped toward him.
"My mother?"
"Yes."
"She said she never saw him again."
Gabriel's expression was unreadable.
"Then one of us was lied to."
Daniel's phone vibrated.
A message from Eleanor.
Come home. I need to tell you everything.
Daniel showed Marcus.
Gabriel stared at the screen.
Then he whispered something.
"What?"
Gabriel looked at Daniel.
"If Eleanor is finally ready to tell you what happened that night, don't interrupt her."
Daniel's anger returned.
"You know?"
"I know what Thomas believed."
"What?"
Gabriel hesitated.
"He believed your mother was the only person who could save you."
May you like
Daniel waited.
"And he believed saving you might require her to betray him."
