Chapter 13 - ALEXANDER VALE
Gabriel ran.
Grant swore and followed.
Alexander did not hurry.
That was the strangest part.
He walked through the library as though he had expected pursuit and had already calculated every second.
Gabriel reached the marble stairs just as Alexander disappeared through a side exit.
Outside, rain swept across Copley Square.
A black sedan pulled away from the curb.
Gabriel memorized the plate.
Grant grabbed his arm.
"Do not chase him."
Gabriel turned with murder in his face.
"Take your hand off me."
Grant released him.
"That is exactly what he wants."
"You say that often."
"Because men like you are easy to move when family is involved."
Gabriel stepped closer.
"Men like me?"
Grant did not flinch.
"Men who think restraint is weakness."
Hannah came through the doors behind them.
"The plate is false."
She had already searched it on Grant's terminal.
Gabriel looked toward the disappearing car.
"He wanted us to see him."
Grant nodded.
"Yes."
A library employee approached holding an envelope.
"Mr. Marlowe?"
Gabriel turned.
"A gentleman asked me to give you this."
Grant reached for it first.
Gabriel took it from him.
Inside was a photograph.
Young Gabriel at nineteen, unloading crates on the harbor.
On the back was handwriting Gabriel recognized only after several seconds.
Alexander's.
I MADE THE FIRST DOOR OPEN FOR YOU.
NOW OPEN THE LAST ONE FOR ME.
Below the sentence was a time.
11:00 P.M.
And a location.
PIER NINE.
Grant read it.
"You are not going."
Gabriel folded the note.
"Of course I am."
"Then he'll control the meeting."
"He already does."
"Gabriel."
Hannah's voice cut through both men.
"What last door?"
Gabriel looked at the photograph.
He did not know.
Back at the mansion, Eli was angry.
Not frightened.
Angry.
"You promised everything."
Gabriel had tried to omit Alexander's appearance.
Eli learned anyway because Hannah accidentally mentioned the library.
"I promised what I could tell you safely."
"That's not what you said."
Gabriel looked at Hannah.
She shook her head.
"Don't recruit me into this."
Eli crossed his arms.
"Mom told me things."
Gabriel turned back.
"What things?"
"Not if you lie first."
Gabriel almost smiled despite himself.
The boy had learned leverage quickly.
That realization was not entirely comforting.
"Fine."
Gabriel sat.
"Alexander Vale is alive."
Eli's face changed.
"The Alexander Mom said?"
"Yes."
"Did he hurt her?"
"We think he may have ordered something against her."
"The bomb?"
Gabriel hesitated.
"Maybe."
Eli looked down at the sailboat.
"Mom was scared of him."
Hannah leaned forward.
"How do you know?"
"She made me practice."
"Practice what?"
Eli rolled closer to the old bookcase.
He pulled the sailboat apart at the mast.
Gabriel stared.
A tiny brass pin came loose.
Eli inserted it into a hole beneath the shelf.
A panel opened.
Inside was a child's red backpack.
Gabriel had not seen it since before the bombing.
Eli pulled it out.
"Mom said if she ever told me 'storm warning,' I had to take this and go to Mrs. Delaney's cottage."
Gabriel felt sick.
Claire had built an escape plan with their son.
Without telling him.
"Did she ever say it?"
"The morning she died."
Gabriel stopped breathing.
"What?"
Eli nodded.
"She said 'storm warning' in the garage."
"Then why did you get in the SUV?"
Eli's face crumpled.
"I forgot."
Hannah immediately moved beside him.
"You were eight."
"I forgot."
"Eli."
Gabriel's voice broke.
The boy looked at him.
"You did not cause what happened."
"If I remembered, Mom might be alive."
Gabriel dropped to his knees in front of the chair.
"No."
Eli's eyes filled.
"You don't know."
"I do know."
Gabriel gripped the chair frame, not the boy.
"The person who built that bomb is responsible."
"The person who ordered it is responsible."
"The adults who failed to stop it are responsible."
His voice shook.
"You are not."
Eli looked at him for a long time.
Then he cried silently.
Gabriel did not tell him to stop.
He did not say everything would be okay.
He sat on the floor and stayed.
After several minutes, Eli opened the backpack.
Inside were cash, a prepaid phone, a house key, two photographs, and a sealed letter.
The letter was addressed to Eli.
Gabriel did not reach for it.
That surprised Hannah.
Eli opened it himself.
Claire's handwriting filled three pages.
My brave boy, if you are reading this, something happened that I was trying to prevent.
Eli stopped.
His hands shook.
Hannah offered to read.
He shook his head.
He continued.
There are things about your father's world I never wanted you to carry.
But there are also things about your father I never wanted his world to erase.
He loves you more than power.
That makes you his greatest strength and his greatest weakness.
Gabriel looked away.
Eli read on.
If a man named Alexander ever speaks to you, do not believe him when he says he made your father.
He opened a door.
Your father chose what he became after walking through it.
That means he can choose again.
Gabriel's throat tightened.
The final lines were different.
Written faster.
If I cannot stop what is coming, remember the sailboat.
Not the card.
The keel.
Eli frowned.
"What's the keel?"
Gabriel took the boat carefully.
He examined the bottom.
They had already removed the memory card.
But the wooden strip running along the base was slightly thicker near the stern.
Gabriel pressed it.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a tiny metal key and a folded square of waterproof paper.
The paper contained coordinates.
Hannah entered them into an offline map.
The location was in Massachusetts Bay.
Three miles offshore.
Eli whispered.
"Mom hid something in the water?"
Gabriel recognized the coordinates.
His face changed.
"No."
He looked at Hannah.
"She hid it on my boat."
Gabriel's private yacht had been dry-docked after Claire's death.
It was now stored at a secured marina south of Boston.
A marina controlled by Sebastian's company.
Gabriel called the manager.
No answer.
He called another number.
A mechanic picked up.
"Mr. Marlowe?"
"Is my yacht there?"
Silence.
"Answer me."
"It left forty minutes ago."
Gabriel stood.
"Who authorized it?"
"We got a transfer order with your signature."
Hannah closed her eyes.
Another forged authorization.
"Where is it going?"
"Pier Nine."
Gabriel looked at the note from Alexander.
11:00 P.M.
Pier Nine.
May you like
The last door was waiting on Claire's boat.
