Chapter 10 – The Trap Is Set
Detective Sarah Collins stared at the burner phone for several seconds before looking up at Marcus Reed.
"We're not just protecting Elena anymore," she said. "We're going hunting."
Marcus nodded.
"So we make them think the hit was successful."
Sarah smiled slightly.
"Exactly."
Within minutes, the hospital room became part of an undercover operation.
Uniformed officers quietly escorted Elena and Margaret through a restricted hallway to a secure suite on another floor. Only four people knew their new location: Sarah, Marcus, the hospital director, and Richard Whitmore.
Elena looked back one last time.
"My room..."
Sarah finished the sentence.
"Is about to become a stage."
An hour later, a figure lay motionless beneath the blankets in Elena's original hospital bed.
It wasn't Elena.
It was a police training mannequin covered with blankets and connected to medical monitors.
The lights were dimmed.
From outside the room, it appeared that Elena was asleep.
Sarah typed a response on the burner phone.
Done. No witnesses.
She hit Send.
The reply came less than thirty seconds later.
Good. Meet at Warehouse 14. Payment in cash. Come alone.
Marcus looked over her shoulder.
"That was fast."
"They're nervous," Sarah replied. "People make mistakes when they're nervous."
At 3:15 a.m., an unmarked police van parked two blocks from an abandoned warehouse along the river.
SWAT officers quietly took positions on nearby rooftops.
Snipers watched every entrance.
Sarah clipped a hidden microphone beneath her jacket and slipped the burner phone into her pocket.
Marcus checked his watch.
"You don't have to do this yourself."
"They need to believe I'm the hitman."
"And if they recognize you?"
Sarah smiled.
"They won't."
She pulled on a baseball cap and a dark hooded jacket.
The warehouse door creaked open.
Inside, only a single hanging light illuminated the vast, empty building.
A man stood beside a folding table stacked with cash.
His face remained hidden beneath the shadow of a hood.
"You were supposed to bring proof," he said.
Sarah lowered her voice.
"She's dead."
The man nodded.
"Good."
He pushed the money forward.
Then he reached into his pocket.
Sarah tensed.
Instead of a weapon, he removed another phone.
"I'm calling the client."
Sarah's pulse quickened.
This was the moment.
The man pressed Speaker.
One ring.
Two.
Then a familiar female voice answered.
"Is it finished?"
Sarah froze.
She recognized the voice instantly.
Not Eleanor.
Not Daniel.
The caller was Victoria Langford, the Whitmore Group's Chief Financial Officer.
Richard Whitmore had trusted her for nearly twenty years.
She continued speaking.
"Once the baby is gone, transfer the remaining funds from the Cayman account. No loose ends."
Sarah gave the prearranged signal.
"Move in!"
The warehouse doors exploded open.
"Federal agents! Don't move!"
The hooded man tried to run but was tackled before reaching the exit.
His phone clattered across the concrete floor, the line still open.
On the other end, Victoria heard the shouting.
Then Sarah spoke clearly into the phone.
"Ms. Langford... this is Detective Sarah Collins."
A long silence followed.
Finally, Victoria whispered one frightened word.
"...Impossible."
Then the call disconnected.
Sarah slowly picked up the fallen phone.
Marcus walked over, shaking his head.
"We've got the middleman."
Sarah looked toward the dark river outside.
"But now..."
"We're going after the mastermind behind the money."
Miles away, Victoria Langford calmly closed her office safe.
She knew the police were coming.
But she wasn't packing clothes.
She was packing files.
May you like
Documents that could destroy the Whitmore family...
...and expose a conspiracy that had begun twenty-five years earlier.
