Chapter 15 - THE LAWYER WHO CAME BACK
The first bullet shattered the cabin window.
Gabriel dragged Alexander to the floor.
Glass rained across the bed.
Outside, two black SUVs blocked the pier entrance.
Men moved between shipping containers.
Grant's surveillance team returned fire from the far warehouse roof.
Hannah stayed low inside the utility van.
She hated guns.
She hated being trapped more.
Grant shoved a radio into her hand.
"Stay down."
"Eli is at the mansion."
"We have agents there."
"Agents Sebastian doesn't know."
"Correct."
Hannah looked toward the yacht.
"Can Gabriel get out?"
Grant did not answer.
That was answer enough.
On the boat, Gabriel pulled the red box under the bed.
Alexander looked at him.
"Destroy the ledger."
"No."
"If Keane gets it, everyone tied to those accounts becomes disposable."
"Including you?"
"Especially me."
Gabriel almost smiled.
"Now we're speaking honestly."
Another round struck the hull.
Alexander crawled toward a side hatch.
"There is an emergency tender below."
Gabriel stopped him.
"How do you know my yacht?"
Alexander stared at him.
Even now Gabriel was collecting lies.
"Because I had it built."
Gabriel froze.
"What?"
"The financing came through one of my trusts."
"I paid for this boat."
"You paid a company I owned."
Gabriel almost laughed at the absurdity.
Alexander had touched his life everywhere.
Warehouse.
Boat.
Companies.
Perhaps even friendships.
"You really do think you made me."
Alexander's eyes were tired.
"No."
"I think I made the mistake of believing I could."
That honesty landed differently.
They reached the lower deck.
The tender hatch was jammed.
Gabriel kicked it open.
Cold harbor air rushed in.
A small inflatable craft hung above the water.
"You first."
Alexander shook his head.
"You don't trust me."
"Correct."
Alexander climbed down.
Gabriel followed with the red box strapped inside his coat.
The tender dropped into black water.
They pushed away from the yacht as gunfire continued above.
Then the yacht exploded.
A wall of heat threw both men into the water.
Hannah saw the fireball from shore.
Her heart stopped.
"Gabriel!"
Grant grabbed her before she ran into the open.
"Wait."
"Let go of me."
"You go out there, you become another target."
She fought him.
Then a small light flashed twice beyond the burning yacht.
A flashlight.
Three short bursts.
Pause.
Three more.
Grant exhaled.
"They're alive."
Hannah stopped fighting.
A federal boat reached Gabriel and Alexander minutes later.
Gabriel climbed aboard first.
His face was cut.
One eyebrow bled.
He still held the red box.
Alexander came behind him coughing seawater.
Grant's team took both men to an off-site federal facility.
Gabriel refused medical treatment until Hannah called the mansion.
Sebastian answered.
"Eli is safe."
"Put him on."
Eli's voice came through.
"Dad?"
Gabriel closed his eyes.
"I'm here."
"The boat exploded."
Gabriel looked at Hannah.
"How do you know?"
"It was on the news already."
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
Someone had alerted media within minutes.
"I'm okay."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
Eli paused.
"Aunt Izzy called."
Gabriel went still.
"When?"
"Ten minutes ago."
"What did she say?"
"She wanted me to go with her."
Hannah's blood ran cold.
"Did you?"
"No."
Gabriel exhaled.
"Why not?"
Eli sounded almost offended.
"Because everyone keeps saying you sent them."
For the first time that night, Gabriel smiled.
"Good."
"She got mad."
"Where is she now?"
"Uncle Sebastian made her leave."
Gabriel looked at Alexander.
The older man watched him carefully.
"Eli, stay with Sebastian until I come home."
"Okay."
Then the boy added quietly.
"Dad?"
"Yes."
"Mom knew Aunt Izzy was in trouble."
"I know."
"Don't hurt her before you ask why."
Gabriel's face changed.
Hannah watched him.
"I won't."
It was not an easy promise.
That made it meaningful.
After the call, Grant placed Daniel Keane's photograph on the table.
"He led the attack at the pier."
Gabriel stared.
"You saw him?"
"One of our cameras did."
Grant showed a grainy image of Keane stepping from an SUV.
Alive.
No injuries.
"Your attorney has been working with Vale's network for at least six years."
Alexander laughed bitterly.
"Not my network anymore."
Grant looked at him.
"You don't get to resign retroactively."
Alexander ignored him.
"Keane took over operational cells three years ago."
Gabriel turned.
"You let him."
"I was trying to dismantle them."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"No."
Alexander looked exhausted.
"I expect you to verify it."
Grant opened another file.
"Keane was recruited as a legal intermediary."
"For what?"
"Asset shielding."
"Then he learned enough to become useful."
"And dangerous."
Hannah looked at the ledger.
"Why would Claire write that Alexander was dangerous if Keane was taking over?"
Alexander answered.
"Because she never knew where I ended and Keane began."
"Did you meet Claire?"
"Once."
Gabriel stood.
"When?"
"Nine days before she died."
"You were in Boston."
"Yes."
"You spoke to my wife without telling me."
"Yes."
Gabriel's hands curled.
Alexander continued before he could move.
"She found me."
That stopped him.
"How?"
"She followed the shell companies better than your people ever did."
Alexander almost sounded proud.
Gabriel hated that too.
"What did she want?"
"A way out."
Gabriel's face went blank.
"From me?"
"From all of it."
Alexander looked at him.
"She wanted to take Eli and leave Boston until she could expose the network safely."
Gabriel felt betrayed even by a dead woman's fear.
Hannah saw it.
"She was trying to keep Eli alive."
Gabriel looked at her.
"By leaving me."
"By leaving danger."
"I was danger."
Hannah did not soften it.
"Part of it, yes."
The truth hurt more because Gabriel knew she was right.
Grant interrupted.
"We have a bigger problem."
He turned a monitor toward them.
News channels were reporting a federal investigation into Gabriel Marlowe.
Anonymous sources claimed he ran illegal medical trials on his disabled son.
The forged documents from the lab had been leaked.
Claire's fake recording had been released too.
Her synthetic voice told the world she feared her husband.
Gabriel stared at the screen.
Within minutes, every lie they had discovered privately became public truth.
Then another headline appeared.
MARLOWE SON REMOVED FROM HOME PENDING CHILD SAFETY REVIEW.
Gabriel stood.
"What?"
Hannah called Sebastian.
No answer.
She called Eli.
No answer.
Gabriel called the mansion security line.
A woman answered.
"Massachusetts Department of Children and Families."
Gabriel's face turned white.
"Where is my son?"
The woman hesitated.
"Mr. Marlowe, Eli has been placed in emergency protective custody."
"By whose order?"
"A judge signed it twenty minutes ago."
Grant reached for the phone.
Gabriel pulled it away.
"Where is he?"
"I cannot disclose placement information over this line."
Gabriel's breathing changed.
"Who filed the petition?"
The woman paused.
"A family member."
Gabriel already knew.
Then she said the name.
May you like
"Isabelle Marlowe."
