Chapter 6 - The Man on the Speaker
Gabriel did not put the ledger back.
He closed it instead.
"Adrian."
The emergency speaker crackled softly.
"I was hoping Daniel had destroyed that book."
Mia stared at the ceiling.
"You knew my father."
Adrian's answer came after a pause.
"I knew of him."
"That is not what Daniel wrote."
Gabriel stepped between Mia and the vault entrance.
"How did you know we were here?"
"Because Daniel was predictable when he was afraid."
"He trusted you enough to arrange the box."
"Once."
Adrian sighed.
"Then he became suspicious of everyone."
Marco checked the corridor.
A red light blinked above the locked vault door.
"Adrian, open the door," Gabriel said.
"Put the ledger back."
"No."
"Then Hannah's hiding place becomes public information."
Gabriel's face emptied.
Mia felt ice move through her chest.
"You do not know where she is."
Adrian chuckled softly.
"Mia, your apartment lease is held by a management company my firm created."
Her stomach dropped.
Gabriel turned to Marco.
"Call them."
Marco pulled out the shielded phone.
No signal.
Adrian spoke again.
"The vault is isolated for a reason."
Gabriel looked at the steel door.
"If anything happens to them, there is nowhere on earth you can hide."
"Threats are emotional shortcuts."
"Consider this one efficient."
Adrian's voice cooled.
"Daniel threatened me too."
Mia stepped forward.
"Before he died?"
"Yes."
"And my father?"
Silence.
Mia's hands tightened.
"Answer me."
Adrian sounded almost regretful.
"Elias Carver discovered something he was never supposed to see."
Mia stopped breathing.
Gabriel looked at her.
"What?"
Adrian continued.
"The same thing Daniel found years later."
"Which was?"
"That the Romano family had two accounting systems."
Mia frowned.
"Every criminal enterprise has hidden books."
"Not like this."
Adrian's voice became quieter.
"One set hid money from the government."
"The other hid money from Gabriel."
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
Marco looked at him.
Adrian continued.
"For almost twenty years, someone diverted legitimate revenue into Crown Harbor and dozens of related shells."
"Vittorio," Gabriel said.
"Perhaps."
"Do not play games."
"I am trying to keep you alive."
Gabriel laughed once without humor.
"You locked me in a vault."
"Because you refuse to listen anywhere else."
Mia looked at the black ledger.
"Did you kill my father?"
The speaker remained silent long enough to become an answer.
Mia's face changed.
Gabriel saw her swallow hard.
Then Adrian spoke.
"No."
"Do you know who did?"
"Yes."
Her voice shook once.
"Who?"
"Put the ledger back."
Mia stared upward.
"You are bargaining with my father's death."
"I am bargaining with your life."
"I did not ask you to."
"Your father did."
Mia went still.
Gabriel turned toward her.
"What does that mean?"
Adrian answered before she could.
"Elias made me promise that if the Crown accounts ever resurfaced, I would keep Mia out of them."
Mia laughed bitterly.
"You have done a remarkable job."
"I tried."
"Did you arrange my job at Romano Holdings?"
Another pause.
That was enough.
Mia's eyes filled with fury.
"You did."
Adrian spoke calmly.
"You were qualified."
"That is not an answer."
"I made sure your resume reached the right desk."
"Why put me inside the company if you wanted me away from the accounts?"
"Because I could watch you there."
Gabriel's expression turned dangerous.
"You have been watching one of my employees for how long?"
"Seven years."
Mia looked sick.
"Since my father died."
"Yes."
Marco whispered, "Jesus."
Adrian continued.
"Elias knew you were like him."
"You mean curious."
"He called it incapable of leaving a crooked number alone."
Despite everything, grief moved across Mia's face.
That sounded exactly like her father.
"What did he find?"
"A master authorization key."
Mia looked at the note in Daniel's ledger.
ELIAS CARVER HAS THE ORIGINAL KEY.
"The original key to what?"
"The Crown account structure."
Gabriel stepped closer to the speaker.
"And where is it?"
"Elias hid it."
"Daniel thought he had it."
"Daniel was right."
Mia shook her head.
"My father left me nothing except an old toolbox, three watches that did not work, and debt."
Adrian's voice became almost gentle.
"He left you more than you know."
A mechanical click sounded at the vault door.
Marco raised his weapon.
The red light changed to green.
Adrian spoke one final time.
"You have ninety seconds before the building's real security team arrives."
"Why help us now?" Gabriel asked.
"Because Vittorio knows you found Box 617."
"How?"
"He has someone inside the bank."
"Who?"
"I do not know."
Gabriel laughed coldly.
"Convenient."
"Believe what you want."
The vault door began opening.
"But if you take the ledger, do not go back to any Romano property."
"Why?"
Adrian's voice dropped.
"Because Vittorio just declared you medically unfit to lead the company."
Gabriel stopped.
"He cannot."
"He can with two board votes and an emergency physician certification."
Mia looked toward Dr. Price's empty place in her mind.
Gabriel understood the same thing.
"Who signed it?"
Adrian answered.
"Samuel Price."
The speaker went dead.
Marco swore.
Mia grabbed the USB drive and digital recorder from the box.
Gabriel took the ledger.
"We have to reach Hannah."
"And find out whether Price is protecting her or delivering her," Mia said.
They ran.
