Chapter 2 - THE DEAD MAN’S RING
The stranger closed the door behind him.
Jason recovered first.
“You’re trespassing.”
The man looked past him.
At me.
At the sling.
At the steaming tank.
Then at Michael’s phone.
“Keep recording,” he said.
His voice was calm.
Familiar.
Not because I knew him.
Because I had heard it before.
On old voicemail messages saved inside a phone Jason told me had been destroyed.
The stranger opened his coat and revealed a federal badge.
Special Agent Nathan Cross.
Daniel’s older brother.
Jason took one step backward.
“You have no authority here.”
Nathan looked toward the tank.
“This facility is already under federal investigation.”
“For what?”
“Illegal chemical disposal. Insurance fraud. Human trafficking.”
Tyler made a broken sound.
Michael lowered the phone slightly.
Nathan pointed at it.
“Do not stop.”
Michael raised it again.
Jason looked toward the control panel.
Nathan saw the movement.
“Touch that lever and every agent outside comes through the walls.”
Jason smiled.
“There are no agents.”
Nathan looked toward the ceiling.
Red laser dots appeared across Jason’s chest.
His smile vanished.
I tightened my grip on the sling.
“Get me down.”
Nathan stepped toward the control box.
Jason moved between us.
“She’s unstable.”
I laughed despite the fear.
That was always his first defense.
“She climbed into the sling herself,” he continued. “We were trying to stop her.”
Michael stared at him.
Tyler looked at the floor.
Nathan turned to Michael.
“Is that true?”
Michael’s hands shook.
Jason answered for him.
“He works for me.”
Nathan kept looking at Michael.
“I did not ask who pays him.”
Michael swallowed.
“No.”
Jason’s head snapped toward him.
Michael continued.
“She didn’t climb in.”
Tyler backed away from Jason.
Nathan’s eyes hardened.
“Who placed her there?”
Michael looked toward Jason.
“He did.”
Jason lunged.
Nathan drove him into the control cabinet with one forearm.
The metal doors rattled.
“Do not move.”
Outside, vehicle doors slammed.
Several footsteps approached.
I felt relief rising.
Then the hoist chain moved.
One link.
Then another.
The sling dropped half an inch.
Nathan looked up.
The emergency stop light had gone dark.
Someone had restored the power remotely.
A voice came through the workshop speaker.
“Agent Cross, step away from the controls.”
Nathan froze.
Jason smiled again.
May you like
The voice belonged to Tyler’s father.
Police Chief Warren Cole.
