Chapter 8 - THE MAN BESIDE ROMAN
Owen Mercer did not reach for his weapon.
That was the first reason Roman did not shoot him.
The second was history.
Seventeen years of history.
Owen had pulled Roman out of a wrecked car, taken a knife meant for him outside a club in Queens, and once spent three months living in a hospital waiting room after a Callaway employee's daughter was abducted.
But history had become dangerous currency.
Vincent was alive.
Gideon lied.
Silas lied.
Marcus Vale had been buried under another man's name.
Roman no longer knew whether loyalty measured truth or merely patience.
"Put your gun on the floor," Roman said.
Owen's face went still.
"You believe him?"
"I believe enough to ask."
"Roman."
"Gun."
Owen slowly removed his pistol and placed it on the concrete.
"Now the backup."
Owen set down the ankle weapon.
"Knife."
He produced one from his belt.
Roman stepped back.
"Hands where I can see them."
Owen obeyed.
"You are making a mistake."
"I have made larger ones."
Through Sophia's microphone, Vincent said, "He was twenty-four.
Gideon owned him before you hired him."
Owen's jaw tightened.
"He is lying."
Roman asked, "Were you at the warehouse?"
Owen did not answer fast enough.
Roman felt something inside him break.
"Were you?"
"Yes."
Sophia heard Roman's breathing change through the earpiece.
Vincent watched her.
"Do not go to him."
"You don't get to tell me what to do."
"Sophia-" "You disappeared before our son was born."
The words hit Vincent visibly.
"You stood outside my hospital room and did not come in."
"I was trying to keep you alive."
"You were tracking Gabriel's blanket."
Vincent closed his eyes.
"Yes."
"You put that tag there?"
"Yes."
"Then you let me sleep in a stairwell for four nights."
"I did not know you were there until the second night."
Sophia slapped him.
The sound echoed through the basement.
Judge Hale looked away.
Vincent took the blow without moving.
Sophia's voice shook.
"That was for the first night."
She raised her hand again, but Vincent caught her wrist gently.
"I deserve the second."
"You deserve more than I have time for."
She pulled free.
"Where is Gabriel?"
Vincent asked.
Sophia's expression turned lethal.
"You will never hear me answer that question."
In the parallel corridor, Roman kept his weapon on Owen.
"Tell me about Marcus."
Owen stared at the floor.
"I worked security for Gideon before I worked for you."
Roman knew that.
Owen had never hidden it.
"I was assigned to watch Vincent."
"At the warehouse?"
"Yes."
"What happened?"
Owen swallowed.
"Marcus was helping him copy files.
Gideon found out.
I was told Marcus had stolen from the family and was armed."
"Was he?"
"No."
"Did you kill him?"
"Not intentionally."
Roman's eyes turned colder.
Owen forced himself to continue.
"We fought.
He fell from a loading platform.
Broke his neck."
Roman heard Sophia whisper something in the other corridor, but his attention stayed on Owen.
"Then what?"
"Gideon arrived."
"And?"
"He said Marcus could solve two problems."
Roman's stomach turned.
"The body."
Owen nodded.
"They put him in Vincent's car."
"They burned it."
"Yes."
"And you helped."
"Yes."
"You watched my family bury an empty coffin."
"Yes."
Roman's voice dropped.
"Then you came to work for me."
"Three years later."
"Why?"
Owen finally looked up.
"Because Vincent asked me to."
Roman almost laughed.
"No."
"He was alive.
He found me six months after the warehouse.
I thought he was going to kill me.
I told him I would not fight."
Owen's voice became rough.
"He said dying was easier than living with what I had done.
He told me if I wanted to pay for Marcus, I should get close to you and keep Gideon from killing the other brother too."
Roman's grip tightened.
"Seventeen years."
"Yes."
"You reported to Vincent?"
"At first."
"How long?"
"Four years."
"Then?"
"He disappeared from me too."
Roman's rage was quieter than shouting.
"Every time I asked who compromised my father's security, you knew."
"Yes."
"Every time I stood at Vincent's grave, you knew."
"Yes."
"Every anniversary."
Owen looked sick.
"Yes."
Roman stepped closer.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because Vincent made me swear."
"That answer is going to get you killed."
"I know."
Sophia had moved closer to Judge Hale.
"Who is A.C.?"
Hale looked at Vincent.
He answered.
"Amelia Callaway."
Sophia frowned.
"Who?"
Vincent looked toward the camera again.
"Our sister."
Roman heard the words and forgot Owen for one second.
"Catherine," he whispered.
Vincent's voice carried through the mic.
"Father told us Catherine died as a baby.
Catherine was a lie.
Amelia was not."
Sophia stared at Vincent.
"Roman said he remembered a grave."
"A grave for a child who existed," Vincent said.
"Just not our sister."
He explained that Silas Callaway had fathered a daughter years before Roman was born.
