CHAPTER 10 : WAREHOUSE SIX
Caleb was still inside a federal prison.
That meant one of two things.
Someone had copied his credentials.
Or someone inside Mercer Maritime was helping him.
Lena contacted company security while Natalie took Lily home.
I wanted to go to the warehouse immediately.
Dr. Reeves objected.
“You’ve already completed a full rehabilitation session today.”
“This is not a medical appointment.”
“No. It’s an unstable industrial site connected to people who have previously tried to kill you.”
“I survived.”
“That doesn’t make you indestructible.”
He was right.
I hated him for being right.
We compromised.
I used the wheelchair.
The decision would once have embarrassed me.
Now it allowed me to reach Warehouse Six faster and with enough energy to think clearly.
Police surrounded the building when we arrived.
The warehouse had not been used in decades. Salt and rust covered its metal walls. Broken windows faced the black water beyond the pier.
The electronic lock had been replaced only three months earlier.
Someone had opened it using Caleb’s old executive code.
“The code should have been deleted,” Lena said.
“It was.”
Our security director showed us the access report.
The system had restored Caleb’s profile at 8:42 that morning.
The change came from a board-level account.
Only six people possessed that authority.
Three had been appointed by me.
Two had served under Robert.
The sixth belonged to our temporary court administrator.
Judge Nathaniel Price.
The same man who had approved Adrian’s emergency order.
Inside the warehouse, officers discovered that the concrete floor near the eastern wall had been cut open.
A staircase descended beneath the building.
Miriam stood at the top.
“I never knew the entrance was here.”
“Adrian did,” I said.
The underground room was smaller than I expected.
There were no stacks of money.
No weapons.
Only filing cabinets, a reel-to-reel recorder, and several sealed boxes.
One cabinet had been forced open.
Inside it, we found copies of financial transactions connecting Thomas Mercer to senators, customs officers, military contractors, and foreign intermediaries.
Most of the people named were dead.
One was not.
Senator Marcus Hollis.
Hollis had built his career on promises to clean up corruption at American ports.
According to the documents, his father had helped Thomas move restricted technology through Mercer ships.
A second file contained recent financial records.
Payments from a foundation controlled by Senator Hollis had been sent to Adrian Vale.
Another series of payments had gone to a legal defense fund connected to Caleb.
“This isn’t an inheritance claim,” Lena said.
“It’s a takeover.”
They wanted the trust frozen.
The board divided.
The company’s reputation destroyed.
Once Mercer Maritime lost its government contracts and credit support, someone could purchase its terminals for a fraction of their value.
Miriam opened one of the sealed boxes.
It contained letters Grandfather had written but never sent.
In one, he admitted helping Thomas escape.
In another, he described forcing Thomas to surrender ownership.
The signed transfer document was not there.
“They took it,” I said.
A police officer approached from the rear of the vault.
“We found a second exit. Someone left through a maintenance tunnel.”
“Any cameras?”
“One.”
He handed Lena a tablet.
The recording showed a man entering the underground room shortly before we arrived.
He wore a cap and kept his face lowered.
But when he turned toward the cabinet, the camera captured him clearly.
Dr. Reeves.
The man who had helped me learn to walk again.
The man who had stood on my terrace.
The man who had been beside me when the anonymous envelope appeared.
Lena immediately reached for her phone.
Dr. Reeves was no longer waiting outside.
His car was gone.
I called him.
The line rang once.
Then a video appeared on my screen.
Dr. Reeves sat in a dim room with his hands visible on a table.
Someone stood behind the camera.
“I’m sorry, Madeline,” he said.
His voice trembled.
“They know about the medical report.”
“What report?”
“The one proving Caleb was never alone on the terrace.”
The video ended.
A new message appeared.
COME TO PIER SEVENTEEN.
NO POLICE.
May you like
BRING MIRIAM.
OR THE DOCTOR DISAPPEARS.
