Chapter 17 - THE OLD SHIPYARD
The abandoned shipyard spread across the waterfront like a rusted skeleton.
Broken cranes stood above empty dry docks.
The administrative building had partially collapsed during the old fire.
Gabriel parked inside a warehouse.
Camilla was forced into the central office.
He placed the final vault drive on the desk.
The missing two percent of the network files had been copied before the blackout.
Gabriel never intended to destroy them.
He intended to sell them.
Every politician, executive and port official named in the files would pay for silence.
“You are not protecting Roman,” Camilla said.
“I protected him for years.”
“You turned him into a killer.”
“I gave him the strength the Moreaus tried to remove from him.”
“You let him believe Marcel was his father.”
“He needed a target larger than me.”
Camilla stared at him.
“You are worse than Victor’s family.”
Gabriel smiled.
“That judgment means very little from you.”
Roman arrived alone.
He entered through the main warehouse carrying a pistol.
Gabriel stepped into view.
“My son.”
Roman raised the weapon.
“Do not call me that.”
“I kept you alive.”
“You kept yourself hidden.”
“I built Meridian for you.”
“You built it with me as the weapon.”
Gabriel held up the drive.
“This gives us everything.”
“The network will answer to you.”
Roman looked at Camilla.
“She knows the truth.”
“She can disappear.”
Camilla moved backward.
Roman’s pistol shifted toward Gabriel.
“No one else disappears.”
Victor listened from the administrative tunnel.
Police units surrounded the property.
Detective Fournier waited for confirmation that the drive was present.
Victor moved closer to the office.
A section of floor had collapsed.
Mateo placed a portable bridge across it.
Victor’s chair crossed slowly.
His right foot moved again.
The sensation traveled into his ankle.
Pain followed.
Victor welcomed it.
Gabriel opened a secure laptop.
The drive required two passwords.
One belonged to Marcel.
The other belonged to Victor.
“You cannot open it,” Roman said.
“Victor is coming.”
Gabriel looked toward the dark warehouse.
“He always comes when someone he loves is in danger.”
Camilla laughed bitterly.
“He does not love me.”
“He loved you once.”
“That is enough for men like Victor.”
Victor entered the office.
Gabriel smiled.
“Right on time.”
Camilla looked at him.
Her face carried bruising from the struggle in the vault.
Victor felt nothing that resembled forgiveness.
He also felt no satisfaction in seeing her afraid.
Gabriel placed a pistol against Camilla’s back.
“Enter the password.”
“No.”
“Then she dies.”
“She tried to kill me.”
“Yet you came.”
“I came for the drive.”
Gabriel looked toward Mateo.
“You came with a rescuer.”
Victor understood the trap.
Gabriel wanted him to appear emotionally attached to Camilla.
That weakness would become leverage during negotiations.
Victor moved toward the laptop.
Roman stepped between them.
“Do not touch it.”
Gabriel’s expression hardened.
“Move.”
“You lied about my father.”
“I protected you from shame.”
“You were the shame.”
Roman lowered his pistol.
Then he turned and fired into the laptop.
The bullet destroyed the drive connector.
Gabriel pushed Camilla aside and shot Roman in the shoulder.
Police entered the warehouse.
Gabriel ran toward the dry dock controls.
He pulled an emergency lever.
The floor beneath the office began opening.
The room had been built above a flooded repair chamber.
Victor’s wheelchair rolled toward the widening gap.
May you like
Camilla grabbed the handle.
For one suspended second, Victor was once again at the edge above deep water.
