Chapter 16 - The Man at the Hydro Road
Before the convoy left the hospital for the hydro road, Nathan went into the neonatal room one last time.
Owen was awake.
His tiny fist opened and closed beneath the blanket.
Nathan slipped one finger into the baby's palm.
Owen gripped it automatically.
Nathan thought about Marcus calling the twins his sons while speaking about Lily as if she were cargo from someone else's life.
He wondered what kind of man measured children by usefulness.
Rosa stood behind him.
"You are going after Sarah."
It was not a question.
Nathan nodded.
"Mara has a team."
"That also was not my question."
Nathan looked at her.
"Yes."
Rosa stepped closer.
"Then remember something."
"What?"
"You are not trying to repair seven years tonight."
Nathan frowned.
"I know."
"Do you?"
Rosa's expression was unusually stern.
"Because guilt makes men do foolish things too."
Nathan almost smiled.
"Mara told me something similar."
"Then two intelligent women are wasting their breath on you."
Nathan looked back at Owen.
Rosa softened.
"Bring Sarah home if you can."
"But do not make Lily lose her uncle while trying to prove you should have been a better brother."
The words landed harder than Nathan expected.
He had spent the entire investigation measuring himself against the moment he told Sarah to leave.
Rosa was right.
If he turned guilt into recklessness, Victor would still be controlling him through the past.
Nathan bent and kissed Owen's forehead.
Then he checked Ethan, who slept with one hand near his face.
At Lily's room, the child was awake despite the late hour.
She held the picture book Rosa had read on the first night.
"You're going to Mommy."
Nathan nodded.
"We're going to look for her."
Lily studied him.
"Take your coat."
"I have it."
"Two gloves?"
Nathan held up both hands.
Lily looked at his pocket.
"And my lucky one?"
He touched the pink mitten inside.
"Still here."
She nodded, satisfied.
"Then go."
Nathan turned toward the door.
"Uncle Nathan?"
He looked back.
"Tell Mommy I did the map right."
Nathan swallowed.
"I will."
Mara did not let Nathan drive.
He was too angry, too frightened, and too close to the center of everything that had gone wrong.
A state tactical officer drove the lead SUV toward the north ridge while Mara sat beside Nathan in the rear seat with two radios open.
The trace on Marcus's stolen phone had narrowed Sarah's last call to a three-mile section of abandoned hydro service road.
Snow made the route almost impassable.
Nathan stared through the windshield at trees bending beneath ice and thought about Sarah's final words.
Don't come alone.
Seven years earlier, he had told her to leave.
Now, even injured and hunted, she had still trusted him enough to call.
He would not fail to answer twice.
"What do we know about Victor's vehicle?" Nathan asked.
Mara checked her screen.
"His wife's black Range Rover was picked up by a traffic camera near Pine Hollow at 6:48 this morning."
"Driver?"
"Image is bad."
"Passenger?"
"Unknown."
Nathan looked at the snow outside.
"He had Claire abducted, Ellis inside my house, men inside my hospital, and access to Sarah's financial and medical records."
Mara nodded.
"Which means we assume he still has help."
"From who?"
"That is what worries me."
The convoy reached a locked Forest Service gate shortly after dark.
The padlock had been cut.
Fresh tire tracks continued beyond it.
Mara ordered the vehicles to stop.
Officers moved ahead on snowmobiles while Nathan waited beside the SUV.
He hated waiting more each hour.
His phone vibrated.
A Seattle number appeared.
Mara looked at it.
"Answer on speaker."
Nathan did.
"Dr. Pierce?"
An elderly man spoke.
"Yes."
"This is Reverend Paul Jensen."
Nathan looked at Mara.
She motioned for him to continue.
"Reverend, Detective Cole has been trying to reach you."
"I know."
The man's voice was strained.
"A state officer just arrived at my house."
Nathan thought of Sarah's note.
Daniel left evidence with Reverend Paul at St. Michael's.
"Did you know Daniel Cross?"
Paul was silent for several seconds.
"Yes."
"Did he give you a red ledger?"
The silence grew heavier.
"Who told you about that?"
"Sarah."
Paul inhaled sharply.
"She's alive?"
"We believe so."
Nathan glanced toward the dark road.
