Chapter 3 - The Price of a Witness
Sadi stared at the intercom as though the machine itself had threatened her.
Matteo's voice had been calm.
That made it worse.
Gabriel did not look surprised that his uncle knew her name.
He looked furious that Matteo had said it aloud.
Sadi turned toward him.
"Why does he know who I am?"
Gabriel's face was pale beneath the emergency lights.
"I was about to ask Enzo the same thing."
Enzo kept his weapon trained on the steel door.
"Not now."
"Now," Sadi said.
A burst of gunfire echoed somewhere above them.
Dust drifted from the basement ceiling.
Enzo looked at her.
"Your father worked for Giovanni Falcone Holdings before you were born."
Sadi felt the words land without making sense.
"My father fixed boilers at a community gym."
"Later."
"He taught self-defense classes for thirty dollars a night."
"Later."
Her anger rose faster than her fear.
"Stop saying later like it explains anything."
Enzo's expression tightened.
"Tomas Moreno worked security systems and internal transport for G.F.H. for six years."
Sadi shook her head.
"No."
"Yes."
"He would have told me."
"He was paid not to."
"My father was not a criminal."
Enzo flinched at the accusation even though it was not directed at him.
"I did not say he was."
Gabriel leaned against the wall while the guard checked his bandage.
Blood had soaked through another layer of gauze.
His voice remained steady.
"What did he do for the company?"
Enzo looked at him.
"He moved things that were not supposed to exist."
"Money?"
"Records."
Sadi's throat tightened.
"What records?"
Enzo glanced at the security monitors.
Matteo's men were spreading through the estate with the confidence of people who knew the floor plan.
"Medical files, trust documents, internal ledgers, sealed evidence, anything Giovanni wanted kept outside the regular books."
Gabriel's eyes narrowed.
"My grandfather used a maintenance technician as a courier?"
"Your grandfather trusted men who knew how to disappear into a building without being noticed."
Sadi thought about her father walking through the gym with a toolbox in his hand.
She remembered people greeting him without ever really looking at him.
She remembered how he always knew which doors locked from the inside.
She remembered how he taught her to notice exits before she noticed decorations.
The memories felt different now.
Contaminated.
"Why would Matteo want me?"
Enzo looked at her for too long.
"Because Tomas left with something."
Sadi's stomach turned cold.
"What?"
"Nobody knows."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"I expect you to believe men have been looking for it for fourteen years."
Gabriel looked at Enzo.
"You knew this before tonight."
It was not a question.
Enzo's silence confirmed it.
Gabriel's voice lowered.
"You brought her here without telling me."
"You asked for her."
"You knew Matteo might connect her to Tomas."
"I knew the cufflink meant an old network had resurfaced."
"That is not what I asked."
Enzo finally looked directly at him.
"I knew there was a risk."
The temperature in the room seemed to drop.
Sadi stared at Enzo.
"You used me as bait."
"No."
"You brought me to the one place where people who have been searching for my father for fourteen years would know exactly where I was."
"Gabriel was dying."
"So that made me expendable?"
Enzo took one step toward her.
"I said no."
Sadi did not move back.
"You did not have to say it."
The intercom crackled again.
Matteo sounded almost amused.
"Still discussing Tomas, Enzo?"
Everyone in the room froze.
Matteo continued.
"You always did wait too long to tell the truth."
Enzo crossed the room and ripped the speaker wire from the wall.
The voice died.
Sadi looked at him.
"He can hear us?"
"Not anymore."
"He knew what we were talking about."
Enzo glanced toward the ceiling.
"He knows this house."
Gabriel's mouth tightened.
"He helped build the security system."
Sadi looked at the monitors again.
Matteo's men had reached the second floor.
One group was moving toward the hidden passage entrance behind Gabriel's fireplace.
"Then this room is not safe."
Enzo nodded.
"No."
The guard beside Gabriel opened a floor cabinet and removed a black medical case.
"There is a garage tunnel behind the north wall."
Enzo shook his head.
"Matteo will know about it."
"What does he not know about?"
Gabriel answered.
"The wine cellar drain."
Enzo looked at him.
"That route was sealed."
"I unsealed it six months ago."
"Why?"
Gabriel gave him a flat look.
"Because I do not tell you everything either."
Even Sadi almost smiled.
The guard found a narrow panel behind a shelving unit.
Gabriel pushed away from the wall.
His knees nearly buckled.
Sadi caught his right arm before he hit the floor.
He looked down at her hand.
"I can stand."
"You are doing a poor impression of it."
"You argue too much."
"You bleed too much."
Enzo opened the hidden panel.
A set of concrete stairs descended into darkness.
The smell of damp earth rose from below.
The group started down.
The captured surgeon remained behind in the service passage, dead before he could tell them who had sent him.
Sadi hated that detail more than she wanted to admit.
Everyone who had answers seemed to die seconds before providing them.
At the bottom of the stairs, they entered an old wine cellar lined with empty stone racks.
The emergency power did not reach this part of the house.
Enzo handed Sadi a flashlight.
"Stay between me and Gabriel."
"Why?"
"Because if someone comes through that door, you run."
"And Gabriel?"
"He has people for that."
Gabriel spoke from behind them.
"She is not running alone."
Enzo looked at him.
"You can barely walk."
"Then I will barely walk faster."
They reached the far wall.
Gabriel pressed his palm against a loose stone and pushed.
A section of shelving swung inward.
Behind it was a low brick tunnel barely wide enough for one person at a time.
Sadi stared at it.
"How old is this place?"
"Old enough that my family planned for enemies before electricity."
"Comforting."
"You keep using that word incorrectly."
They entered the tunnel.
Water dripped from overhead pipes.
The guard went first.
Enzo followed.
Sadi stayed behind Gabriel because his balance was getting worse.