Her mother, a medical researcher named Dr. Anna Cole, worked on early genetic lineage projects funded by the Callaway family.
Gideon discovered the affair and used the child to blackmail Silas.
To protect his marriage and the company, Silas hid the girl's identity and paid Anna to leave.
Amelia grew up under her mother's surname.
"Then why is she trustee of First Blood?"
Sophia asked.
"Because she built the encryption."
Judge Hale said, "Amelia was the only person Vincent trusted to hold the release mechanism."
Vincent looked bitter.
"I was wrong."
"What did she do?"
Sophia asked.
Hale answered.
"She changed the trigger conditions last year."
"Can a trustee do that?"
"Not alone."
Vincent said, "She forged Silas's dead authorization and used my dormant credentials."
Sophia's eyes narrowed.
"So she wanted Gabriel's birth to activate it."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because First Blood is not just evidence anymore."
Vincent walked to a locked cabinet and opened it with a code.
Inside were financial transfer records.
"Amelia attached a control clause.
If the evidence release destroys Callaway Consolidated's board through criminal disqualification, the Continuity Trust automatically appoints an emergency voting custodian."
Sophia already knew the answer.
"A.C."
Vincent nodded.
"Amelia."
Roman's voice came through Sophia's earpiece.
"Ask him where she is."
Sophia repeated the question.
Vincent looked toward a stairwell door.
"Probably upstairs."
The lights went out.
A second later, gunfire erupted from the nursery level.
Roman shoved Owen against the wall and picked up his weapons.
"Stay behind me."
Owen stared at him.
"You trust me now?"
"No.
I need someone who knows the tunnels."
It was the closest thing to mercy Owen was going to receive.
Vincent grabbed Sophia and Judge Hale and pulled them behind a concrete pillar.
Sophia fought him.
"Do not touch me."
"Someone is shooting."
"I noticed."
Two masked men came down the stairwell.
Vincent fired once, forcing them back.
Roman and Owen entered through the side corridor.
For the first time in eleven years, the brothers saw each other face-to-face.
Roman stopped.
Vincent stopped.
Neither spoke.
They looked alike enough that Sophia suddenly understood how Roman recognized the voice before he accepted the impossible.
Roman was broader, harder, dressed in discipline.
Vincent looked like the same blood after years of running.
There was no embrace.
No relief.
Roman said, "You look terrible."
Vincent almost smiled.
"You look expensive."
Then another shot struck the pillar between them.
They moved.
Owen led them through the laundry tunnel while Roman covered the rear.
Vincent tried to take Sophia's hand.
She refused and stayed beside Hale.
When they reached the service entrance, Owen froze.
Their vehicles were burning.
"That was fast," Vincent said.
Roman glared at him.
"You invited us."
"Not them."
"Who are they?"
"Amelia's contractors."
"You are sure?"
"No."
Roman almost laughed.
"Family trait."
A black van accelerated through the gate.
Roman pulled Sophia behind a concrete barrier.
The van did not fire.
It rammed the barrier.
Owen dragged Hale clear.
Vincent opened the side door of a maintenance truck and shouted, "Inside."
Roman hated taking orders from him, but flames were spreading toward the parked cars.
They piled into the truck.
Vincent drove through a service road behind the old center.
Sophia stared at him from the passenger seat.
"You knew Judge Hale was here."
"Yes."
"Did you kidnap her?"
"No."
Hale spoke from the rear.
"He found me after I was taken."
"By whom?"
Hale answered, "A woman."
Sophia turned.
"Amelia?"
Hale nodded.
"She wanted my certification.
I refused."
"Then why were you free in the basement?"
"Vincent cut me loose twenty minutes before you arrived."
Roman looked at his brother.
"And you did not leave."
"I needed Sophia."
Roman's voice became dangerous.
"Careful."
Vincent met his eyes in the rearview mirror.
"I needed her voluntary statement to stop Amelia from controlling the trust."
Sophia snapped, "Everyone needs me to sign something."
Vincent said, "That is why you should sign nothing."
The truck turned onto an industrial road.
Owen checked the mirrors.
"We have two vehicles behind us."
Vincent accelerated.
Roman asked, "Where are we going?"
"A safe house."
"Yours?"
"No."
"Whose?"
Vincent did not answer.
Sophia's prepaid phone vibrated.
A new photograph appeared.
Dr. Ortiz's apartment door.
Then another.
Evelyn standing beside Gabriel's bassinet.
Sophia's scream tore through the truck.
"Turn around."
Roman looked at the image.
"That could be old."
A live video began playing.
Evelyn was on the floor.
One guard was unconscious beside her.
A gloved hand lifted Gabriel from the bassinet.
Sophia lunged for the steering wheel.
"TURN AROUND!"
Roman grabbed her before the truck swerved off the road.
May you like
The video ended with a woman's voice saying five words.
"Now First Blood belongs to me."
