Chapter 10 - The Meridian Circle
The Meridian Circle was not a company.
It was a private alliance.
Dad finally told me the truth.
In the late 1990s, banks, shipping companies, security firms, insurers, and technology corporations created an informal information-sharing group to combat organized financial crime.
Victor Sloane designed the intelligence system.
Elias Vale designed the safeguards.
The group was called Meridian.
For several years, it worked.
Then corporations realized the intelligence could be used against competitors.
Politicians discovered it could expose donors.
Bankers learned it could reveal hidden clients.
Victor wanted to sell access.
Dad wanted restrictions.
The alliance split.
“What happened to the other members?”
I asked.
“Some left.”
“Some died.”
“Some built new companies.”
“Jonathan Mercer?”
Dad nodded.
“His father was one of the original Meridian directors.”
“And Malcolm Reed?”
Another pause.
“Yes.”
I stood.
“Malcolm?”
“He was junior counsel.”
I remembered Malcolm’s support.
His secrets.
His meeting with Celeste.
His photograph of Jonathan Mercer.
“He knew everything.”
“Possibly.”
I called him immediately.
No answer.
Security searched his apartment.
Empty.
His passport and several personal items were gone.
But he left something behind.
A handwritten letter addressed to me.
Claire,
If you are reading this, then I failed to stop them.
Do not believe Cassandra is in control.
Do not believe Jonathan is in control.
And do not assume Victor wants Vale Dominion.
He wants something your father has never told you exists.
The Crown Archive.
I showed Dad.
His face changed.
“What is it?”
He did not answer.
I slammed my hand against the table.
“No more secrets.”
Dad looked at me for a long moment.
Then he unlocked a secure cabinet.
Inside was a small black drive.
“The Crown Archive contains the original Meridian records.”
“How many?”
“Everything.”
“Clients?”
“Yes.”
“Operations?”
“Yes.”
“Crimes?”
“Yes.”
“Governments?”
“Yes.”
“Your crimes?”
He met my eyes.
“Yes.”
I stared at the drive.
Victor did not want money.
He did not want Ashford Global.
He did not even want Vale Dominion.
He wanted leverage over everyone who had participated in Meridian.
With that archive, he could threaten banks.
Corporations.
Officials.
Governments.
“Why haven’t you destroyed it?”
“Because it is also evidence.”
“Of what?”
“Thirty years of crimes.”
The door burst open.
Security Chief Daniel Price entered.
“We have a breach.”
Dad immediately reached for the drive.
The lights died.
Emergency illumination filled the room in red.
A gunshot sounded in the corridor.
Then another.
Dad pushed me behind the conference table.
Glass shattered.
Men moved through the outer office.
Fast.
Trained.
They were not thieves.
They knew exactly where they were going.
Dad opened a hidden floor panel and shoved the black drive into my hand.
“Take it.”
“What?”
“Go.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“Claire.”
His voice became the voice he had used when I was a child and danger was not negotiable.
“Go.”
A security officer opened a concealed door behind the wall.
I stepped inside.
Then stopped.
Because standing in the passage was Malcolm Reed.
May you like
He held a pistol.
And it was pointed directly at me.
