Chapter 7 - The Exchange
The list could destroy hundreds of powerful people.
That was the problem.
Dominic wanted Cross arrested.
The FBI wanted the entire network.
Cross wanted Leah.
Emily wanted her daughters safe.
Only one of those priorities mattered to Leah.
“My mom.”
Dominic understood.
The exchange was arranged at an abandoned Rainer Global hangar in New Jersey.
Cross believed Dominic would bring Leah.
He was wrong.
Dominic brought the drive.
Leah was supposed to remain at the townhouse.
She did not.
Twenty minutes before Dominic left, he discovered her hiding in Victor's SUV.
“No.”
“You need me.”
“No.”
“Cross expects me.”
“That's exactly why you're not coming.”
“He'll know.”
“Let him.”
Leah crossed her arms.
“My mom is there because of me.”
“No.”
“She sent us away.”
“Because of Cross.”
“She hid things with us.”
“Because she believed she could keep you safe.”
Leah's chin trembled.
Dominic softened.
“Your mother does not need you to rescue her.”
“What if you can't?”
There it was.
Not defiance.
Terror.
Dominic knelt.
“Then I keep trying.”
“What if—”
“I keep trying.”
“And if—”
“Leah.”
He looked directly at her.
“You have spent four days believing you are the last person standing between Maya and the world.”
Tears appeared.
“You aren't.”
He touched his chest.
“I am standing here too.”
Victor stood behind him.
“So is he.”
Celia stepped forward.
“So am I.”
Leah looked between them.
Dominic extended his hand.
“You don't have to be the adult tonight.”
She stared at his hand.
Then took it.
That was the first time Leah willingly touched him.
Dominic nearly lost his composure.
He squeezed once.
“Stay with Maya.”
Leah nodded.
At the hangar, Cross waited with Emily.
Dominic saw her immediately.
Alive.
Bruised.
Standing.
Gabriel stood beside Cross pretending to guard her.
The FBI watched remotely.
Victor wore a wire.
Dominic carried a duplicate drive.
Cross smiled.
“Where's Leah?”
“Safe.”
“Then we have a problem.”
“No. You have a drive.”
“I need the encryption phrase.”
“You get it after Emily walks.”
Cross laughed.
“You don't have the phrase.”
Dominic did.
Leah had found it hidden in Elena's video.
Six in.
Six out.
The same breathing count Emily taught Leah.
The phrase was a sequence based on sixes.
Elena had known Emily would recognize it.
Emily looked at Dominic.
“Are my girls safe?”
“Yes.”
“Leah?”
“Arguing with everyone.”
Emily laughed through tears.
“Then she's okay.”
Cross shoved her forward.
“Enough.”
Dominic held up the drive.
“You let her walk halfway. I give Gabriel the drive.”
Cross looked at Gabriel.
“Fine.”
Emily walked.
Ten feet.
Twenty.
Then Cross raised a gun.
Gabriel moved.
Everything happened at once.
Gabriel struck Cross's wrist.
Emily ran.
Gunfire erupted from a catwalk.
Cross had hidden men above.
Victor tackled Dominic behind a vehicle.
Federal agents entered.
The hangar exploded with noise.
Emily crawled behind a crate.
Cross escaped toward the rear exit.
Dominic saw him.
Then saw Emily.
Choice.
Old Dominic would have chased the threat.
New Dominic ran toward the person.
He reached Emily.
“Can you move?”
“Yes.”
He pulled her toward cover.
Gabriel appeared, bleeding from his shoulder.
“Cross has the drive.”
“It's fake.”
Gabriel laughed despite himself.
“Good.”
Agents surrounded them.
Cross reached the runway.
A vehicle waited.
Then its headlights went out.
Engine dead.
Cross tried again.
Nothing.
Victor looked confused.
Dominic wasn't.
Leah.
Back at the townhouse, she had remembered something Cross said during his call.
He knew the Rainer vehicle system.
So she had asked a technician whether company vehicles could be remotely disabled.
Dominic had authorized the command before leaving.
Cross had chosen exactly the escape car they expected.
Agents surrounded him.
He raised his weapon.
“Drop it!”
For one terrible second Dominic thought Cross would force them to shoot.
Then Emily stepped from behind him.
“Adrian.”
Cross turned.
She looked at the man who had destroyed her family.
“You lost.”
His gun lowered an inch.
That was enough.
Agents took him down.
Dominic exhaled.
Emily swayed.
He caught her.
“My girls.”
“Let's go.”
They drove back before sunrise.
Leah was awake.
Of course.
She stood in the townhouse foyer wearing borrowed pajamas.
Maya slept in Celia's arms.
The front door opened.
Emily entered.
Leah did not move.
Neither did Emily.
For four days Leah had imagined this moment.
She had planned to run.
To scream.
To ask why.
Instead she whispered:
“Mom?”
Emily's face collapsed.
“Baby.”
Leah ran.
Emily dropped to her knees.
They collided.
Leah sobbed against her mother.
Not quietly.
Not carefully.
Every sound she had swallowed for four days came out.
“You left.”
“I know.”
“You left us.”
“I know.”
“I had to take Maya.”
“I know.”
“I didn't know what to do.”
Emily held her tighter.
“You did too much.”
Maya woke.
She stared.
“Mommy?”
Emily reached out.
Maya screamed with joy.
Then all three were on the floor.
Dominic turned away.
Victor pretended to examine the door.
Gabriel wiped his eyes.
Leo toddled into the foyer holding Bun.
He looked at the crying family.
Then started crying too.
Maya immediately pulled away from her mother.
“Baby sad.”
She hugged him.
Everyone laughed through tears.
For a moment, it was over.
Then Emily looked up at Dominic.
Her expression changed.
“Where did you find the second drive?”
“Inside the rabbit.”
Emily went still.
“Second?”
Dominic's blood chilled.
“You put it there.”
“No.”
Silence.
Emily stood.
“I put the brass key inside Bun.”
Dominic stared.
“Not the drive.”
Gabriel stopped smiling.
“If you didn't put it there...”
Emily looked at the tiny encrypted device.
“Then Elena did.”
Dominic's chest tightened.
“But Elena gave you the rabbit.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
Emily's answer changed everything again.
“Two days before she died.”
She looked at Dominic.
“And she told me something I never understood.”
“What?”
Emily swallowed.
“She said if you ever found what was inside, you'd finally know why she chose me.”
Dominic stared.
“Chose you for what?”
Emily looked at Leah.
May you like
Then Leo.
“To protect both families.”
