Chapter 9 - PIER NINE
Mercer survived.
Barely.
The shot struck his shoulder.
Police locked down the hotel, but the shooter vanished before officers reached the neighboring building.
Reed wanted me placed under protection.
I refused.
“Pier Nine.”
I said.
“Whatever Arthur is hiding there matters.”
Pier Nine belonged to an old Ashford Maritime warehouse.
According to public records, it had been abandoned for eight years.
According to Mercer’s flash drive, it received electricity every month.
We went at midnight.
Reed brought two investigators he trusted.
Inside the warehouse were rows of sealed crates.
Naval control modules.
Navigation processors.
Guidance systems.
All marked for destruction.
One investigator scanned the serial numbers.
“These are recalled components.”
He said.
“Why store them?”
I already knew.
“Because destroying them would prove Arthur knew they were defective.”
Then we found the office.
A computer sat on the desk.
Still running.
Someone had been there minutes earlier.
Reed opened the files.
Shipping manifests.
Inspection reports.
Internal emails.
Then one folder caught my eye.
HAMILTON.
My breath stopped.
The USS Hamilton.
My ship.
The ship where the bulkhead fire nearly killed me.
I opened it.
The navigation control relay that failed during the incident had been manufactured by an Ashford subsidiary.
My father’s company.
I stared at the screen.
Reed said nothing.
The report showed something worse.
Arthur had received an internal defect warning six months before the component was installed.
He buried it.
The fire that scarred me had not been random.
My father’s company had helped cause it.
Twenty-three sailors nearly died because Arthur chose money over safety.
Again.
I felt something inside me change.
Until that moment, this had been personal.
My mother.
My reputation.
My stolen inheritance.
Now it was bigger.
“Copy everything.”
I said.
An alarm suddenly screamed.
Red lights flashed.
One investigator shouted.
“Fire.”
Smoke poured from the rear storage area.
Someone had ignited the warehouse.
Reed grabbed the computer drive.
“Move.”
Flames climbed the crates.
We ran toward the entrance.
Then steel shutters dropped over the doors.
Locked.
The investigators began searching for another exit.
Smoke thickened.
For one terrible second, I was back aboard the Hamilton.
Heat.
Steel.
Screaming alarms.
My scars burned with memory.
Reed grabbed my shoulders.
“Celeste.”
I looked at him.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
I spotted a manual emergency release beside the loading bay.
Flames separated us from it.
Reed understood immediately.
“Absolutely not.”
“I can reach it.”
“You nearly died once.”
“So did twenty-three others.”
I ran.
Heat swallowed me.
I reached the lever.
Pulled.
Nothing.
Then I saw the safety lock.
I kicked it loose.
The shutters rose.
Everyone escaped seconds before the roof collapsed.
Outside, I fell to my knees.
Reed crouched beside me.
Across the river, headlights appeared.
A black sedan.
It stopped.
The rear window lowered.
My father sat inside.
For several seconds, Arthur and I stared at each other across the darkness.
May you like
Then he raised one hand.
And gave me a slow goodbye wave.
