Chapter 5 - TEN MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT
Gabriel drew first.
His pistol cleared the holster before anyone else moved.
Elias slammed one hand against the arm of his wheelchair. A concealed compartment opened, and a compact weapon dropped into his lap.
Clara stepped between them without thinking.
“Move,” Gabriel ordered.
She did not.
Dominic sagged against the stone passage, leaving blood on the wall.
“He has men outside,” he gasped. “They’re waiting for the power.”
Gabriel aimed past Clara.
“He’s lying.”
“Then let him speak,” Elias said.
“You heard him. He broke into the house.”
“I heard a wounded man accuse you.”
Gabriel’s voice sharpened. “Get away from him, Clara.”
It was the first time he had used her first name.
She backed toward Elias instead.
Gabriel’s expression hardened.
The lights went out.
Darkness swallowed the hall.
Someone fired.
The muzzle flash lit Gabriel’s face.
The bullet struck the clock inches above Dominic’s head.
Clara dropped.
Elias seized the back of her robe and pulled her behind the chair as more shots exploded through the entrance hall.
Windows shattered.
The security guards shouted.
Emergency lights flickered red along the floor.
Then came a deep mechanical sound from outside.
The iron gates opening.
“They’re inside,” Dominic said.
Elias fired twice toward the front doors.
A man screamed.
Margaret grabbed Dominic beneath one arm and dragged him farther into the hidden passage.
“Move!” she shouted.
Elias reversed toward the opening.
Clara remained crouched behind him.
Gabriel disappeared into the darkness.
Whether he was retreating or attacking, she could not tell.
A bullet struck the stone beside her.
Elias caught her wrist.
“Run.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“Not this argument again.”
The narrow passage was barely wide enough for his wheelchair. Margaret pulled Dominic ahead while Clara pushed the clock panel closed behind them.
Gunfire became muffled.
The passage descended sharply.
Elias’s chair began sliding.
Clara grabbed the handles.
His shoulders went rigid.
“I can control it.”
“The floor is wet.”
“Let go.”
“You can fire me later.”
She held on.
For one terrible moment, Clara thought he might strike her hands away.
Then a bullet tore through the wooden panel behind them.
Elias looked ahead.
“Fine. Slowly.”
It was the closest thing to surrender he could manage.
They descended into an old stone tunnel. Water dripped from the ceiling. Rusted lanterns hung from iron hooks along the walls.
Margaret found a box of matches and lit one.
Dominic collapsed.
Clara knelt beside him.
The bullet had passed through his upper chest. Blood bubbled near the exit wound.
“He needs a hospital.”
“No hospital,” Dominic whispered.
“You’ll die.”
“I’m already late.”
Elias positioned himself beside them.
“Who attacked the house?”
“Men from Sloane’s old crew. Some are yours now.”
Elias’s face revealed nothing.
“How many?”
“Eight outside. Three inside. Maybe more.”
“Gabriel?”
Dominic coughed.
“I don’t know if he’s leading them or trying to control them.”
“You came here accusing him.”
“I came here because someone emptied the account.”
“What account?”
“The one your father created.”
Elias glanced toward the clock passage.
Dominic struggled to focus.
“Adrian Moretti knew the organization would eventually turn on itself. He moved records, names, payments—everything—into a private archive.”
“The Chelsea contracts,” Elias said.
Dominic nodded.
“The contracts contain access codes.”
“Access to what?”
“A ledger.”
Margaret whispered, “The Black Ledger.”
Elias looked at her. “You know about it?”
“Your mother mentioned it once.”
“You never told me.”
“She believed it was a myth.”
“It isn’t,” Dominic said. “It proves who paid for the ambush. Thomas Keane found the ledger first.”
Clara leaned closer.
“My father?”
Dominic looked at her face.
Recognition came slowly.
“You’re Tommy’s girl.”
“Where is he?”
Pain crossed Dominic’s expression.
“I’m sorry.”
Clara grabbed his shirt.
“Where is he?”
Elias caught her wrist before she could shake him.
The touch startled both of them.
He released her immediately.
“Let him breathe,” he said.
Clara forced her hands into her lap.
Dominic coughed again.
“Thomas learned someone inside Elias’s circle had sold his route to Sloane. He tried to warn Gabriel.”
“Why Gabriel?” Elias asked.
“Because Tommy trusted him.”
Clara stared.
Her father’s warning had said the opposite.
Dominic saw her confusion.
“After the shooting, Thomas realized Gabriel already knew.”
Elias’s face became stone.
“Gabriel arranged it?”
“I don’t know. Thomas never got proof.”
“What happened to him?” Clara demanded.
Dominic closed his eyes.
“Gabriel took him to the old Saint Jude cannery.”
Clara’s voice broke. “Alive?”
“Yes.”
“And after that?”
“I never saw him again.”
The tunnel shook as an explosion struck the mansion above.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Margaret covered Dominic’s wound.
“We need to move.”
Elias looked at the passage ahead.
“Where does this emerge?”
“An old boathouse beyond the western woods,” Margaret said.
“Gabriel will know about it now.”
“Not the second branch.”
Elias gave her an incredulous look.
“How many secrets did my parents hide in this house?”
“Enough to keep you alive until adulthood.”
A radio crackled.
Everyone froze.
The sound came from Dominic’s coat.
Elias removed it carefully.
Gabriel’s voice filled the tunnel.
“Elias, if you can hear me, do not exit at the boathouse.”
No one answered.
“The west road is blocked. Two men are watching the tunnel.”
A second voice interrupted.
“Reed, where are you?”
Gabriel lowered the radio before answering.
“North corridor.”
The other man cursed.
