Chapter 17 - The Shot Over the Hudson
Alex felt the bullet pass close enough to move the fabric of his coat.
Charles had fired at him.
Ruiz returned fire.
Charles dropped the weapon and fell against a stack of shipping crates.
Marcus released Lucia and ran toward the boat.
Julian caught Sofi before she crossed the police barrier.
Lucia crawled behind a concrete pillar.
Alex reached her.
“Are you hurt?”
She touched her throat.
“No.”
Marcus started the boat’s engine.
An agent jumped onto the stern.
Marcus swung a metal hook at him.
The agent fell into the river.
The boat surged away from the pier.
Ruiz called the harbor patrol.
Alex watched Marcus disappear into the darkness.
Charles lay on the ground with a wound in his shoulder.
He remained conscious.
Genevieve arrived inside a federal vehicle.
She saw her father being loaded into an ambulance.
For a moment, she looked like the frightened daughter she had once been.
Then Charles noticed her.
“You did this,” he said.
Genevieve stopped beside the stretcher.
“No.”
“You did this when you taught me that people were tools.”
Charles turned his face away.
Ruiz approached Lucia.
“Your recording captured Marcus admitting knowledge of the unsafe platform.”
“It also captured Charles participating in the extortion.”
Lucia looked toward the river.
“But Marcus escaped.”
“For tonight.”
Harbor patrol discovered the boat drifting two miles south.
Blood marked the railing.
Marcus was gone.
Investigators believed he entered the water or transferred to another vessel.
No body was found.
Alex returned to Ward headquarters before dawn.
Naomi had released the complete archive to regulators and the press.
Ward Global’s shares fell forty-three percent in premarket trading.
Two banks suspended credit lines.
Three directors resigned.
The company faced criminal investigations and billions in potential claims.
Julian found Alex alone in his office.
“You could withdraw the disclosure.”
“It is already public.”
“You could say your father acted alone.”
“He did not.”
“You did not authorize what happened.”
“I inherited the benefits.”
Julian sat across from him.
“What are you going to do?”
Alex looked at the city.
“Sell everything that is not necessary to protect the employees.”
“Houses.”
“Aircraft.”
“Private investments.”
“I will fund compensation before I protect my own fortune.”
Julian studied him.
“You may no longer be a billionaire.”
Alex thought of Sofi standing barefoot in the aisle.
“I almost married a woman who planned to take everything.”
“A child stopped me.”
“I think I can survive having less.”
His phone rang.
The caller was unknown.
Marcus’s voice said only six words.
May you like
“You still have not found the doctor.”
Then the line went dead.