After fifty yards, he stopped.
His hand pressed against the brick wall.
"Give me a second."
Sadi raised the flashlight.
His lips had gone pale.
"You are losing too much blood."
"I am aware."
"The surgeon said you might not survive until morning."
"He was trying to poison me."
"That does not mean he was lying about the damage."
Gabriel looked at her.
"You always this optimistic?"
"Only around men who refuse basic medical advice."
She reached toward his bandage.
He caught her hand gently.
"Not here."
"I need to check it."
"Not in a tunnel that Matteo may flood."
Sadi stared at him.
"He can flood this?"
"Probably."
"You might have mentioned that before we entered."
A heavy mechanical groan came from behind them.
Water suddenly roared through a pipe overhead.
Gabriel's expression changed.
"Run."
The first wave hit their ankles three seconds later.
Cold water rushed down the tunnel from the cellar side.
Sadi grabbed Gabriel's good arm.
They moved faster.
The water rose to their shins.
Then their knees.
Enzo shouted from ahead.
"Door is jammed."
The guard was striking a rusted metal grate with the butt of his gun.
The tunnel behind them filled with the sound of water.
Sadi looked back.
A dark wave was coming.
"Move."
Gabriel stepped past her and kicked the lower hinge.
Pain tore across his face.
The grate did not move.
He kicked it again.
Sadi saw the blood spreading through his bandage.
"Stop."
"Not useful."
Enzo fired two shots into the corroded hinge.
The metal snapped.
Together they shoved the grate outward.
The wave struck as they crawled through.
Sadi went under.
For several terrifying seconds, she could not tell which way was up.
A hand caught the back of her shirt and pulled.
She broke the surface coughing.
Gabriel was beside her.
They had emerged into a drainage basin beneath the estate's north garden.
Rainwater and tunnel runoff swirled around their waists.
Enzo dragged the guard onto the concrete ledge.
Sadi climbed after them.
Gabriel tried to follow.
His right hand slipped.
Sadi grabbed his wrist.
Enzo caught his coat.
They pulled him onto the ledge together.
He lay still for two seconds.
Then three.
Sadi dropped beside him.
"Gabriel."
His eyes opened.
"Still here."
"That is getting less convincing."
A flashlight appeared at the far end of the drainage basin.
Then another.
Then six.
Enzo raised his weapon.
Sadi's heart sank.
Men stepped from behind the concrete pillars.
They wore black jackets marked with the Falcone security crest.
The man in front lowered his rifle when he saw Gabriel.
"Boss."
Enzo did not lower his gun.
"Code."
"Blue Seven."
Enzo relaxed slightly.
"Status?"
"East gate is ours."
"West hall?"
"Matteo's people hold it."
"Vehicles?"
"Two ready."
The man looked at Sadi.
His eyes lingered.
Gabriel noticed.
"She comes with us."
"Mr. Falcone, your uncle ordered all civilian witnesses contained."
The words were careful.
Too careful.
Gabriel slowly sat up.
"My uncle does not issue orders to my security team."
The guard swallowed.
"He said you had transferred emergency authority."
Enzo stared at him.
"When?"
"Ten minutes ago."
"Gabriel has not signed anything."
The guard looked uncomfortable.
"We were shown the authorization."
Gabriel's eyes went cold.
"Then it was forged."
The guard's radio crackled.
A woman's voice came through.
"Unit Four, confirm possession of Moreno."
Every head turned toward Sadi.
The guard reached for his radio.
Enzo raised his gun again.
"Do not answer that."
The guard hesitated.
That was enough to make Gabriel understand.
"You are not Blue Seven."
The guard fired first.
Enzo shoved Sadi behind a pillar as bullets tore across the basin.
Gabriel's loyal guard returned fire.
The drainage chamber erupted with muzzle flashes.
Sadi crouched behind concrete with cold water dripping from her hair and Gabriel's blood on her hands.
One of Matteo's men rushed around the pillar.
Sadi caught his wrist before he could aim.
She turned beneath his arm exactly the way her father had taught her.
The man slammed shoulder-first into the concrete.
His weapon fell.
Sadi kicked it away.
He stared at her in shock.
"Tomas taught you that."
She froze.
He smiled despite the blood on his lip.
"You move exactly like him."
Sadi grabbed his jacket.
"You knew my father?"
The man's smile widened.
"Everybody in G.F.H. knew Tomas Moreno."
A gunshot struck the concrete inches from Sadi's head.
Enzo dragged her back.
The fight ended thirty seconds later.
Three attackers were down.
Two ran.
The man who had recognized Sadi was still alive.
Enzo pinned him against the wall.
"Who gave Matteo the authorization?"
The man spat blood.
"The board."
Gabriel stepped closer.
"Which board?"
The man laughed.
"The one you never knew existed."
Gabriel's expression did not move.
"G.F.H.?"
The attacker looked at him with open contempt.
"Your grandfather built a kingdom under your feet, and you never even found the basement."
Sadi tightened her hands into fists.
"What did Tomas take?"
The man looked at her.
"Not what."
He smiled again.
"Who."
Sadi felt the blood drain from her face.
"What does that mean?"
The attacker glanced toward Gabriel.
"Ask him who was in the car the night your mother died."
Sadi turned slowly toward Gabriel.
He was staring at the man.
For the first time since she had met him, Gabriel Falcone looked genuinely shaken.
"What car?" Sadi asked.
Gabriel said nothing.
Sadi's voice hardened.
"Gabriel."
He finally looked at her.
"Your mother's accident happened on Route Nine."
"I know where she died."
"I was there."
The drainage basin seemed to disappear around her.
Sadi stared at him.
"What?"
May you like
Gabriel's voice dropped.
"I was seventeen years old, and I was in the second car."
