Chapter 11 - Forty-Three Minutes
Mason reached the hard drive by crawling along the concrete landing.
A second shot struck the metal handrail above him and sent sparks across the stairs.
Nobody moved after that.
Officers on the street below began shouting into radios.
The building alarm sounded.
David lay flat behind the wall with his heart hammering so hard that each beat seemed to shake his chest.
Mark pressed both hands against the floor.
"She wants the drive destroyed."
The rooftop backpack also contained a printed photograph of Mark leaving the hospital.
A black circle had been drawn around his head.
Whether Caleb meant to kill him or frighten him, the image proved surveillance continued after Sarah ran.
She was not simply fleeing.
She was still managing people from a distance.
Mason looked at him.
"Who knows you came here?"
"Sarah."
"Anyone else?"
"Maybe whoever she hired."
"Name."
"I do not know."
"Try harder."
Mark shut his eyes.
"Caleb Dunn."
Mason repeated the name into his radio.
"Who is he?"
While officers searched the surrounding rooftops, David watched Mark from the corner of his eye.
Mark was shaking.
Not theatrically.
His fingers actually trembled against the concrete.
For years David had thought of him as fearless in the irritating way successful men sometimes mistake confidence for character.
Mark negotiated hostile contracts without blinking.
He fired executives face to face.
He once walked into a lender meeting after a twenty-million-dollar deal collapsed and convinced everyone the company was still in control.
Now a red dot and two rifle shots had stripped that performance away.
"Is this what Emma felt?"
Mark whispered.
David looked at him.
"What?"
"Knowing someone wanted the evidence more than they cared whether you lived."
David's first instinct was cruelty.
He wanted to say Mark had no right to compare himself with Emma.
Then he stopped.
"Probably worse," David said.
Mark nodded as if accepting a sentence.
"I should have told you."
"Yes."
"The first day."
"Yes."
"Before the crash."
David looked toward the shattered glass.
"Yes."
Nothing else needed to be said.
For once, Mark was not allowed to hide inside explanation.
"Private security."
"For Sarah?"
"For anyone who pays."
"Armed?"
Mark gave him a look.
Mason did not need the answer.
Police locked down the surrounding blocks and sent tactical officers toward the neighboring rooftops.
David looked at his watch.
Thirty-nine minutes remained before the scheduled confession email was supposed to send.
"Can we use the drive here?"
Mark nodded.
"Executive server room."
"Then move."
Mason held up a hand.
"Nobody moves until the shooter is contained."
David's phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
He showed Mason.
Mason motioned for him to answer on speaker.
"Hello?"
Sarah's voice came through.
Calm.
Almost amused.
"You always did hate being late."
David's jaw tightened.
"Where are you?"
"Not where you are looking."
"You took Leo."
"I borrowed him."
David's vision went red.
Mason put a hand on his shoulder.
Sarah continued.
"And I returned him unharmed."
"You locked an eight-year-old in a storage unit."
"For twenty minutes."
"You lied that I was injured to get him into your car."
"He came because he loves you."
"Do not say his name again."
A pause.
Then Sarah laughed softly.
"Still dramatic when you are scared."
David forced himself to breathe.
"You sent someone to shoot Mark."
"Did I?"
"You know exactly where we are."
"Everyone knows where Halston headquarters is."
"What do you want?"
"The drive Emma hid."
"No."
"The photograph."
"No."
"The bank documents."
"No."
"Then you are going to have an unpleasant afternoon."
"You mean the fake confession?"
Silence.
David felt a small shift in control.
"Mark told me."
Sarah's voice cooled.
"Mark tells everyone everything when he is afraid."
"He told me about the transfers too."
"Good."
"You used my credentials."
"Your credentials approved the payments."
"You forged the activity."
"Can you prove that before the board removes you?"
Mason quietly typed instructions to another officer to trace the call.
David kept Sarah talking.
"Why marry me?"
"You really need to ask?"
"I want to hear you say it."
"Access."
The word came without hesitation.
David looked at Mark.
Mark dropped his eyes.
"To the company?"
"To everything."
"Including Leo?"
Sarah was quiet for a moment.
"Leo was collateral."
David's hand curled into a fist.
"He loved you."
"That was his mistake."
Mason's expression changed.
He heard it too.
