Chapter 11 - GABRIEL CROFT
Julian moved in front of Maya.
Gabriel smiled.
“There he is.”
Julian’s weapon was already raised.
“Take one more step.”
Gabriel stopped.
Derek’s men raised their weapons.
Gabriel’s men did the same.
The tunnel became a room full of fingers resting against triggers.
Maya stood behind Julian.
Her heartbeat felt painfully loud.
Gabriel looked around him.
“You grew into Adrian’s posture.”
Julian’s jaw tightened.
“Do not say my father’s name.”
“Why?”
Gabriel smiled.
“He was my brother.”
“You tried to kill him.”
“According to Daniel.”
“According to him.”
Gabriel laughed.
“A state investigator who abandoned his child for twenty years.”
Maya stepped from behind Julian.
Julian tried to stop her.
She shook her head.
Gabriel looked at her.
His expression changed.
“Maya.”
She felt sick hearing her name in his voice.
“You’ve been watching me since I was a child.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel made you important.”
“I was three.”
“You were leverage.”
Julian’s face hardened.
Gabriel noticed.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The expression.”
Gabriel smiled.
“The reason this worked.”
Julian took a step forward.
“Careful.”
Gabriel lifted one hand.
Every rifle behind him shifted toward Maya.
Julian stopped instantly.
Gabriel laughed softly.
“Extraordinary.”
Maya looked at Julian.
He was shaking again.
Only slightly.
But she could see it.
Gabriel could too.
“My brother used to say you had no fear.”
Gabriel tilted his head.
“He was wrong.”
Julian’s voice became deadly calm.
“My fear is not useful to you.”
“It already is.”
Gabriel looked at Maya.
“Come here.”
“No.”
Julian answered before she could.
Gabriel ignored him.
“Maya.”
She held his gaze.
“What happens if I do?”
“You help me open Daniel’s archive.”
“And then?”
“You walk away.”
Julian laughed.
Gabriel looked at him.
“You find that amusing?”
“You have never allowed a witness to walk away in your life.”
Gabriel’s smile vanished.
Maya’s stomach tightened.
Gabriel sighed.
“My nephew always did enjoy ruining negotiations.”
“You came with twenty rifles.”
“I came prepared.”
“Same thing.”
Maya stepped closer to Julian.
Gabriel saw it.
His eyes narrowed.
“You really do love him.”
Maya froze.
Julian’s face changed.
Gabriel smiled.
“I wondered.”
“Leave her out of this.”
“You brought her into this the moment you cared.”
“No.”
Gabriel lifted an eyebrow.
“No?”
“You brought her into this twenty years before I met her.”
Silence.
Julian’s voice hardened.
“So this was never about punishing me for loving her.”
Gabriel said nothing.
“You needed Daniel’s archive.”
More silence.
“You needed Maya.”
Gabriel’s expression changed.
“And you arranged everything else to keep her where you could reach her.”
Julian stepped slightly forward.
“The debt.”
“Yes.”
“The placement agency.”
“Yes.”
“The bakery.”
Gabriel smiled.
“That part was unexpected.”
Maya’s eyes flashed.
“You didn’t arrange my second job.”
“No.”
Gabriel seemed almost impressed.
“You did that yourself.”
His smile widened.
“Desperation created opportunities I could never have planned.”
Julian looked murderous.
Gabriel continued.
“When you began leaving the penthouse late, surveillance became easier.”
Maya felt violated all over again.
“The car that followed me.”
“Yes.”
“The man outside the bakery.”
“Yes.”
“The calls with no one speaking.”
“Yes.”
Maya’s hands curled into fists.
“You made me think I was going crazy.”
Gabriel shrugged.
“Fear is useful when the subject cannot identify its source.”
Julian stepped forward.
“You’re done.”
Gabriel’s men raised rifles.
Julian stopped.
Gabriel looked at Maya again.
“The phrase.”
“No.”
“Maya.”
“No.”
“You do remember it.”
“I remember half.”
Gabriel smiled.
“That is enough.”
“How?”
“Because Daniel was sentimental.”
Gabriel took out the memory card.
“The challenge asks for two lines.”
Maya stared.
“First line?”
“When the moon goes dark.”
Her heart pounded.
“And the second?”
Gabriel’s eyes sharpened.
“You know.”
