Chapter 8 - The Little Girl Who Wasn’t Afraid
Pippa woke in the back seat of a car.
Her first thought was that she had forgotten Teddy.
Her second was that Mommy would be mad because she had gotten into a stranger’s car.
Then she remembered the loud noise at the lodge.
The broken window.
Gabriel’s men shouting.
A hand over her mouth.
Pippa became very still.
Her mother had taught her what to do when lost.
Remember things.
Signs.
Colors.
Sounds.
She saw water through the window.
Big cranes.
Red lights.
Containers stacked like giant blocks.
A harbor.
The man beside her noticed she was awake.
“Hello, Pippa.”
She did not answer.
“You know who I am?”
“No.”
“My name is Adrian.”
Pippa stared at him.
“You hurt Victor.”
Mercer smiled.
“Victor hurts lots of people.”
“He doesn’t hurt me.”
“No.”
Mercer studied her.
“That’s what makes you useful.”
Pippa looked away.
She was scared.
Terribly scared.
But Victor had been scared too.
He had admitted it.
Being scared, she decided, did not mean you had to do what bad people wanted.
They took her into a warehouse.
Judge Shaw was there.
The older woman’s hands were tied.
She had a bruise on her cheek.
When she saw Pippa, anger filled her face.
“You brought a child into this?”
Mercer ignored her.
Pippa was placed beside Evelyn.
The moment the men stepped away, Evelyn whispered, “Are you hurt?”
Pippa shook her head.
“Your mother will find you.”
“So will Victor.”
Evelyn studied the certainty in her face.
“Yes.”
“I think he likes my mom.”
Despite everything, Evelyn almost smiled.
“I suspect he does.”
Across the city, Victor was tearing apart every piece of Mercer’s history.
Bridget sat beside Gabriel examining maps.
She refused to cry.
Not because she was not terrified.
Because terror had become fuel.
“What did Pippa have with her?”
Gabriel asked.
“Her pajamas. Sneakers. Her backpack.”
“Phone?”
“She’s 6.”
“Tablet?”
Bridget stopped.
“Yes.”
Gabriel looked up.
“GPS?”
“The battery was almost dead.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
They found the signal.
One brief location ping near the harbor.
Then nothing.
Victor recognized the area.
“Terminal 8.”
Gabriel frowned.
“Mercer doesn’t control Terminal 8.”
“No. My father did.”
Victor understood.
An abandoned warehouse once used by the Lacombe organization.
Mercer was taking Victor back to the beginning.
The message arrived moments later.
COME ALONE. BRING THE LEDGER.
Bridget read it.
“He’ll kill you.”
“Yes.”
“So we don’t give him what he expects.”
Victor called Judge Shaw’s assistant.
The original ledger was brought from secure storage.
Bridget stared at the battered black book.
“So this is what everyone is dying over?”
Victor nodded.
“Then we end it tonight.”
They photographed every page.
Copies went simultaneously to federal investigators, 3 attorneys, and 2 journalists with instructions to release everything if Victor failed to make contact by sunrise.
Mercer’s leverage vanished.
He simply did not know it yet.
Victor prepared to leave.
Bridget blocked the door.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“We discussed this.”
“We discussed rescuing Pippa. We did not discuss walking you into a warehouse full of armed men.”
“She’s my daughter.”
“And that is why you stay alive.”
Bridget stared at him.
“You really think I can sit here?”
“No.”
Victor stepped closer.
“That is why Gabriel is going to have difficulty stopping you from following me.”
Gabriel sighed.
“Thank you for warning her.”
Victor almost smiled.
Then he kissed Bridget.
Harder than before.
Not cautious.
Not uncertain.
A promise made by someone who had finally discovered something he could not bear to lose.
When he pulled away, Bridget whispered, “Come back.”
“I intend to.”
Victor entered Terminal 8 alone at 2:06 a.m.
Mercer waited beneath hanging industrial lights.
Pippa sat beside Judge Shaw.
Victor saw her.
Everything else disappeared.
“Victor!”
She tried to stand.
A guard stopped her.
Victor’s face remained calm.
“Hello, Pip.”
Her lip trembled.
“I lost Teddy.”
“I’ll buy you another.”
“No. I want Teddy.”
Despite the guns, Victor smiled.
“Then we’ll find him.”
Mercer stepped forward.
“Touching.”
Victor held up the ledger.
“Release them.”
“First the book.”
“First Pippa.”
Mercer laughed.
“You’ve become predictable.”
He pointed a gun toward the child.
Victor stopped breathing.
“Ledger.”
Victor placed it on the floor.
Kicked it forward.
Mercer picked it up.
Opened it.
His smile returned.
“You should have stayed ruthless, Victor.”
“I tried.”
Victor looked at Pippa.
“Didn’t suit me.”
Mercer raised the gun.
Not toward Victor.
Toward Bridget.
She stood in the warehouse entrance.
Victor spun.
“What are you doing here?”
Bridget lifted her hands.
“Getting my daughter.”
Mercer laughed.
“Perfect.”
He aimed at her.
Victor moved.
The gun fired.
Chaos erupted.
Lights shattered.
Gabriel’s team entered from 3 sides.
Bridget hit the floor.
Victor struck Mercer before he could fire again.
Pippa crawled toward Evelyn.
Gunfire echoed.
Then stopped.
Mercer lay beneath Victor.
Victor had his gun against Mercer’s head.
Everything went silent.
Mercer smiled through blood.
“Do it.”
Victor’s finger tightened.
Mercer whispered, “Be your father.”
Victor stared at him.
Then he saw Pippa.
She was watching.
Victor slowly lowered the weapon.
“No.”
Police sirens approached outside.
Mercer’s smile vanished.
Victor stood.
“You don’t get to turn me into him.”
Federal agents entered seconds later.
Bridget reached Pippa.
Mother and daughter collided.
Both sobbed.
Victor stood several feet away.
Pippa reached one arm toward him.
“Victor.”
That was all it took.
He crossed the distance.
Bridget pulled him down.
May you like
The 3 of them held one another on the dirty warehouse floor while Mercer was dragged away.
For the first time in years, Victor Lacombe did not care who saw him cry.