The cruelty was casual.
That made it worse.
"Emma loved people she should not have trusted either," Sarah said.
David's throat tightened.
"You killed her."
"Henry killed her."
"You paid Henry."
"I paid Henry to delay her."
"You told Mark the result solved your problem."
Sarah went silent.
"You found the phone."
"Yes."
"Then you know enough to be dangerous and not enough to be right."
"Tell me what I am missing."
"No."
"Scared?"
Sarah laughed.
"Of you?"
"Of Emma."
The line went quiet.
David pressed.
"Two years after she died, she is still the reason you are running."
"Emma was a bored housewife who opened files that did not concern her."
"And she beat you."
Sarah's breathing changed.
"She is dead."
"And you are still trying to destroy what she left."
The call ended.
Mason looked at the officer tracing it.
"Location?"
"Three towers."
"Area?"
"Downtown west side."
Too broad.
David checked his watch.
Thirty-three minutes.
A radio call came in.
Tactical officers had found a firing position on the roof of a parking structure across the street.
No shooter.
They recovered two shell casings and a black backpack.
Inside was a collapsible rifle case.
The rifle was gone.
A parking receipt showed entry twenty-one minutes earlier.
Security cameras might identify the vehicle.
Mason made the decision.
"We move through the interior corridor to the server room."
They left the stairwell through level twelve and crossed the locked office floor.
Mark carried nothing.
Mason held the drive.
David stayed between two officers.
The server room required two-factor executive access.
David provided his badge.
Mark entered a rotating code from his phone.
The system opened.
"How does the drive stop the email?"
David asked.
Mark pointed toward an isolated terminal.
"Sarah used a dead-man scheduler tied to a private relay server."
"English."
"If the system does not receive the right cancellation token before noon, the messages release automatically."
"Where is the token?"
"Encrypted on Emma's drive."
"Why would Sarah put it there?"
"She did not."
Mark looked at him.
"I did."
David stared.
"When?"
"Three months ago."
"Why?"
"Because I knew Sarah was planning to frame you."
"You knew three months ago and said nothing."
"I was trying to build a way out."
"For yourself."
Mark did not deny it.
Mason connected the drive to the isolated terminal.
Mark entered a password.
The screen displayed a directory containing archived security video, transaction logs, and a file named HALT.
Mark opened it.
A string of numbers and letters appeared.
He copied it into a secure portal.
A countdown displayed on screen.
00:27:14.
"Why is it still counting?"
David asked.
"Because the relay has to confirm."
"How long?"
"Usually thirty seconds."
Thirty seconds passed.
No confirmation.
One minute.
Nothing.
Mark's face changed.
"She changed the endpoint."
"Can you find it?"
"Maybe."
"You have twenty-six minutes."
"I can see the clock."
Mark began typing.
Priya joined remotely through a secure police connection.
Together they traced the scheduler through three virtual servers.
The countdown reached twenty minutes.
Then fifteen.
Then ten.
Mark wiped sweat from his forehead.
"She nested a second relay."
Priya's voice came through the speaker.
"I see it."
"Can you kill it?"
"Not without the signing certificate."
David looked at Mark.
"Where is that?"
Mark closed his eyes.
"Sarah has it."
"Then what good is the drive?"
"There is a backup certificate."
"Where?"
Mark opened another directory.
"Camera archive."
"Why there?"
"Because she never looked at old building video."
The countdown reached six minutes.
Mark found the file.
Priya loaded it.
Four minutes.
The relay rejected the certificate.
"Again," Mark said.
Two minutes.
Priya changed the timestamp.
One minute.
David watched the numbers fall.
00:00:30.
00:00:20.
00:00:10.
Mark whispered.
"Come on."
00:00:04.
The screen froze.
Then changed.
DELIVERY CANCELLED.
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
David exhaled.
Michael leaned against the wall.
Mark dropped into a chair.
Mason's phone rang immediately.
He listened.
His expression did not improve.
"What?"
David asked.
Mason ended the call.
"The scheduled blast was stopped."
"But?"
"One message was sent manually eleven minutes ago."
David felt his stomach drop.
"To who?"
"The Halston board."
"What did it say?"
Mason looked at him.
May you like
"That you stole eleven point eight million dollars last night and intend to flee the country."
