Chapter 14 - FIND NORTH
Damian Hamilton had frightened thousands of people in his life.
He had never been as frightened as he was when Caitlyn disappeared through the warehouse wall.
Vincent knew better than to say that aloud.
He knew because Damian had stopped speaking.
Silence in Damian usually meant control.
This silence meant the opposite.
For twenty-three minutes, Damian stood in a temporary command room while security teams tore apart the Fulton terminal.
They found the hidden passage.
They found the service tunnel.
They found the van used to move Caitlyn.
They did not find Caitlyn.
Eleanor had vanished too.
Vincent placed a map on the table.
"The tunnel exits four blocks south."
Damian stared at it.
"Traffic cameras?"
"Looped."
"Plate readers?"
"Three possible vans."
"Find all three."
"Already doing it."
Malcolm arrived despite being ordered not to.
Damian looked at him once.
"Leave."
"No."
"That was not a request."
"I know."
Malcolm put a folder on the table.
"Which is why I ignored it."
Damian's jaw tightened.
Vincent stepped between them before family history became physical.
"What is that?"
"Northstar property transfers."
Malcolm opened the folder.
"Mercer used inactive medical facilities because equipment purchases look normal and power usage is easy to bury."
"How many?" Damian asked.
"Seven in the region."
Vincent swore.
Damian did not.
"Search all seven."
"We are."
Vincent's phone rang.
He answered.
"Talk."
A technician spoke quickly on the other end.
Vincent frowned.
"Say that again."
Damian looked at him.
Vincent raised one finger.
"Which network?"
He listened.
Then his eyes snapped to Damian.
"Pier Nine."
Damian went completely still.
"What about it?"
Vincent switched to speaker.
A network engineer's voice filled the room.
"We were scanning dormant Hamilton logistics systems for unusual traffic."
"One of the medical-monitor VLANs at Pier Nine came online six minutes ago."
"The device name changed."
Damian's eyes narrowed.
"To what?"
Vincent already knew from the engineer's tone.
"CAITLYN_ELMORE_PIER9_NOAH_ALIVE."
The room changed.
Damian closed his eyes for one second.
Only one.
Then he looked at Vincent.
"Move everyone."
Malcolm grabbed the map.
"Pier Nine has three buildings."
"The medical annex is underneath Warehouse C."
Damian turned on him.
"Underneath?"
"Old maritime clinic."
"It was sealed after a flood."
"Apparently not well enough."
Damian reached for his coat.
Vincent blocked him.
"Wait."
Damian's eyes became dangerous.
"Move."
"No."
Every security officer in the room became very interested in something else.
Vincent held his ground.
"If Caitlyn got a message out, Mercer may notice."
"We rush the building, he moves them."
"Or worse."
Damian's hand curled once.
"Then what do you suggest?"
"We make him think we are still searching Manhattan."
Vincent pointed to the press feed.
"Leak that you are meeting federal investigators downtown."
Malcolm understood.
"Mercer watches the news."
"He will think Damian is occupied."
Damian hated the delay.
They could all see it.
He nodded anyway.
"Do it."
At Pier Nine, Caitlyn sat beside Noah and watched the red camera light.
No one had entered for eleven minutes.
That worried her.
She did not know whether the device-name change had worked.
She did not know whether anyone was scanning the network.
She did not know whether Mercer had noticed.
She only knew she had done something.
That mattered.
Noah's eyes were half closed.
Caitlyn touched his forehead.
"Stay with me."
One squeeze.
His skin felt warm.
Too warm.
She checked the monitor.
Heart rate elevated.
Temperature 100.8.
"No."
Caitlyn looked at the IV.
The fluid bag was almost empty.
She pressed the nurse-call button.
Nothing happened.
Of course.
She opened cabinets.
Saline.
Gauze.
Medication bottles.
She knew enough from three years of hospital rooms to know what she did not know.
She was not going to experiment with medication.
The door opened.
Kenneth Rowan entered.
His face was bruised from Damian's interrogation.
Caitlyn's body went cold.
"You."
Rowan shut the door.
"Keep your voice down."
"You took him from Silver Pines."
"I moved him."
"You kidnapped him."
Rowan looked ashamed.
"Mercer said nobody would be hurt."
Caitlyn laughed bitterly.
"Do criminals have a handbook with that sentence on the first page?"
He went to Noah's bed.
Caitlyn blocked him.
"Don't touch him."
"His temperature is up."
"I noticed."
"Then move."
"Tell me what you're giving him."
Rowan showed her the medication.
She read the label.
Antibiotic.
Noah had taken it before.
Caitlyn stepped aside but remained close.
Rowan adjusted the IV.
"You need to get him out of here."
Caitlyn stared.
"Excuse me?"
"Mercer is losing control."
"That's supposed to make me feel better?"
"No."
Rowan's hands trembled.
"Eleanor wants out."
"Mercer knows the ledger is open."
"How?"
"Because the company article changed."
Caitlyn frowned.
"What article?"
"Hamilton Holdings released a statement saying you are not a suspect."
Her heart jumped.
Damian.
Rowan continued.
"Then there was a report Damian is meeting federal investigators."
Caitlyn almost smiled.
He was moving.
She knew it.
"Where is Mercer?"
"Upstairs."
"How many guards?"
Rowan looked toward the camera.
"I can't."
"You already kidnapped a disabled patient."
Caitlyn stepped closer.