“No.”
“You will.”
Julian looked at Derek.
Derek barely moved.
But Maya saw the signal.
Three fingers.
Two.
One.
The tunnel lights went out.
Gunfire erupted.
Julian grabbed Maya.
They hit the ground.
Derek’s men fired toward Gabriel’s position.
Someone shouted.
Maya crawled behind a concrete barrier.
Julian stayed over her.
“Are you hit?”
“No.”
“Stay here.”
“Absolutely not.”
He stared at her.
“This is not the time.”
“It never is.”
A grenade rolled across the floor.
Julian’s eyes widened.
He kicked it behind a steel cabinet.
The explosion shook the room.
Maya screamed.
Derek appeared.
“Back tunnel.”
They ran.
Gabriel’s men pursued.
Bullets struck concrete.
Julian returned fire.
Maya reached the rear service passage.
Derek shoved open a rusted gate.
They emerged beside the river.
An SUV waited.
Thomas sat behind the wheel.
“Get in.”
They piled inside.
The vehicle accelerated.
Maya looked back.
Gabriel emerged from the tunnel.
He did not shoot.
He merely watched them leave.
Maya felt cold.
“He wanted us to escape.”
Julian turned.
“What?”
“He could have blocked that tunnel.”
Derek looked at Thomas.
Thomas nodded grimly.
“She’s right.”
Julian’s face hardened.
“Why?”
Maya looked down at her jacket.
Something blinked.
A tiny red light.
She tore it off.
Tracker.
Derek cursed.
Gabriel had tagged her.
Thomas swerved into another street.
“Dump it.”
Maya opened the window.
Julian stopped her.
“No.”
She stared.
Julian took the tracker.
He smiled coldly.
“Let him follow.”
Derek understood.
“Where?”
Julian looked at Thomas.
“Warehouse seventeen.”
Thomas’s face changed.
“That place is wired for demolition.”
“Exactly.”
They switched vehicles twice.
Derek sent the tracker in an empty car toward warehouse seventeen.
Gabriel’s men followed.
Twenty minutes later, surveillance cameras showed four SUVs entering the warehouse.
Julian pressed a remote trigger.
The building exploded.
Maya stared at the monitor.
“You killed them.”
Julian did not look away.
“They came to kill us.”
Her stomach turned.
She knew who he was.
Still, seeing it was different.
Julian noticed.
“Do you want me to apologize?”
Maya considered.
“No.”
He looked surprised.
“I want you to know that I hate this.”
“So do I.”
“You’re better at pretending.”
“Yes.”
Maya looked at him.
“Did you feel anything?”
Julian stared at the smoke on-screen.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“Relief that you’re alive.”
Her chest tightened.
“And guilt?”
His jaw clenched.
“Yes.”
Maya had not expected that.
Julian turned off the monitor.
“People think men like Gabriel and me are the same because we can both order violence.”
He looked at her.
“The difference is not whether we are capable of it.”
His voice was quiet.
“The difference is whether we remember the cost.”
Before Maya could answer, Derek’s phone rang.
He listened.
Then swore.
“What?”
“Gabriel wasn’t in the warehouse.”
Julian expected that.
“What else?”
Derek looked at Maya.
“He went to the hospital.”
Maya’s heart stopped.
“Dad.”
They ran.
By the time they reached Daniel’s floor, two guards were unconscious.
Rosa was gone.
Daniel’s bed was empty.
A single phone lay on the pillow.
It began ringing.
Julian answered.
Gabriel’s voice came through.
“Thank you for the diversion.”
Julian’s face turned cold.
“Where are they?”
“You know what I want.”
Maya grabbed the phone.
“You already know half the phrase.”
“I need the other half.”
“I don’t remember it.”
“Then I suggest you start.”
Maya’s breathing shook.
“If you hurt them—”
“I’ve been hurting your family since before you were born, Maya.”
Gabriel laughed softly.
“Why stop now?”
The line went dead.
Then a video arrived.
Rosa and Daniel sat tied inside a shipping container.
Water was slowly pouring in through a pipe.
A timer appeared.
02:00:00.
Two hours.
Maya stared at the screen.
Gabriel’s final message appeared beneath it.
May you like
REMEMBER THE PHRASE.
OR REMEMBER YOUR PARENTS AS CORPSES.