"But she is in danger."
Paul whispered something that sounded like a prayer.
"Reverend, what is in the ledger?"
"Daniel kept records for a small investment partnership he started with friends from the climbing club."
"Marcus was part of it?"
"Yes."
Nathan's jaw tightened.
"What did Daniel discover?"
"Marcus was taking money."
Paul continued.
"Not huge amounts at first."
"A few thousand here, a few thousand there."
"Then Daniel found loans under false names and payments from a man he only called V.H."
Nathan looked at Mara.
"Victor Hale."
"That was Daniel's suspicion."
Paul's voice lowered.
"Two days before Daniel died, he came to the church frightened."
"Daniel was not easily frightened."
"He told me Marcus had learned something about Sarah's family trust."
Nathan felt cold move through him.
"How?"
"Daniel had mentioned Sarah would inherit money later."
"Marcus began asking questions."
"Daniel told him it was none of his business."
Paul paused.
"Then Victor Hale contacted Marcus."
Nathan stared at the road.
"Before Daniel died?"
"Months before."
The timeline shifted again.
Victor had known Marcus before Sarah married him.
Maybe before Marcus even presented himself as her rescuer after Daniel's death.
"What did Victor want?" Mara asked.
Paul heard her through the speaker.
"Daniel believed Victor was using Marcus to get close to Sarah."
Nathan clenched his jaw.
"Why?"
"Daniel did not know."
"He only knew Victor was paying Marcus's debts."
Mara leaned closer.
"Did Daniel tell police?"
Paul exhaled.
"He planned to."
"He died the next day."
Nathan's stomach turned.
"And you kept the ledger for seven years?"
"I kept it because Daniel made me promise."
Paul's voice cracked.
"After he died, Sarah came to me."
"She was pregnant and terrified."
Nathan shut his eyes.
"With Lily."
"Yes."
"Did she know Marcus was with Daniel when he fell?"
"Yes."
"Why did she marry him?"
Paul's answer came slowly.
"Because Marcus convinced her Daniel's death had been an accident and that Daniel had stolen money from the climbing partnership."
Nathan looked at Mara.
"He reversed the story."
Paul continued.
"Sarah was grieving, pregnant, estranged from you, and frightened of raising a child alone."
"Marcus made himself indispensable."
"He paid bills."
"He drove her to appointments."
"He told her Daniel had betrayed everyone."
Nathan felt sick.
"And Victor?"
"Victor told Sarah that you wanted nothing to do with her after your argument."
The pattern was brutally simple when viewed from outside.
Nathan's anger had created one open door.
Victor had built a prison around it.
"Where is the ledger now?" Mara asked.
"The officer is taking it into evidence."
"Good."
Paul stopped them before they ended the call.
"There is one more thing."
Nathan's pulse tightened.
"What?"
"Daniel recorded Marcus during an argument."
"The recorder is with the ledger."
Nathan looked at Mara.
"What is on it?"
"I listened once."
Paul sounded ashamed of remembering.
"Marcus threatened to cut Daniel's climbing rope if Daniel exposed the theft."
Nathan went completely still.
"Those exact words?"
"Close enough that I never forgot them."
A tactical officer approached the SUV.
Mara lowered the phone.
"We found Victor's vehicle half a mile ahead."
Nathan ended the call after telling Paul to stay with police.
They moved forward on foot.
Victor's Range Rover sat angled into a snowbank with the driver's door open.
No one was inside.
The engine was still warm.
A trail of footprints led toward the hydro facility.
Two sets.
One large.
One smaller and uneven.
Nathan crouched near the smaller prints.
A drop of blood stained the snow.
"Sarah."
Mara nodded.
The prints continued toward an old concrete structure built into the mountain.
A faded sign read HYDRO SERVICE ACCESS - AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.
The metal door stood open.
Darkness waited beyond it.
Mara ordered Nathan to remain outside while the tactical team entered.
This time he did not argue because Sarah had explicitly told him not to come alone.
He stood beneath the falling snow and listened to radio traffic.
First chamber clear.
Generator room clear.
Lower corridor clear.
Then static.
A voice shouted.
"Movement!"
Nathan stepped toward the entrance.
Mara held out an arm.
"Wait."
