Chapter 9 - THE HUSBAND ON THE RUN
The transport van had been forced off the road two miles from the estate.
One officer was injured. Another was missing. Richard’s restraints were found cut cleanly, not broken.
“He had help,” Mara said.
Lily stood in Arthur’s kitchen, wrapped in a blanket. “He’ll come here.”
Arthur shook his head. “No. He’ll go where he thinks he can bargain.”
“Where is that?”
“The payment keys Elena mentioned.”
Lily’s eyes narrowed. “He keeps an old watch in a bank vault. His grandfather gave it to him. He never wears it, but he checks on it every year.”
Mara was already calling the bank.
The manager answered after three rings.
Too late.
Richard had entered the private vault ten minutes earlier using a biometric override.
Arthur, Mara, and Lily arrived as alarms began screaming.
The underground corridor was lined with steel boxes and security lights. At the far end, Richard stood before an open vault holding a gold pocket watch.
“Stay back,” he said.
Arthur saw the fear in him now. Not fear of prison. Fear of the people who had rescued him.
“You don’t understand,” Richard said. “They’ll kill me.”
Lily’s voice shook with anger. “You were willing to let them kill me.”
Richard looked at her bruised face. “I thought it was a threat.”
“You hit me because they told you to?”
“No.” His voice broke. “I hit you because I was angry. Because I could. There’s no excuse.”
The honesty was ugly, but it was honest.
Arthur extended his hand. “Give me the watch.”
Richard opened the back cover. A tiny encrypted key was hidden inside.
Before he could pass it over, the lights went out.
Gunfire cracked through the vault.
Arthur pushed Lily behind a steel column. Mara returned fire. Richard ran deeper into the corridor with the watch.
A masked shooter came around the corner.
Arthur struck him with the vault door and took his weapon.
When the emergency lights flashed on, Richard was gone.
So was Lily.
Arthur found her blanket beside an open service elevator.
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On the wall, written in fresh blood, were four words:
ONE DAUGHTER FOR ONE KEY.
