Chapter 17 - THE THIRD MAN
The attack lasted ninety seconds.
It felt like an hour.
Federal teams secured the western grounds.
Vale security regained control of the manor.
Three attackers were captured.
Two escaped.
Victor remained inside with me because leaving would have meant walking directly into crossfire.
When the lights returned, Dad stormed into the hall.
His weapon was drawn.
“Step away from her.”
Victor slowly raised his hands.
“You’re welcome.”
Dad looked at me.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Did he touch you?”
“He pulled me away from the blast.”
Dad stared at Victor.
“Why?”
Victor laughed.
“Still assuming every move belongs to me?”
One captured attacker was dragged inside.
Martin Crane, connected remotely from federal protection, recognized him immediately.
“Leon Mercer.”
The name meant nothing to me.
Dad knew it.
Former director of international compliance at Vale Dominion.
He had left the company twelve years earlier.
Victor smiled.
“There’s your third man.”
Dad looked at him.
“You recruited Mercer.”
“Once.”
“And then?”
“He recruited himself.”
Victor explained.
Black Meridian had fractured years earlier.
Victor controlled the financial system.
Mercer controlled enforcement.
Nathan controlled commercial logistics.
For years, they benefited from one another.
Then Midnight Crown created a prize large enough to destroy the alliance.
Mercer had ordered Martin’s abduction.
Mercer burned Warehouse Nine.
And Mercer had just attacked Blackthorn Manor hoping to obtain the master ledger.
“Where is he?” Dad demanded.
Victor smiled.
“You still think I came here for money.”
“Why did you come?”
Victor looked toward me.
“To make sure she survived.”
My stomach tightened.
“Why?”
He hesitated.
Then reached slowly inside his jacket.
Every weapon in the room pointed at him.
Victor removed an old photograph.
My mother.
She stood beside my father and Victor in front of Vale Dominion’s first office.
On the back, handwriting covered half the paper.
Victor handed it to me.
The message was from my mother.
VICTOR, IF ELIAS WILL NOT LISTEN, YOU HAVE TO STOP MERCER.
My father read it.
His face went blank.
“You knew?”
Victor nodded.
“Your wife discovered Mercer was using Black Meridian for more than financial crime.”
“What?”
“Corporate sabotage.”
“Political extortion.”
“Targeted violence.”
Dad looked sick.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried.”
“You disappeared.”
“Because Mercer framed me.”
Twenty-two years of history shifted in one minute.
Victor was not innocent.
He admitted stealing money.
Building criminal accounts.
Protecting Black Meridian.
But my mother’s death may not have been his crime.
Mercer had benefited from everyone believing Victor was the monster.
Dad’s radio suddenly activated.
A security officer shouted.
“Sir, we lost prisoner transport.”
Dad froze.
“What transport?”
“Leon Mercer.”
Victor closed his eyes.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
A man’s voice spoke.
“You have something that belongs to me.”
Leon Mercer.
I looked around the damaged hall.
“What?”
“The ledger.”
“You’re not getting it.”
He laughed.
“I already took something worth more.”
A photograph arrived on my phone.
Nathan was tied to a chair.
Beside him sat Celeste.
Both had been taken from federal custody during coordinated transfers.
Mercer had them.
Then his message appeared.
May you like
BRING THE LEDGER.
OR THEY BOTH DIE WITH YOUR HUSBAND’S EMPIRE.