"You do not get to protect your conscience one sentence at a time."
His face tightened.
"Four on this level."
"Six upstairs."
"Eleanor has two of her own."
"Exits?"
"Service stairs and freight elevator."
"Water access?"
He looked at her.
"Yes."
"Where?"
"Tunnel to Berth Four."
Caitlyn's mind moved quickly.
"If Mercer runs, he uses the water."
Rowan did not answer.
That was enough.
"Help me."
"I can't."
"You can."
"He has my son."
Caitlyn stopped.
Rowan's eyes filled.
"Not here."
"Somewhere else."
"He has been threatening him for six months."
The pattern repeated.
Graham's daughter.
Eleanor's secrets.
Rowan's son.
Mercer built loyalty out of fear and called it control.
Caitlyn understood something then.
That was why Damian was different.
People feared him.
Yes.
But Vincent contradicted him.
Employees argued in meetings.
Caitlyn herself had told him he could not talk to her a certain way, and she was still alive.
Fear existed around Damian.
Mercer required it.
The difference mattered.
"What is your son's name?"
"Evan."
"How old?"
"Sixteen."
"Then help me get Noah out, and Damian will find Evan."
Rowan laughed bitterly.
"You trust him that much?"
Caitlyn thought of the jet.
No one wakes her.
The coat around her shoulders.
Damian bleeding outside the annex.
His hand stopping before touching her.
May I?
"Yes."
The answer surprised her with its certainty.
Rowan stared.
Then he looked at Noah.
"Give me ten minutes."
He left.
Caitlyn sat down again.
Noah squeezed once.
"Yes, I know."
She smiled weakly.
"I'm trusting the terrifying man."
Noah's mouth moved.
"Like."
Caitlyn froze.
"What?"
He tried again.
"You... like."
Her face heated.
"Your neurological recovery is becoming inconvenient."
Noah's eyes almost smiled.
The door unlocked eight minutes later.
Rowan returned with an empty wheelchair.
"Now."
Caitlyn moved.
Together they transferred Noah into the chair.
Rowan disconnected the monitor.
The camera light blinked.
"They will know in thirty seconds."
Caitlyn pushed Noah into the hallway.
They moved left.
The corridor smelled damp.
Old pipes ran across the ceiling.
A guard stepped around the corner.
Rowan punched him before Caitlyn could react.
The guard fell against the wall.
Caitlyn stared.
"Physical therapist?"
"College wrestling."
"Useful."
An alarm began ringing.
"Less useful now," Rowan said.
They ran.
Caitlyn pushed the wheelchair as fast as she could.
Footsteps thundered behind them.
Rowan opened a steel door.
"Stairs."
Caitlyn looked at Noah.
"He can't."
"Freight elevator is the other direction."
Voices approached.
Caitlyn heard Mercer shouting.
"Take him."
Rowan lifted Noah from the chair.
Caitlyn folded it as best she could.
They descended one flight.
Then gunfire cracked above.
Rowan stumbled.
Caitlyn screamed.
Blood spread across his shoulder.
"Keep moving."
"You're hit."
"Keep moving."
A second shot struck the wall.
They reached the lower landing.
The steel door ahead burst open.
Caitlyn froze.
A man entered with a weapon raised.
Then she recognized him.
Vincent.
"Down."
He fired past them.
The man on the stairs fell backward.
Caitlyn almost collapsed from relief.
"Damian?"
Vincent pointed toward the tunnel.
"Coming from the other side."
Caitlyn took Noah from Rowan as another security man arrived.
They moved toward Berth Four.
The tunnel lights flickered.
Then went red.
A voice came through the loudspeaker.
Mercer.
"Caitlyn."
She stopped.
Vincent grabbed her arm.
"Keep moving."
Mercer's voice continued.
"If you reach the water, the building burns."
Caitlyn looked at Vincent.
"He's bluffing."
Vincent's face said he was not sure.
Mercer laughed over the speaker.
"Ask Damian what happened at the courthouse."
Caitlyn's stomach dropped.
Vincent spoke into his radio.
"Boss, possible ignition threat."
No answer.
Static filled the line.
Then an explosion shook the tunnel.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Noah made a frightened sound.
Caitlyn wrapped herself around him.
"I'm here."
Vincent looked toward the far end.
Smoke began rolling toward them.
"Move."
They ran for the water.
A second blast sounded above.
The ceiling lights died.
Then a flashlight beam appeared ahead.
Damian emerged through the smoke.
He saw Caitlyn.
For the first time since she had known him, every piece of control left his face.
"Caitlyn."
She nearly laughed and cried at once.
"You took your time."
He crossed the distance.
His hands stopped at her shoulders.
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
"Noah?"
"Fever, but stable."
Damian looked at her as if he needed to verify she was real.
Then the steel door behind them slammed open.
Mercer's men were coming.
Damian's expression changed instantly.
"Get them out."
Vincent nodded.
Caitlyn grabbed Damian's sleeve.
"Come with us."
"I will."
"That sounded like a lie."
"It was a scheduling estimate."
Despite the smoke, she almost smiled.
"Damian."
His eyes met hers.
"Trust me."
Caitlyn hated how much she wanted to.
She nodded.
Vincent pushed her toward the exit.
Caitlyn looked back once.
Damian stood alone in the red emergency light as armed men approached through the smoke.
May you like
Then the tunnel door closed between them.
