Chapter 9 - The Vault)
Marcus did not move.
Cassian circled him slowly.
"The Continuity Circle spent decades building influence. Camille spent six years documenting them."
"Why not expose them?"
"Because exposure without protection gets people killed."
Camille looked toward Marcus.
"I tried."
"You disappeared."
"I survived."
"You let Elena mourn you."
Camille's face crumpled.
"I watched every birthday."
Marcus's anger exploded.
"That makes it worse."
Elena closed her eyes.
Part of her wanted Marcus to stop.
Another part needed him to say everything she could not.
Camille whispered, "If I came back, they would have taken her."
"They tried anyway."
"I know."
Marcus stared.
"You knew what Silas was doing?"
"Not until recently."
"Then why didn't you warn us?"
"I did."
"The envelopes?"
Camille nodded.
"I had people maintaining dead drops."
Cassian smiled.
"Some of those people worked for us too."
Marcus looked at Aaron.
Aaron lowered his head.
"Not me."
"I know."
For the first time, Marcus softened.
Cassian grew impatient.
"We can discuss family trauma all night, or we can conduct business."
"What do you want?"
"Elena."
"No."
"Not physically."
Marcus's expression said he did not believe him.
Cassian lifted his hands.
"We need her biometric authorization."
"For the Covenant?"
"Yes."
"Then you'll kill her."
"No."
"Your girlfriend almost put her into premature labor."
Odalys rolled her eyes.
"She was supposed to sign."
"You slapped her."
"She spat on me."
Marcus looked at her with almost amused disbelief.
"You say that as if it helps your case."
Odalys stepped forward.
Cassian stopped her.
"Enough."
He turned toward Marcus.
"Elena unlocks the archive. We take what belongs to us. You receive Camille and Aaron."
"What belongs to you?"
"The files involving Crane holdings."
"And the rest?"
"Destroyed."
Marcus laughed.
Cassian frowned.
"You find this funny?"
"You spent decades building this plan, and you still don't understand Camille."
Camille looked at Marcus.
He continued.
"If she created evidence against people powerful enough to kill her, she built redundancy."
Cassian's expression changed.
Marcus saw it.
"You don't have the only copy."
Cassian said nothing.
"Do you?"
Odalys looked toward him.
That confirmed it.
Elena immediately turned to Daniel.
"Find the redundancy."
"We're already searching."
"Start with Mom's envelopes."
Daniel dispatched teams to the rail terminal.
Meanwhile, Marcus continued buying time.
"Why Silas?"
Cassian smiled again.
"He was useful."
"He actually loved Elena."
"At first."
Elena flinched.
Cassian continued.
"That made him better."
Marcus's fists tightened.
"Silas didn't know Elena's real inheritance until three years ago."
"Correct."
"And then?"
"We offered him a choice."
"What choice?"
"Remain a middle manager with debt and a pregnant wife eventually richer than he could comprehend, or help us restructure ownership."
Elena stared at the monitor.
Three years.
Silas's affair with Odalys had started much later.
But his betrayal started three years ago.
Cassian looked toward Marcus.
"He was surprisingly easy."
Marcus said, "Cowards usually are."
A door opened upstairs.
Footsteps.
Silas entered.
Elena stood from her chair despite Priya telling her not to.
Silas looked terrible.
Unshaven.
Eyes red.
He looked at Marcus.
Then at Cassian.
"You said Elena wouldn't be hurt."
Odalys laughed.
"Now you care?"
"I said no physical harm."
"You signed her psychiatric petition," Cassian reminded him.
"That wasn't supposed to"
"To what?" Marcus asked. "Destroy her credibility?"
Silas looked down.
Marcus stepped closer.
"If my daughter dies because of what you did"
Cassian raised a gun.
"Stop."
Marcus stopped.
Silas stared at the weapon.
"You said no guns."
Cassian laughed.
"Silas, you've been adorable from the beginning."
Something shifted in Silas's expression.
For the first time he seemed to understand.
He had never been a partner.
He had been disposable.
Cassian turned back toward Marcus.
"Call Elena."
"No."
"We know she's monitoring somehow."
Elena froze.
Cassian looked directly toward Marcus's collar.
"We found the transmitter ten minutes ago."
Daniel whispered, "We may need to pull him."
Elena shook her head.
Cassian continued.
"Elena, if you're listening, your mother is alive. Your father is standing ten feet from a loaded weapon. Your husband is finally beginning to understand what he married into."
Silas looked at Odalys.
"What does that mean?"
She ignored him.
Cassian smiled at the camera.
"Come to Canada, Elena."
Marcus spoke immediately.
"No."
Cassian raised the gun toward Camille's image on the screen.
"Then she watches her mother die twice."
Elena's hands shook.
Daniel said, "He may not even have access to Camille's room."
Elena looked at the live feed.
Then she noticed something.
Camille was looking downward repeatedly.
Not randomly.
Left.
Center.
Right.
Left.
Center.
Right.
A pattern.
Elena suddenly remembered a childhood game.
Camille had taught her to communicate across crowded rooms by looking toward objects.
Left meant first letter group.
Center second.
Right third.
A ridiculous game.
Except now Camille was spelling something.
Elena watched.
Slowly.
Carefully.
She wrote the letters.
N.
O.
T.
H.
E.
R.
E.
Elena looked at Daniel.
"She's not in that building."
Marcus heard her whisper through the compromised line.
So did Cassian.
May you like
His smile disappeared.
Then every window of Mariner House shattered at once.
