Chapter 4 - The Price on Mave Hart
Mave did not remember leaving the hospital room.
One moment she was staring at her mother.
The next she stood in a sterile hallway with her palms pressed against a wall.
Her father was alive.
Maybe.
Her mother had hidden it.
Maybe.
Someone had offered to buy Mave with chemotherapy.
Definitely.
Declan stood several feet away.
He did not touch her.
For that, she was grateful.
"Say something," she whispered.
"Anything I say right now will sound stupid."
She laughed once.
It broke halfway through.
"That's unexpectedly self-aware."
"I have moments."
She looked at him.
"Did your father kill mine?"
"I don't know."
"That's not enough."
"No."
Declan stepped closer.
"But I can find out."
"Why should I trust you?"
"You shouldn't."
The answer surprised her.
"Trust is expensive. I haven't earned it."
Mave studied him.
For a supposedly ruthless man, Declan Gallagher had an irritating habit of giving reasonable answers.
A guard approached.
"Boss."
He handed Declan a phone.
Security footage filled the screen.
A man had entered Mave's apartment.
Gray coat.
Baseball cap.
Caleb Voss.
He spent eleven minutes inside.
Then left carrying nothing.
Declan enlarged the image.
"He's looking for something."
Mave's mind raced.
"I don't own anything worth stealing."
"Maybe you don't know you own it."
Her father's possessions had been reduced to two boxes.
Old photographs.
Training whistles.
A leather leash.
Books.
His Army jacket.
And—
Mave froze.
"What?"
"My music box."
Declan frowned.
"What music box?"
"My father gave it to me when I was twelve."
They returned to her apartment before dawn.
Declan sent men inside first.
No intruder.
No explosives.
No obvious traps.
Mave entered.
Everything looked normal.
Too normal.
She went directly to the bedroom closet and pulled down a battered cardboard box.
The music box remained inside.
Small.
Wooden.
A carved dog decorated the lid.
She opened it.
A mechanical melody played.
Declan watched.
"That's it?"
"No."
Mave turned the key backward.
Her father had once scolded her for doing that.
Never turn it backward, Mayfly.
She had forgotten the nickname.
Her chest tightened.
The base clicked.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a brass dog tag.
Numbers were engraved across it.
BRUTUS suddenly barked from the hallway.
Everyone turned.
He ran toward the bedroom.
Then stopped in front of Mave.
His eyes fixed on the tag.
Mave's pulse accelerated.
"No way."
She crouched.
Brutus sniffed the metal.
Then sat.
Declan stared.
"Command him."
"I don't know the sequence."
"Try something your father used."
Mave closed her eyes.
Childhood memories surfaced.
Elias training dogs in their backyard.
Words.
Hand signals.
Games she had thought were meaningless.
Find.
Guard.
Home.
Left.
Right.
Seven.
Seven?
Mave opened her eyes.
"Brutus. Seven."
The dog stood.
He walked exactly seven steps toward the wall.
Then stopped.
Finn swore.
Mave looked at the tag.
The numbers were not coordinates.
They were instructions.
For Brutus.
For nearly an hour they decoded the sequence.
Seven steps.
Left.
Search.
Low.
When Mave finally issued the entire chain, Brutus led them downstairs.
Out the rear entrance.
Across the alley.
To an abandoned brick warehouse two blocks away.
Inside, the dog moved with eerie certainty.
Seven steps.
Left.
Down.
Search.
Brutus began scratching at a floor drain.
Declan's men removed the metal grate.
Beneath it sat a waterproof container.
Inside was a flash drive.
And a photograph.
Mave picked it up.
Her father stood beside a younger Patrick Gallagher.
On the other side stood Caleb Voss.
Someone had drawn a red X across Caleb's face.
The flash drive contained a video.
Elias Hart appeared on the screen.
Mave's knees weakened.
Her father.
Alive in the recording.
Older than she remembered.
Tired.
Afraid.
"If Mave is watching this, then Cerberus failed."
She covered her mouth.
Declan stared at the screen.
Elias continued.
"Patrick Gallagher is not the enemy."
Declan's expression changed.
"Patrick tried to shut the program down when we discovered what Caleb was doing."
Mave looked at Declan.
Elias spoke faster.
"Caleb built a network inside both organizations. Police. Judges. Port officials. He used the dogs as couriers because nobody searched them. When Patrick discovered the operation, Caleb arranged his death."
Declan's fists closed.
"And mine."
Mave stopped breathing.
Elias looked directly into the camera.
"I survived the crash."
Her eyes flooded.
"But Caleb believes I'm dead. It has to stay that way."
The recording glitched.
Then resumed.
"There is one final ledger. It contains every name. Enough evidence to destroy Caleb's network permanently."
Declan leaned toward the screen.
"Where?"
Elias answered as though he had heard him.
"I never wrote down the location."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"I taught it to my daughter."
Mave stared.
"No."
"The game we played every Sunday."
Memory hit her.
Treasure hunts.
Her father hiding treats for training dogs.
Mave calling directions.
Brutus whined beside her.
Elias's expression softened.
"I'm sorry, Mayfly."
Mave began crying.
"I wanted you far away from this life."
Then Elias said something that made Declan straighten.
"Do not give the ledger to Declan Gallagher."
Mave slowly turned toward him.
Declan's face became unreadable.
The recording continued.
"If Patrick's son is watching this, understand something: I don't know whether you became your father..."
A pause.
"...or the men who murdered him."
The screen went black.
Nobody spoke.
Then Finn's phone rang.
His face changed as he listened.
"Boss."
Declan turned.
"What?"
"Hospital security."
Mave's blood went cold.
May you like
Finn looked at her.
"Your mother's gone."
