Chapter 6 - THE MEETING
Martin Vale chose the location.
That was important.
The federal agents wanted him comfortable enough to talk.
He picked an unfinished Northbridge office tower on the west side of town, a project stalled because of permit delays.
The building was twenty-two stories of concrete, glass, exposed wiring, and construction dust.
I hated everything about it.
Before I left the hotel, Noah climbed into my lap.
“Are you going to work?”
“Kind of.”
“Will you come back?”
The question stopped me.
Children remember promises differently after adults break enough of them.
So I didn’t say, Of course.
I didn’t say, Nothing will happen.
I said the only thing I could guarantee.
“I’m going to do everything I can to come back to you.”
He considered that.
Then held out his good hand.
“Pinkie promise?”
I hooked mine around his.
“Pinkie promise.”
Derek drove me to the staging point.
He wasn’t part of the operation.
He reminded everyone of that fact approximately fourteen times.
“I should be in there.”
Agent Alvarez ignored him.
“I’m serious.”
“We know.”
“If something happens—”
“We have tactical officers on three floors.”
Derek looked at me.
“I don’t like this.”
“Neither do I.”
“That’s not comforting.”
“It wasn’t meant to be.”
Alvarez fitted a small transmitter beneath my shirt.
“Do not improvise.”
I almost smiled.
“You’ve met my family. Improvising appears hereditary.”
She didn’t smile.
At 8:07 PM, I walked into the building alone.
Vale waited on the sixth floor.
He stood near a temporary folding table beneath construction lights.
No suit.
No polished executive smile.
He wore jeans, a black jacket, and exhaustion.
“You came.”
“You contacted my brother.”
“I didn’t know if your phone was safe.”
“Why would my phone not be safe?”
He stared at me.
“Because you have no idea what you stepped into.”
“You mean the scheme you’re involved in?”
His jaw tightened.
“Keep your voice down.”
“There’s nobody here.”
That was technically true in the room.
It was very untrue throughout the building.
Vale walked toward me.
“Where’s the drive?”
“Safe.”
“Good.”
“You sound relieved.”
“I am.”
“Why?”
“Because Travis didn’t get it.”
I studied him.
“You knew Travis was involved.”
“Yes.”
“With Crestline?”
“Yes.”
“With Lena?”
His expression changed.
“I knew he was seeing her.”
“You knew he targeted my family.”
“I didn’t approve of that.”
I nearly laughed.
“My son has a broken arm.”
Vale looked away.
“I heard.”
“That happened because of people you worked with.”
His eyes flashed.
“You think I control them?”
“You took their money.”
Silence.
Then he sat.
For the first time, Martin Vale looked less like a powerful executive than a man who hadn’t slept in weeks.
“It started with invoices.”
I said nothing.
“Crestline inflated one. I approved it. Thirty thousand became forty-seven.”
“And you got a cut.”
“Five thousand.”
“That was worth all this?”
“No.”
His voice cracked.
“That’s the point. It never stays five thousand.”
He described it slowly.
One false invoice.
Then another.
Then photographs proving he had accepted cash.
Then threats.
Then larger contracts.
Then shell companies.
By the time he wanted out, millions had moved through projects he supervised.
“Who runs it?”
Vale looked toward the darkness behind me.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s a lie.”
“I know the people above me. I don’t know the person above them.”
“Names.”
He hesitated.
Then gave three.
Two Crestline executives.
One city procurement consultant.
Agents would later confirm all three were already under suspicion.
“What about Travis?”
“He was a courier. Sometimes intimidation.”
“And spying on me?”
“Not my decision.”
“Whose?”
Vale didn’t answer.
“Who told him to date Lena?”
“I don’t know if anyone did.”
“Then why were you meeting him?”
His eyes snapped to mine.
“You saw that?”
“Police did.”
Vale stood abruptly.
“That picture shouldn’t exist.”
“Why?”
“Because that meeting was private.”
“Apparently not.”
He started walking.
“Where are you going?”
“We need to leave.”
“Why?”
“Because if they photographed that meeting, then they’ve been watching me too.”
A sound came from below.
Metal striking metal.
Vale froze.
So did I.
Through my earpiece, Alvarez whispered.
“Stay where you are.”
Vale couldn’t hear her.
“What was that?” he whispered.
“Construction site.”
“At night?”
Another sound.
Closer.
Then the lights went out.
Complete darkness swallowed the floor.
Vale swore.
Alvarez’s voice came through immediately.
“Ryan, get down.”
I dropped.
Glass shattered somewhere to my right.
Vale shouted.
Footsteps rushed across concrete.
Then a flashlight beam sliced through the darkness.
A masked man moved toward the table.
Not police.
I crawled behind a stack of drywall.
“Vale!”
No answer.
A struggle erupted in the dark.
Someone grunted.
A body hit the floor.
Tactical officers shouted from the stairwell.
“FEDERAL AGENTS! HANDS!”
The masked man ran.
I heard him crash through a temporary door.
Then another figure grabbed my jacket from behind.
I spun.
Martin Vale.
“Move!”
“Agents are coming.”
“He knows another way out.”
“Who?”
“Calvin.”
My blood ran cold.
“Calvin is in custody.”
Vale stared at me.
“No, he isn’t.”
Gunfire cracked from the floor below.
One sharp burst.
Then shouting.
I didn’t wait.
Vale pulled me toward a service stairwell.
We descended one level before a man appeared below us.
Black hood.
Heavy jacket.
He raised something.
Vale shoved me backward.
A shot struck concrete.
Fragments sprayed.
We ran upward again.
The stairwell door burst open.
Agent Brooks appeared with two tactical officers.
“DOWN!”
We dropped.
Officers moved past us.
Seconds later, they pinned the gunman against the landing.
He wasn’t Calvin.
Vale stared at him.
Then went pale.
“I know him.”
Alvarez reached us.
“Who?”
Vale swallowed.
“Crestline security.”
“Name?”
“Dean Mercer.”
She pulled Vale upright.
“You’re coming with us.”
He didn’t argue.
As officers cleared the building, I checked my phone.
Seven missed calls.
All from Derek.
I called.
He answered instantly.
“Ryan.”
“What?”
“Something’s wrong.”
My stomach dropped.
“Noah?”
“He’s safe.”
“Then what?”
“Lena disappeared.”
I closed my eyes.
“What do you mean disappeared?”
“She told the officer she needed the restroom.”
“And?”
“The window was open.”
I couldn’t understand the sentence.
“She climbed out?”
“No.”
Derek’s voice went cold.
“There were signs of a struggle.”
May you like
Then he said the words I had been dreading.
“Somebody took her.”
