Chapter 8 - HARLAN'S OFFER
Victor Harlan placed one hand on Elena's shoulder.
She flinched but did not cry.
"You have something that belongs to me," Harlan said into the camera. "A ledger hidden inside that ridiculous stuffed rabbit."
I looked at Tony.
The tracker had been in the bunny, but the bunny was still at the hospital. Elena had insisted on keeping it beside her.
Harlan had taken both.
"What do you want?" I asked.
"Enzo and safe passage. Bring him to Pier Nineteen. No police. No dog."
Bruno growled at the screen.
Harlan smiled. "Especially no dog."
The feed ended.
Detective Brooks refused the exchange. "Enzo is in federal custody now."
"Then make it look like he is not."
We built a decoy convoy. An officer matching Enzo's height wore his coat and sat hooded in the rear seat. Brooks placed trackers on every vehicle and a tactical team inside shipping containers near the pier.
I brought Bruno anyway.
He traveled beneath the floor of a delivery truck with Tony.
Fog covered the East River. Harlan's men stood among rusted cranes and stacked containers. A van waited near the water.
I saw Elena through the windshield.
Harlan stepped forward. Tall, silver ring on his right hand, calm as a man entering a board meeting.
"You built an empire on fear," he said. "Then you ruined it with rules."
"Children are not merchandise."
"Everything is merchandise when the price is high enough."
The hooded decoy was pushed from our car.
Harlan raised a remote control. "One wrong move and the van burns."
Elena pressed both palms to the glass.
I walked toward her.
"Stop," Harlan warned.
I kept walking.
A low bark sounded beneath the pier.
Harlan's eyes widened.
Bruno came out of the fog behind him.
The dog hit Harlan's wrist before he could press the button. Tony fired at the van's tire. Brooks's team flooded the pier.
Elena kicked the rear door from inside.
It opened.
She jumped into my arms.
Harlan ran toward the river and vanished between two containers.
Bruno followed, but stopped at the edge of the pier, staring into black water.
A boat engine roared below.
May you like
Then Tony opened Elena's stuffed bunny and found the hidden flash drive.
The label on it carried my name.
