Chapter 13 - Blood Beneath the Dry Dock
I entered the tunnel.
Cross cursed behind me but followed.
Water dripped from the curved concrete ceiling. Rusted pipes ran along the walls. Emergency lights glowed every twenty feet, leading beneath the river toward Warehouse 3.
Someone had restored power recently.
The tunnel was not abandoned.
Claire’s voice vanished from the earpiece.
I tried to reconnect.
Nothing.
Cross checked his weapon.
“Julian’s phone stopped transmitting six minutes ago.”
“Did you know he was involved?”
“No.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Cross did not answer.
We moved deeper.
The smell of smoke mixed with river water and oil.
My grandfather’s sword felt heavy in my hand. The leather grip was worn where Arthur’s fingers had held it decades earlier.
At the first junction, we found Samuel.
He lay against the wall, wrists bound, blood covering one side of his face.
Marian’s brother was seventy-four, thin and gray, but conscious.
I cut the rope with the sword’s edge.
“Claire?”
He pointed down the left passage.
“Vale took her.”
“Julian?”
Samuel coughed.
“Brought her willingly.”
The words struck hard.
“Why?”
“He said he needed to save his father.”
Damian.
Marcus must have offered a trade.
Claire for Damian.
Or the evidence for both.
Cross helped Samuel stand.
“Can you walk?”
“Yes.”
A lie.
His legs shook.
I looked at Cross.
“Get him out.”
“You cannot continue alone.”
“I’m not alone. Marcus wants me alive long enough to recover the drive.”
Cross stared at me.
“You have it?”
I said nothing.
His eyes narrowed.
That was the first moment I considered that Cross might still betray me.
My life had become a series of people telling partial truths while asking for full trust.
Samuel gripped my arm.
“The crate.”
“What about it?”
“Arthur hid the authorization ledger inside the sword case.”
I looked at the weapon.
“The sword was inside the wooden crate?”
He nodded.
“Vale opened it. The case was empty.”
“Because you moved the sword.”
“Your mother did.”
I stared at him.
“She placed the ledger beneath the grip before she died.”
The sword suddenly became more than a marker.
I turned it over.
A thin brass plate ran along the handle.
Two screws had been recently disturbed.
Marcus had tied Claire’s fabric around it but apparently had not discovered the compartment.
Or he wanted me to believe he had not.
Gunfire sounded deeper in the tunnel.
One shot.
Then Claire screamed.
I ran.
Cross shouted my name.
The tunnel opened into an underground loading chamber beneath Warehouse 3.
Steel stairs rose toward the burning building.
A cargo platform extended over black water.
Marcus stood near the edge holding Claire by the arm.
Julian faced him with a pistol.
His hands shook violently.
Claire’s gown was torn at the hem. Blood marked her temple.
Damian knelt nearby, wrists tied.
Conrad stood behind Marcus.
My father was not restrained.
That answered one question.
Marcus smiled when he saw me.
“Elise.”
He looked older than he had from the SUV, but still carried himself with the confidence of command.
“You always arrive before the situation is understood.”
I held the sword at my side.
“Release her.”
Julian pointed the pistol at Marcus.
“I brought her. You said you’d let my father go.”
Damian looked at his son.
“Julian, put it down.”
“I’m fixing this.”
“No. You’re becoming us.”
Julian’s face twisted.
Marcus tightened his grip on Claire.
“Young men make poor decisions when fathers disappoint them.”
I looked at Conrad.
“And old men?”
Marcus smiled.
“They call their decisions necessity.”
Fire roared above us.
Ash fell through gaps in the ceiling.
“Where is the drive?” Marcus asked.
“Where is the original will?”
“Safe.”
“Samuel?”
“Unexpectedly durable.”
Claire looked at me.
Her eyes moved toward the sword.
Marcus noticed.
His smile faded slightly.
He knew.
“Give me Arthur’s weapon.”
I lifted it.
“You spent twenty-two years searching for this?”
“I spent longer searching for what he concealed inside it.”
Conrad looked at the sword.
He had not known.
That was why my mother chose it.
He would protect the symbol of his father’s legacy without understanding its contents.
Marcus held out his hand.
“Exchange. The sword for the bride.”
“No,” Claire said.
Julian’s weapon swung toward me.
“Give it to him.”
“Julian,” I said, “he will kill all of you once he has it.”
“He promised immunity.”
Damian laughed bitterly from the floor.
“Vale’s promises are invoices. He always collects later.”
Conrad’s face hardened.
“You should have taught your son better.”
Damian looked up at him.
“You taught me.”
The sentence cut deeper than any accusation.
I lowered the sword.
Marcus relaxed slightly.
That was the moment Claire moved.
She drove her heel down onto his foot and twisted free.
Julian fired.
The bullet struck the metal railing beside me.
Cross entered the chamber and shot the lights.
Darkness swallowed us.
Someone grabbed my gown.
I struck with the sword’s hilt.
A man grunted.
Claire screamed Julian’s name.
Two more gunshots exploded.
Emergency lights flickered back on.
Julian lay on the platform, blood spreading across his white shirt.
Claire dropped beside him.
Damian crawled toward his son.
Marcus was gone.
So was Conrad.
The sword remained in my hand.
But the brass plate had been torn from the grip.
The hidden compartment was empty.
Cross looked toward the tunnel exit.
“They took the ledger.”
I stared at Julian.
His eyes opened weakly.
He caught my wrist.
“Not them,” he whispered.
“What?”
His gaze shifted toward Cross.
“He took it before we got here.”
Cross raised his weapon.
May you like
The muzzle pointed at me.
📖 Julian exposed Cross as the thief, and the agent who claimed my mother saved him now held the missing ledger—and a gun aimed at my chest. 👇