A shot echoed from inside the mountain.
Then another.
Radio traffic exploded.
"Officer hit?"
"Negative."
"Suspect moving east tunnel."
"Female victim not located."
Nathan's heart hammered.
Mara looked at him.
"Stay here."
She ran inside.
Nathan lasted less than a minute.
Then he heard a sound from the woods behind him.
A branch broke.
He turned.
A man in a sheriff's winter uniform stepped out from behind the trees.
For one second Nathan thought it was backup.
Then he saw the gun.
The deputy aimed directly at him.
"Hands where I can see them, Doctor."
Nathan slowly raised his hands.
He did not recognize the deputy.
"Who are you?"
"Doesn't matter."
The man approached.
"Phone on the ground."
Nathan dropped it.
"Kick it away."
He did.
The deputy smiled faintly.
"Victor said you were stubborn."
Nathan's pulse steadied instead of racing.
Years in operating rooms had taught him that panic wasted movement.
"Where is my sister?"
"You really think this is about your sister?"
"It started with her."
"No."
The deputy came closer.
"It started with money."
Nathan watched the distance between the gun and the man's body.
Too far.
"Victor is finished," Nathan said.
"His accounts are being traced."
"His files are seized."
"Ellis is in custody."
The man's jaw tightened.
Nathan continued.
"Dane Mercer is talking."
That was a bluff.
It worked.
The deputy's eyes flickered.
"Dane doesn't know enough."
Nathan had confirmation now.
"But you do."
The man realized the mistake and raised the gun higher.
"Turn around."
Nathan did not move.
"Why?"
"Because we're going for a walk."
"To Victor?"
"Turn around."
Nathan slowly turned.
The deputy stepped close enough to push the gun against his back.
That was the mistake Nathan needed.
He dropped his weight, twisted sideways, and knocked the gun hand away with both arms.
The weapon fired into the snow.
Nathan drove backward into the man's chest.
They fell hard.
The deputy struck Nathan across the face.
Nathan tasted blood.
He grabbed the man's wrist as the gun came around again.
A second figure burst from the hydro entrance.
Mara shouted.
"Drop it!"
The deputy froze.
Nathan rolled away.
Mara kicked the gun clear while another officer rushed out and restrained the man.
Nathan sat in the snow breathing hard.
Mara looked at the blood on his mouth.
"I left you alone for sixty seconds."
Nathan wiped his lip.
"It was a productive minute."
She almost smiled.
Then her expression became serious.
"We found Victor's phone."
Nathan stood.
"Victor?"
"Not yet."
"Sarah?"
Mara hesitated.
That hesitation terrified him.
"We found blood and a hospital gown deeper in the east tunnel."
Nathan stared at her.
"No body."
"No."
"Then keep looking."
Mara nodded.
An officer brought the captured deputy past them.
His name was Travis Boone.
He worked in a neighboring county and had received unexplained deposits from North Cascade Consulting for three years.
As officers loaded him into a vehicle, Nathan's recovered phone rang.
Mara checked the number.
Unknown.
Nathan answered.
Victor Hale's voice came through.
"You should have stayed in your operating room, Nathan."
Nathan looked into the black mouth of the tunnel.
"Where is Sarah?"
Victor laughed softly.
"Still asking the wrong question."
"Then give me the right one."
"Ask why your father created a trust he did not allow you to manage."
Nathan's face tightened.
"My father trusted Victor Hale."
"Your father trusted no one."
Victor's voice hardened.
"Not even you."
"Where is my sister?"
"If I were you, I would worry about who reaches her first."
"Marcus or me."
Nathan's pulse jumped.
"You and Marcus are not together."
Victor said nothing.
Nathan understood.
The alliance was breaking.
"Marcus has the evidence, doesn't he?"
Nathan guessed.
Victor's silence confirmed enough.
"Goodbye, Nathan."
"Victor."
The line disconnected.
Mara looked at him.
"He and Marcus split."
Nathan stared into the tunnel.
"And Sarah is between them."
A radio call came from deep inside.
"Detective Cole."
Mara grabbed her radio.
"Go."
"We found a second exit."
"Tracks outside."
"Three people."
Nathan looked at her.
May you like
The officer continued.
"One set of prints is barefoot."