Mia made it ten steps before pain stole her breath.
Gabriel caught her.
"Doctor's orders."
"The doctor apparently sold you out."
"His medical advice can still be sound."
Marco opened the utility door.
Alarm bells began ringing throughout the bank.
They emerged into the service corridor just as two uniformed guards rounded the corner.
Marco raised his hands first.
"Maintenance emergency."
One guard reached for his radio.
Gabriel recognized him.
"Peter?"
The guard looked closer.
"Mr. Romano?"
Gabriel pointed toward the vault.
"Electrical fault."
Peter hesitated.
Then he saw Mia's bandages and the blood on her coat.
"Do you need an ambulance?"
"No."
Mia answered at the same moment Gabriel said, "Yes."
They looked at each other.
Peter blinked.
Marco stepped between them.
"We have transport."
The second guard's radio crackled.
"Possible intruders, lower vault."
Gabriel smiled politely.
"That sounds urgent."
The guards rushed past them.
They reached the street through the neighboring utility building.
Rain still covered Chicago in a cold silver sheet.
Marco drove.
Gabriel called Hannah from a burner phone.
No answer.
He called again.
Nothing.
Mia tried Price.
No answer.
Gabriel's face became harder with every ring.
"Drive faster."
Marco did.
Mia watched the city blur past the windows.
"If Price signed that medical declaration, he may have done it under pressure."
"Or for money."
"He threatened to sedate me for standing up."
"That proves excellent judgment, not loyalty."
She glanced at him.
"You liked him an hour ago."
"I tolerate competent people."
"You threatened to make medical history with him."
"Affection takes different forms."
Mia almost laughed.
Then her phone rang.
The sound came from her coat pocket.
She froze.
Gabriel looked at her.
"I thought they took your phone."
"They did."
The ringing continued.
Mia reached into the torn lining.
A tiny prepaid phone fell into her palm.
She stared at it.
"This is not mine."
Gabriel took it.
No number appeared.
He answered.
Vittorio's voice came through.
"Hello, Gabriel."
Marco's hands tightened on the steering wheel.
Gabriel looked at Mia's coat.
"You planted a phone on her."
"One of my men did."
"At the warehouse?"
"Before."
Mia went pale.
"The convoy."
Vittorio laughed softly.
"She really is good."
Gabriel's voice dropped.
"Where are Hannah and Leo?"
"Safe."
"That word has lost its value tonight."
"Then let me be precise."
Vittorio paused.
"They are alive."
Gabriel's entire body became still.
"If you touched them-"
"I did not."
"Where is Price?"
"With me."
Mia leaned toward the phone.
"Did he sign the declaration willingly?"
Vittorio sounded amused.
"Mia, you ask excellent questions."
"Answer one."
"No."
Gabriel looked at Marco.
"Where is he?"
"He is regretting a career built around keeping Romanos alive."
"And Hannah?"
"Not with me."
Gabriel frowned.
"You just said-"
"I said she was alive."
Vittorio's voice hardened.
"Your doctor helped her leave Mia's apartment before my team arrived."
Mia exhaled.
Gabriel did not relax.
"Where did they go?"
"If I knew, we would not be having this conversation."
"Then what do you want?"
"The ledger."
Gabriel looked at it beside Mia.
"No."
"You have not even asked what I am offering."
"I do not care."
"You will."
A muffled sound came through the phone.
Someone breathing hard.
Then Price's voice.
"Gabriel, do not give him-"
The sound cut off.
Vittorio returned.
"Bring me the ledger and Mia Carver."
Gabriel's expression changed.
"You get neither."
"Then Price dies, your board removes you at sunrise, and every newspaper in Chicago receives proof that your authorization paid for Daniel's murder."
Mia looked at Gabriel.
Vittorio continued.
"You will spend the morning defending yourself while I find Hannah and Leo."
"You will never touch that child."
"Then perhaps you should stop running and start negotiating."
The call ended.
Mia reached toward the prepaid phone.
"Do not destroy it."
Gabriel looked at her.
"Tracker."
"Exactly."
"You want him to follow us?"
"I want him to follow the phone."
Marco met her eyes in the mirror.
"Decoy."
"Give it to someone moving in the opposite direction."
Gabriel studied Mia.
"You were kidnapped six hours ago."
"I noticed."
"And you are building counter-surveillance routes."
"Spreadsheets are mostly about predicting where bad decisions end up."
Marco pulled beneath an elevated train line and passed the phone to one of his trusted men in a second vehicle.
The decoy drove south.
They went north.
Ten minutes later, Hannah finally called.
Gabriel answered before the first ring finished.
"Where are you?"
"Not telling you over a phone."
Gabriel closed his eyes briefly.
"Good."
"Price got us out before men came through Mia's lobby."
Mia exhaled.
"Is Leo okay?"
"Sleeping."
"Price?"
Hannah's voice changed.
"He stayed behind to slow them down."
Gabriel looked at Mia.
"Vittorio has him."
Hannah went silent.
Then she said something Gabriel did not expect.
"Price knew this might happen."
"What?"
"He told me if anyone came for us, I should ask you about the old greenhouse."
Gabriel stared ahead.
Marco looked at him.
"What greenhouse?" Mia asked.
Gabriel's face changed.
"My mother's."
May you like
Hannah whispered, "Price said Daniel hid something there."
