Chapter 9 - THE PRAYER
The first explosion did not break the door.
It bent the steel frame inward and knocked dust from the ceiling.
Luca Varga looked toward the hallway with genuine surprise.
Norah smiled despite the tape cutting into her wrists.
“You underestimated stupid loyalty.”
Varga drew his pistol.
“I underestimated how quickly a wounded man can find an address.”
“You should hire better kidnappers.”
A second blast tore the lock from the wall.
Varga grabbed Daniel’s ledger and disappeared through the doorway.
The guard behind Norah raised his weapon toward the hall.
Norah tipped the chair backward.
Her shoulder hit concrete hard enough to blur her vision.
The metal chair crashed into the guard’s knees.
He stumbled.
Norah kicked both feet into his ankle.
He went down beside her.
She rolled the chair onto his wrist before he could recover.
His pistol skidded across the floor.
Gunfire erupted beyond the room.
A familiar voice shouted through the corridor.
“Norah!”
Gabriel.
She hated the relief that flooded her.
“I’m here!”
The guard reached for the fallen gun.
Norah dragged the chair across his arm and screamed Gabriel’s name again.
The door opened.
Mateo entered first.
He shot the guard in the shoulder before the man could raise the pistol.
Gabriel appeared behind him with one hand pressed to his bandaged side.
Norah stared at him.
“You are supposed to be in bed.”
He crossed the room, cut her restraints, and pulled her to her feet.
“You were kidnapped.”
“That is not medical clearance.”
His hands closed around her shoulders.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Did they touch you?”
“They tied me to a chair.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Norah looked into his face.
He was pale, furious, and more afraid than she had ever seen him.
“No.”
His eyes closed for one second.
Then the walls went back up.
“Where is Varga?”
“He took the ledger.”
Gabriel turned.
Norah caught his sleeve.
“He knows about my father.”
“So do we.”
“No.”
She tightened her grip.
“He says my father died because he tried to give A14 to you.”
Gabriel stopped.
Mateo looked between them.
“Boss?”
Gabriel’s expression changed in a way Norah could not read.
“He gave me the envelope.”
“Exactly.”
“That does not prove Varga knows why Daniel died.”
“It proves whoever hired Varga knows about the envelope.”
The implication landed.
Only a person connected to the old Moretti household should have known Daniel had met Gabriel privately.
Someone had carried a secret from fifteen years ago into the current war.
Declan appeared in the doorway with blood on his sleeve that did not seem to be his.
“Varga is moving through the west corridor.”
Gabriel raised his weapon.
Norah grabbed the pistol from the injured guard.
Gabriel looked at her.
“No.”
“I am not sitting in that chair again.”
“You have never fired one.”
“My father taught me.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened at the reminder.
Norah checked the magazine with hands that remembered a shooting range from twenty years earlier.
“I am not hunting anyone.”
“Good.”
“I am also not defenseless.”
Gabriel gave one short nod.
They moved through a corridor built without exterior windows.
The building had once been a records depot, then an illegal card room, then one of Varga’s private meeting sites.
It had three floors and almost no natural light.
Norah understood why the men called it the House with No Windows.
Every turn looked identical.
Every metal door looked capable of hiding another gun.
Mateo led.
Declan covered the rear.
Gabriel stayed beside Norah even when she told him not to.
They reached a stairwell.
A body lay on the first landing.
Black enamel cross on the lapel.
Norah crouched.
The pin was identical to the Santoro Foundation symbol.
She turned it over.
A tiny number had been engraved on the back.
14.
“Gabriel.”
He looked.
Declan swore.
“These were made for the operation.”
Norah nodded.
“This is not random charity merchandise.”
The building speakers crackled.
Varga’s voice filled the corridor.
“Gabriel Moretti.”
Gabriel looked up.
“You brought half your family into my house.”
Gabriel answered without raising his voice.
“You brought my accountant into it first.”
Norah stared at him.
Varga laughed through the speaker.
“Your accountant.”
Gabriel did not correct the phrasing.
Varga continued.
“Ask Dominic why your father called Article Fourteen the prayer.”
Gabriel’s eyes narrowed.
“Where are you?”
“The Saint sees the whole table.”
The speakers clicked off.
Dominic’s phrase again.
Norah looked at Gabriel.
“Do you know what the prayer is?”
“No.”
Declan did.
His face gave him away.
Norah turned.
“You know.”
Declan looked toward the stairwell.
“Not now.”
“Everyone keeps saying that right before another person dies.”
A shot cracked from below.
Mateo pushed them against the wall.
Two Varga men rushed the stairs.
Gabriel and Declan fired almost together.
One attacker dropped.
The other fled.
