Chapter 16 - MAYA’S GAME
Maya woke inside a small room near the docks.
Her wrists were not tied.
Vincent believed a child did not require restraints.
A guard sat outside the door.
The window was painted shut.
There was a metal bed, a sink, and a cracked mirror.
Maya was frightened.
She allowed herself to cry for exactly one minute.
Then she remembered Tommy.
People do not listen until something bad happens.
She needed to make someone listen before the worst happened.
Maya removed the small silver bell from her dance shoe.
Elena had sewn it inside for good luck before her recital.
She slid it beneath the door.
The guard noticed.
“What are you doing?”
“Playing a game.”
“I don’t play games.”
“You look bored.”
The guard opened the door.
He was young.
Younger than Luca’s other men.
Maya guessed he did not want to hurt children.
She asked his name.
He refused.
She called him Ben because she thought he looked like a Ben.
His real name was Anthony.
He corrected her before realizing the mistake.
Maya smiled.
“Do you have kids, Anthony?”
“No.”
“A little sister?”
He looked away.
That meant yes.
Maya told him Luca was her father.
Anthony already knew.
She told him her father had been poisoned for twelve years by people who called themselves family.
She asked whether Anthony wanted his sister to learn that family meant silence.
“Stop talking.”
“You can let me go.”
“They’ll kill me.”
“They might kill you anyway.”
The words frightened her as she said them.
But she had watched adults lie to themselves for weeks.
She knew pretending was dangerous.
Anthony stepped outside and locked the door.
Maya examined the sink.
The pipe beneath it was loose.
She unscrewed the metal ring and struck the wall repeatedly.
Three short blows.
Three long blows.
Three short blows.
Tommy had taught her the emergency signal after the convoy attack.
In the adjacent building, a dockworker heard the pattern through a ventilation shaft.
He ignored it at first.
Then it repeated.
He called police.
Meanwhile, Luca met Vincent inside an abandoned rail yard.
He carried a black case containing copies of the ledgers.
Elena sat in the surveillance vehicle with Marisol.
Luca wore braces beneath his trousers.
He had insisted on leaving the wheelchair inside the vehicle.
Gabriel stood beside him.
Vincent arrived without Maya.
“You stand now?” Vincent asked.
“For short periods.”
“Then this will hurt more.”
Gunmen surrounded them.
Vincent opened the case.
The pages were blank.
Luca looked at him.
“You were never leaving here with evidence.”
Vincent raised his weapon.
Then police sirens sounded from the dock district.
His phone rang.
Maya had been found.
May you like
Anthony had unlocked the door before fleeing.
Vincent’s plan had failed because an eight-year-old girl convinced one frightened man to make a different choice.