“We checked it.”
“I moved.”
“Find Moretti. Sloane wants him alive.”
The transmission ended.
Clara looked at Elias.
“Gabriel isn’t leading them.”
“Or he wants us to believe he isn’t.”
Dominic reached for the radio.
“Ask him about Saint Jude.”
Elias pressed the button.
“Gabriel.”
Static.
Then: “I hear you.”
“Who is inside my house?”
“Anthony Rusk. Six of his men. At least four guards turned.”
“Who remained loyal?”
“Possibly me.”
“That remains undecided.”
Gunfire sounded through the radio.
Gabriel breathed hard.
“Get to the eastern cove. I’ll send a boat.”
“No.”
“You have another suggestion?”
“Yes. Answer a question.”
“This is not the time.”
“Saint Jude cannery.”
Silence.
Clara leaned toward the radio.
“What happened to Thomas Keane?”
Gabriel recognized her voice.
When he answered, something had changed.
“Clara, listen to me. Your father is dead.”
The words entered her like a blade.
“Did you kill him?”
“No.”
“Were you there?”
“Yes.”
“Then tell me what happened.”
“There isn’t time.”
“Make time.”
Elias’s gaze remained fixed on the radio.
Gabriel finally spoke.
“Thomas called me after the ambush. He said he had proof Sloane had paid someone in Elias’s organization. We arranged to meet at Saint Jude.”
“And?”
“He was already injured when he arrived.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“You always say that,” Elias said.
Gabriel ignored him.
“Thomas gave me a key. He said the evidence was hidden in a bank box. Before he could give me the number, a sniper fired through the window.”
Clara felt the key inside her shoe.
“Was he killed?”
“Yes.”
“Did you see the body?”
A long pause.
“Yes.”
“What did you do with him?”
“I buried him.”
Clara closed her eyes.
Margaret touched her shoulder.
“Where?” Clara asked.
“Behind Saint Jude, near the water tower.”
“You left him in the ground for fourteen months?”
“If I reported his death, Sloane would have searched his family.”
“You searched me anyway.”
“I was trying to find what he left you before they did.”
Elias took the radio.
“Who paid for the ambush?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did my father’s ledger survive?”
Another silence.
“How do you know about that?” Gabriel asked.
“Dominic.”
Static filled the line.
Then Gabriel said, “Dominic Vale died three months ago.”
Everyone looked at the wounded man.
Dominic’s expression became terrified.
“That isn’t possible,” Clara whispered.
“I identified the body myself,” Gabriel said. “Dental records confirmed it.”
Elias aimed his pistol at Dominic.
The wounded man raised his hands weakly.
“No. Elias, listen—”
“Who are you?” Elias asked.
“My name is Dominic.”
“Gabriel says you’re dead.”
“Gabriel lies.”
“So do dead men who enter my house.”
Dominic reached into his coat.
Elias cocked the weapon.
Clara saw what Dominic was pulling out.
“Wait.”
He held up an old photograph.
It showed Thomas Keane standing beside Dominic and a third man.
Gabriel Reed.
All three were smiling.
On the back, written in Thomas’s handwriting, were four words:
THE THREE WHO KNOW.
Clara stared at Gabriel’s younger face.
“How did you know my father?” she asked into the radio.
Gabriel did not answer.
“Gabriel?”
The transmission went dead.
Elias lowered the pistol slightly.
Dominic coughed.
“The man Gabriel buried wasn’t me.”
“Who was it?” Margaret asked.
“My brother.”
Clara stared.
“Your twin?”
“Yes.”
“Why was he killed?”
“Because Sloane believed he was me.”
Elias’s eyes narrowed.
“You allowed your brother to die in your place.”
Dominic looked toward the floor.
“I’ve lived with that every day.”
The tunnel trembled again.
This explosion was closer.
Margaret pointed toward a narrow side passage almost hidden behind hanging roots.
“That route leads beneath the chapel.”
“What chapel?” Clara asked.
“The Moretti family crypt.”
Elias looked at his aunt.
“Of course we have a crypt.”
Margaret took Dominic’s arm.
“Complaints later.”
They entered the side passage.
It narrowed until Elias’s wheels scraped both walls. Clara pushed from behind despite his tension. He did not order her to stop.
After several minutes, they reached a rusted iron ladder.
Margaret looked upward.
“The chapel floor is above us.”
“How does Elias climb that?” Clara asked.
“There’s a freight platform.”
They found an old pulley lift beside the ladder. Its ropes were cracked but intact.
Clara and Margaret positioned Elias’s chair on the wooden platform.
As Clara secured the wheel straps, Elias looked at her.
“You should have left when Margaret offered.”
“I know.”
“You still can.”
“Where would I go?”
“Anywhere that is not here.”
“My mother’s facility will discharge her Friday if I don’t pay.”
Elias’s eyes hardened for a different reason.
“They threatened to discharge a stroke patient?”
“They call it relocation.”
“They call cruelty many things when paperwork is involved.”
Above them, stone scraped against stone.
Someone was opening the chapel hatch.
Elias raised his pistol.
A face appeared through the gap.
Gabriel.
Blood ran from a cut above his eye.
“Lower the weapon,” he said.
Elias aimed directly at his chest.
“Give me one reason.”
Gabriel looked at Clara.
“Because Thomas Keane isn’t buried behind Saint Jude.”
Clara’s heart stopped.
“What?”
“I lied over the radio because Rusk was listening.”
He reached down, holding something in his palm.
A silver ring.
Clara recognized it immediately.
Her father had worn it every day since she was a child.
Gabriel’s voice dropped.
May you like
“Thomas is alive.”
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