Chapter 7 - MARCO’S LAST TRUTH
Marco fell out of the camera frame.
Harlan reached toward the remote.
The monitor went black.
The timer showed thirty-eight seconds.
Tony entered Carlo’s birthday.
Access denied.
“Try the year backward,” I said.
Access denied.
The child nearest Bruno began sobbing.
“I want my mom.”
Bruno did not move.
The technician examined the keypad.
“Six numbers.”
Tony looked at me.
“Carlo’s death date.”
I entered it.
The timer stopped at four seconds.
Nobody breathed.
The technician disconnected the receiver.
Only then did Bruno rise.
The children threw their arms around him.
He stood perfectly still while they cried into his fur.
I turned toward the dark monitor.
Marco had betrayed me.
He had helped chase Elena.
He had moved children for Harlan.
He had killed Carlo.
Then, at the end, he gave us the code.
One act of truth did not erase twelve years of lies.
It still saved four children.
Life rarely gives us the clean villains we want.
Sometimes a man dies as both traitor and witness.
Agent Shaw’s voice came through my radio.
“The ferry left early.”
“We are in pursuit.”
“Harlan?”
“Unknown.”
“Marco?”
“No signal.”
The rescued children were moved outside.
Smoke rose from the warehouse roof as the accelerant ignited.
Firefighters arrived.
Tony and I drove toward the river terminal.
Bruno sat in the back, his fur covered in dust and small fingerprints.
At the pier, federal boats moved through the East River.
The ferry headed south beneath the Queensboro Bridge.
A black SUV raced away from the terminal.
Bruno stood and barked at it.
“Harlan,” Tony said.
I turned the car.
Agent Shaw ordered me to stop.
I ignored her.
The SUV cut through industrial streets toward Maspeth.
My driver closed the distance.
A passenger leaned from the window and fired.
The windshield cracked.
Tony returned fire.
The SUV entered an abandoned rail yard.
Then it stopped.
Harlan stepped out holding a phone.
No children were with him.
Marco’s body lay in the rear seat.
“You should have stayed at the warehouse,” Harlan called.
“You should have stayed out of Queens.”
He laughed.
“Queens already belonged to men willing to sell it.”
“Your sister understood.”
“Where is she?”
“Not with me.”
That answer felt wrong.
Harlan raised the phone.
“The ferry has explosives beneath the lower deck.”
“If I release this button, everyone aboard dies.”
I stepped from my car.
Bruno remained beside me.
“What do you want?”
“Your shipping codes.”
“You already have Sofia’s.”
“I want the military contracts.”
Those routes moved secure government equipment through private docks.
Harlan could sell access to foreign buyers.
This was larger than trafficking.
Children had been one stream in an empire built from stolen movement.
“You will never use them,” I said.
“I will if you care whether the ferry reaches shore.”
Tony whispered.
“Boss, Shaw’s team is trying to jam the signal.”
Harlan heard him.
He smiled.
“Jamming activates the dead switch.”
I removed my phone.
The codes were stored inside an encrypted application.
I walked toward him.
Bruno moved with me.
Harlan aimed at the dog.
“One more step.”
I stopped.
Then a voice came from behind the rail cars.
Sofia.
“Do not give him anything.”
She held a gun against Harlan’s driver.
Harlan looked at her.
“You were supposed to be in custody.”
Sofia smiled.
May you like
“I have been escaping Rossi men since I was fourteen.”
Then she fired at Harlan’s phone.