Norah’s ears rang.
Gabriel’s wound started bleeding again.
She pointed at him.
“If we live through this, I am handcuffing you to a hospital bed.”
“Threatening me with restraints is becoming a theme.”
“This is not flirting.”
Declan muttered, “It sounded a little like flirting.”
Norah glared at him.
“Keep moving.”
They reached the basement.
The final corridor ended at an open garage door.
Rain blew in.
Varga stood beside a black sedan with Daniel’s ledger in one hand.
Three armed men surrounded him.
Gabriel stepped into view.
Varga smiled.
“Still alive.”
“Disappointing?”
“Expensive.”
Norah stayed behind a concrete support with Mateo.
Gabriel’s voice remained calm.
“Who hired you?”
“You know the rules.”
“I know what you cost.”
Varga laughed.
“Then you know I was paid enough not to answer.”
“Three million?”
Varga’s smile changed.
Norah saw it.
“No.”
Gabriel saw it too.
“The stolen money did not pay you.”
Varga glanced toward Norah’s hiding place.
“She is good.”
“How much?”
“Eight.”
“Eight million.”
“In installments.”
Norah’s mind raced.
The theft they had found was only three million.
If Varga had received eight, the visible fraud was a piece of a larger reserve.
Norah kept watching Varga’s face after he admitted the eight-million-dollar contract.
“Installments means milestones.”
Varga’s smile returned.
“Does it?”
“Professional killers still use project management.”
Gabriel glanced at her.
Varga seemed entertained enough to answer.
“Two million when the contract opened.”
“Two after the safe house.”
“Correct.”
“One after Red Hook.”
Varga’s expression changed slightly.
Norah continued.
“That leaves three million after Gabriel’s confirmed death.”
Varga stopped smiling.
Gabriel saw it.
“The exact amount we found missing.”
Norah nodded.
“The visible theft was not payment already spent.”
“It was the final escrow.”
Declan swore.
That meant the three million had been deliberately made discoverable because its real function had not yet been completed.
If Gabriel died, the money would clear to Varga.
If Norah found the trail first, it pointed at Declan and fractured the family before the assassination.
Either outcome benefited the same planner.
Gabriel looked at Varga.
“Who verified milestones?”
Varga’s eyes shifted toward the garage cameras.
“The Saint.”
“A person?”
“A code.”
“Voice?”
“Sometimes male.”
“Sometimes female.”
Varga said nothing.
Norah’s heartbeat accelerated.
“The voice filter changed the pitch.”
Varga smiled again.
“Perhaps.”
“So you never knew whether the Saint was one person.”
“No.”
“Did you ever meet the client face to face?”
Varga’s silence lasted one second too long.
Once.
Norah filed that away.
“Where?”
Varga looked past her at Declan.
“At a funeral.”
“Whose?”
He laughed.
“That answer costs more than Gabriel is currently worth.”
“From Atlas?”
Varga’s eyes sharpened.
He had not expected the name.
Norah stepped from behind the column.
“Halcyon was a decoy.”
Gabriel looked at her, but she continued.
“Atlas holds the real succession money.”
Varga said nothing.
“The three million is bait.”
His smile faded.
Norah understood.
“Someone wanted us to find it.”
Gabriel turned toward her slightly.
“The invoices were meant to lead to Declan.”
“Yes.”
Varga raised the ledger.
“You are getting warmer.”
Declan stepped into the garage.
“Who is the heir?”
For the first time, Varga looked directly at him.
The reaction was tiny.
It was enough.
Declan’s face went blank.
Gabriel noticed.
“What does he know about you?”
Declan ignored him.
Varga looked almost sympathetic.
“You should have asked your mother.”
Gabriel stared at Declan.
Declan’s pistol remained steady, but his knuckles whitened.
Varga continued.
“Maeve Shaw kept one secret for thirty-five years.”
Gabriel’s voice dropped.
“What secret?”
Declan finally looked at him.
Before he could answer, one of Varga’s men fired at the lights.
The garage went dark.
Engines roared.
Gunfire flashed through blackness.
Norah dropped behind the column.
Mateo fired toward the sedan.
By the time emergency lights flickered on, Varga’s car was gone.
Daniel’s ledger was gone with him.
One wounded attacker remained on the concrete.
Gabriel crossed the garage and grabbed Declan by the shirt.
“What did Varga mean?”
Declan did not fight him.
“Let go.”
“What did your mother keep secret?”
Declan looked at Dominic, who had just entered the basement with Elena behind him.
Dominic stopped when he saw Declan’s face.
Gabriel followed his gaze.
The room became very still.
May you like
Declan finally spoke.
“My mother told me six months ago that Carlo Moretti was my father.”
