Chapter 3 - The Man Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Gideon moved before anyone else saw him.
He crossed the diner in three strides and shoved through the door.
The photographer ran.
Marcus's men scattered.
“Alive!” Gideon shouted. “I want him alive!”
The stranger disappeared beneath the elevated tracks.
Gideon pursued him through slush and traffic, but a dark sedan screamed around the corner. The photographer jumped inside.
The vehicle vanished.
When Gideon returned, Jo had Sammy behind the counter.
She held a steak knife.
Marcus looked almost offended by the weapon.
Gideon wasn't.
“Keep it,” he told her.
Jo stared at him.
“You knew my husband?”
“I knew Daniel Voss.”
“You said his name like he was a criminal.”
“He was.”
“So are you.”
Marcus stiffened.
Gideon raised one hand.
Jo continued.
“You walk into my diner bleeding, armed men arrive, and suddenly I'm being told the man who abandoned my son was some dead accountant?”
“He wasn't an accountant.”
“What was he?”
“A thief.”
Jo laughed once, without humor.
“That makes two things he lied about.”
Sammy tugged her sleeve.
“Mom?”
Her anger vanished.
She crouched.
“Everything's okay.”
Gideon looked away.
He hated lies told to children.
Perhaps because his own father had specialized in them.
He ordered Marcus to secure Jo's apartment.
Jo objected immediately.
Gideon ignored the objection but not her autonomy.
“You can refuse my protection,” he said. “But first let my people check your building. If it's safe, I'll leave.”
“And if it isn't?”
“Then you decide what happens next.”
That answer unsettled her more than a command would have.
Twenty minutes later, Marcus received the call.
Jo's apartment door had been forced.
Nothing valuable appeared stolen.
But Sammy's bedroom had been searched.
His mattress had been cut open.
Jo sat down.
For the first time, Gideon saw her composure crack.
“Why?”
He crouched several feet away.
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“I don't lie when I don't know something.”
Her eyes met his.
“Then what do you know?”
Gideon considered how much truth she deserved.
All of it.
“Daniel stole from me.”
Jo went pale.
“He handled financial records. Accounts. Payments. Names. Seven years ago, he disappeared with money and information powerful people would kill to recover.”
“Did you try to kill him?”
“Yes.”
Marcus looked at Gideon.
Jo simply stared.
Gideon continued.
“I won't insult you by pretending otherwise.”
“And now?”
“Now I want to know why someone wants me to believe he's alive.”
Sammy appeared beside his mother holding his purple spaceship drawing.
“Can we go home?”
Jo's face broke.
Gideon stood.
“No.”
She looked up sharply.
He softened his tone.
“Not tonight.”
He owned several safe properties.
Jo rejected all of them.
So Gideon offered the one place nobody expected.
His penthouse.
She laughed.
Absolutely not.
Ten minutes later, a bullet struck the diner's front window.
The glass exploded inward.
Gideon threw Jo to the floor and Marcus grabbed Sammy.
Two more rounds hit the counter.
Gideon's men returned fire.
Then silence.
Jo lay beneath Gideon, breathing hard.
His body covered hers completely.
Blood ran down his cheek from flying glass.
He didn't appear to notice.
“Still absolutely not?”
She glared at him.
“Don't make jokes.”
“I wasn't.”
An hour later, Jo and Sammy entered Gideon Hale's penthouse.
Sammy's first question was whether rich people had cereal.
Gideon had no idea.
His housekeeper found three boxes.
Jo stood before floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city.
“You live here alone?”
“Yes.”
“This place has six bedrooms.”
“Seven.”
“That makes it worse.”
Gideon almost smiled.
Sammy fell asleep on a couch before 2:00 a.m.
Jo covered him with a blanket.
When she turned, Gideon was watching.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“People like you don't look at people like that for nothing.”
“People like me?”
“Men who make rooms go silent.”
Gideon leaned against the doorway.
“You didn't.”
“What?”
“Go silent.”
Jo's expression softened despite herself.
For one dangerous second, neither spoke.
Then Marcus entered carrying a metal box recovered from Jo's apartment.
It had been hidden beneath a loose floorboard.
Jo stared.
“I've never seen that.”
Marcus placed it on the table.
Inside were old passports, a flash drive, and an envelope.
The envelope had Jo's name on it.
Her hands shook as she opened it.
The handwriting belonged to Daniel.
Jo, if you're reading this, I failed.
She stopped breathing.
The letter explained that Daniel had discovered something inside Gideon's organization.
Something bigger than stolen money.
He had tried to disappear to protect Jo.
But the final paragraph made her knees weaken.
Sammy is not in danger because he is my son.
He is in danger because of what I put in his name.
Jo looked at Gideon.
“What did he put in Sammy's name?”
Marcus inserted the flash drive into an isolated laptop.
A password prompt appeared.
Below it was a clue:
THE NIGHT HE WAS BORN.
Jo whispered Sammy's birth date.
Marcus entered it.
The screen unlocked.
Hundreds of financial records appeared.
Gideon moved closer.
His face changed.
The accounts contained evidence of judges, officers, businessmen, and politicians taking payments.
But Gideon's name was not listed as the payer.
Another name appeared repeatedly.
M. Vale.
Silence consumed the room.
Jo slowly turned.
May you like
Marcus Vale stood behind them.
His gun was already drawn.
