Chapter 6 - THE GOLD WATCH
I ran blindly through the dark maintenance tunnels.
The sound of a scuffle echoed ahead.
A heavy thud. A grunt of pain.
I slowed down, pressing my back against the damp concrete wall, creeping toward the intersection.
I peered around the corner.
Jack was on his knees.
His white dress shirt was covered in dust and blood.
One of Arthur’s men was standing over him, pointing a gun directly at the back of Jack’s head.
The other three men were searching the surrounding doors.
“Where is the girl?” the man with the gun demanded.
Jack spit blood onto the concrete.
“Long gone.”
The man cocked the gun.
“Arthur said we only needed the ledger. If you don’t have it, you’re useless.”
My pulse roared in my ears.
I didn’t have a weapon. I didn’t have a plan.
I only had a marketing degree and a leather book.
I looked down at my wrist.
Underneath Jack’s coat, I was wearing a cheap digital watch.
But Jack’s coat pocket was heavy.
I reached inside.
Jack’s gold Rolex.
He must have taken it off during the board meeting.
I pulled it out. It was heavy, solid gold, and probably cost more than my entire apartment.
I took a deep breath.
I stepped out from behind the corner.
“Hey!” I yelled.
All four men snapped their attention toward me.
Jack’s head jerked up. Pure terror flashed in his eyes.
“Emily, run!” Jack screamed.
I didn’t run.
I held up the leather ledger in my left hand.
“You want this?” I shouted.
The man holding the gun on Jack grinned.
“Bring it here, sweetheart.”
“No,” I said.
I raised my right hand.
I threw the solid gold Rolex as hard as I could down the opposite corridor.
It smashed against a metal pipe with a loud, echoing clang.
The men instinctively flinched, turning toward the noise.
In that one second of distraction, Jack moved.
He didn’t try to stand.
He swept his leg out, catching the gunman behind the knees.
The man collapsed backward, his gun firing harmlessly into the ceiling.
Jack scrambled over him, snatching the weapon from the man’s grip.
Without hesitation, Jack fired twice.
Two of the men dropped, crying out in pain as the bullets caught them in the legs.
The third man raised his weapon, but Jack was faster.
A sharp crack, and the third man’s gun shattered in his hand.
The hallway fell eerily silent, save for the groans of the wounded men.
Jack stood up, chest heaving, holding the gun steady.
He looked at me.
He didn’t look relieved. He looked furious.
He closed the distance between us in three long strides.
He grabbed my shoulders, shaking me slightly.
“I told you to call security and hide!” he yelled.
“You were going to die!” I yelled back, tears streaming down my face.
“I am trying to keep you alive!”
“And I am not going to let you die for me!”
We stood there, breathing heavily, inches apart in the dim tunnel.
The anger in his eyes slowly melted into something else.
Something deeper.
He dropped his hands from my shoulders.
He slid one hand behind my neck, tangling his fingers in my hair, and pulled my forehead against his.
“You are the most stubborn woman I have ever met,” he whispered, his voice shaking.
“You insulted my sandwich,” I whispered back, a tear escaping.
He let out a broken laugh.
“Come on,” Jack said, taking my hand. “We have to get to Pier 4.”
We left the wounded men in the tunnel and ran to the street level.
Jack flagged down a taxi, tossing a hundred-dollar bill at the driver.
“Pier 4. Fast.”
In the back seat, Jack took the ledger from me.
He opened it, quickly scanning the pages in the passing streetlights.
“It’s all here,” Jack muttered. “Bank accounts. Wire transfers. The hit on my father. Arthur signed off on all of it.”
“Why didn’t my father just give it to the FBI?” I asked.
“Because Arthur found out your father was talking to them,” Jack said quietly. “Arthur used your mother as leverage. He told your father if he handed over the ledger, he would kill you and your mother.”
I stared out the window at the passing city.
My father died protecting us.
“We have the ledger,” I said. “We can trade it for my mom and your brother.”
Jack closed the book.
“Arthur won’t let them go, Emily. Even if we give him the ledger. He can’t leave witnesses.”
My blood ran cold.
“Then what are we going to do?”
May you like
Jack looked at me.
“You’re going to use your marketing degree.”
